The Taste Of Love

WHAT the hell did you do?!" Don Alfonso slammed the report papers he was holding on the table in front of his youngest daughter. Nica did not attend the meeting with the company who wanted to invest in their company. A big loss for them is inevitable if they continue to lose their prospect.

"Do I seriously have to answer you?" the daughter's emotionless reply as she just stare at the paper in front of her.

"This is not a school paper that you can rend just because you do not want me to see your poor grades!" he yelled at his daughter who does nothing but failure. "Fix this or else--"

"Or else, what?" Nica frowned, her voice is in a defiant mode. She has no plan on stepping back, even though she has got the idea of what his father's next move is.

"You little brat!"

"Dad!"

Don Alfonso's hand stopped in the air the moment his eldest daughter arrived.

"Oh, here you are, my angel in disguise," Nica sarcastically greeted her half sister, Janice. Janice is only three months older than her.

"We are in the company, Dad, so please calm down." Janice massaged her father's back to soothe him. She look at her sister with sadness visible in her face.

Nica angrily squint at Janice who she considers a mortal enemy. Yes, she has considered her an enemy ever since their paths met. Janice and her mother are the ones she blames for why her mother disappeared so early. She feels intense anger for them, even though she knows the truth about her mother's death.

"Nica, please stop embroiling the company into your grudge against me," Janice coaxed while she is trying to calm their father.

They are living in the same roof for nine years already, but Nica have not accepted her yet. She cannot blame her, her mother had the role of a mistress although Don Alfonso was just forced. Nica's mother was wealthier and influential, and he was coerced to marry her. Though, Janice's mother was already pregnant with her when their father got married.

Nica just smirked at Janice even though her father was looking at her. She is showing him the exact attitude of hers that he has in his mind. She grew up with only her mother by her side. She thought then that her father was really always out of town because of some business.

She believed in the woven story of her mother who secretly suffered. She loved her father so much that she was even able to accept to herself that he had another family. She neglected her health and died of heart disease.

"Let's go, Dad. Let us talk about this problem once we are home." Janice led their father out of Nica's office.

Slowly, the insulting smile faded from Nica's lips and was replaced by a bitter smile. Their father was right, she was the result of a mistake and she no longer want to make an effort to make everyone like her.

Bratty and bad mannered, that is what everyone thinks of her. How could her father blame her for behaving that way? In all her life, no one loved her but her mother who, unfortunately, died early. She grabbed a paper and crushed it with a firm closed eyes. The past she is carrying up until now played inside her mind.

She was orphaned at the age of thirteen. There was no one she could call ‘grandma’ and ‘grandpa’ in her mother side, either. She was too young when they died. She became rebellious when it was not even a year ago that her mother died and her father brought his other family into their house. She was deeply hurt but not a soul — but hers — knows it.

Her school grades dropped and her father was often called to the guidance office. She thought she could get her father's attention that way. But she was wrong, she was always chastised and compared to Janice. There was a time when she had thought of following her mother in the afterlife but she was too afraid of committing suicide.

She felt very weak until she learned standing on her own feet. She now has only a year and she can graduate in college when she overheard the talk between her father and their lawyer.

"It is a matter of months before the Young Miss' birthday, Mr. Rodriguez." The lawyer reminded her father.

"It is her will that when your daughter reaches the right age, she will handle your company," the lawyer was referring to her mother.

Alfonso clenched his fist while his other hand squeezed his temple. He is not against the last will of his deceased wife. But his headache doubled at the thought that the youngest daughter would take over their company. She knows nothing but to be happy-go-lucky and play games with everything. His spouse owns the company but it is him who worked hard to make it grow.

"Will you not inform her about that yet?" Alfonso pointed to Nica. "You have seen how hard-headed my daughter is. I do not want her to bring that attitude at work. I need to train and teach her first concerning the right and accepted acts and on how to run the company."