Chapter 1

“HAS the email arrived, yet?” Zharm asked as she leaned over her sister whom she asked for help. She asked her sister, Julienne, to do a follow up on her novel that she wrote a month ago. Zharm earns a living by being a romance writer.

“It has not arrived yet,” her sister replied as she looked at her.

Zharm had been waiting for the email from her editor for a week now. Usually it takes one month for the editor to evaluate a novel and after a month, the editor will email the writer regarding the result. If it is approved by the editor, Zharm can receive a payment immediately. If it is for revision, she would have to revise it until the novel is approved by the editor. But Zharm hopes for her novel to be approved by the editor from the get go. She needed money especially during this time.

“Why hasn’t she e-mailed me back?” she asked as she stood back up.

“You’re wondering why?!” Julienne asked her in disbelief. It’s a s if she expected Zharm to know the answer to her own question. “Maybe your novel got rejected, that’s why.” Julienne smirked.

Yes, her novels got rejected a couple of times already. Maybe that was the reason why Julienne thought about it, but for Zharm, it wasn’t the right time to allow negativity into her. She needs to be positive to attract positive things. She hit her sister’s head with her palm.

“Why are you being so pessimistic?!” she said.

“Did you really just hit me?!” Julienne stood as she rubbed the back of her head, hoping to ease the pain. But Zharm knew that her sister was just over-reacting. They were used to bickering at each other and petty fights. They were not really the mushy types of persons and maybe that’s they just how they show affection for each other.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Now, it’s her time to smirk at her sister. Julienne annoyed her and she wouldn’t pass on the chance to return the favor. Zharm walked close to her sister again and hit her head with her palm for the second time. This time, she hit harder. Julienne shouted in pain as she looked back at Zharm.

“Why are you being so violent?!” Julienne hissed. But she knew that her sister knew better. Instead of hitting her back, Julienne sat back at the sofa as she once again rubbed the back of her head.

“Because you’re a pessimist!” she said. She sat beside her sister and lightly squeezed Julienne’s knee with an apologetic look on her face. “You already expected it to be rejected. Can’t you at least say that maybe my editor is busy nowadays and that’s the reason why she can’t get back at me, yet?”

She scratched her hair in frustration as she leaned back at her seat. She really needs the money right now for their expense. Their living expenses weren’t much of a problem when her mother was still working as a Human Resource Manager at a real estate company. But because of the gall bladder operation that her mother underwent a month ago, her mother needed to stop working for the time being. Their savings had gone down the drain because of her mother’s hospitalization cost and continued mediation. Zharm had to provide for the family. She needs money for her sibling’s tuition fee. Julienne, who is about to take the Licensure Exam for Nurses a few months from now needs money for her review classes while her youngest sibling, Erhan is in his second year studying Architecture and he needs the money to enroll for his second semester.

“Your novels are crap! You shouldn’t be surprised if your novel got rejected!” Julienne answered. Zharm rolled her eyes. Her sister loves to criticize her works and she bets Julienne isn’t even proud being her sister.

“Excuse me?!” Zharm raised her voice, feeling offended. “Maybe you’re forgetting that I am Pauline Salvacion.”

Pauline Salvacion is the pseudonym she is using. Zharm named her pseudonym after her grandmother Paulina. She just made it into Pauline to sound moder.

“And so, what?!” Pauline answered, her eyebrows raised.

“Last year, I was named by the publishing company that I’m working at as their most prolific writer and I have a lot of supporters!”

Not to brag, but, Zharm had best-selling romance novels under her name that’s why she’s grateful for all her supports who had been there for her since the beginning of her writing career. Julienne just smirked at her.

“I can’t even understand why your supporters like you. Even my friends like you! My friends always talk about you and your novels all the time! They even promote your novels on their own social media accounts. Like WTF?! Are they your sisters?!”

Zharm laughed as she saw the disbelief in Julienne’s eyes. But what she said was true, by the way. Julienne’s friends are her fans and every time they came over, they would bring books for Zharm to sign. They were really proud of her, unlike her own sister. But maybe, Julienne is also proud of her. Her sister isn’t just the showy type of person.

One time, when Julienne’s friend, Aica came over, Aica told Zharm that Julienne sent a message in their group chat saying how proud she was when Zharm got her first novel published.

“You’re the only one who’s not proud of me,” Zharm said, feigning disappointment. Julienne scoffed.

“And why would I be proud of you? Your stories suck! You’re a romance writer but you don’t have a love life?! Like, WTF?! How dare you make your readers hope for true love when you haven’t found it yourself?” Zharm shrugged.

“And what’s wrong with that?!” she asked. Her eyebrows furrowed into a frown. “Having a boyfriend is not a requirement to write a bets-selling romance novel. I am intelligent and talented. That’s all I need.”

While a personal experience can really help her in writing an effective story that brings out true emotions, she can’t do anything for the meantime but to rely on her talent and her wide imagination to write a romance novel. She’s single and she doesn’t want to have a boyfriend just for the sake of having one. She’s waiting for someone who can meet her standards- someone who will never leave her unlike what her Dad did to her Mom.

“Are you sure that there’s someone living out there that can meet you really high standards?! Your ideal type is only in the movies.”

“Of course, not! I’m sure, there’s someone out there who’s a gentleman, kind, handsome and faithful who’s waiting to meet me, too.” She smiled as she imagined how her meeting with her ideal guy would happen.

“There’s not a single man in the world who’s like that. And if there is, if he’s not already married, I’m sure he’s looking for a man, too,” Julienne laughed but she didn’t laugh with her. It’s no time for joking.

“I’m pretty sure there’s someone like that. I’ll find him.”