Past, Present And Us

"That's not what we agreed on last time, dad!!" Belen angrily shouts, gritting her teeth.

Five years ago.

"This is what I hate about you! You always do this! You say one thing and do the other! Why?!" she shouts, almost ready to pull her hair out of frustration.

Edilberto, in comparison, is calmly yet strictly glaring at Belen rant when he shouts, "I said I'd hand it to you after my wedding ceremony. I'm doing this because I know how you are, and if I give it to you now, you will make a petty excuse about why you can't attend!"

"Do you feel great lying to the whole world about our family? No! better yet, that fake family image you created?!"

He sharply replies, "I did that for your sake! Thanks to that, look at all the offers, attention, and love you've received!"

She looks away, trying to calm her flushed face, "damn it! Fucking shit! I swear!"

Edilberto overhears her swearing, "oy! What did I tell you about saying those bad words?!"

She grins, "they shouldn't come out of my mouth because they make me sound uneducated?! Dad, you have no control over me! The reason I swear is because of the way you are acting right now! It's not fair!"

"How is it not fair?"

"Fine, you want a reason? Then why were you going to hand over A Star Is to Mabel right when she was about to graduate high school? What's the difference between her and me?!"

"I don't compare you two."

Belen's voice trembles, "right, yeah sure you don't! Keep telling yourself that! Then what about your business partners?! Mabel was a diamond, and we were nothing but rocks!" she sighs making a fist out of fear yet anger, "were you trying to turn me into a diamond that can replace her?" her bright eyes show pain and confusion, but most importantly, she wants the truth.

Edilberto sighs, knowing that he can't avoid it any longer, "I-I only want to raise you to the best of my ability."

"and your method for raising me is to be perfect?!" she asks, unable to comprehend his sentence, "that doesn't exist, dad!"

"I know what you're capable of! You're talented!"

"not as great as Mabel, right?"

"Mabel was different; she was humble, respectful, and knew how to get along with everyone. And you"

"I don't have that?" she nods, "so that's how you wished I turned out to be like? Like Mabel? Ha!" she grits her teeth, "I can't believe you don't care about how I feel. Is all you care about money?"

Before she can walk away, Edilberto comments, "I'll see you at my wedding."

She scoffs, "…"

"Mail came for you, check the kitchen counter!" he shouts so she can hear.

***

She walks into the kitchen, searching, "mail? For me?" when a shadow approaches from behind, its Leah, the woman her dad will marry in three months.

"Iris? Oh!" Leah takes a closer look, "Belen?" she stands there frozen from shock, unable to move because she knows just how much Belen hates her.

Belen annoyingly rolls her eyes feeling Leah's presence that of an insect. She luckily finds the mail her dad was referring to and quickly leaves.

***

Belen arrives at her studio apartment surrounded by heavy security, so it's completely safe but rather tiny to invite anyone over. During this time, Belen had no friends, the only "friends" she had were celebrities she used to gain connections and eventually formed bonds throughout consecutive meetings. This is especially so when it came to ad offers, photoshoots, and even went as far as to help model for her school. Belen knew that the only way to income was by promoting herself. So she tiredly joined clubs and managed to become the media's apple of their lens.

She'd continuously become a stalker target, which is why she moved into a studio within the campus for extra protection and heavy security.

"Where did it come from?" she examines the envelope, "ah, its from Korea…" she goes on to open the envelope.

Suddenly tears roll down her cheeks while reading the letter.

"Mi-sun…I completely forgot about her. After all this time, she's still the same," a sincere smile forms on her face with sparkles in her eyes.

"I have to talk to her! But…how?" she contemplates, "I want to ask so many questions. How is everyone doing? And…how is Haneul, I mean Noah, how is he doing?"

***

Belen wakes up, yawning, "what was that? Why did I suddenly dream of that time? Could it be a sign? Should I call Mi-sun?"

She gets up starting her morning routine by brushing her teeth, then getting in the shower, fixating whether to put her hair up or down. And finally getting dressed while picking out her heels and lastly she turns back to glance at her enormous room, "yeah, I'm not forgetting anything" and walks out.

Since the argument she had with Noah, she's been driving to A Star on her own.

While driving, she decides to turn on the radio, "Do kids these days listen to this junk?" she turns it off.

Just as she entered through A Star gates behind her comes Noah. As she got off her car, Everest appears coming out of the mall's entrance, "Good Morning Madam President!" he sincerely smiles, impressing her.

Noah does not even try to hide his displeased expression around Everest anymore but continues to smile pretentiously to everyone else.

After 40 minutes of the walk-through inspection, as usual, Belen gave the new leaders instructions on what to fix. Meanwhile, she, Everest, and Noah are on the VIP floor with making sure their measurements are taken correctly.

