Spring City has been thriving amongst all the cities in the Philippines, built where once a mountain stood high, a new sanctuary for Felicia after running away from a painful past.
On her first day, she meets an eccentric neighbor, Carlotta claiming...
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Felicia left Santa Barbara in the wee hours of the morning of the 25th of October. Driving her second-hand minivan Viano, the back of the car filled with a few clothes, a lot of books and several paintings she would love to hang in the new living room wall. As she was turning the wheel, she thought about the decision of leaving the town she spent most of her life, and even wondered when will she be back again or will she ever go back at all. Her best friend, Lucy had been forcing this idea to her head. "You will eventually kill yourself if you continue imprisoning yourself here in Santa Barbara. You have to move on and start all over again! And besides, look at us. We're still young!" Those were the words that rang in Felicia's head over and over again. It seemed to be the best solution to forget the memories, to move on, and perhaps to find herself at the same time, optimistic that a new beginning would come if only she would spend some time of her own in a different place, far away from Santa Barbara. Funny because she has always thought she got her life all figured out. Felicia got a career as a curator in one of the main museums in her hometown. Her parents being collectors themselves taught her to appreciate art at an early age. An unfortunate event however, when her parents died in a plane crash accident on a flight to the northernmost part of the Philippines, leaving her a significant sum that can last her lifetimes. Her usual days were spent in the town's museum explaining the galleries to visitors. Other days will be spent reading countless books, or she would be found in her studio, painting the view from her window.
She met the smart and charming Richard when they were still in college. They would spend the weekends together, and although Richard did not have a thing with art as much as she does, he would make her laugh with his silly jokes and that was enough for her. A man with a humor and loves her, what else could she ask for? For years while they were in the relationship, she felt perfectly normal. She always thought she was not attractive enough, too nerdy, while her friends had all started dating at the age of thirteen. During her adolescence, she lacked the self-esteem, the result of wearing large glasses and metals on her teeth. But when these things were removed from her face once she turned eighteen, people started noticing her. Richard was her first boyfriend, the first guy who finally noticed her. Her first love, the first person she had made love with, to whom she gave her all, yet cheated on her weeks before their planned wedding – that shattered her entire being.
It took months before she finally decided to leave the house and do something for herself. She was depressed and her best friend Lucy pleaded to get her out of the house, pushing her to this apartment in Spring City. The next thing she knew, Lucy was helping her pack her things and the day after, she was driving her way to Spring City.
It took her seven hours all the way south, the scenery started to change from being flat to mountainous after Manila's horrible traffic. She enjoyed the scenery as she let the wind blew against her face. Finally, she saw a large green billboard with the words: "WELCOME TO SPRING CITY." The city got the tallest buildings that gave her a strange feeling of being in a different country. The city reminded her of those she had visited with her parents: Hong Kong, New York, Singapore, but Spring City got the Filipino touch with palm trees and sari-sari store in the corners.
