23 parts Ongoing In life, one has to be Strong- you just have to.
I grew up in a complete but imperfect household and was constantly pressured in my academics by my mother who sees nothing in my achievements but sees everything in my mistakes. A mere mediocre, in her words. Kahit siguro anong gawin ko at anong isakripisiyo ko, hangga't hindi ako ang nasa unahan at hindi ako ang pinakamataas, I will still be a failure. As the youngest in my family, I was forced to be strong. I had to be because I had no one else.
That is before I met a man in a green shirt, frowning at my strawberry sandwich sticking on it, Kleo Zeke D'Achille. He wrapped me in his arms and my walls crumbled, my fears melted from his warm embrace and shielded my fragile heart from the rocks that pierced through my shattered skin. For the first time in my entire life, I didn't need to be strong; I was cared for.
But somehow, when I finally lowered my defenses and allowed myself to be vulnerable within the embrace of the man I loved, fate turned treacherous, thrusting me back into the prison I had once fled. Alone with the pieces of my heart. Alone in the cage I'm forced to be strong.