The Painful Kiss of Augustus
Chapter 1
While I was browsing through the internet, there were lots of articles about their family. Tons of family gathering pictures, business meetings, research auctions, and their philanthropic missions. There was no bad comments about their name as they embodied the name of good family. There were also a gala where I saw Ivy who was sporting her usual stoic look as she timidly socialized with everyone. She was perfectly fit to that kind of environment, the intimidating air that everyone carried was exactly the air she had. Scrolling all her photos, I could see nothing but a glint of coldness through the slits of her eyes.
There were also articles that talked about their other businesses. The fact that amazed me was that, every picture of events they were attending, the appearance of Ivy was expected. She was the sole heiress of the Cortez Group so it was necessary to see her in any gatherings like that. There was also a picture taken while she was talking on the podium, where everyone expected her to give a wonderful speech. Below that picture was the quoted speech of Ivy. While I was reading her message to that event, the amount of amusement within me intensified. She was ready to take the throne; she was molded to be like that. I suddenly wondered on how she will ride with the tide of her life especially that she was expected to be someone extraordinary. She was young, she was 14 years old but the life she was facing was for years ahead of her. However, I could not see nothing but emptiness- there was no contradiction or objection against the things tasked her to do.
As I scrolled the articles down, I was perturbed upon seeing an article which had been buried by latest articles. 'The Death of The Cortez scion.' That was the headline of the article. Scion? Death? Ivy was still alive. But then, when I clicked the article, I saw a name unfamiliar to me. Estefan Haroldius Cortez. The scion of the Cortez group was died due to a car accident. The article was just a short detail of the death accident of Estefan and it was obvious that the Family was trying to coverup something. 13th of December, 2018, Estefan Cortez's corpse was found below a cliff in Bataan. Some assumed that the Cortez scion was drunk during a hard drastic pour of rain. However, no one confirmed if it was true since Estefan was reportedly not a drunkard or anything like that.
Estefan was about to sit as the President of the Cortez group a year after the incident. The burial of Estefan was publicized since all people was eager to the news about it. It was surprising since Cortez did not publicize the whole detail of the death of their scion while they were open during the burial. However, the thing that surprised me the most was that, Ivy was no where to be found. It was odd especially that she was close to his brother. I tried to search about the two Cortez siblings and I saw some pictures of them. Ivy was happy, carelessly showing her complete set of pearl white teeth. My heart hammered my ribcage, this was the first time I saw her genuine smile, her eyes were gleaming with pure happiness.
"Hoy, ano 'yan?" Someone interrupted my research.
Instantly, I turned off my phone and annoyingly looked at Sion, a friend of mine. He tried to peek to my cellphone but it was no of use since the screen was turned off. I just shook my head and looked at the game practice. It was five in the afternoon and I could see the amber shaft of the sun, slowly percolating through the premises of this building.
"Malapit na palang gumabi," I tried to evade the topic.
"Nako, winawala mo pa ang usapan. Sino iyong iniistalk mo? Chicks ba 'yan?" He wiggled his brows.
I clicked my tongue, "Wala. Why are you meddling with my private life?"
He pouted- that obviously piqued me more, "Para ka namang may dalaw!"