She sits down in the waiting area within the store, "hmm, turn around." She gestures Everest so she can take a better glance at the suit the employee suggested he try on.

"I don't like it. What do you think?"

Her blunt comments are difficult for Everest to get used to when he replies, staring at the mirrors, "I don't know, I guess anything is fine with me."

"try another one!" she shouts as the employee comes out and takes Everest back to the dressing room with another suit inside for him to try on.

Another employee enters "Madam. I've written down Secretary Noah's measurements as you ordered."

"Great, send them to my email."

"Both?"

"Yes? How many measurements did you take?"

The flustered employee responds, "yes, just two."

"Then send them to my email," she coldly responds, looking away, waiting for Everest to come back out.

When Everest walks in, "what about this one?" he checks himself out in front of the mirror.

Belen stares, observing him when it suddenly becomes awkward, "do you not like it?" he asks, hoping she'd choose one already because it's his fifth time changing.

She walks closer to him, "I don't like the long coat. It's summer, and I hate the brown color," she grabs the collar of his coat, "hmm, take it off."

His eyes shudder, "t-take it, o-off?"

"Yes, I want to see the difference."

He slowly takes off his coat when Belen grabs it and tilts her head, wondering, "I don't like it either…"

Everest knows what to do when he turns to go back into the dressing room, but Belen pulls his arm, "where are you going? I didn't say change. There's Something you can take off."

She slowly slides her index finger to the buttons of his vest, "take this off."

Everest can't help but feel weird when she goes on to unbutton it for him when he tries to button it back up.

They continue bickering back and forth, but he pulls his vest, making her bump into his chest, at that moment Everest can smell her sweet scent and feel her fragile, thin body without even touching it.

Noah walks in on them, "Mada-" his eyes widen as invisible steam comes out of his nostrils, seeing Everest and Belen so close, causing him to misunderstand, "have they gotten so close already?"

Belen coldly turns to notice Noah standing there, "you finished?"

"…Y-Yes I am, Madam, what are you?"

Belen ignores him and argues with Everest, "take it off! Maybe that's what you don't need."

Everest quietly listens and takes it off, "there."

As she turned back to see him, her eyes widen, "that's it! this is you."

He turns to the mirror to check himself out, "it does feel less suffocating."

Noah feels like the third wheel, "then, if you'll excuse me, Madam, I'll be in my office."

Belen only nods, once his footsteps disappear, she turns back to see that he's gone and sighs wishing she could talk to him but stops herself, "no, I can't continue to burden him."

"Madam?" an employee asks, "will that be all?"

She replies, handing them her credit card, "Yes. Charge me for all of it."

"You don't have to pay for my clothes," he whispers timidly.

She smirks, "it's alright. It'll benefit me more than you."

"But!"

"If you insist, then I'll take it out of your paycheck."

He sighs, "thank you."

"You emailed me the measurements, right?" she asks the employee with doubtful eyes.

"Yes, Madam."

She fakes a smile walking out of the store with Everest carrying the bags, "where am I supposed to put these?"

"They're your clothes put them in your car."

"I'll be back shortly."

As he left, Belen gets on the elevator, checking her email, and forwards the measurements to Yonah. At that moment, Belen accidentally touches the calendar on her phone when he notices the day, "one more week," she mumbles.

***

One week later.

A Star is running smoothly without Belen's presence as she's gone off to take her vacation days. Noah's been taking charge of everything along with Everest. All he has to do is write a report summary, ready for Belen's returns.

But just as he was working, he gets a text message, hoping it's Belen he immediately checks, "Mabel?" and reads, "7:30 pm."

He checks the time on his watch, "it's 6…I should hurry."

He quickly calls Everest, "Yes, Secretary Noah? Your voice sounded urgent on the phone, what's up?"

"I'm going to have to step out for a few hours. I'll be back to close. But just in case I can't, I'll need you to close it for me."

Everest bewilderedly stares, "why? Did Something happen to Belen?"

"Wha-What?! No! I have an important errand to run."

Everest's eyes twitch, unsure whether he's telling the truth but accept and comments, "Hey, I know it isn't any of my business, but have you been practicing the dance routine with Lady Beth?"

Noah freezes in place, clicking his tongue, "this is between Belen and me," he turns with violent eyes, "stop getting in between us" he walks out.

Everest sighs, rubbing his head, "I swear they don't pay me enough to deal with these two…"

***

Noah arrives at the address Mabel sent him, but as he looked around for parking, he notices the neighborhood. Barely any street lights in every corner, houses that look unkempt, cracks between the streets and sidewalks. To sum it up, in a word, it can be considered the "ghetto." Which are full of all kinds of ethnic groups, but most famously, Mexicans and African Americans.

