chiaroscurist

The initial salvo of The Banquet Hall (Mansion) Vol. 1is like watching a feel-good and a horror film at the same time with its comedic twists and turns. 

Our protagonist, Isabella, had a new baby after eighteen years of marriage with Aaron, a business tycoon, and was rumored seen with a man at the Lee’s mansion. The gossip mill rolled until Josh, Isabella’s son, Jan, and Fr. Robert took interest to find out whether the rumor was true. They were surprised with what they discovered in the end. How it came about is a revelation in the next volume of this book.

The Banquet Hall (Mansion) Vol. 1

"Hah hah…" She was gasping for breath. 


That was the third time that an employer had tried to molest her. She could see the embassy now. She would ask help. 


"Even if I have to sleep in the streets, I would," she told herself. She waited in one of the benches. Trees lined the gutter where the bench she was sitting on was located. Suddenly, a car was slowing down in the dark. "That must be him," she thought. It was looking for something. Talia squeezed herself deeper in the bench where she lay down. He shouldn't find her. She was looking for security people. There was nobody around. There should have been a number since that was an embassy. Good, he didn't come down, she thought. She was vigilant until the car left.  Exhausted, Talia was unable to think of the possibility of danger as she would be sleeping in an open street. She cringed in the bench some more for fear of being found. Her body needed rest—and her mind— and right there in that cringing position she fell asleep.


Talia got tired of working in foreign lands. She got tired of being afraid. Meanwhile, she would meet Sean. He was a shooting star that brought a bundle of fortune in her life. She jumped in his boat as soon as he proposed to her.


23 Talia