Gloane Alcaraz never dreamed of more than a quiet, survivable life. If the world would grant her one mercy, it would be a future where she and her younger sister, Cianna, could wake up without fear. Far from violence, far from hunger, and far from the man who once called himself their father. Ang kolehiyo ang naging lugar kung saan kailangan niyang patunayan ang sariling halaga. Ang paggraduate ay hindi na simpleng pangarap, kundi isang pananagutan para kay Cianna. Pero sa likod ng mataas na pamantayan, mas kilala siya bilang pariwarang estudyante, dahilan ng init ng ulo ng mga propesor, laman ng discipline record. Then Sinan Noam Alfaro came into the picture. He was her opposite in every way: precise where she was guarded, polished where she was worn thin. An English major with near-perfect scores, well-mannered and has a clean record. She found herself allowing him into the parts of her life she had learned to hide. With Sinan, the weight of the world did not need explanation. She tried to disappear. She always did. Pero hindi nakaligtas kay Sinan ang mga bakas na iniwan niya, ang mga lamat na dulot ng bigat ng mundong ginagalawan niya, at ang mga alaalang inakala niyang sapat nang ibaon para takasan. She ran. He always followed. There's always something left to trace. Bittersweet Series #1: Catching the Wind's Traces (Completed)

For Maria Florenais Andrada, dancing is the only place where the noise softens, where breathing does not feel like labor, where peace feels briefly within reach. But her family became her prison. The very home she believed would accept her was the first to reject the love she held for dancing. Ipinadama nilang hindi kalayaan ang pagsayaw kundi limitasyon. Ang pag-angat ng mga kamay ay pagsuway, ang pag-indak ng balakang ay kasalanan, at ang bawat hakbang ng mga paa ay rebelyon. In the sea of chaos, Sancho Miguel Cojuangco pulled Florenais from the grasp of the waves, shielding her from the sea's hunger. Sa kanya napatunayan ni Florenais na totoo pala ang nakakabaliw na pag-ibig. Totoo ang naglilikot paruparo sa t'yan. Totoo ang nakakabinging kabog ng dibdib. Totoo ang panginginig ng tuhod. Totoo ang hindi maipaliwanag na damdamin. Sa kabila ng mala-paraisong dala ng damdamin, hinanakit ang sukli nito. Dahil ang pagmamahal ay hindi lang nagpapagaling, umuubos din. Unti-unti kang sisimutin. Pati lakas mo'y hihigupin. Maging ang paglanghap mo ng hangin ay kailangang pagtrabahuhin. Yes, love is sweet. But at the end of its taste waits bitterness until it tightens around you and pulls you under, drowning you in the very sea that has always felt like death. Bittersweet Series #2: Just a Hidden Theory

May mga sandali na kapag pagod ka na sa pagsusulat ng assignments, pagtitipa sa keyboard ng laptop, pagbabasa ng libro at panghihina sa pagtatrabaho, mapagtatanto mo na nakatitig ka na lang sa labas ng bintana. For Louana Denise Soliman, looking out the window is more than a pause for rest. It is a quiet moment of recognition of seeing the beauty of life unfolding just beyond reach. Despite the world's failures, mistakes, and wrongs, she never saw it as flawed. Except for herself, as the one whom everyone expects to be perfect, the student who cannot falter. Gusto rin niyang mapasama sa mundong tanggap ang magkamali, magreklamo at matalo. The world where stumbling is not failure, where asking for help is not weakness, and where failing a test does not measure your success. Alone in her room, she notices Arvid Lonzo (Alon) Peralta, a dancer and civil engineering student with a contagious smile and playful jokes. Despite the hundreds of girls who admire him, he looks back at her as though she is the one being admired from the window. In the fragile and quiet moments they shared with each other, he makes space for everything she has been taught to hide. Her mistakes, her failures, her tears. All. But then the world intervenes. It's as if the windows close around them, forcing them to see each other in isolation. That life they've been imagining together and the world they thought they shared is impossible. Bittersweet Series #3: A Window of the Candle