STUNNED ✓

Chapter TWENTY

"You may say that, but I'm the one who started it all. Hindi na sana nadamay pa ang Papa mo kung hindi niya ako kinailangang iligtas nuon."

"Please don't say that," he said. I smiled bitterly.

"That is just the truth Noah. Kung hindi ako tumira dito malamang walang inosenteng tao ang madadamay nanaman. Hindi kana sana nagulo pa." Kinagat ko ang ibabang labi ko matapos sabihin iyon.

"But you are just trying to live, wala kang kasalanan sa nangyari nuon o ngayon man. Lahat ito kasalanan ng mga Tahana na 'yan. Naiipit kalang sa sitwasyon Liv, please don't think that way."

"Kasalanan ko man o hindi, hindi parin maitatago ang katotohanang tumatakbo sa ugat ko ang dugo ng isang Dark. After everything that transpired, I believe that everyone was correct—I am a wild cub after all. A cub that is too little to hurt anyone, yet is nonetheless considered wild since it will one day grow up to be a lion." Nilingon ko ang labas ng mag umpisang pumatak ang ulan.

"Alam mo ba ang istorya ng The Lion King?" He asked, and I shot him a blank stare. Then he nodded his head and grinned feebly.

"It's about a young lion named Simba, who is the crown prince."

"So what it has to do with me?"

"Nothing, I just want to tell you the moral lesson of the story." I gave him a strange look, but I gave him a small nod to carry on.

"Well the young lion named Simba, is very jolly and energetic. With his small age he dream to role the land like his father's but when his father dies in an accident staged by his uncle, Simba is made to feel responsible for his father's death. He leave the land unhopeless and devastated while the uncle rules with an iron paw." As Noah begins to narrate a narrative about this lion baby named Simba, I find myself sitting up straight and paying close attention to his expression. The abrupt memories that keep racing through my head caused a sharp aching in my chest.

I know I was once a small child who loved to play and grin, even though I can't remember any of my childhood. My brother said, in a voice I still recall, that I had the loveliest smile ever. That day, I'm sure I was really joyful and cheerful, and never thought that I would be feeling this way now. Characterized as fearful, devoid of emotion, and suffering from schizophrenia. being referred to as suicidal and having no prospects.

"The prince grows up beyond the Savannah where he meets his friends Timon and Pumbaa, the outcast who tought him about Hakuna Matata."

"What is that?" I curiously asked, he smiled.

"It's a motto which means, no worries," I smirk.

"Did Simba believes that- what it's called again? Hakowna Matada?" natawa ito sa sinabi ko.

"Hakuna Matata. In response to your inquiry, he did accept their Hakuna Matata practices. Timon and Pumbaa advise him to go past his past, regardless of what happened to him. He thus lives with them as a fellow misfit in their utopia of a jungle, where they teach him to eat bugs instead of meat. Simba starts to feel better and develops into a robust, carefree adult."

"And?" Nagugulohan kong tanong.

"And the same applies to you. You need to move on from your past. Because you have nothing to be sorry for. They simply exploited your early years. Despite having their blood, you are still who you are. "

"How could I ever leave the past behind, If I had to go back there?" I posed the question ridiculously.

"Restoring does not need gathering up those despondent emotions from the past. You had to go back because you needed to take something away from it. And when it's over, you won't find the world to be as depressing. Every location eventually turns into your own little paradise. Liv, trust me, matatapos din to." His hands found mine and gently squeezed it, giving me the willpower to at least attempt to muster his courage.