Time moved differently after Keith left.
The condo grew quiet, then quieter, until silence became routine. Roxanne returned to Bicol soon after graduation, polished, composed, pretending it was by choice. She told everyone she was ready to “take over the family business,” as if that had always been her plan.
By twenty-four, she was running their father’s grocery chain with an efficiency that bordered on frightening. The town adored her. Their parents glowed with pride. Roxanne Angelie Arcilla, successful, beautiful, respectable, as always.
Then came Mark Ilustre, the senator’s son, golden boy of southern politics. He was polite, handsome, and practiced, the kind of man who shook hands like every gesture was a transaction. Roxanne met him at a fundraiser, and within a year, she was Mrs.
