Be My Cinderella

Prologue

To familiarize yourselves po with the characters and the root of Cyd and Alex's story, please go see Back in Your Embrace. Yun po ang book 1 ng Be My Cinderella. :) Thank you po.

Alex

I did not believe in marriage. Hell I didn't even believe in love. I grew up thinking: Marriage is the biggest mistake people make whilst love is nothing but a big fantasy. A big joke that is not even funny. That it is all just make-believe. It is just one illusion people like to get involved with and trick theirselves into believing that they have it to mask the ugly truth in the word life.

"Bakit ngayon ka lang? Galing ka na naman ba sa babae mo?"

Iyan ang famous greeting ng nanay ko sa tatay ko tuwing hinahating-gabi siya ng uwi. Minsan galing siya sa office. Minsan, tama si mama. Galing siya sa mistress niya. Pero minsan naman nagsasabi ng totoo ang tatay ko. Galing nga siya sa opisina pero nandoon din ang babae niya.

"Claire please. I'm exhausted. Galing lang ako sa opisina. Stop being so paranoid."

At iyan naman ang isa sa napakaraming mga palusot ni papa pag naghahamon na ng away ang tono ng boses ni mama.

"Kung hindi ka pala sigurado sa akin noon, e bakit mo ako pinakasalan?!"

Diyan nagsisimula ang sigawan nilang dalawa. Usually, ma will dramatically storm out of their bedroom screaming that sickeningly familiar question, awakening not just the whole house but my father's anger as well. At pag galit na si papa, sasagot naman siya...

"Cause it was the right thing to do. Or so I thought."

Which is very hurtful. Hindi lang para kay mama, pero para sa akin din. He married my mother because he then thought it was the right thing to do. Until now. Masakit para sa akin na isipin na kaya niya niyaya si mama na magpakasal noon, ay dahil dumating ako sa buhay nila. Dahil nagbunga ang mga kalokohan nila noong kabataan nila. Knowing that I was the one who urged them to do the biggest mistake of their lives is one hell of a baggage for me to carry.

So my parents. Sila ang dahilan kung bakit wala akong tiwala sa tinatawag nilang pag-ibig... Then I met two people who got me to believe. Who got me to trust in love. Ang best friend ko at ang girlfriend niya. I saw how ridiculously in love they are. Ibang-iba sa mga magulang ko. Leo and Rain got me thinking.

"How could they live in one house without getting on each other's nerves? Pag-ibig nga ba talaga ang tawag sa kung ano man ang meron sila? O baka naman nililinlang lang din nila ang mga sarili nila na meron ngang love na namamagitan sa kanilang dalawa para takasan ang mga problema nila sa mga pamilya nila?"

Leo and Lorain somehow convinced me to believe in this thing people call love. Napaniwala nila ako hanggang sa umabot na sa puntong nilinlang at pinaniwala ko na ang sarili ko na nararanasan ko na ang P*t*ng in*ng pag-ibig na iyan.

Cyd. Cinderella Sulok. That's her name. Siya ang kauna-unahang babaeng pinili ng puso kong mahalin. Katulad din ng iba, sa una, maganda ang kinalabasan ng pag-amin ko. But then it all fell apart.

The two people who got me to believe in love's relationship started whirling around the toilet. And just like that, wala na. Everything I believed in got flushed away like sh*t. Leo was miserable. Lorain... God knows what happened to her. And me? I was lost. Naapektohan din ako nang magbreak ang dalawang taong tinitingala ko pagdating sa pag-ibig. Para akong biglaang binuhusan ng malamig na tubig, ginising at hinila papalayo sa magandang panaginip at ibinalik ako sa napakapanget at napakapait na reyalidad.

I became unaware of my actions. Hanggang ngayon, hindi ko pa rin alam o matandaan kung anu-ano ba ang mga nagawa ko noon at napalayo ang loob, ng babaeng minamahal ko, sa akin.

"Please tigilan mo na ako. Akala ko nagbago ka na. Pero ikaw pa rin pala ang Alex na mahilig mang g*go ng ibang tao! Umalis ka na. I don't ever want to see your face again!"

"Akala ko ba mahal mo na ako?"

"I thought I did. But I-I was wrong. I can never love you or anybody of your kind."

That was the last thing she said before disappearing. A few months after I got jilted, I heard she moved to England. Interacting with her fellow geniuses out there. I followed her. I decided to pay her a quick visit and I saw how well she was doing. I saw how busy she was fulfilling her dreams. Nandoon na ako eh..but I panicked. I chickened out. I was too afraid that if I approach her, she'd repeat those painful words she used then to reject me. Those words that crushed me.

Nobody knew about that move of mine. And that was the last time I saw her. Every single day, I regret not talking to her. Since that day, I lived wondering; What if? What if I approached her then? Would she change her mind? What if she saw me then? Makikita kaya niya na iba ako sa taong inakala niyang ako? What if me following her steps in England change her impression on me. Would she be annoyed, creeped out or impressed?

Instead of dwelling on those questions and that lousy memory, I busied myself getting my life knee-deep in trouble. Lost and dazed I was. I became reckless. I continued being that sloppy jerk Cyd thought I was. I treated life like the way I used to treat love. A big joke. I treated people like doormats. Some I respect, a lot I manipulate. And women? I play women like a pinball game. Talbog dito, talbog doon. And once I get bored, I'll stop countering and hitting them, simply letting them fall deep inside that dark hole.

Three years after Cyd left, Lorain came back into the picture. Leo's light came back. Noong una, natakot din siya na harapin si Lorain. I saw how pathetic and weak he was. I saw how I looked like when it was I who was standing in his place. Not did I let him do the same mistake I did years back. Ako mismo ang nagpumilit at humanap ng paraan para harapin niya si Rain. Since then, the man I once knew suddenly came rising from his grave, fighting for the woman he is deeply in love with. It gave me hope. Hope to witness, for the second time, that love that got me to believe. The love that inspired my heart to love. To trust in love. To love her. Cinderella. That stubborn, intelligent, crazy, annoying, loud, beautifully frustrating woman.

The big question is: will I ever get that second chance Leo had with Lorain? Will there ever be an answer to end my WHAT IFs? Will she ever be my Cinderella?

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