Once Mine

Prologue: Scars

People have scars in all sorts of unexpected places like secret road maps of their personal histories, diagrams of all their old wounds. Most of our old wounds heal leaving nothing behind but a scar. But some of them don't. Some wounds we carry with us everywhere and though the cut's long gone, the pain still lingers.

-Grey's Anatomy

I was never alone - all my life, I was never alone. Back to the moment I came out of this world up to the part of my sweet sixteen - I was never alone.

I guess that it's the perks of having a twin for a sibling.

You are never going to be alone.

Having a twin is like having a best friend for life - until eternity. I was never the alone girl in the new elementary school or the alone girl in high school or junior high or in the senior high - Hyron is always with me, making sure that I was never out of place.

"You coming, Little Hyan?"

I'm not little anymore but he seemed to be really fond of calling me that so I just go along with him.

Hryon and I were raised in a way to always protect each other. I always have his back and I always have his. Kapag nagagalit ang mga magulang namin ay pagtatakpan namin ang isa't isa.

Just like the part when Hyron took father's car so he can date his girlfriend and then ended up smashing it. Mabuti at hindi siya nasaktan. We were fourteen then and I had to cover up for him. I told dad that the neighbor threw a big rock on his Chevrolet and broke it. I didn't know if he believed me then but he never asked about it.

"I swear he knew!" I told him one night after sneaking to his room.

"How would he know?" He was making me asar.

"Hyron, our father is way smarter than us. Don't you think that he would stare at us like with his eyes in a darker shade of green if he doesn't know anything?!" I am frantic. I know in my heart of hearts, Daddy is gonna ground us and I might just lose my Iphone because of the lie I made. I love my phone and the selfies in it!

"He doesn't. If he does, don't you think he would've grounded us by now? It's Helios Demitri we are talking about - not just some random guy in the kanto." He even laughed at me.

"I don't know, Hyron... I'm really scared."

"Shut up, Hyan. He doesn't know."

I trusted him. Maybe I was just over thinking. Why would dad won't say anything if he knew what happened to his car already? Bumalik akosa kwarto ko but before that, napadaan ako sa private office ni Daddy.

I slowed down a bit... waiting for whatever I can hear...

But then, I saw him standing in front of me. His arms were crossed in front of his chest. His eyes, darker this time - a lot.

"I was right..." I said. I bit my lower lip. "You knew."

"Yes, Little Hyan. I do. And because of that, you and your brother will spend your semestral break working on the factory, collecting the spare magnets, until you two have paid the damage you have done to my Chevrolet. Understood, Little Hyan?"

"But, Daddy?!"

"I have talked to your mother about it and she agreed with me. Don't act like you're a spoiled brat because I didn't raise you like that."

He walked out. I took a deep breath. Bigla ay naramdaman kong inakbayan ako ng kapatid ko.

"Hey! Think about it, at least you have me there with you, you're never gonna be alone." He kissed my cheek. "Now, let's put you to bed, Little Hyan."