Forevermore

Teacher Maria Angelica Ricafranca, a 20-year-old new teacher is very excited as today will be her first day of work at St. Mary's Academy in the City of Batangas. She woke up early and started her morning routines. Took a bath, had her breakfast, and carried her things. She is living alone in an apartment since she will be working in the City while her parents were in their ancestral house in Baybayin, Rosario, Batangas. She's the only daughter of the couple farmer Mr. and Mrs. Ricafranca. She grew up with a simple provincial living who only knew the school and their residence.

Her friends used to call her a nerd and clumsy girl since her school days for she only studies well and does not join them with the usual teenagers do, partying, mailing, and strolling. She is an obedient daughter of her parents. She always admire her parents' love for each other making her grew of dreaming of the same happy family life in the future.

She took a bus heading to St. Mary's Academy. It will take 20 minutes to ride for her to reach the school. She still had ample time before the Flag Ceremony begins.

"Good morning Teacher Maria," one of her pupils greeted her with a smile.

"Good morning Tiarra," she replied to this cutie little girl.

"Good morning Teacher Maria," her other pupils are greeting her as well while she is entering her preschool room. She placed all her things and her netbook on top of her desk.

"Good morning dear kiddos," she greeted them as well. Being an only child, she grew up longing for playmates and siblings, that's why she does love children a lot. They always brighten up her days. They are the reason why she decided to become a preschool teacher. She wanted to be engaged with the kids and teach them how to read, write and comprehend. It is her advocacy to be their first teacher, their preschool teacher.

Kring! Kring!

A school bell started to ring as a sign for all the students and teachers in St. Mary's Academy to go out on the school field and form their lines according to their levels for the school's Flag Ceremony and to sing the Philippine Hymn.

After settling in their respective line formation, all the advisory class teachers are standing in front of them. Everybody put their right hand on top of their left chest where their heart is located while standing straight as they started to sing the Philippine Hymn respectively.

The Philippine Hymn ( English version during the American Regime)

Land of the morning,

Child of the sun returning,

With fervor burning,

Thee though our souls adore.

Land dear and holy,

Cradle of the noble heroes,

Never shall invaders,

Trample thy sacred shore.

Ever within thy skies and through thy clouds

And over thy hills and sea,

Do we behold the radiance, feel the throb,

Of glorious liberty.

Thy banner, dear to all our hearts,

Its sun and stars alight,

O never shall its shining field

Be dimmed by tyrant's might!

Beautiful land of love, o land of light,

In the embrace 'tis rapture to lie,

But it is glory ever when thou art wronged,

For us, thy sons to suffer and die.

After singing the Philippine Hymn altogether, everybody offered the School's Opening Prayer.

All the teachers now are leading their sets of students to their respective classrooms to start their classes.

Teacher Maria is so glad that she is handling the preschoolers. Her pupils were all cute and behaves well as she had a friendly approach to each of them.

"Okay class, let's all stand up and sing a nursery rhyme altogether," she lead the song and dance with action in front of her 15 pupils. The kids are so excited singing and mirroring Teacher Maria's action dance with this song "The Wheels on the Bus,"...

The wheels on the bus go-'round and 'round

'Round and 'round, 'round and 'round

The wheels on the bus go-'round and 'round

All-day long

The horn on the bus goes beep-beep-beep

Beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-beep

The horn on the bus goes beep-beep-beep

All-day long

The wipers on the bus go swish-swish-swish

Swish-swish-swish, swish-swish-swish

The wipers on the bus go swish-swish-swish

All-day long

The babies on the bus cry, "Wah-wah-wah

Wah-wah-wah, wah, wah, wah"

The babies on the bus cry, "Wah, wah, wah"

All-day long

The mommies on the bus say, "Shush, shush, shush

Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush"

The mommies on the bus say, "Shush, shush, shush"

All-day long

All the kids are enjoying with how Teacher Maria's jolly form of teaching to them. They are about 4-6 years old.

"Are you enjoying kids?" she asked her pupils very enthusiastically.

"Yes, we are Teacher Maria," the children said aloud then clapped their hands loudly.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Okay kids, you may take your seats now," she told her pupils. "I am your advisory classroom Teacher Maria. I am single and I love kids like you so much. I will be your teacher for all the subjects here in the Pre-school department. I am looking forward that all of you will enjoy our class the whole year-round," she friendly introduced herself to her class.

The kids clapped their tiny hands once more.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"And now, I want your class to introduce yourselves, one by one so that I can memorize your names and you will know each other, okay," she said to them.

The kids started to introduce themselves one-by-one as Teacher Maria put a star sticker for every pupil who finished introducing themselves. They were all happy with their Teacher Maria.

