Meet Me By 8

Dalawa lang ang alam ni Hannah: ang maging panganay at ang maging Ate. Their parents were still around, but somewhere along the way, she became the one everyone leaned on.

And since then, every day felt like a battlefield--one she wasn't even equipped for.

Ni hindi na niya maalala kung kailan niya huling hinayaan ang sarili na sumaya, o kung pati ba iyon ay ipagkakait din sa kaniya ng tadhana.

She never had a boyfriend. Not even a fleeting almost. But her heart wasn't at all made of steel, contrary to what her friends always thought. It still skipped a beat--especially when Sid was nearby. That seemingly aloof, popular guy who somehow found a way past her defenses, no matter how hard she tried to deny it.

Pero wala na siyang balak pang payabungin ang nararamdaman. Kuntento na siyang tinatanaw lang si Sid sa malayo. She couldn't afford to get distracted anyway.
She had built her walls so high, no one was ever allowed to climb them.

Until Sid did.

He showed her a kind of gentleness she wasn't used to. He made her feel the opposite of everything she'd grown accustomed to, a softness that felt foreign against her rough hands.

And that sparked another war--this time, inside her heart.

But life has a way of reminding her why the walls were there in the first place.

Because sometimes, the hardest part wasn't being alone. It's letting someone in, only to realize they were never meant to stay.

Or maybe . . . she was the one who never could.

06•15•25