Chapter 2

AGNES

I don't know how I got home after all that. The only thing I remember is when I opened the door, my Mom was standing there welcoming me excitedly or nervous.

She knows where I'm going. That day, I told her that Ino and I had a relationship, and our age gap as well as who Ino was and why we kept our relationship a secret, even to her and Aunt Adel.

Offcourse, she told me that she doesn't like him. That he is too old for me.

She is furious to the extent that she stopped herself from slapping me that morning before I go to the Art exhibit.

But then I told her that what I fee for Ino is what I see between him and Dad when he is still alive.

I can feel that she's still against the relationship, but for the first time, she just lets me be.

She let me go the exhibition that night, and for the fisrt time I wished she just didn't.

As soon as I entered, my tears began to flow and she immediately greeted me with a tight and warm hug as I broke down in between those hugs.

She kept on asking me what happened, and if Ino did something to me.

She doesn't need to hear dverything from me since our talked was cutoff shortly by Aunt Adel.

Apparently, the happenings on that place were already uploaded on social medias.

Mom was shaking and crying, she can't even believe that I experienced all that alone.

Seeing her crying while can't stand to finished the clip makes me think that I failed her.

And I don't want her to fee that she failed as a mother too because of my own choices.

That wasn't fair.

I expected a slap. A nag. A furious Jen Carmine.

But she didn't.

She just looked at me, hold my face so smoothly, like I am a fragile figurine then hugs me more tightly.

We didn't say another words that night.

And I slept on the sofa, tired and exhausted. Praying that tomorrow will be better.

But it didn't.

The last two months of summer before college is hell.

The news spread like a wildfire especially to my previous highschool.

All my classmates and batchmates were ringing my phone, messaging me to my social media accounts and that is why I decided to cut all my ties with social media.

I developed a panic attack, depression and anxiety.

Mom put me on a therapy.

And I am glad she did.

All I wanted to do is get lost in embarassment and never to be seen again. And the therapy surely helps along with my certain medicines.

I also became Insomniac.

I don't even leave the house much anymore.

Or talk to people.

I'm always in the room alone. Mom is trying to do her best for me not to feel that I am alone. And I appreciate her for that, but I can't tell her that I'm ashamed of what I did to her. She expected a lot from me, everyone else did. After all, when I was in high school, everyone said they saw a far bright future ahead of me. And look, what happened to me. I am now labeled as Having a relationship with someone older than me and even became a mistress at an early age.

I am an embarrasment.

There was a lot of speculation after the video spread. Many people said that I was just a victim of a womanizer. That I don't know his true personality, which is the truth.

But it's even sadder because more people say that I know everything, that I'm a naughty girl who ruined a happy family. But for me, the guilt is the main reason why I feel like I'm being killed little by little.

Mom didn't want me to checked what transpired between Ino and his wife.

All I know is that Mom along with her lawyer talked to Ino's wife. They agreed that Mom would file a restraining order against Ino for me. She said that Ino's wife even threatened her, telling her that she would also file a case against us. But Mom told her that she will retaliate, that she will also file a case because Ino's wife humiliated me in a private event to the extent that she knows that I am still a minor.

But that didn't make me happy.

I felt guilty much more.

That woman didn't do anything to me. Infact she was just hurt and in pain, maybe much worse than me.

But she couldn't do anything about it since I am only an eighteen years old.

Apparently, her and Ino got divorced. The child custody is hers.

And I don't know what happened next after that.

Right now, I should have been applying for colleges. Actually, I already have one.

NYU.

But I told Mom that I would think about on getting on school again especially most of my highschool classmates will also be attending there.

I am ashamed of what I did.

Who wouldn't be?

But after Mom, Aunt Adel, My bestfriend Olive and her boyfriend persuaded me to live by myself alone in a decent neighborhood, away from all the people in Brooklyn, I finally said yes.

They said this will be my fresh start. And what happened with me two months ago, is nothing but a miserable past that needs to leave behind.

And for the first time since that night, I started to become hopeful again.

Hoping for more better days ahead with me.