"Yey! We love you, Teacher Maria," they all said to her while they were heading to her one-by-one. They kissed her cheeks and Teacher Maria was so overwhelmed with them.

Teacher Maria and her class had a wonderful day on this first day of classes. They get along well with each other as the kids feel the kindness and patience of their Teacher Maria. She is very approachable and she never gets tired of teaching them one by one especially those who are first-timers to socialize with the other kids. Teacher Maria ensures that she gave equal attention to each of her students. She wanted to be fair to all of them so that no can will be left behind.

During breaktime, her mobile phone beeps...

When she saw the screen of her mobile phone, her mother, Mrs. Ricafranca had a message for her. "Hi, Yes, how's your first day of work? How are you with the kids?" her mother asked her.

"I'm good Mom. My students are great and cute. I love them so much," she excitedly shared her moments with her students a while ago.

"Great! I can feel from your voice that you are very happy and I'm glad you enjoy your first day of school. Do you want me to visit and bring you food for your dinner tonight?" her mother asked her. It was the first time Maria left their ancestral house and live alone. Her mother used to serve her from her clothes to wear up to food she ate when she was still living with them.

"No. It's okay Mom. I can cook for my dinner tonight. Don't worry too much. I am already grown up," she said while smiling over her mother's message to her. Her mother always thinks that she is still the same little girl as before. She is very closed with her parents and her mother is very sweet with her.

"Okay, just don't skip meals and always take care of your safe. After your work, don't forget to take a rest first at your apartment before you take your bath to avoid flu and colds okay," her mother's nonstop talking made her smile. It was only 2 days only when she left their residence and she is quite missing her mothers' voice. Her nagging is music to her ears.

"Got it, Mom. How's Dad?" she asked.

"He's still at the farm and harvesting some vegetables. We have a new customer who will pick up those vegetables early morning tomorrow," her mother excitedly informed her.

Her father is hardworking. "Tell him to rest Mom, make sure you both take your vitamins okay," she reminded her mother as both of them were already senior citizens.

"Of course Maria. We do take care of ourselves. Our vegetables and fruits are a great source of our strength as well," her mother replied to her.

Ring! Ring!

The school bells, giving a signal that the breakdown is already done and need to start the classes again.

"Okay Mom, time to end up now. I need some classes already. I love you. Bye," she said to her mother.

"I love you more Maria," her mother replied.

She started teaching another subject to her students now. She started to draw the different shapes on the whiteboard and let her pupils copy them on their notebooks. "Okay class, please get your notebooks and pencils. Copy these shapes and color them with your favorite shades," she instructed her students.

"Okay, Teacher Maria. Thank you," they replied and everyone started to pull their notebooks and pencils from their school bags and started to do their performance tasks.

After her duty as a Preschool Teacher at ST. MAry's Academy, Maria then went to her apartment already. She's now living alone. It will be her first time away from her parents who used to serve her everything. Even if they have a simple life, her parents let her grow up with everything they can give to their one and only daughter. She grew up a kind and God-fearing person. She is a very obedient daughter to her parents.

Living alone somewhat made her sad as she was separated from her parents now though she finds it challenging and full of excitement as well. She will learn how to cook for herself, how to wake up early all by herself, and how to make things she hadn't done alone before. She wanted to develop herself to be more sociable as it will be needed in her work as a preschool teacher. She also wants to explore making herself improve and be more confident. She is also dreaming of meeting someone, her soulmate perhaps when she is not under her parents' roof now.

She's already 20 years old and she hadn't experienced any boyfriends yet. They are some who would like to pursue her before, but with her father around who always sends and fetch her in her school, no one attempted to pursue her anymore. Her mother also let her grow as a conservative one. She was almost dressed up like an old fashion woman who wore long sleeves, a turtle neck shirt, and long skirts making her look like a nerd to her friends and other people.

"Hmmmn, this is life," she said upon entering the doorstep in her apartment. She put her things on top of her computer table near her living room. It was just a studio-type apartment with one bedroom, bathroom, dining room with the kitchen already, and a small living room. It is enough for her as a single person living alone in this apartment. Her kind landlady is also living just next door to her apartment. She was her mother's friend who treated her like a daughter as well.

Knock! Knock!

Suddenly, there someone's knocking on her door. She checked who's it and she was her landlady.

"Come in Auntie Benny," she invited her inside.

"No need Maria. I would just like to give you this bowl of Porridge. I've cooked it a while ago. Here, eat this while it's still hot. You can have it as your dinner," she gave the bowl to her and leave."

"Thank you, Auntie Benny," she politely said to her.

"Welcome. You're such a daughter to me already. I'll go ahead."

Maria closed the door already and brought the bowl of porridge to her dining table. "Well, this is enough as my dinner already. Yey. I won't cook anymore tonight," she said while starting to taste the hot porridge made by Auntie Benny. "Hmmm, it tastes so good. Yummy."

