Chantria
A lot of things had happened in our lives even though we were still kids. Our mom died on the same date as our baptismal day before we could even go to church. It was a few days from today’s date. We couldn’t get ourselves together at her funeral. We cried a lot that I couldn’t even remember how we got home.
After the funeral service, our dad went to work like nothing had happened. He instructed the butlers and maids to send us to school the next day like he didn’t care for our feelings. It was like he was telling us, ‘You already cried a lot at the funeral. Get yourselves together. We still have a lot of things to do.’
But I didn’t hate him for that. I know how painful it was for him, like how it was for us. We knew that he was just trying to put on a strong façade so that we would, too.
Not too long after our mom passed away, my dad announced that Carleigh, the second-born and the most intelligent one, was going to inherit his business. And when I mean his business, his principal business since he has a lot of company running. But she has a dream. She wants to be something else. She doesn’t want to inherit our dad’s business or anything that our dad has.
And so, being the eldest and the second in line, I volunteered to do it. Since I don’t know what I want to do with my life, I might as well do something right. I will inherit it on behalf of my sister. In exchange, I want to do it when I turn eighteen. Until then, I want to enjoy my teenage years.
“I’m sorry, again,” Chanel whispers, probably sleepy already since it is three in the morning right now. She is lying on her bed, our bed, nuzzling on the pillow that is supposed to be mine. But I let her anyway. Her voice is already soft, which only happens when she’s asleep or about to fall asleep. “I didn’t mean to tell dad where you went that day. He will find out about it anyway.”
I sigh, closing my eyes while hugging a pillow that is lying on my stomach. I am staring at the ceiling where it looks like a stary night because of the lamp we bought. It’s only effective when the lights are off. “Forget it. I’ll talk to him tomorrow. He said he had a gift for us, a trip. That means I am not grounded anymore, right?”
“Probably.”
Carleigh remains quiet at my right side. When I look at her, she is staring at the ceiling, wide awake. There is no sign that she is going to sleep anytime soon. I know that look very well. She is probably thinking about something she shouldn’t have.
I sigh. “I am going to inherit the business, so worrying about it right now is useless, Leigh. Let me do my job as the eldest sister.”
“I am just thinking. Dad will probably not let me go to Maryland College because I didn’t inherit his business. And I can’t go there without his money.”
I lie on my side, so I am now facing her. Chanel is already snoring behind me, leaving the two of us to talk about this since this involves just us.
“I am going to inherit dad’s business. That means I get a hold of his money. I will make sure that you are going in there just fine, even if I have to use all of his money. And don’t they offer a scholarship? You are smart. You will probably go in just fine.”
“You know there is a lot of books I need, and there will be field works. It will still cost me money even if I get a scholarship. This is Maryland we are talking about.”
I nod. “Do you really want to be a police officer? You know, you are too beautiful to become a police officer. You will fit more as a beauty queen.”
She rolls her eyes at the ceiling. I know that is for me, though. “I’d rather deal with criminals and guns than the crowd.”
I giggle, but it is immediately replaced with a sigh. “I just hope that dad will not be too hard on you. He tends to be so strict sometimes that it is suffocating. After mom died, he has been like that. And somehow, I understand. He just wants what is best for us. But I know you don’t take it that way. You don’t like being controlled, right?”
“I always follow the rules,” she said with certainty, “you know that.”
“I do. But following and wanting are two different things. You follow the rules, but do you want to?”
She closes her eyes, and I mirror her. I am starting to feel sleepy after that talk. We always talk about serious stuff like this because I know she can understand. Chanel probably can’t understand us, but she will, eventually. We just don’t want her to get involved too much right now.
It is enough with just me and Carleigh for now. We don’t want the same thing to happen to Chanel. We want what is best for her, being the youngest of us triplets.
We will spoil her if we have to. But there is a limit to that, and we all know that. I just don’t want her to experience what we are experiencing right now. At least we want to save Chanel from all this inheritance and career drama. We want her to choose what she wants, not what other people ask of her. Even if it is against our own father.
Once I inherited the business, I am going to support my siblings with everything I can. According to our father, they can only inherit their share once they graduate. On the other hand, I don’t need to follow that. I can inherit the main business as long as I want to.
The problem is, right now, I am not interested yet. I want to know more about this thing that I am going to put myself into since I am going to deal with businessmen and mafias. I heard one of the Big Three is owned by a mafia boss. And it is not something that I need to take lightly.
They can take me down so quickly before I even inherit the business.
