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∽ m i r a c l e ' s  p e r s p e c t i v e ∽

"M-Mom, D-Dad." I say as I bow my head, paying my respect. "You both surprised me."

"That's good to know." Dad replies and I only smile a bit. "I can see that you have a visitor." Then he asks, gazing at Chance.

"Ah, no. It's Kuya Mike's visitor." I deny. Well, he really is Kuya Mike's visitor.

"Really?" Dad says, "Mikhail, why don't you introduce your visitor?"

Kuya Mike only taps Chance's shoulder, telling him to introduce himself.

Chance composes himself and gains some nerves, "Good afternoon, sir and ma'am. I'm Chance Cain, a classmate of her." and he introduces slightly stuttering, and feels kinda hesitant to call my name in front of my parents.

"You are a friend of Miracle, you mean?" my father corrected.

"Right, sir."

I went beside Mom and she gave me a longing kiss on my forehead. "I missed you, Miracle." my mother says to me with gentle eyes.

I nod my head slightly down and offer her a shy grin. Only Mom can make me feel soft. I am closed to my mother more than my father. In her presence, I can show her my fragile moments. I can cry to her.

Opposite to Dad, she tried to object to make me a reaper and insisted to stay as a human. But my Dad didn't allow it.

"Siya ba ang kinukwento ni Mike sa amin, Miracle?" My Mom asks me quietly.

"Opo,"

"I see." Mom says while smiling, teasing me.

I know what she means. Even her.

"Now," I hear Dad say. "And Chance, can I talk to you for a while?"

I got alarmed. What does he want to him? What is he planning? I questionably stare at Dad. He chuckles at my reaction and he just pats my head.

"Sure, Mister Twain." Chance formally replies.

"Come. In my study room." Dad remarks in low calm voice and starts walking. Then Chance follows him until they leaves the foyer area.

"It can't be helped," says Mom, "Your Dad is just worried about you."

I nod my head. She is right. Dad is a strict person, but when something happened that matters the family, he will be the first one to make a move on how to protect us. I understand that everything that he have done is only for our sake. I'm grateful for it. That is the reason why I can't disobey him.

Instead of worrying about what Dad may say to Chance, I'll finish this through eating. Mom cooked for our lunch.

After a minute, Kuya Mike comes, "Hi, baby girl." and greets while sitting beside me. He is now wearing a V-neck shirt and a khaki short.

"Yo." I return.

"So, do you mind if you tell the story?" he gives me a sideward grin.

"Well . . . if you are pertaining about what happened last night, it was just coincidental." I answer. "Chance was with Nate when he was about to leave, then Nate ordered Chance to take care of me."

"Really, huh?" Kuya Mike says incredulously, "When did Chance discover all the truths about you?"

"Only yesterday."

"I see," he muses while nodding. "I have just noticed, Miracle . . ."

"What?" I ask silently.

"That you are oddly attached to Chance these days."

I immediately glued my eyes down as I try to realize if I'm oddly attached to him. I exhale and return my gazes to my brother. "Y-You can say that, though. Is it that bad?"

Then he chuckles, "No, no, not really. But to make it straight," he pauses on mid-sentence to collect some air to breathe. "Do you like Chance, Miracle?"

I am bit flabbergasted on what he said. My mind is in disarray right now. I don't know what to react to his question. Inhaling and exhaling, I decide to tell him my confusion. "I don't know, Kuya. I have no idea what's liking someone feels like."

Kuya Mike have this amused expression on his face and all of the sudden, he just embraces me and kisses the top of my head. "Hahaha, I forgot that my little girl is a naive one."

"Kuya, naman." I whine silently while grumbling my face.  "What can you tell me to distinguish if I'm already liking someone."

"Hmn . . ." he hums while narrowing his eyes, thinking for an answer. "Well, I think you will feel something have changed in your perspective. And not just because that someone is showing you new landscapes and sceneries, but because that person have given you a new pair of eyes."

My eyes widen. And I just felt something twinkled inside me. I somehow understand what he said. I have experienced that. I also remember that I said something relatable to that.

"But," he continues, "be careful, Miracle, because sometimes, those new set of eyes are just illusions."

I gape at Kuya Mike and stare deeply to his eyes. His eyes are not really like mine. There is a life in him. His irises are blue, but if looking closer, they are greenish. I'm always fascinated to his eyes. It's like I'm seeing the whole Earth on those small orbs.

"Miracle . . ?" he calls, snapping out of my daze. "Is there something wrong?"

I shake my head, "No, it's just . . . I like your eyes."

He laughs softly, "Really?"

I nod and give him a shy smile, "There's something in your eyes. Is that love?"

Kuya Mike is only smiling coyly as he gazes at me. "Maybe."

"Then why don't you invite her to come over?" I suggest.

"Right, I'll call her."

Kuya Mike is about to pick his phone when someone said behind, "Who's that 'her'?"

My brother and I both look at the voice came from. And it took us by surprise when Ate Bea is here!

~ ♕ ~

∽ c h a n c e ' s  p e r s p e c t i v e ∽

"So, Chance Cain," his father prompts soon as we came inside the study room, "How's your father?"

I remain silent for a moment. He knows my father. "He's out of the country this moment, sir."

"I see." the man replies, sitting on the swivel chair while resting his elbows on the table in front of him. "Just send my regards to him, Young Cain."

I nod my head politely. "If I may ask, sir, are you an acquaintance to my father?"

I saw him purses his mouth a little, "Not really. He's just a partner to business. But your mother was a friend to my wife."

"I never heard any of that before." I answer while frowning. "Mom was a friend to your spouse?"

"Yes," he shrugs, "your father must have kept it a secret since he suspected us that we are responsible to your mother's death."

