Episode 1: Her First Wish
1110 Words
"Iniko! Hurry! We might not catch the shooting star!" Celine shouted from afar.
"Oi, Celine! Don't worry! Shooting stars don't fade right away!" Iniko shouted back.
Celine gives a deep sigh. "Hurry! This is my first time seeing shooting stars," she said.
They reached the hill where they planned to stay until the shooting stars appeared. Celine set her camera and sat with her cousin Iniko.
"Iniko?"
"Yes?"
"Is it true that if you wish on a shooting star, it will come true?" Celine asked.
"Hmm, maybe."
Celine smiled at him. "To think that Iniko still believe on the wishing star makes me feel sheltered."
"What do you mean?" Iniko asked.
"Well, in my old school, everyone thinks that I'm a weird teenage girl that still believes in childish beliefs." Celine sighed deeply once more.
"But, Celine?"
"What?"
"You're really childish," he answered. Celine rolled her eyes and pinched Iniko's ear.
They talk and tease each other until the sky starts to glitter. Shooting stars start to cross the sky that is full of shimmering stars.
"Oi, Gio! Take a good photo of me here! Hurry!" she said.
Iniko immediately picks up the camera and changes the angle to take a good look at Celine, who is smiling widely while she makes the peace sign.
"Oh, thank you!"
"Now, time to wish to my first wishing star." she said and close her eyes while looking at the sky.
Iniko stared at her. He somehow starts to copy Celine and starts praying.
After that night viewing, they start to walk down the hill and part ways when they reach the bottom of the hill. Even though they are cousins, they live some miles away.
Celine and her family are new to the town because her dad just bought a large mansion and they need to move there.
She and Iniko are part of a rich and well-known family. Their family headmasters have high standards and also have high expectations.
“Oh Celine, how's the night viewing?” their maid asked.
Celine carefully looked around.
"If you're looking for them, they are not yet home," the maid said when she noticed that Celine was looking around.
"What a great family I have..." she said in whisper.
"Well, I'm still here." the maid.
"Thank you, Yaya Jodi." Celine hugged her Nanny.
Celine and her Yaya eat dinner together, and after that, they bond in the living room and look at the pictures that Celine and Iniko have taken on the hill.
"Iniko really grow up as a handsome man, huh?" said by Nanny Jodi.
"Oi, Yaya Jodi! Have you really change your glasses?" Celine look at her Nanny with the bored look.
"Eh, why?"
Celine raised Iniko's photo.
"Look at this, where is the handsome?" she said.
"Mhm. If only you weren't cousins, you'll be a best ship couple," her Yaya said and pick up the photo where Iniko and Celine hold each others hand while they make the peace sign.
"Eww. Yaya! That's not a good joke,"
"I said “if only”," her Yaya appealed.
"Well, even if I'm not Iniko's cousin, I still won't be in love with him because I don't want to ruin the friendship we have," Celine explained.
Celine stared at her cousin's photo. Iniko was the only cousin who really cared for her.
From the day she met him until now, Iniko is the only one who gave her attention and listened to her rants about her life.
She don't notice that her family had arrived home.
"Oh, Celine. How's your day my baby?" her mom. She hugged Celine and gave her a kiss on her forehead.
Her mom, Esther, is a well-known psychologist in the country. She always gives her best to treat her patients. Rich patients
Her father, Nile, is well-known in the business industry for his knowledge of running businesses, which has led to their wealth. That's why their company is continuing to expand.
Her sister Stella is now a lawyer, and her two brothers, Caleb and Nathaniel, are engineers, and her sister Selena is now a graduating doctor.
That's why Celine is so eager to study hard; her parents and siblings “encourage” her to do so.
I mean pressure her.
"It's great mom! Me and Iniko went to the hill and we starga--"
"Iniko?!" it's her dad.
"Here we are again." her brothers said. Nathaniel and Caleb sat in the sofa and Yaya Jodi stands behind Celine.
Stella, her sister, sat on the sofa next to their two brothers.Selena sat beside Celine and tapped her shoulder.
"How many times do we have to tell you to stay away from Iniko?!" her dad asked.
"A thousand times?" she answered like she was guessing.
When he noticed that Caleb's hand was about to touch the pictures on the table, Celine quickly grabbed them and slipped them inside the sweater she was wearing.
"Celine! I am not kidding. This will be the last--"
Celine stand up.
"No dad! Iniko is the only friend I have. And what's wrong with Iniko that I can't be friend with him?"
"Iniko is like—"
"Hon," Esther intends to stop her husband but he didn't.
"Iniko is a curse to the family Cervantes!"
Celine was shocked at her father's words. She looked at him, forcing herself not to cry. Not in front of them.
"Hon!"
"Go to your room Celine. Don't mind--," Esther didn't even finish her words when Celine run upstairs and shut her door.
They always like this when Iniko's name is mentioned. Even though Iniko is a part of Cervantes, they treat him like nothing.
Iniko is the son of the Hera, the fifth child of the Cervantes headmaster. He never met his dad. Because of the treatment of the Cervantes to him, he became the black ship of the family.
While Celine is silently weeping at her bed, someone knock on her door.
"Celine, baby?" it's Esther, her mom.
"Please, I want to be alone!" she said while she calmed herself so that her mom would not notice that she was crying.
"Okay, so. But I just want to tell you that tomorrow, after your enrollment, we're going to visit your grandparents," Esther reminds her and leaves the room.
The only reason why they visit the Cervantes master, is about the inheritance.
Celine walk towards her balcony and gaze at the sky. The sky is still glimmering with those stars but the shooting star is nowhere to be seen.
She again recall her first wish to the shooting star.
"Let him stay until the time I am ready to let go."
- Writer
