Issuu

LAYOUT ARTIST: MARIEL AGUISANDA

LITERARY WRITERS:

VICTOR BENEDICT SANTIAGO

MARIEL AGUISANDA

MARIELLA CENTINO

JANNAH NICOLE MOBO

JOVIE MAE TABIEROS

KISHA KEECH MENESIS

CLINCHZ RANH ESTEVES

DEVAN AGUSTIN

WHY MUSIC JUST WORKS FOR ME

WRITTEN BY: MARIELLA CENTINO

Music is kind of a daily thing for me. I listen to it while doing tasks, resting, or when I just need a quick reset. It helps me relax and makes quiet moments feel l ess empty.

What I like about music is how it fits any mood. When I need to focus, I play calmer songs. When I’m tired or bored, I switch to something more upbeat. It’s an easy way to change how I feel without doing much.

Music has become a small but constant part of my routine. It’s simple, but it helps me get through the day and makes things feel more manageable.

When Sweatpants Stop Feeling Safe

Written by: Jannah Nicole Mobo

Friendship was supposed to be safe. You know, like sweatpants: stretchy,comfortable,and uncomplicated. No hidden clauses,no fine print. Just fun,loyalty,and late-night talks about nothing. No mixed signals to decode,no racing of heartbeats to secondguess,and definitely no feelings that refuse to stay in their proper place. It's supposed to be that simple,right?

Except... not really. Turns out that "safe" is kind of a clown. One moment you ' re laughing over a joke,the next you ' re replaying your conversations like an old and broken record. Pausing on moments that might have been nothing at all. Overthinking about the messages you sent,did I say the wrong thing? Should I have added an emoji? Where every laugh feels like it comes with subtitles,every scene is like a plot twist waiting to happen. The ordinary starts to look dramatic,like someone handed me a script without realizing I was in the show all along.

Wondering if these feelings are real,or if I'm. just starring in my own K-drama series. Auditioning for therole of Confused Best Friend Who Might Secretly Be In Love. The punchline isn't really a joke, it's the emotion hiding underneath. Because speaking up could rewrite the whole script.

While staying silent feels like pretending not to know what you feel inside,that we ' re just two strangers who met at an event. Maybe love never announces itself properly. It doesn't knock,but instead,it sneaks in through the cracks he endless laughs,ordinary meals,and those "accidental" photos that look suspiciously like couple shots. These small moments fill up until "ordinary" starts to feel magical,and "just friends" starts to sound like a label that doesn't fit. Even my go-to sweatpants,the ones that I thought would always be the definition of safe and uncomplicated, start to whisper that maybe it's about me realizing, this might actually be real. When the sweatpants stop feeling safe,it's not because they have lost their softness,it's because your heart is ready for something that might not actually fit as planned. And maybe that confusion isn't a mistake at all. It's proof that something brave enough,messy enough, and funny enough to blur the line between friendship and love. Which basically means my sweatpants era just got cancelled mid-season and the spin-off is apparently a rom- com starring me.

GUILTY IT IS

WRITTEN BY: MARIEL AGUISANDA

Cold sweat. Snaky hands. Guity it is.

Distort scrambled noises echo across the room. "Bang". A noise that woke Tina up. Labored and heavy breath, cold pellet sweats dripping in the head. "Tina! Tina! Go to the closet!", her mother said. Tina follows the instruction dirrected to her. Another Bang is heard inside the luxurious closet of its mother, where not even a dust particle can be seen. "Mommy, Wincy Tina, come out now in the closet!", a horrible voice, Tina hates it. It's a nightmare, Tina dont like those husky and deep voice that comes from a horrible person who gives sperm to its mother and made her, it's her father. A gasp of air, no big gasps of air. Wake up! Tina! Mama's dead! Tina, your mother is dead! You just saw it. Tina-

Tina opens its eyes, drops of water pouring down like a river, sobbing. That even waking up makes Tina feel lifeless. She's tired. Yes, shes tired that even her brain said no. NO. Not today. She needs to be hopeful, willful to start the day more vivid, colorful, and positive.

Wearing its wine red suit and white blouse inside from the luxurious closet of its mother. Tina is ready. Ready to take one last step. She's ready to defend herself against her own father. Yes. Tina is a victim of parental abuse. And according to the Child Protection Organization, Tina is one of 68% cases who experience parental abuse. But what can she do about it?

She was too young to defend herself at that time, and she was weak like me. Just like me. Yes. Tina is me. Now that I can fight back. Wearing my mother's clothes to the last trial. The last step. The last trial that the jury will stamp. Trial to stop this and come to an end. And I wished for guilt, and it is.

“ According to Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code defendant is hereby sentenced murder. And he’s killing is classified as Homicide under Article 249, which is punishable by reclusion temporal. Hence, Timothy Reyes, the father of the complainant and spouse of the coast wife, is sentence GUILTY with beyond resonable doubt. Relief. After a decade of suffering. It is finished. Guilty it is.

A BET CALLED LOVE

WRITTEN BY: KISHA KEECH MENESIS

It’s not like Avery isn’t over Matteo. She is. At least, that’s what she tells herself on quiet nights when the city hums below her balcony and the moon hangs like an old memory. Six months ago, Avery walked away from the boy everyone adored—the athlete with the perfect smile who chose her out of a crowd and made her believe in impossible things. Matteo kissed her like it meant forever, held her hand like it was most delicate thing he had ever touched, and said "I love you " so easily that Avery built a future around the word. Then the truth arrived through a glowing screen: their relationship was a bet.

Seven months, ten thousand pesos, and a joke Avery never agreed to be part of. Avery ended it before Matteo could win. She told herself that dignity mattered more than explanations, that leaving was the only way to survive. Now, Avery has a stable job, a routine, and scars she pretends not to touch. She insists she doesn’t miss Matteo. She insists she wouldn’t change a thing. Still, sometimes, when her phone lights up or a song plays too softly, Avery pauses. Not because she wants Matteo back. But because she just couldn't believe Matteo actually happened.

WRITTEN BY: DEVAN AGUSTIN

WRITTEN BY: JOVIE MAE TABIEROS

Ev hair sligh little off. I the chan on paper.

By the time I reached school, it was obvious. Classmates didn’t even need words; they could read every lie in my expression. It wasn’t just cheating on homework or little white lies it was everything I had tried to hide, and now the world could see it.

The worst part? It was permanent. Lies weren’t just words anymore; they became a part of me. I realized that if I wanted to fix myself, I had to start telling the truth, even when it hurt or made me look weak.