TRAPPED BY LOVE

CHAPTER 1

Anthony Quileopas was considered a celebrity inside the campus of Saint Augustine Academy. A few of the male students from different grade levels envied his popularity in school, especially with girls. Who wouldn’t fall for Anthony’s charms? He wasn’t only good with sports, he’s also smart, and he’s handsome, too!

At the age of seventeen, he’s already a six-footer and the ace of their basketball team. Along with being the only grandson of Frederick Quileopas, the richest farmer in their neighbourhood, his good looks made him the most eligible teenager in and out of the campus.

However, Anthony wasn’t interested in girls or dating someone from school. He’s serious in his studies because he wanted to prove to his grandfather that he wasn’t just a pretty boy!

“Hi Oppa,” a junior student greeted Anthony at the gate, and she earned a scowl.

Anthony stared at the girl who’s too young to begin flirting with him and replied, “Hello.” The girl and her companion giggled at his short response, but before they could ask him for a photo, he walked away from them.

It wasn’t the first time when someone called him Oppa. At first, the term befuddled him, but some of his friends enlightened him that it’s a term commonly found in Korean dramas that young girls were hooked into. His eyes usually caused misunderstanding among students, but he’s full-blooded Filipino, and he made it clear for the nth time already.

Their teacher for the last subject cancelled their classes due to a personal emergency, and they were asked to go home early. Anthony’s house was a walking distance from Saint Augustine Academy, but his grandfather Frederick assigned someone to pick him up from school. He scowled upon seeing the farmhand outside the gate, but the poor man kept on smiling, and he was forced to smile back. Marvin was a little older than him, but he was forced to do some labour and earn a living for his younger siblings due to his finances.

“Give me the key, and I’ll drive.” He ordered Marvin to surrender the key to him.

Marvin hesitated to give the key to Anthony because he was scared for his life. Frederick Quileopas would surely skin him alive! “Don’t do this to me, Anthony. Do you want me to lose my job?” Marvin pleaded with Anthony to let him drive, but the brat insisted on doing it!

Anthony scowled at Marvin for being loyal to his grandfather, but he could be stubborn sometimes. “Fine, then I’ll just walk.” He said that he opened his palm and waited for the key when he saw Marvin's reaction. “Thanks, Marvin,” he smiled as he accepted the motorcycle key.

After Anthony geared up the motorcycle, Marvin hopped in and held tightly into the teen’s uniform. It wasn’t the first time Anthony robbed him of the key, and every time, he drove the two-wheeled vehicle like a maniac. “Where are we going?” He panicked when Anthony didn’t turn right towards the road leading to his grandfather’s home.

“Just shut up!” Anthony warned Marvin to stay silent because his nonstop chatter would piss him. It was still early to go home, and his grandfather wouldn’t expect him to come home an hour earlier. When he’s a few meters away from the Red House, where his best friend lived, Anthony slowed down a little bit and glanced at the farmhouse. It was at that moment when Ella and her daughter came out giggling, and he smiled.

“She’s pretty,” Marvin said. Since Ryan’s wife came to live at the Red House, Marvin thought their neighbourhood was no longer boring.

“Who?” Anthony asked because he didn’t understand what Marvin was mumbling to himself.

“I said that Ryan’s wife is pretty,” Marvin yelled near Anthony’s ear.

“She is,” Anthony agreed because just like Marvin, he found the woman attractive and different from the married women in their area. She’s funny and easy to get along with!

“She must be bored sometimes…in bed,” Marvin announced his opinion, and Anthony grunted.

 Anthony didn’t comment on the matter because what did he know about matters in the bed? He had no prior experience, to begin with, but Marvin didn’t have the right to form an opinion about the brunette woman.

He increased the speed of the motorcycle, and Marvin yelped in surprise. Anthony smirked before he manoeuvred the vehicle towards a rough road leading to Vincent's home.  His classmates didn’t attend their classes in the afternoon and went to Vincent’s home to enjoy some coconut fruit.

Anthony parked his grandfather’s motorcycle with ease, and his classmates grasped altogether. They didn’t expect him to join them. “Where’s Jeff?” He asked as soon as he noticed that Jeff was absent from the group.

“He will be back shortly. His aunt asked him to drive them to the centre to get some pork barbecue.” Vincent replied, and at the same time, he guided Anthony to sit down in a shed made of bamboo.

Anthony nodded and sat down. “Emperador? I thought you’re just going to have some buko,” he complained when he was given a glass of Emperador mixed with cola.

Vincent shook his head and said, “Buko is for kids, Anthony.”

Anthony wanted to refuse the drink, but it would disappoint his friends. He closed his eyes before he gulped the brandy in one shot, and his friends praised him with glee. He’s not into alcoholic drinks, and it’s one of the reasons why he seldom went out with them. “After three shots, I’m going home.” He announced, but his friends didn’t agree to it.

Supposedly, his limits were up to three shots only, but he had so much fun that he forgot about the time. It was when Jeff returned that Anthony realized his mistake. He panicked at the thought that his grandfather would be waiting for him outside the gate or much worse!

“Dude,” Jeff acknowledge Anthony’s presence and sat beside him. “Did you just arrive?” He inquired.

“No, I came here when you left. Vincent told me you drove Ella to the centre,” he said.

“Yeah,” Jeff replied.

“The barbecue stall is only a walking distance from her home; didn’t she know how to walk?” Anthony wondered because the woman looked just fine.

Jeff disliked being bossed around, but he couldn’t say no to his uncle’s wife. The woman knew how to persuade him into agreeing to her every demand, and he hated himself for being a pushover! “No comment,” Jeff answered.

“Well, I’m glad that you’re here. I wish to stay longer, but you know my grandfather,” Anthony said, and Jeff nodded his head in agreement. It was Jeff who convinced the rest of the g**g to let him go first.

“Should I send you home?” Jeff offered after he noticed how Anthony walked.

“Never mind. I came here with Marvin,” Anthony replied before he said goodbye to his classmates and friends.

Anthony knew he drank more than he could tolerate, so he didn’t complain when Marvin insisted on driving the Yamaha XTZ. A few minutes later, Marvin and Anthony carefully entered the vast compound owned by Frederick Quileopas.

“You’re late!”

Anthony stood frozen at the door upon seeing his grandfather, who waited for his arrival. Since he was a kid, he couldn’t remember a time when his old man treated him with kindness. Frederick Quileopas has always been grumpy around him, and he wondered what his fault was! “I’m sorry, Grandpa.” He apologized, and his grandfather’s reaction stunned him. For the first time in his seventeen years of existence, the older adult stared at him with the eyes of a loving grandfather.

“Follow me,” Frederick walked ahead towards the kitchen, and Anthony followed. On the dining table, there was a round tube cake, and it’s his favourite. “Am I being hard on you, Anthony?”

Anthony stared at his grandfather, and he just noticed the lines on his forehead, the wrinkles around his eyes, and all of it indicated that the man who raised him was old and tired. He chose to be silent or risked offending Frederick Quileopas.

“I don’t want you to become like your father, an i***t who ended his life because of a woman!” Frederick’s voice roared in the kitchen.

Anthony balled his fist and stared at his grandfather before he opened his mouth to speak. “I’m different, Grandpa.”

Frederick closed the distance between him and his only grandson. He placed both of his hands on top of Anthony’s shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “I know. So starting today, you can do anything you want, but please, don’t do drugs. Understand?”

Anthony was taken aback at the sudden change of Frederick Quileopas, and he began to worry. “Are you dying?” He asked with hesitation, and when his grandfather looked at him, no, he didn’t look, he glared at him, Anthony flinched!