Winds of Celestial (Heron Series #1)

Epilogue

She's enjoying the food and appreciating every bit of it, while I still complain about the taste.

"Masarap," she said, and she thanked me multiple times.

Hindi ko na mabilang sa kamay ko kung ilang beses siyang nagpasalamat at kung gaano siya kasaya na nakakain siya sa ganitong restaurant.

It just doesn't make sense to me.

I've always been self-centered, and I never think of anyone but me and my family and the responsibility that I have. I've been in a pressure cooker, and all I think about is myself and that responsibility. I know that there are two worlds: my world and the world of the less privileged, but I never care about that.

But Liah opened me to that world, and she made me see that world and the unfairness in this world. She was right: Ang mundo ay tatsulok. Ang tuktok ay ang mundo ng mga taong mayaman at patuloy na yumayaman, and ang ibaba ay ang mundo ng mahihirap na mas lalong humihirap.

She didn't make me feel that I was to blame, and she just wanted to tell me that there's an unfair world. Namulat ako sa totoong mundo na kinabibilangan ko. I was educated; she educated me.

Those words from her led me to be a better person and to be more understanding as a person who has power.

We broke up because of such circumstances that have happened to me. The words that I said to her were too much, and they broke her. I regretted everything I said, but it was already too late. The damage has been done. I was damaged, I was hurt, and I was broken, but I hurt her too for the words that I said to her.

"Cheaters are not fit in this world."

I never thought that I would hurt someone with my words. I was crying the whole night after I left her in that room. I wanted to take back what I said, but I'm hurt. Tao ako at nasaktan ako. I witnessed everything, and I concluded what I wanted to conclude because that's what I saw, but I knew in that part of me that I was wrong.

I saw her as a liar, a cheater, and someone who intentionally hurt me when she wasn't. I judged her too quickly.

I will always accept the invitations that Tito William makes. My eyes will always look for her, but I never saw her, not even once. No one is mentioning her either, like she wasn't part of the family, but I know that it's her choice, pero bakit nasasaktan ako?

Walang palya, sa dalawang taon na pumupunta ako sa bahay ni Tito William, siya ang una 'kong laging hinahanap. But she never showed. I waited for the day that Tito William would mention her, and he did.

"My youngest is studying hard. She doesn't like this kind of gathering because she's shy," he laughed. "But she's currently busy, and she's been refusing all the dinners that I'm hosting, but we understand; she's a third-year college student, busy na talaga."

That's the news that I first heard from her after so many months, but it's not making any sense. She's not refusing just because she's busy; she's refusing because there is a deep reason behind that. Those words were enough for me to be able to read her, and I will always go back to the words that I have said to her.

"Cheaters will not fit to this world."

I want to ask them about her, but I also don't want them to know that I knew her. She never told them about me, and that will stay that way.

"Naglabas po ako ng sama ng loob, sir."

She's here. She's working for this company. She seems shocked that I'm here and that I am the boss. Did she not do research on the company? Or she doesn't know about me anymore?

I rejected all of their works, including hers. It's not that I'm not satisfied, but I want more. I want her to push her limits and think outside the box. It's her first time here, and her work is for the college and not for a corporation.