Author: long

“I won’t be coming on your Cebu trip today.” That’s all Mariel Santos said while we were in the middle of dinner at the Villanueva family’s house in Quezon City. Her voice was calm. No shouting. No tears. No trembling whatsoever. But inside him, a world was quietly collapsing. Andres Villanueva, her husband of six…

Nagkamali ako. Dahil isang hapon sa isang showroom sa Bonifacio Global City, nagpadala ako ng mensaheng dapat para sa best friend ko lang… Pero napunta iyon sa official work group chat ng kompanya. Tatlong daan at pitumpu’t dalawang tao ang nakabasa. At ang laman ng mensahe? “Lord, tulungan mo ako. Gusto ko talagang mahawakan ang…

On April Fools’ Day, some of my male classmates poured dishwashing liquid right on the door of our classroom. Their target? Our adviser, Ma’am Clarisse—eight months pregnant, her stomach already heavy, and she could barely walk. Just one wrong step, and it might not be a simple joke anymore. I was the first to slip….

After I returned home from a three-day business trip to Cebu, I found two giant crabs in the kitchen. My mother sent it from Davao. But before I could ask the chef to do it, our housekeeper stopped me. “Ma’am Elena,” he said coldly, “Sir Arturo and Sir Miko will not be eating here this…

The day my parents divorced, Mom pointed at Dad’s face and called him a worthless beggar. She got into the black Maybach with my brother and his billionaire girlfriend. Before she left, she turned to me and grinned. “Go with that scum, Nico. You’ll starve to death on the sidewalk.” In my first life, I…

My husband said the hospital was full. There were no more beds. There was no more medicine. There was no more hope. So he left me lying on the old mattress in the living room, writhing in pain, while I just waited for my breathing to stop. But a call from St. Raphael Private Medical…

At my best friend’s wedding, I wasn’t looking forward to a bouquet. Him. The groom’s quiet uncle looks like he’s straight out of an expensive TV series—tall, cold-eyed, and with the face of a man you know is dangerous to love. I thought I could make him fall in love with me. Until I read…

On my first day as a freshman in Manila, my roommate immediately stole the black card that Dad had given me. He didn’t know, it was a supplementary card in my name. And what he didn’t know was, with just one text from me to my brother, the “unlimited” money he was bragging about to…

My sister-in-law has been lying on our sofa for five days. He doesn’t eat. He doesn’t drink. He doesn’t bathe. And the reason? He wants me to give his son the only condo reserved for my daughter’s future. “Youngest…” he whispered softly as he closed his eyes, his lips very dry. “Have mercy on Nico….

I didn’t return to the Philippines to chase the man who once left me on the most painful day of my life. I came back to attend my best friend’s wedding. But that very day, in front of the people who once laughed at my brokenness, I once again saw Atty. Rafael Monteverde—the man who…