It was Sunday morning, Angel smiled happily as she fixed her hair up into a clip. She hummed her favorite Teddy Bear theme song as she danced in front of the mirror. Today The Teddy Bear World Amusement park had come to Cagayan and she was so excited for it. She went every year since she could remember. Mhadz always pre ordered her ticket when she was younger, but once Mhadz married Franz, he was able to get her a VIP pass to Teddy Bear World. This year she was going with Andrian. All of her friends thought her obsession with a cartoon rabbit was weird even Andrian did but he believed that everyone had one weird obsession.
Angel looked over to her phone that was vibrating on her night stand. She skipped over to her phone and saw that Andrian's name was flashing on the screen. Angel squealed and picked it up.
"Hey Andrian, are you on your way?" Angel asked excited.
"No I'm not..." He said then started coughing uncontrollably.
"Are you okay?" Angel asked.
"I'm sorry, I woke up sick, and my mom says I should stay in, so I can't take you to Teddy Bear World" He replied.
"Oh" Angel said sadly.
"I'm really sorry Angel" He apologized and coughing harder.
"It's okay, just feel better, I'll go by myself" Angel said.
"Okay, have fun, and take pictures" He said, Angel smiled. Andrian was always such a sweet friend.
"Okay, I should get going soon"
"Alright Bye Angel"
"Bye" Angel said before ending the call. She sighed to herself and examined herself in the mirror. She was wearing a white and purple shirt with Teddy Bear in the middle, a long sleeve white shirt under, skinny light blue jeans and purple flats. Angel slowly rolled up her sleeves and looked at her dark bruise. Her thoughts drifted to last night.
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Bobby and Angel spent most of Saturday. At the end of the day she went back to his apartment. He of course wanted to have sex. Angel warned him to be gentle. Bobby and his animal instincts did not listen and when she tried to wiggle away her grabbed her wrist with his tight grip. Angel then slapped him and he came to his senses.
He touched his face then looked at Angel surprised.
"I told you not to be so rough with me" Angel said covering her naked body with his sheets. He stared at her for a minute then walked out of the room.
Angel sighed to herself then put her clothes on. She walked to the living room to see Bobby sitting at his kitchen table.
"I guess I'll leave." Angel said. She gave him one more look then proceeded to the door
"I'm sorry Angel" He said. Angel turned around and looked at him. He looked upset. "I don't wanna lose you, I guess I'm an id-"
"No sex for a month" Angel said interrupting him. He looked up at her.
"That's your punishment" Angel said smiling at him. He smirked at her and kissed her cheek.
"You are the only girl I let punish me" He said walking up to her. He tried to take her hand but she flinched and grabbed her wrist.
"What's wrong?"
"My wrist, you kind of hurt me" Angel said rubbing her wrist. Bobby took her arm and brought his lips to her wrist and kissed it. "Does it feel better now" He said smoothly. Angel blushed and nodded. She hated how smooth he was, and how his voice could make her forget his mistakes.
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Angel covered up the bruise and grabbed her purse and ran out her bedroom. Angel made her way downstairs and tried to rush past the kitchen, but Mhadz stopped her.
"Angel, are you leaving already?" Mhadz asked.
"Yes, Mhadz" Angel answered annoyed.
"Where is Andrian? I have seen him in months"
"He isn't coming, he is sick"
"So you are going to Teddy Bear World by yourself?" Mhadz asked worried.
"Yeah, I'll be fine, Mhadz, I'm seventeen, I am almost an adult" Angel exclaimed.
"Well call me when you get there and when you leave." Mhadz demanded. Angel rolled her eyes.
"Okay 'Sister', I will be sure to call" Angel said making her way out. "Bye Mhadz". Angel closed her front door and ran down the sidewalk excited. Angel started about all the rides, petting zoo and the cotton candy. Angel was running and smiling she didn't see the little girl coming. Angel and the girl crashed into each other. Angel feel flat on her butt.
"I'm so sorry" a sweet voice said to her. Angel looked up to see a young girl with short brown hair and a red clip.
"No, its okay I should have watched where I was going" She said comforting the girl. Angel noticed she was wearing the same Teddy Bear shirt as her.
"Kimberly" a male voice shouted. The little girl turned and smiled. Angel looked up and notice the familiar orange head.
"Zhul?" Angel said surprised to see him.