Somehow seeing all this does give Noah a bit of a warning as to what to expect, maybe his car can get broken into, he can get ambushed, or even robbed. He notices Mabel outside a house.

Mabel dressed in puma sweat pants, a blue sweater, with sneaker shoes, and her hair tied up in a messy hair bun walks over to welcome Noah.

"Nice to see you again. Please come inside," she shows him inside a tiny single apartment. Noah feels strange because it's his first time being exposed to apartments having a carpet as a floor. The popcorn ceiling, the sticky walls, and lastly, the smell of food.

The entrance is two steps away from the kitchen when Mabel asks, "please sit down, do you want anything to drink? Water? Juice? Tea? Coffee?"

Noah, still speechless from entering the apartments, manages to say, "water, if you don't mind."

He glimpses around the corner of his eyes, noticing picture frames, sunflowers, and barbie dolls in the distance along with pink blankets, two suitcases, and a pink dollhouse.

Mabel places his water when he thanks her and takes a sip from it.

She notices his blank expression thinking he might be uncomfortable and apologizes, "Sorry, I bet you weren't expecting to come in this kind of area. If you're uncomfortable, we can talk at another place next time."

"Not at all! I don't feel uncomfortable. I've never been to this area." He sincerely expresses, "actually, I'm surprised to see that these areas exist. I was raised in an orphanage village in South Korea. It's not the best place in Korea to be in but, that's where I was raised," he smiles.

Mabel shockingly shakes her head, "Oh no, don't worry, I'm not offended. I was worried about how you might feel, but if everything is fine with you, it's good with me."

They both laugh after realizing their misconception, when Mabel asks, "Why did you reach out to me? What do you want to know from me?"

Noah pauses to think of the right way to explain himself, "W-Well, I-I" he sighs, "I want to know more about Belen's pain. She suffers day and night of her past, and every time she remembers a certain memory, she starts to panic and hyperventilates. It's scary, but it usually happens when I'm around, so I get to calm her down. But I don't want to be the medicine she needs. What she needs isn't me, but her family. That is you, her mom, dad, and Iris."

Mabel nods, "I wish I can say its all in her imagination, but that'd be rude because no one knows what each person is suffering. Everyone has their challenges big or small. I understand your worries. Unfortunately, I don't know what it can be she's suffering from, but don't you think she should be the one to surpass her obstacles?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I thought two years ago. But she continues to have those episodes. And it gets worse when…"

"The day of his death? It's not easy for any of us either. But you came here for a reason, right? I don't know what I can do to help her when she acts the way that she does."

Noah faintly chuckles, "yes, I know she…can be pretty stubborn, rude, and arrogant." He looks at her, "but I want the best for her. It hurts to see her suffer. I don't want to poke my nose into her problems, but I at least want to know the full story rather than hearing it one-sided."

Just as Mabel was about to answer her phone rings, "excuse me," she turns around to answer. Noah couldn't help but listen when Mabel hangs up, looking troubled, "did I come at a bad time?" he asks.

Mabel tries hiding her fatigue, "no, it's fine. I just…" she bits her lower lip, "the truth is I'm looking for a place at the moment. I'm currently living with my mom. She works, and well, I have money for rent, but it's not fair for her to keep us in this single. I don't know what to do, I was hoping to get an apartment, but they just called to tell me that someone else already got it."

Noah offers, "if you'd like, I can help you."

"no, that won't be necessary. I'd feel bad. It's okay; I can take care of it."

He asks, "if you'd like, I can help you look for an apartment, and in return, you can tell me about your side of the story."

"Don't worry, thanks for the offer though."

Noah insists, "please, I can help you look for a place to rent."

Again Mabel gets a phone call from her mom but can hear her mom's boyfriend in the background grumble.

"Okay, I'll accept your help, and in return, I will tell you anything I know."

He nods, "then are you looking for a studio? Single? How much is your rental budget?" He takes out his phone to write it down as Mabel gives him the information.

After a few minutes of getting to know each other, Mabel calms her laugh and reveals, "I might be here for a while."

Noah notices her quiet, sincere expression, "may I ask, what encouraged you to come back?"

She faintly smiles, "Something happened between my husband and me. I'm thinking of getting a divorce, but I'm still unsure if whether I should give him another chance."

"I don't know what to say to that. I'm sorry for what you're going through."

Mabel can't help but laugh, "it's okay, but can you hear me out?"

He innocently nods, "sure."

