Moonville Series 1: Secret Lovers

Angel frowned as she saw the time on her Timex wristwatch. Ten minutes ago, she sent a text message to Alex telling her that she's already in the parking lot, waiting for her to come. Ten minutes passed, but Alex still hasn't come. She took out her cellphone and this time, she called Alex instead of texting her. Alex immediately answered the call. 'Ate!"

"Where are you?"

'I'm coming."

Angel frowned as she heard Alex's heavy breathing. She is definitely running towards her.

'Hurry up."

A few moments later, Alex arrived and she immediately got inside Angel's car.

'What happened to you?" Angel asked as she started the car's engine.

Alex is still panting. 'I missed your message. I'm really sorry."

Alex seems sincere, but Angel is still suspicious. It's impossible that Alex missed her text message. Angel knows that her younger sister brings her cellphone wherever she goes. Most of the time, she's just holding it, or it is placed in front of her where she could easily see it. So Angel is a little skeptic with Alex's explanation.

Even so, she just let it pass and did not comment further. She just tried to accept that maybe, Alex really did miss her text message, so she wasn't able to see that she's already waiting for her in the parking lot.

They went to Casa Rafaela, the leading dress shop in Tarlac. It is the official contractor of CPRU when it comes to the uniforms of employees, as well as the school uniforms of their students. Each one needs to go to the shop to have their measurement taken, but the payment is included in the tuition fee that is paid in CPRU.

The Martinez sisters are in the waiting area as the staff of Casa took their uniforms from the second floor. Angel observed that Alex is very busy with her cellphone. She concluded that her sister is chatting with someone because she occasionally types on the cellphone. Sometimes she even smiles after reading something from her phone.

"Thank you for waiting!" Racquel Cordova said while going down the stairs. She is the general manager of Casa Rafaela.

Angel stood up to meet Raquel and her staff who were holding their uniforms. She stopped when she realized Alex is not following her. 'Alex!" she called.

Alex seems shocked when she looked at her sister. 'What?" She immediately stood up when she saw Angel standing up. Racquel and her staff has come to them.

'Here are your uniforms. This is for Alex, and this is for Angel. You can put them on to check the fit. The staff will assist you."

The two sisters went on separate fitting rooms to try their uniforms. Alex's uniform is the generic uniform of first- and second-year college students in CPRU. It is a white long-sleeved blouse with closed collar, tucked in a green A-line skirt that goes down to her knees. She also has a grey necktie with the school logo and a matching green blazer with grey accent.

For third year students, the uniform differs depending on what school the student belongs to. For Business School, the uniform is composed of a green short-sleeved blouse with ribbon collar, tucked in a grey high-rise pencil cut skirt that goes down the knees. They also have a blazer that matches with the skirt. That's what Angel is trying on right now.

The uniforms fit well with the sisters. They took them and went back to the car. Alex immediately focused on her cellphone, making Angel suspicious. It's quite odd that Alex didn't even comment on her uniform, which is what's usual of her. That made Angel frown.

'How was your uniform, Alex?" Angel asked.

'Just fine," Alex answered without even looking at her. Her eyes are still on her cellphone.

Angel is really puzzled at her sister's behavior. She is trying to figure out what might be happening, when she suddenly remembered something.

'Aren't we going to buy new shoes?"

'Hmn?" Alex answered, still looking uninterested.

'You said yesterday that you need to buy new shoes for your uniform."

Alex did not answer. She just smiled as she read something from her cellphone.

Angel kept her suspicions and just drove home to Moonville. But beginning that afternoon, she started observing her sister's behavior. She started noticing some changes on Alex' habits. Angel noticed that Alex became addicted to texting or chatting on her phone. She also noticed that her tweets and Facebook updates have decreased. But what made her more confused is that Alex is always late every time they go home.

One time, she asked her why she's always late every afternoon. Alex said, 'I did a lot of assignments in the library that I forgot the time, Ate." Another reason she said was, 'I met Samantha and the girls. We talked a lot, so I forgot the time again."

Angel does not want to be suspicious, but she can't help but doubt her sister. Maybe that's what they call woman's instinct. She and Alex are too close that she notices even the slightest change in her sister.

One afternoon, Angel saw Isabelle of Issay. She knows this friend of Alex doesn't like her that much because she thinks she's grumpy, but somehow Issay still respects her as the older sister of their friend. That's why she still managed to talk to her when they met accidentally in Business School.

'How are you doing, Ate?" Issay asked.

'Good. How about you? How is college life?"

'It's so hard, Ate...!"

Angel smiled.

'We have a lot of assignments. We need to submit a lot of projects. Almost every day we have an exam. Is this how it is in all majors?" Issay is taking up BSBA Major in Operations Management. 'I think so."

Issay scowled. 'How is Alex?"

Angel is quite surprised. She thought Alex just met her friends just recently.

'You haven't talked to her?" Angel asked.

'Nope. We haven't seen each other for so long. She also doesn't have a lot of updates on her Twitter and Facebook account. Is she sick, Ate?"

Angel smiled at Issay's joke, but she's still confused because of what Issay told her.

'She's just busy in school," she managed to say.

'I knew it! She was also affected by the curse of college life. Poor Alex." Issay shook her head in dismay.

Angel smiled at Issay's joke, but deep inside her she can't stop thinking about what she discovered about her sister. She definitely needs to talk to her. She definitely needs to know the truth.