"Angel?" he then looked at Kimberly who was on her knees and helped her up. "Kimberly why did you run off?" he asked with his usual scowl.
"I'm sorry I go excited." Kimberly said, "Do you know her Zhul?" she asked referring to angel.
"Yeah, she is in my class." Zhul answered. Angel watched the exchange.
"Is this your sister?" Angel asked. Zhul nodded. "Kimberly this is Angel" Kimberly smiled and then looked at Angel's shirt.
"I have the same one" Kimberly chirped happily. Angel smiled at her. "Are you going to Teddy Bear World?"Angel asked.
"Yeah, Kimberly loves Teddy Bear" Zhul answered.
"I'm going too" Angel said looking at Kimberly. Kimberly eyes lit up with excitement. "Do you have a little sister too" Zhul asked looking around.
"No, why would you think that?"
"Well you can't be going to teddy bear world by yourself."
"Yes I am, actually I have been going every year since I was little" angel snapped. zhul chuckled to himself. angel frowned at him. "What's so funny strawberry?"
"Hey, I thought no more 'strawberry'...midget" He argued. Angel was ready to retort when Kimberly spoke up.
"Zhul, we have to hurry or we will be on line forever." Kimberly pleaded. Zhul grunted in annoyance. "I don't understand why it's so important that we get to Teddy Bear world."
Angel was ready to retort when Kimberly spoke up. "Teddy Bear is one of the coolest cartoon characters ever created!" she said slightly raising her voice. This scared him since she was always timid. Angel smiled at her and agreed. "That's right Kimberly."
"Whatever" zhul said walking forward. kimberly and angel quickly followed.
"Hey kimberly"
"Yes angel?"
"How about you guys stick with me, I have VIP access."angel suggested.
"VIP? Are you sure?" kimberly asked excited.
"Of course, it would be fun to have someone to enjoy Teddy Bear World with."
"What's VIP like?" zhul asked curiously.
"I don't have to wait on lines, and I get access to the all you can eat buffet" angel explained. Kimberly got excited hearing all of this. Kimberly ran faster and passed Ichigo. "I'm so excited" she yelped. Angel chuckled and walked up by Angel.
"So you are taking your sister to Teddy Bear World?" Angel asked him.
"Yeah, my other sister hurt her ankle a couple of days ago, so my mom had to stay home and she asked me to take Kimberly."
"Another sister?"
"Yeah her name is lorry; she is nothing like kimberly, even though they are twins."
"A twin, that must be cool" Angel said
"Yeah, fraternal though" he added. "Do you have any siblings?"
"Yeah I have an older sister, her name is Mhadz."
"What about Franz?"
"How do you know about my brother?"
"He is CEO of one of the biggest companies in philippines." zhul said
"Well he isn't really my brother. He is my brother in law, he is Mhadz's husband."
"So why did you both take his last name."
"My sister became my official guardian, so I just decided to take her last name too"
"Your official guardian?"
"My mom died when I was born and my dad died when I was nine"
"Oh" was all zhul could say. He realized this maybe one of the longest conversations they ever had. He studied her. She was this girl who was tough, but she probably been through a lot. She wasn't born in to riches.
"ANGEL HURRY!" Kimberly shouted. Angel smiled then started running in order to catch up to Kimberly.
They reached the gates for the theme park. Angel walked up to the booth and showed her VIP pass and informed the park employee to give her three wristbands.
"Thank you again Angel" Kimberly said. "It's nothing, come on" Angel said grabbing Kimberly's hand as they went in the park, Zhul lazily followed behind, but smirked when he saw how happy both girls were.
The three of them went on numerous rides. Some were small, some were scary, and some were fun, while others were boring.
They went to the petting zoo, where they played with rabbits. Kimberly and Angel happily feed and petted the bear. zhul however remained indifferent. Angel tried waving a bear in his face. Calling him a "Mr. Bear Pants".
They made their way to the buffet, where angel and kimberly ate all the bear shaped food. zhul only drank soda; he refused to give in to the bear gimmick.
"kimberly, it's getting late" zhul said as he walked behind angel and kimberly who were enjoying cotton candy.
"Aww zhul, just one more ride" She said with puppy dog eyes. zhul wanted to reject but then angel gave him the same eyes. "PLEASE ZHUL"
"Argh, one more ride then we leave" he said giving in. kimberly and Angel smiled widely.