Little did Noah realize what he was getting himself into when time passed by so quickly. There were countless tears, laughs, and honesty, it was as if everything that Mabel's kept locked within her finally exploded. She kept thinking to herself why is she able to say everything to him when he's a stranger. While talking to him, she soon realizes, "ah, now I know why I feel so comfortable. Because he can't judge me, could that be the reason why I feel this way?"

Noah asks, "Is this man the one you married, and eloped with-I mean ran away with?"

"I guess Belen explained that story to you already."

"I know that after high school, you were going to inherit A Star Is."

She violently disagrees, "that's not true. My dad was never going to give the mall to me. He was going to wait until I graduated the University. I didn't apply to any because I needed help. When I heard about the tuition for many schools, I chickened out. I didn't even know what I wanted to do with my life right then. All I knew was that I wanted to get away from my dad and that mall as fast as possible."

"the only thing you could've done was run away with your boyfriend."

She wipes away her tears, "yes, we got married and ran off. I was planning on attending my graduation ceremony, but we realized it would've been too late. After that day, I never once contacted anyone. A few years later, I gave birth to Emma, my daughter." She turns her head to the hallway of the bedroom, "she's still sleeping."

"Does she know you're planning on living here from now on?" he asks.

"No, she knows nothing. I just couldn't stand being in the same house with him any longer. She'd see me cry and do her best to comfort me. It hurt my heart to see that" she trembles unable to keep her tears and pain to herself.

She continues, "I even thought of abandoning Emma so she can be adopted and have better parents. But I just couldn't, not my daughter. My heart hurt the more I thought of it. So instead, I ran away and came here."

Unknowingly, Noah's stern expression cracks as a few tears slide down his cheeks. He gently grabs Mabel's hand, assuring her, "You're strong, Mabel. You're a very caring mother that I can see. You have the heart of a mother. And I'm sure Emma will thank you in the future for having her. Please don't ever think about abandoning her, it greatly impacts us, even as adults, its Something that continues to bother us."

Mabel sniffs, staring at him, confused, "us?"

Noah gulps nervously about exposing his past but bravely explains, "My mother abandoned me at the age of five. I was found and taken to an orphanage. I don't know if it happens here too, but back in Korea, I was often looked down on, bullied, and labeled as the orphan. It-It's not a pleasant memory to have, but I can tell you this, Emma does not want perfect parents. All she wants are loving parents who can work together. I cannot say anything about your husband cheating on you, but if you do decide to divorce him. Then it'd be best if you explain it clearly to your daughter first so she will not grow up confused."

After wiping away her tears, Mabel cutely nods, "yes, you're right. I should think about her first. Thank you. I felt this huge guilt and shame within me for even thinking about such a thought."

He disagrees, "you shouldn't feel ashamed because your situation made you think that…you have to forgive yourself for thinking that way and forget about it so you can move forward for your daughter."

She relaxes her shoulders back, "I feel so bad for taking your time with my problems. You came here to know more about Belen."

They hear a door creak and hurried footsteps rushing through the hallway, they turn to see a little 5-year-old girl with bed hair carrying a white dry erase board with a marker attached to it.

Mabel talks with a high pitch, "Hi Emma! Did you wake up? Come here, my mamash!" she goes on to carry her. But Emma can't take her eyes off of Noah when he waves to greet her, "Hello Emma, how are you?"

Mabel sits Emma on her lap, "wave hi, Emma, he's one of my friends. He's also a friend of aunty Belen. Remember, I told you about aunty Belen?"

Emma innocently nods, seeing Noah's charming, sincere smile.

Mabel gets another phone call and places Emma down, telling her, "Emma, mommy has to answer an important phone call, okay, so play with your toys in the living room okay, mamash!"

She nods, but Noah can't help his curiosity as his eyes trail off to the white dry erase board hanging around Emma's neck.

Emma brings her toys to Noah, "do you want me to play?"

She nods, smiling, causing him to smile back, "alright!" she pulls his hand to follow her five steps into the living room. She goes on to sit on the ground pulling his hand to sit with her. He awkwardly sits on his knees when he asks, "how old are you, Emma?"

Emma pauses while playing with her toys grabbing her dry erase board and marker to write. Noah's eyes widen in shock when Emma flips the board, he reads, "5 years old." He realizes that Emma wasn't shy; she can't talk. He gently pats her head, "you're a smart girl," he smiles. Emma gaining more trust gives him a horse and opens her pink dollhouse.

He turns to glance around as he continues to play with her and sees a large frame with a girl wearing a big green-blue ball dress elegantly smiling. Mabel notices, "that's Belen, it was her Quinceanera. I wasn't there, but my mom made her one. She looks the same, doesn't she?" she smiles, staring at the portrait frame.

Noah's eyes sparkle, "she's beautiful. But why does she look sad?"