After eating the porridge, she wash the dishes and went to her bedroom to change her clothes.

She will check her netbook later and update her lesson plan. Every night she is updating her Lesson plan for the following day. She is so happy while making some audiovisual presentations as part of her discussion tomorrow for her students.

Maria knew how to make a great creative presentation deck, an audiovisual presentation, and an animated deck. She loves to do it and how her students reacted with the creativity of it. She wanted to capture the heart and soul of her students making them love to study more.

After doing her work stuff. She is now browsing from her android phone her favorite Moboreader App, as she is fond of reading romantic novels before she goes to her bed. It is part of her daily routine already.

Reading romantic stories is one of her getaways to dream and had an illusion of a perfect boyfriend to be her forever in the future. She hadn't had any boyfriends before as her father used to send and fetch her in school before, Her mother even let her look like a nerd as she is obliged to wear old-fashioned wardrobes, like long sleeves top with a turtle neck and long skirt. This made her friends bully her as she almost looked like a nerd already. She is even wearing thick eyeglasses which hide her inner beauty. Her friends wanted to unleash her beauty but she is not allowed as her parents will get mad at her. And besides even though, there were some of her classmates who wanted to pursue her at that time, her parents were always on her side. She can even join with her friends in attending parties or having a sleepover for their projects before.

Her parents made her grow into a conservative and naive one. But deep inside her, she had a little naughtiness she used to keep away.

Her friends used to tell her that a psychic predicted that the end of the world is coming so near, and they will take the virgin ones as their offerings to survive. She is quite annoyed every time they were talking about it. She is out of place then. She might be inexperienced with it but eventually, she is not that naive with it. She knew about it and how it happens. She used to read this part from the intimate parts of the novels she is reading under the Moboreader app. It made her dream of a man to whom she will give her virginity as her gift. She doesn't want to listen to her friends just give it away to random men to experience it. The right man will soon come in, and she can feel it. Soon.

She won't let the world end without meeting her forever.

If only her mother can read what's on her mind, she might be pinched by her groin so hard.

Perhaps her too much passion for reading romantic novels makes her curiosity awakened. She won't wait for her to become 21 years old already without meeting her forever yet. By hook or by crook she will look for him already. She won't wait for the end of the world then without experiencing having a boyfriend anymore.

He will count for her dream man already and she can only do this by being away from her parents which is also one of the reasons why she decided to live alone in an apartment.

.

After reading her favorite novel from Moboreader, she set her alarm and climb to her bed before she closed her eyes. She wished to dream of the male protagonist of the story she read. A handsome, gorgeous man who can be her shield and protector. She smiled with this thought.

Early morning, Teacher Maria woke up early and had her preparations before going to St. Mary's Academy. She is so excited to meet her cute pupils once again. She knows that they will enjoy their topic for today. She took a bus already.

She arrived at the school early as well giving her ample time to set up everything in her classroom. She will be having a Coco melon theme inside her room so that her students will have a playful mood while learning her lessons for today.

When the students arrived, "Wow ! Teacher our classroom looks so cool," one of her students shouted as loud as her eyes widened upon entering the room.

"Yey! I love our room Teacher Maria," the other one exclaimed.

"I'm so excited about our learnings for today," said the little boy coming in.

Teacher Maria smiled and felt so happy upon hearing her students' compliments.

"I'm so glad you all like and appreciate our room today. I make sure to give you more themes in the future my dear students," she said to her students while giving out their folders one by one for their workshop for today.

Her teaching skills were different from the traditional way of teaching execution. She always ensures that her students will always remember what they have learned and that they do enjoy it a lot. She calls her teaching method "Learning is Fun."

Before she ended the session, she divided her class into two groups. Group A will be boys and group B will be girls.,

"Okay class, for Group A, you will be assigned to sing with action, Johny, Johny while for Group B, you will be assigned to sing with action as well Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat. I will play the song from our MP4 Speaker and you will all sing okay. The most active and energetic group will receive triple stars," she excitedly announced the mechanics while the students are giggling to do the activity already.

"Yey," almost all the children get ready already. It's really fun and Teacher Maria was so overwhelmed seeing how her students enjoy her way of teaching. Other school teachers are simply watching them from their glass door as they are performing the task inside the room. It looks like they were having s great show or stage play inside. They also enjoyed watching them inside.

'Okay, Ready Group A," Teacher Maria played the music of Johny, Johny, it is one of the most popular Nursery Rhymes on the list.

