Before Twenty

"Mahal na kita, Shein." Sandro said, his voice trembling as tears welled up in his eyes.

I smiled then a smile born from both pain and warmth.

"Pwede na akong mamatay?" I said softly, my lips curving upward as if I had finally found peace in that single moment.

*****

Before turning twenty, Shein Deroma only wanted one thing to know what love feels like.

An only daughter raised in comfort, security, and quiet expectations, Shein appears to have a perfect life. A wealthy and caring family, a future already planned, and a smile convincing enough to fool everyone around her. But behind that calm exterior is a girl who has never been in love. No boyfriends. No confessions. No heartbreaks. Only unanswered questions about a feeling she has never experienced.

As time slips away, Shein makes a promise to herself: she will experience love before she turns twenty.

Entering senior high school at Kingsthrones University, her carefully controlled world begins to shift. Friendships grow deeper, emotions surface, and curiosity slowly turns into something far more dangerous.

Then there's Sandro Montaire her age, yet already the campus director. Composed, disciplined, and quietly intimidating, he is everything Shein never expected to be drawn to. The closer they grow, the harder it becomes to tell where curiosity ends and where love begins.

But love is never simple.

As secrets buried within families begin to surface, truths long hidden threaten to change everything Shein believes about love, trust, and herself.

In a world where growing up happens faster than expected,
one promise, one confession, and one choice will change everything.