"Okay, Kimberly you pick the last ride" Angel suggested.
"Okay I pick...that one" She said pointing to the huge Ferris wheel. Angel smiled and kimberly grabbed Angel and Zhul's hand pulling them in its direction.
Once at the ride, the employee directed the three into a car and shut the door. Zhul and Angel sat next to each other and Kimberly sat across. As the cart slowly went up Kimberly gazed out at the beautiful view of the city. Angel and Zhul smiled at her. Zhul caught his self staring at Angel. They way the sun setting shone in her face, made her look radiant. Zhul would not deny, Angel was absolutely beautiful, but there was something in her eyes, a look of suffering. He began to examine the rest of her. His eyes stopped when he notice her sleeves were a little pushed back and there was a dark bruise on her wrist. He noticed the bruise had hand imprints.
"Angel, what's that?" Zhul asked. Angel looked at him confused; she followed what he was looking at. When she realized it was her bruise she covered it and laughed. "Bobby just being stupid" Angel smiled. She knew it was more than that but she didn't owe Angel an explanation.
"You sure?"
"What are you implying Zhul?" Angel asked defensively
"Nothing really, it just looked really bad." He said pretending not to sound worried. Why should he be worried? It wasn't like they were friends or anything.
"I'm fine" Angel said, "But thanks for worrying" Angel said smiling.
"I was not worrying, I was just curious" He said. Angel giggled then turned to look at Kimberly who had fallen asleep.
"She's sleeping."
"Looks like I have to carry her home" Zhul said. Angel smiled at him. Zhul wasn't like what she expected. He was nice and sweet and seemed to really love his family. When the ride stopped Ichigo picked up Kimberly and put her on his back.
Zhul (with kimberly sleeping on his back) and Angel left the park and walked in silence
"Thanks Angel" Zhul said breaking the silence. Zhul looked at him puzzled then smiled.
"Its no problem, your sister is a sweetheart" Angel said warmly. Angel looked up at the sky which was much darker.
"How was Liceo high?" Angel asked
"Nothing like your school, it was much smaller and most of our sports teams didn't get funding needed for anything"
"Do you miss it?"
"Yeah, I had some good memories" zhul said smiling "I even met darwin and archie there"
"darwin is a pervert isn't he?" Angel said
"Pretty much" zhul chuckled. angel liked talking to zhul, he wasn't like every guy who was into her money, he was rude and a bit cocky but he had a sweet side to him. She had learned all of this within a few days. He was definitely handsome, and could compete with bobby in looks but angel began wonder what his body looked like.
"You shouldn't let bobby be so rough with you" zhul said. angel who was lost in thought was surprised to hear that.
"How would you know anything about that?" Angel asked defensively. Zhul raised his eyebrow at her. "All I am saying is tell him to hold you gentler, this is the second bruise I have seen, people might assume something else.
Angel touched her wrist and sighed. "Yeah I guess." They finally reached the corner where they had met earlier.
"I had fun; I guess I will see you in school tomorrow for cleaning duty"
"Yeah sounds good" zhul said. Suddenly Kimberly had her head off zhul's shoulders and looked around. She then looked at angel.
"Are you leaving angel?" kimberly asked slightly disappointed.
"Yeah, but maybe we can hang out again sometime" angel said. Kimberly climbed off zhul's back and ran up to hug angel. Angel smiled and hugged her back.
"Maybe we can go to the Bear Store in cagayan one day." Kimberly suggested.
Angel laughed, "I have so much from there, and I even have the new vanity set from Bear." Angel said. Zhul rolled his eyes at the conversation.
"The one with the gold trimmed mirror?" Kimberly asked. Angel nodded proudly. Kimberly's mouth dropped. "I thought it doesn't come to Philippines for a month."
"I have my connections" Angel winked. "Do you wanna see it?" Angel asked enthusiastically. Kimberly nodded quickly.
"Um, don't I have a say in anything, What if I don't wanna go to Angel's house."
"Oh shut up and come on." Angel said. She smiled and grabbed Kimberly's hand. "Come on its not too far." Both ladies went on. zhul sighed, ruffled his hair and reluctantly followed.
Zhul was shocked to see angel walk up to a very normal looking townhouse. She lived in a middle class area. He didn't except that at all. He knew how much money the Perez's had so why didn't they live in a mansion.