ChantriaNotwithstanding my series of sighs, the undeniable fear failed to subside. Any moment from now, we would eventually reach the hotel where Dad was staying but I wanted to slope off.Chanel was casually applying makeup on her face while we were inside the car. On the other hand, Carleigh was taking a quick nap at the back. I was the only one jittering among us out of perturbation. I honestly didn't know why I was anxious.Our father called us early in the morning at the hotel he was currently staying at. He didn't mention why. However, if my suspicion was right, it was all about the passing of his company to me. It was expected for me to inherit the company. Nevertheless, I still felt the worry creeping down my spine as I thought of it.It wasn’t just any business. It was our family’s business and one of the Big Three. The company which Dad and my grandfathers managed to build and prolong its top rank for how many decades. It was one of the biggest companies not only in the cou
ChantriaI was enjoying myself while taking my breather on our way to the Maldives. It was quiet inside the plane and I could only hear the swishing of the wind. The plane was already flying above the clouds and it was too late for me to realize how many hours we had been inside. I was about to sleep but my rest was interrupted when a commotion took place where I was."Can you please calm your butt, Aiyara?" I exclaimed, calling Chanel by her second name, which by the way, she hated the most.She glared at me. "My butt is always calm, Yvonne," she retorted. I didn't hate my second name, so I didn't take it as an insult."You've been fidgeting on your seat ever since we took flight. I know you're excited but can you calm down for a moment? Get lost in the Maldives.”She snorted. "I'm not fidgeting. I'm simply taking selfies. What's wrong with that?""Then, can you please take a selfie quietly? How can you be so fidgety just capturing your Espasol face?”"What?" she exclaimed. "My face
ChantriaIt took me a few seconds to realize what was happening. Carleigh was already beating up the guy who called me a gold digger. People were watching them but no one moved to stop them.That was my cue to stop my twin sister before she could kill this man. She needed to learn how to control her anger, especially when it comes to me and Chanel. I've noticed it for a long time that she tend to become violent when it comes to us but I just didn't pay attention to it before. She tends to be reckless when it comes to us.Whenever someone bullies me, she always comes to the rescue. Before, she was not violent. Recently I have noticed that she is being irritable and being physical. And I know, this wasn't good."Leigh, stop it! You might kill that." I held her fist before it could land on the guy's face again. The one guy looked handsome. Blood was clearly visible on his cheeks and lips. But it was his fault anyway for calling me that no matter what are his reason.I took Carleigh aw
ChantriaOn our second day, the three of us splashed around together in the water. At first, Carleigh refused to descend to the water, but she should be with us. We went here to enjoy, not to sulk. That was the reason why when we dragged her, escaping wouldn't have been possible. At the latter, she joined us swimming under the scorching heat of the sun."What?" Chanel exclaimed. "Carleigh beat someone last night! What happened?" She was drying her hair while sitting under an umbrella after we paddled."Yup! The guy might be dead by now. He must be thankful since I was able to stop her." I still shrugged as if nothing had happened. I was very annoyed yesterday, however, the man's words didn't affect me at all now. I know myself more than anyone— that I am not a gold digger."Wait! Why? Did he hit you or something? Tell me everything.”I sat between Chanel and Carleigh before telling her the story. "That guy marched in my direction, fuming mad, and accused me of something I didn't eve
Chantria I opened my eyes when I felt someone tap my cheek. I opened my eyes slowly until I could see Carleigh's worried face. When I looked around, I realized that it was not a dream. I was already outside the overturned car while Carleigh was trying to pull Chanel out who was still unconscious. That's when I felt pain all over my body. I don't even know what part hurts because I feel like I have a wound all over my body. I tried to stand up, but my body just screamed because of the pain so I lay down on the grass again. I adjusted my vision because it was out of focus. It's fading and it's like I'm going to lose consciousness again in just a few seconds. Honestly, I just want to close my eyes and sleep because my body is so heavy. But I know that I shouldn't. Something's wrong. I can feel it. Just the way Carleigh looked at me earlier, I knew something was wrong. "Wake up, Chantria," said Carleigh. I could tell the tiredness and pain in the tone of her speech, but she didn't car
Chantria“Run!” Carleigh shouted before pulling something from the side and raining gunfire.I just stopped before covering my ears. I carried Chanel even though she was very heavy.They turned out to be right. It’s really different when it comes to adrenaline. You can even carry a large refrigerator. I didn’t know that with my small build, I would be able to lift Chanel who is also about a few inches taller than me.I could hear the reverberating of the gun around me. I don’t know where the shooter is coming from. All I know is that I have to get out of there with Chanel. I also wanted to drag Carleigh out of there, but I know that I can’t. I know how hard my twin’s skull is.I didn’t realize that Carleigh was right next to me helping me lift Chanel. I was so nervous that I could only see the road.“I need you to get out of here, Chan,” he said. “Take Chanel with you. At the end of the road, Joaquin is waiting with the guards. They should probably be marching their way here. I will d
ChantriaI slowly opened my eyes. When my eyes adjusted, I looked around. Everything's white and quiet. All I could hear was the loud beeping of an engine.How many times have I seen this scenario in a movie? How many times have I told myself that this scenario is getting boring because it just keeps repeating itself? I can not remember. And here I am, like a star in a movie. A movie that I pray is just a big dream.I looked at who was in the bed next to me. There I saw that Chanel was still unconscious. It's just the two of us in a room. I tried to look on the other side of my bed, just in case Carleigh was there.My tears flowed quickly. I don't want to assume, but my tears won't stop from falling. I struggled to get up from lying down and removed the things that were attached to me. I immediately covered the wound from the IV before trying to stand up.I looked at Chanel's condition before I walked towards the door. But before I could even get close to it, it opened by itself. The
Chantria“Chantria…”I heard dad's soft and tired voice from behind me. But even so, I still didn't take my eyes off Chanel.Why isn't she waking up? Did something happen to her that I don't know about? Did she gain something deep because of what happened and dad just doesn't tell?"You need to eat or drink something. You'll drain yourself.”Instead of confronting and answering him, I said, "Why isn't Chanel waking up, Dad? She needs to wake up. I will only eat when I see her eating too. I won't be able to swallow the food, thinking that Chanel hasn't eaten anything yet. I won't forgive myself if anything happens to her too because of me."I heard him sigh before placing the tray containing the food on the side table of my bed. I can't even look at what's inside. He pulled out another chair and placed it next to me.Before speaking, he made me face him so I couldn't do anything but take my eyes off Chanel. "You need to stop this, Chantria. Do not punish yourself for what happened. It'