Chapter 1 Start Of Summer

• Chapter-1 Start Of Summer
• Danica Waylon got a nostalgic feeling as soon as she looked around the familiar place after getting out of the airport. Welcome home, Danica, she told herself and glanced at her eleven-year-old brother who was ecstatic to be back in California.
• Danica couldn't help but smile at his excitement. Seeing the suddenly confused expression on his face, she ruffled his dark brown hair and said, “Aziel, you don’t have to put pressure on your tiny head. I know how to get to our old place.”
• Crossing his arms against his chest, Aziel frowned. “Why can’t I remember where we lived before? It was three years ago, so I shouldn’t have forgotten our hometown.”
• Danica pursed her lips, not bothering to answer him immediately. She pulled the luggage along with her as she headed towards the cab. Aziel ran ahead and blocked her way with his small frame.
• “Why don’t I remember, Dani?” he asked again with a tint of disappointment in his voice.
• She sighed and replied before opening the cab door, “Aziel, you were only eight at that time.” Aziel pouted but got in the cab nonetheless, like an obedient kid. "Just focus on enjoying your summer here.” Danica also hopped in as well and rolled down the windows of her side, blocking the scorching afternoon sunlight.
• “Dani, you didn’t forget my birthday wish, right? You will fulfill my wish, won’t you?” he asked with hopeful hazel eyes.
• Glancing at him, Danica nodded her head. Aziel grinned in happiness and placed his head on her shoulder. She started to pat his head lightly as she started pondering over how to grant this one wish of Aziel. The smile on her face dropped as soon as her brother closed his eyes, a cold, distant look covering her face instead.
• Danica went back to California after three long years, just for Aziel’s wish. She was absolutely clueless on how to accomplish it. On top of that, coming back to this place brought a lot of happy memories which are now painful. It was her decision to return, yes, but now what?
• She sighed.
• ___
• “Hey, my stones! How have you been doing? Welcome back to Troy's Reels. If you are new to my channel, let me tell you why I call y’all Stones. It's because you guys are my rock. Without your support, I am nothing. So you guys mean the world to me,” Troy Kingston said, facing the camera kept on his table, recording his new WhyNTube video. WhyNTube was a social platform where people could upload different videos and earn popularity. “Today I will do a vlog and it will start with—”
• “Troy, I am going to ChocoVivo Café. Want to tag along?” Hernan called out after barging into his bedroom without knocking.
• “Wherever there's free food, you will find Troy Kingston with his camera. So is the food free?” Troy asked. He turned off his camera and looked at Hernan Matias, who was one of his best friends and a WhyNTuber like him. The eccentric name of the café was enough for him to decline the offer, but that was not the real reason he did not want to visit that place—it would remind him of someone he did not want to remember.
• Hernan narrowed his eyes at Troy and let out, “No, but it will be helpful for your vlog. At least your fans won't think you are a social shut-in who rarely goes out and keeps making the same old vlogs which include exercise and takeout.” Troy snickered at the last sentence. He lost his interest from the moment he heard there won't be any free food. “And who knows? If you are in luck, you might just bump into one of your crazy fans whom you can include in the vlog,” Hernan suggested.
• Twitching his lips, Troy thought for a while before saying, “Fine, give me two minutes. I'll go change into something better.”
• Hernan chuckled, looking at his current outfit, which almost made Troy look like he just got out of bed. “I'll be waiting at the parking lot then,” Hernan announced and made his way out of the Rose mansion—a mansion where only a group of young celebrities lived, who happened to be close friends since their middle schools.
• ___
• “Stop,” Danica let out when her eyes fell on a certain café. The cab driver pushed the brakes at that instant moment and peered at the brown wavy-haired girl through the mirror. “I need to grab a cup of hot chocolate from here.”
• The driver smiled and glanced at the coffee shop, which was famous for its special hot chocolate. Aziel was sleeping peacefully in the car, so the driver, who looked like he was in his mid-forties, assured, “Get your coffee. The kid is safe here.”
• Pushing a few locks of her brown hair behind her ear, Danica got out of the cab. She straightened the light wrinkles that formed on her white top and dusted her mid-thigh length denim skirt before walking inside her favorite coffee shop. She stood in the long queue, patiently waiting for her turn to come.
• While she was looking around, her heartbeat hammered all of a sudden. Danica huffed and wished for the line to move faster. She knew that when her heartbeat sped up, it was because something was about to happen—good or bad, it didn’t matter. Given the kind of life she was leading, she didn’t expect anything good to happen to her anymore. Even smiling wholeheartedly was hard for her nowadays.
• Was it a good decision to come out of the cab just for a cup of hot chocolate? She had no idea.