Angel opened her front door and directed zhul and kimberly inside. Soon zhul's original suspicions were confirmed. The inside was decorated beautifully; the inside looked like a mansion. The walls had beautiful art hanging up and the floor was a nice dark polished wood.
"Mhadz, I'm home" Angel yelled.
"Angel Perez, you did not call me and..." Mhadz stopped her yelling when she saw they had guests. Mhadz was automatically embarrassed. zhul was surprised to see how much angel and mhadz looked alike.
"mhadz, this is my classmate Zhul Alexis, and this is his sister kimberly Alexis." Angel said. "This is my sister"
"Forgive me, I didn't know we had guests, it's nice to meet you both" mhadz said smiling. "Are you guys' hungry?"
"We're fine" zhul replied.
"I'm taking them up to my room for a little bit." Angel said to Mhadz. "Okay, have fun" Angel walked up the stairs and Kimberly plus zhul followed. The house was very extravagant. They were marble end tables fancy lamps and sculptures all around. Angel then stopped in front of a door and opened it to reveal her lavender and white room. She had a full size bed with lavender sheets and teddy bear plushies sitting on it. A closet, a white dresser, a white and purple laptop resting on a white desk and she had lavender carpeting. angel directed Kimberly to the vanity set, Kimberly's eyes widen in amazement. "Beautiful isn't t, I got it last Thursday." Angel said proudly.
"Is this the package I had to carry from Villanueva's?" zhul said noticing the familiar brown packing box in a corner of her room.
"Yes it is" angel said smiling. zhul frowned and proceeded to examine her room. She had different teddy bear dolls dressed in different out fits like a princess, firefighter, ninja, doctor, school girl and many more. Zhul noticed one of her walls was completely covered with photographs. He walked over to the wall to get a better look at the photos. There were a lot of pictures of her and Mush. Many with Gerand, she was abusing him in most. She had some with mhadz and another man who zhul did not recognize but he figured it was Franz Perez because in some of the pictures he was holding Mhadz's hand.
There were some pictures of angel and bobby. He had his arm around her shoulder or waist in almost all. There are a couple pictures of her holding hands with andrian and a few friendly pictures with kent. Few of them had her two of her other friends. One of them had a girl who looked like angel; she had shoulder length black hair and the most intense orange eyes he had ever seen.
"Stalking my pictures?" Angel said causing Zhul to jump.
"Stop scaring me like that" zhul growled. Angel elbowed him playfully. "Did you and Andrian...you know?"
"Date?" Angel asked quizzically. "Yeah for some time but we are just friends now"
"And bobby is okay with that?" zhul questioned.
"Yes because he doesn't know" angel replied simply
"Because if he found out he would let you be friends with him because he is extremely possessive" zhul stated with a cocky grin. angel was about to retort but decided against it.
"He isn't possessive he just jets jealous" angel said. zhul knew he was right though. He could tell what time of man bobby was. He was the type who would have many women but his favorite girl must be his and his alone. zhul scowled thinking about him
"You know angel, he isn't a good guy" zhul began
"Don't you do it too" angel demanded sounding annoyed.
"Do what?"
"Bash on bobby, I know he isn't perfect but I love him and I would appreciated if you would mind your own business." Angel snapped.
zhul gave her a glare then turned away. angel automatically regret snapping at him. She had fun with zhul today and even though they had known each other for a few days she liked his presence.
"I'm sorry zhul, I didn't mean to snap at you, it's just that I hate when people talk bad about him" angel said sadly. zhul sighed and turned around. "It's okay" He mumbled.
"Can we please just not talk about bobby; I want us to become friends or at least acquaintances"
zhul sighed then nodded his head in agreement. "Sure thing midget." zhul said smirking.
"Thanks Strawberry" She said smiling at him. kimberly watched the whole exchange. I see sparks.
"I hope I see you again Angel"kimberly said to angel. zhul and kimberly were ready to leave; they stood with angel on the sidewalk in front of her home.
"Me too" Angel aid smiling. Angel looked at zhul who was smiling at her. a zhul was trying to fight a blush; he was incredibly attractive after all. "Night strawberry"
"Night Angel" He said. Angel was shocked that he didn't call her a midget but smiled wider. zhul and kimberly disappeared down the street. Angel smiled to herself then walked inside. Little did she know, Demmy was observing the whole scene from behind a lamp post across the street. "Interesting" He said to himself.