I groan silently. That is a heavy revelation. I never knew that there is a connection happened before. I collect some air inside me, "Aren't you?" then I shot back.

"You only heard of this just now, but you are already suspecting us?" then a grim smile creeps to his mouth, creating a sinister façade on his face. "Hypocritical, are we?"

I kept my blank expression still, although there is rumbling inside. It is as though I am meeting a inhuman person. "Since I happened to know what's the dark side of your family, I can't help but to think of that."

Then in just a moment, he dispatches the insidious aura as the atmosphere became light. And truth be told, I felt like my breaths came back to me. "It doesn't matter. I received that a lot." and he answered. "I can see that you have discovered many dark secrets to my family. How much do you know, Young Cain? Especially to my daughter."

"Not much." I tell him, "Except the fact that she was trying kill me last night."

The he chuckles in low tone. "How come that you're still alive right now?"

"I don't know." I say. I can't just tell him that I kissed her in order to cut her reckless actions. "I only fought back."

"You must be good in fighting that you survived." his father comments, "Young Cain, things are changing right now, particularly to Miracle, are you one of those reasons?"

"I don't know." Yes, I don't know. "But I also noticed that something have also changed in me when I met her."

Once again, he lifts the corner of his lips. Yet this time, it is much softer, "Do you like her . . . Chance?"

On that point, my rights to talk have stolen from me. There's a lump on my throat that I can't let it out even if I swallow it whole.

But then, I answered shortly, "What if I do?"

The man lets out a sigh, "Do you know why I kept the world to know that I have a daughter?"

Right. I never heard that the Twain family have a daughter. Even Nate never told me that he have a sister.

"Because I'm protecting her." he answers. "Even though I raised her as a monster, everything is for her sake. Since then, I had been protecting her. Until now, I am protecting her. And even in the future, I will be protecting her. But I can't do that alone, now that my son Nathan left."

I'm only listening to him. His love for his daughter is great. I only can't see a father in front of me, but also a good leader that even he would sacrifice everything, just for all the sake of his house. This man is a wise king of his kingdom.

"Then, Chance Cain," he stated, "Would you work for me?"

Work for him? "As what?"

"As her guardian." he says, "Just be cautious, Young Cain, because anyone who walk with her in the path of life, will unfortunately die in the midst of the journey."

Like I have choice. I have kissed the sweet sting of the poison. The poison is already inside of me, trying to paralyze my system.

What I'm doing right now is that . . . I'm waiting for death.

~ ♕ ~

∽ m i r a c l e ' s  p e r s p e c t i v e ∽

"Ate Bea," I say out of surprise. We never heard her entered inside. Even a glitch of her presence, we sensed nothing.

"Bea," Kuya addresses, standing up as he faces her. "You're here."

"Yeah, your mom called me to come over for a lunch." answers her. "And you haven't answered my question. Who's that 'her'?"

Kuya Mike eyed me, telling me to cover the furor up. "Uh, well, I told Kuya Mike that . . ." I trail, "I wanted to see you, and asked him to call you to invite Ate Bea for lunch."

"Heh, really?" she says with indifferent look. "But we met yesterday, Nat, in my class. Oh, my gosh! I never saw right after break, and then received the news that you went missing the whole day! What happened, Nat? Where have you been last night?"

I don't know if I'll be thankful that she have forgotten what we talked a moment ago and became overreacting.

"I cut class and stayed somewhere to chill my thoughts." I mutter my answer, "Then when the night came, I said my farewell to Nate. But right after he was off, somebody tried to ambush us."

"Us?" she frowns her lips.

"Yeah, Chance was also in the scene." I say, "Then we only escaped, using his car, and went to my private resort. We only spent the night there and returned home the morning."

After I explain my part, a infuriated expression painted on her face. And then, out of the blue, she punched Kuya Mike in the jaw!!

"Why the hell you let that happened, you bastard?!" Ate Bea screeches, facing my brother and pulls his collar, "Where were you, huh? Why were you leaving your sister to some guy? Do you want me to kill you?!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Kuya Mike winces. That punch hurts. I can feel the pain. "If there's somebody to blame here, it's not me, Bea!"

"Then who?" she says brusquely.

"That guy." Then Kuya Mike points the person.

I only noticed that Chance is already here. A perplexed look is on his face.

Ate Bea quickly gazes at Chance. And her anger ignited again. She starts walking to his direction, but when Dad appears on the setting. Ate Bea's anger vanishes after seeing Dad.

Dad smiles to her, "Bea, you are as lively as ever, lass."

Ate Bea's calm composure came back after Dad greeting her. "Yes, Tito, it's a good day."

"Sure it is." father replies. After that, he left, saying he'll talk to Mom.

Back to Ate Bea, she marches to Chance and gives him a surprised punch on his abdomen.

Chance is down on his knees as I felt sorry for him. Kuya Mike went to his location and asked him if he is all right.

Ate Bea then faces me. She grabs my shoulders and says, "Nat, tell me that nothing happened. Did he touch you? Did he do something terrible to you?"

She's being paranoid. "No, Ate. N-Nothing happened." I tell her. I don't know, but I feel like blushing.

"Y-Yeah . . . Nothing really happened. She only attempted to kill me." Chance says while grunting.

"Oh-ho. I'll be thankful then." Ate Bea replies with gritted teeth. "You want me to end yer life now?"

I see Chance sigh, "Tell me that she's not my class adviser."

I only shake my head while laughing silently. "Whatever, guys. I just want to eat already."

The fuss never lasts as I go out of the scene and walk to the way where it leads me to the kitchen. They never protest, but to follow me.

What can I say. Food settles everything.

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