Tiara Millicent Silvano is considered as one of the most famous and influential prima ballerinas.
She was at the top. There was no place to go. There was nothing more to reach for. Control, which had been the power she yielded from a very young age...
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#DS7Unbalanced #InoCent #SMCouple #DaggerSeries
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: PERFECT
TIARA'S POV
I couldn't look away from the paper. It feels like it would disappear if I blinked. For a moment, I wasn't even sure if this was reality. Everything seems to be in a blur, surrounding me with a heavy haze. The air feels strangely thick that breathing is becoming harder for me at the same time that my heart is beating erratically inside my chest.
I traced the paper with a shaking finger, and I stopped and stared at my name on the paper and the word below it.
Milli¢ent. Anak.
Napatayo ako at naramdaman ko ang kaagad na pagsunod ni Domino. I couldn't think. I couldn't hear anything. But I did feel his hand on me. He didn't try to stop me. Instead, I could feel him moving with me, not minding that even I didn't know where I wanted to go.
I found myself in a hallway, my heart thudding hard and fast. The weight of the realization from that one word that was written on the paper I'm still gripping tightly with my hand bore down on my shoulders.
I can't believe that I forgot...
"Doll." Domino leaned down so that our eyes were on the same level, and he rubbed my arms comfortingly. "Talk to me, please."
"He called me that before," I whispered. "Anak."
I rarely think about him. Memories of him are too painful to remember. Aside from that, it feels like I shouldn't. I shouldn't wonder where he is or what he thinks about me. Hindi dapat ako maghanap kasi wala kaming karapatan.
"It wasn't often. I was a lot younger when he used to call me that. At that time, I didn't know that many Tagalog words. Then... then he was out of our lives, and I forgot. I forgot a lot of things about him. I don't even remember his face clearly or the sound of his voice."
"Tiara—"
"That word.... he's Filipino, Domino."
Babusya was right, even though I doubt she knew more than I did. She used to say that I have more Filipino in me, even though I don't look like one. She said that I have the heart of her people more than some people who were born in the country. Who would have thought that I literally have it in me through my blood?
"We can't say for sure yet, doll. What if this is just a ploy—"
I cut him off again with a shake of my head. "I may not remember a lot of things when it comes to him, but I do remember this one." Itinuro ko ang pangalan ko na nakasulat sa papel. "He used to write my name with the currency symbol of cent. No one knows about it because I haven't told anyone."
My gaze dropped to the paper again. Thinking about him hurts. I was sure that there's no way that I would ever see him again. Ang laki masyado ng mundo para magkita kami ulit. I don't know his name, the image of his face is blurry in my memory, but the conversations he had with my mother are all clear, as if I just heard them yesterday.