The little boys already did their best performance actively

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Very good children," Teacher Maria clapped her hands for a well-performed task by Group A. "Now let's all hear from Group B," she looked at the second team who are well prepared and very competitive as well.

the little girls love to compete as well. They did the best performance too and almost everybody applauded.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Wow, very good Group B," Teacher Maria applauded Group B as well. "Now all together, Group A to sing Johny, Johny and Group B to sing Pussy cat, Pussy cat," she said while combining the two groups. Her students were so engaged and enjoying their activity.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Great performance everyone. Because of that, I will give each one of you 3 stars upon exiting the room. Now sort out your things and get ready to line up," she said to them. The students are all going home with smiles on their faces. They truly enjoyed their class with Teacher Maria.

"See you tomorrow Teacher Maria," all the students bid goodbye to her.

"Bye class, See you tomorrow. Keep safe," she said while waving her hand to them.

Her unique teaching skills were already spreading in their academy as the majority of her co-teachers and faculty were so amazed at how she contained her students. The previous preschool teacher was dismissed due to her bad behavior towards her students. It's their first time having a preschool teacher in St. Mary's Academy who seemed to be so passionate in her teachings and getting positive feedbacks both from her students and their parents. It's a nice review from Teacher Maria's initial assessment.

"Congratulations Teacher Maria. You nailed it. How did you do it?" her co-faculty Teacher Roland asked her. He is a Grade 1 advisory class Teacher.

"Thank you. I just do what I wanted to experience as well. I'm just sharing with my students the things I wanted to know. I want to see creativity and I do it with them.

It is as if I'm just doing it with pleasure as well," she humbly said to Teacher Roland while smiling.

She is now sorting her things and getting ready to go home. She's a bit tired yet so satisfied with the result.

As she was walking along with the Bus terminal, suddenly she bumps into a hard wall with a masculine scent that lingers in her nostrils. She was captivated with the scent, making her lean more on the wall, and ignored her things which are already scattered on the floor.

"Hey, what are you doing?" a gorgeous handsome man is now pushing Teacher Maria who bumps him and yet still leaning on his wide chest. Teacher Maria is at loss and almost sniffing his chest. He feels loathe with this dumb woman on his chest who's still pinning herself to him.

Teacher Maria came to her senses when she felt the hard grip of two big hands on her shoulders making her pain.

"Ouch!" she murmurs. She slowly raised her head to look at the one who's in front of her. She was about to give a sharp look at him, but suddenly when her eyes met his, she almost drops her jaw.

"Oh my God. Thank you for sending me this Good-looking man in front of me," her lips were slightly opened as she continue to stare at Mr. del Fuego's handsome face. He is Mr. Jericho del Fuego, the owner of del Fuego Brokerage and Realty Firm in Batangas City. He was going to meet his client at Starbucks Caffe and Resto near the Bus Station when this dumb woman who doesn't look in her way suddenly bumped him. He is in a hurry and a bit annoyed already when he stared at this woman and saw her parted lips, he slowly put his hand under his chin while staring at her eyes and closed his lips. He was already annoyed with this woman's presence and it seemed that she doesn't want to let go of him the way she stared at him.

"Hey, aren't you satisfied already with my looks?" he told her while having a smirking face.

Teacher Maria then blinked her eyes and said apologetically said to him, "Ooops, I am sorry. My fault."

Mr. del Fuego then said, " Alright, next time please look at your way to avoid bumping into someone else." He left her when he felt that the woman will protest.

Teacher Maria just looked at Mr. del Fuego's back while he is leaving. He is wearing a black suit and he looked so descent. He seemed to be in a hurry based on how he walks.

"Hmmph. I just thought God sent me a man already, he's so annoying," she murmurs while picking up her things on the floor.

" I had a great day the whole day and he just ruined it. I wish him bad luck. Hmmph!" she was so furious.

A bus came already and she took her trip already.

When she came to her apartment, she just put all her things on her computer table and started to make dinner for herself.

She is thinking of the man she bumped into a while ago. Even if she is furious about him, she can't deny the fact that he owns a very striking feature, hunky, sexy, and magnanimous... She almost dropped her jaw when she stared at him and how she wished him to hold her waist and hugged her tight at that moment. She smiled upon having these thoughts.

Meanwhile, Mr. del Fuego is also thinking about that dumb woman too. Even though he felt so annoyed with her, he remembered how soft her body was when he bumped him and how his member reacted when he stared at her parted lips, it looks so soft and sweet that he wanted to taste at that moment. "There's something in her," he thought so. She's not that attractive and pleasant in his eyes but then he finds her different from other girls who used to bump him and flirt with him easily.

"Hey, what's in your mind Mr. del Fuego," his client Carlito Montreal, a realtor, asked him when he saw him not listening.

Mr. del Fuego collected himself and said politely," Oh nothing. I just thought of someone who made me annoyed a while ago. Let's proceed with our collaboration then."

---------------------------------

Hmmm, will Teacher Maria and Mr. del Fuego meet again?