Story By Teju Inioluwa
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Teju Inioluwa

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Before Catherine
Updated at Oct 16, 2025, 04:35
Before CatherineBefore Catherine, the world felt almost merciful.It wasn’t soft no, Mina never lived in softness but it was bearable. Days had a rhythm to them, like quiet piano notes played in a dim room. She was the kind of girl who believed love could fix what life broke. Her laughter wasn’t loud, but it filled the cracks in people even in Nat, whose smile always seemed borrowed from someone else. Mina was light, but not the blinding kind. She was the kind of warmth that made you forget winter existed.Mina loved with precision. Every gesture, every word, weighed and given carefully. She was loyal, even to her own destruction. She believed people were who they said they were until Catherine arrived.Catherine was beauty sculpted in glass sharp, untouchable, and dangerously reflective. She didn’t walk into a room; she claimed it. Where Mina was sincerity, Catherine was performance. Everything about her shimmered with intention: the perfect smile that knew when to appear, the silence that commanded, the touch that said I can take whatever I want.People adored her, but not because they knew her they adored her because she made them feel seen. Catherine had the rare talent of turning attention into a weapon. She wore innocence like silk and cruelty like perfume. And Nat? He never stood a chance. He thought he was falling in love; in truth, he was being rewritten.But what no one saw, not Nat, not Catherine, not even the broken version of Mina, was her sister.The quiet one. The observer.The woman who didn’t weep when Mina’s world collapsed; she watched. She listened to every apology, every excuse, every whisper that turned Mina into a cautionary tale. And she smiled, not out of joy, but calculation.Because she knew the kind of pain Mina carried, the kind that festers, the kind that begs for blood, the kind that requires someone else’s ruin to breathe again.So she became the architect of silence, the puppeteer in the background, weaving threads of vengeance like lace. While the world pitied Mina, her sister planned. While Catherine bathed in victory, her sister mapped every weakness, every flaw, every vanity that made Catherine’s perfection so breakable.Before Catherine, there was still kindness in the air, forgiveness was possible.After her, everything turned deliberate.Mina lost her faith, Nat lost his soul, and Catherine gained an enemy she’d never see coming.And the sister?She became what the story needed most the one who doesn’t ask for justice, but creates it.Slowly. Beautifully. Without mercy.Because before Catherine there was peace and after Catherine there is purpose.After CatherineAfter Catherine, nothing was the same not the silence, not the air, not even the way Mina looked at herself in the mirror.Grief became her new reflection.But somewhere between the sobs and sleepless nights, she started learning that love isn’t just tenderness it’s also war.The girl who once believed in happy endings began to crave answers, not comfort. She stopped asking why and started asking how.How to break the woman who broke her.How to ruin a love built on betrayal.How to reclaim her story from the ashes Catherine left behind.But Mina wasn’t alone. Her sister the mind no one ever suspected, the voice that never trembled had already started her quiet symphony.She studied Catherine the way surgeons study anatomy patient, precise, cruelly curious.She mapped her habits, her flaws, the places where her arrogance made her vulnerable.She collected people, whispers, secrets all the tiny invisible threads that held Catherine’s perfect world together.And when she was ready, she started tugging.Small things at first.A rumor dropped here, a truth exploded there.A friend turned enemy. A lover’s trust misplaced.Catherine’s world began to splinter slowly, silently like porcelain under pressure.Meanwhile, Mina changed.She was no longer the soft one, the forgiving one, the “girl who got left behind.”No, she became something sharper.Her eyes learned to read lies. Her heart stopped waiting for apologies.She began to smile like her sister that terrifying, calm smile that promised ruin in the sweetest tone.Because after Catherine, Mina didn’t want love.She wanted balance.Her sister called it justice, but it was something darker a redefinition of control.They didn’t just want to hurt Catherine; they wanted to dismantle the illusion that she could ever win.The world saw Catherine as light radiant, admired, untouched.But they forgot: too much light blinds, and even the sun burns when it gets too close.And Mina’s sister? She became the storm that follows the fire.The mastermind cloaked in serenity.The kind of woman who speaks in riddles, moves like smoke, and destroys reputations with a glass of wine and a whisper.Together, they didn’t chase revenge.They became it.After Catherine, everything was art vengeance, love, manipulation all painted in shades of calm destruction. thanks.
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something more
Updated at Sep 30, 2025, 03:59
In the heart of Italy, three teens from different worlds collide in search of something more—love, freedom, identity, and adventure beyond the lives they’ve always known.Luca feels trapped beneath the weight of family expectations. Teni, new to Italy, struggles to belong in a culture that feels both beautiful and alien. Matteo hides secrets from his past, shadows that threaten to unravel everything.When fate draws them together—through school, festivals, and restless summer nights—their friendships spark, rivalries simmer, and unexpected romance blossoms. But secrets can’t stay buried forever, and each choice brings them closer to heartbreak, forgiveness, and the truth of who they want to become.Set against piazzas, coastal sunsets, and the vibrant pulse of Italian life, this is a story of first loves, fractured friendships, and the courage to chase the lives they’ve only dared to dream.
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