Chapter 1 Juanita's New School

In the sleek modern Heart Airport in Texas, a crew of flight attendants stroll purposefully through the halls heading to their respective stations to prepare for take-off. Chairman Paulo Gustavo, dressed in a single-breasted suit as usual, leaves the last button on his blazer unbuttoned as he walks out of a meeting with a crew of pilots.

He reaches for his phone and sends a text message to his wife Ariella while walking to his office.

Ariella, holding her phone, goes through the message which seems to surprise her. Immediately, her phone rings, it is her husband Paulo.

She picks up and says "What is this text I'm reading? Why are Juanita and I going to Malaysia?"

He coolly explains, "An international school in Malaysia contacted me while you were in-flight stating that Juanita has been accepted for enrollment. I've taken care of Juanita's paperwork and homestay already, all I need is for you to help her pack and bring her to the airport by tomorrow"

She cuts in "An international school, All of a sudden?"

"Help her pack and bring her to the airport tomorrow" he replies.

Ariella is astonished that he is telling her all of this so suddenly, but Paulo simply points out that she wasn't there when the school called.

"Have you spoken to your daughter, what was her reply to all of this? Ariella asks

He scoffs "She doesn't have a choice, I have the final say. It's all for the best. I was disappointed her previous school didn't work out. We can't leave her with a nanny either and since you decided you must go back to work; she has to be where she'll be taken care of".

He tells Ariella to just get Juanita to the airport in time and hangs up before she says anything more.

Ariella turns and hurries home, where she finds Juanita wiping the floors with a rag, apparently to prove that she's more useful at home. Juanita is clearly a dramatic but bright kid, and she's got lots to say about her Dad's decision; she rattles "Aren't I a good girl? Did I get in trouble when Abuela looked after me? You tried to send me off to Dad's sister after she died. Did I say I wanted to learn Mandarin? I don't care about global perspectives or learning Mandarin. Dad is being inconsiderate".

Her mother lets out a deep sigh, "I just found out myself. Dad notified..."

"Exactly!" Juanita cuts in, "Why all of a sudden? That's what I don't get".

"I'm sorry Nita, but.." Ariella says. "So you're just going to send me anywhere?" Juanita replies.

"It's not just anywhere, you know how picky Sarah is, she knows someone there. It's a nice and safe place".

"Mom. Are you on Dad's side? Do you want me to go so you two can work? How can you send your only daughter away like this? And you call yourself a mom" She says, as tears began rolling down her cheeks.

Ariella, looking frustrated, tries to comfort her, noting how much Juanita hated her school after her aunt got injured and she couldn't go to New Zealand. It would be embarrassing to have to go back to her old school right after going through all the tearful goodbyes. None of Ariella's comforts succeed even after she assures her she will fly there at least once a week to see her.

Juanita mournfully accuses her and Dad of being eager to send her off just so they can work. She sobs that she's scared, but Ariella only sighs as if there's nothing she can do. That night, Ariella packs Juanita's things until dawn.

Maxwell Stone is also up late at his office working on his architectural designs, but when he receives a call from his teenage daughter, Carol, he immediately heads outside, grinning at the dawn sky.

They banter cutely over the phone while he drives a scooter over a bridge overlooking the River, holding his phone camera up to the sunrise in a landscape manner for her to see.

"Hurry Dad, go faster. I miss and think about this view every day" she says.

"Think about your grandma who's eagerly waiting to see you. Will you visit this year?" her dad replies.

"I'm sightseeing, can you speed up a bit?" she says, as she avoids the question. Carol marvels at the image through the camera, squealing that Texas's sky is totally different from Malaysia's.

She tells him that she thinks her long-awaited roommate is arriving soon. "I have to clean the room and everything. It's not for free though, Mary said she'd give me fifty dollars daily to tidy up, but I'm going to use it to buy a new iron to replace Mary's ancient one that got broken. It was 10 years old" she adds.

"I can't scold you for being thoughtful," he says, smiling. What a sweetie she is, he thinks.

They went on and on and she says how sorry she is that she won't be able to visit him and Grandma in California again this time, but she promises to be there next time, especially for Grandma's birthday. He smiles, hangs up and stares at the sky for a little while before driving off.

After Maxwell hung up, Carol sat on her bed replaying the video from the call with her dad.

She gets another phone call shortly, this time from Mom. Interestingly, she looks much less excited than when she was talking to her Dad, Maxwell.

"I already told him I wouldn't go," she says, as she sadly assures her mom that she told her Dad she wasn't coming. She lets out a sigh of relief after the call ends, wondering why her mother always insists she shouldn't come home.

In the morning, Maxwell drives back to Point-one Interiors, a Firm that specializes in interior décor and makes handmade traditional decorative accessories, situated just in front of his residence.

An assistant outside working on some decorations informs Maxwell that the director stayed up all night preparing for the exhibition. "we're prepping for the exhibition. "Mrs Madison was here all night," she says.

He goes straight to his residence to freshen up. On getting close he sees Madison working through the window and lets out a warm smile. He gets in and walks straight into the bathroom to have a warm bath. Madison walks in while he is preparing breakfast, she walks up to him and pulls the towel from his neck, "that smells nice. Good morning" she says as she kisses him.

They sit comfortably together at the table. When he tells her that Carol won't make it to Texas again, she wonders why he keeps wanting her to come; "Don't you think she's too independent?" he says.

"Okay?, I thought you liked that about her," she replies. She told him to stop giving his mom false hope about Carol's coming to Texas and went on to surprise him with an invitation to go to Malaysia with her as she had already looked through his schedule and confirmed that he wasn't teaching a class today, so she knows he's free. She plans to check out the gallery for the exhibition there while he visits Carol.

In the morning, Ariella and Juanita loaded her bag into a taxi to the airport. The driver warns Ariella that her bags feel too heavy for the airport's weight limit, but Ariella lifts them and says assuredly: "Nope. 24.5 kg!". Amazingly, when they checked in Juanita's baggage, it was exactly 24.5 kg.

Paulo meets Ariella at the airport to help with check-in and asks her whether Juanita is still upset.

She tries to take their daughter's side, "She isn't angry, she's just scared. You should go talk to her. She came this far at least"

"Did she have a choice? I don't think you get the picture here. You of all people know how important this is" he replies.

"All I'm saying is you should try to be more understanding of her emotions" she warmly says, but Paulo only tells her that this is an incredible school where she'll be free to express herself and Ariella of all people should be more understanding and appreciative.

He buys Juanita a glass of juice before the flight, and they snap at each other in annoyance.

"Be nice to Mom while I'm gone" Juanita says,

"Be nice to me first," he replies.

"Is that all you can say to your daughter who's leaving? Mom wouldn't have sent me if you hadn't made a fuss. You always complain about my grades"

"You'll thank me for this for the rest of your life. Ensure you study hard and don't dare say you'd rather stay here" he warns.

Juanita thinks he's being irrational and mean, she glares at him, but when a pair of Air hostesses greet him as they pass, he laughs heartily and pinches her cheek as if they're a loving father-daughter pair.

Juanita tells him flatly: "I hate you". She ignores her father's hand and takes her mother's instead, and they head to board the plane.

Paulo receives a call from one of the crew members who called to inform him about a woman who was making a delivery to Mexico; "she's forced to run and seek refuge somewhere else because her drug-dealing boyfriend was murdered in Mexico" he reports. "She wasn't able to make the drop then was she?", it is silent at the other end of the call. Paulo asks how much loss that was and storms out angrily on getting a reply.