Sugar Magic

By Bianca Mori

Noreen arrives in Bacolod with her daughter, determined to make the best of a fresh start...and to right an old wrong by recovering the figurine of a mythical sigbin, whose loss triggered generations of bad luck in her family. The only problem is Art: curator of a possibly haunted museum, current owner of the sigbin charm and possessor of a smile so bright it dazzles. It's not enough that he's so distracting--he also ignites something in Noreen she swore never to entertain again: Hope.
Originally serialized in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Sugar Magic is a short story of six chapters. Content warnings for descriptions of cheating and elopement, mild ghostly encounters and stealing. This story is heat level zero in the #Romanceclass heat scale.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bianca Mori
• Release date: Jul 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005266608

Bianca Mori

Bianca Mori writes contemporary romances, romantic suspense and crime fiction set in the Philippines, Asia, Europe, the United States and all points in between. Her steamy stories have been called "fast-paced and super-hot," "engaging," "vivid" and "engrossing." She lives in Manila with her family and a hyperactive pug. Find Bianca on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as thebiancamori or at her website (www.biancamori.com).

Book preview

Sugar Magic

A Short Story

Bianca Mori

Copyright © 2022 Bianca Mori

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.

Cover by Bianca Mori.

Smashwords edition © 2022 Bianca Mori

Sugar Magic was originally serialized in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, May 23, 2022 – June 27, 2022.

Table of Contents

Copyright

Chapter 1: The Idea

Chapter 2: The House

Chapter 3: The Tour

Chapter 4: The Night

Chapter 5: The Morning After

Chapter 6: The Visit

Author’s note and acknowledgments

Chapter 1: The Idea

This is a brilliant idea.

The woman, whose name was Noreen, banged her fist on the table, not minding the startled cafe patrons looking her way.

Across from Noreen sat another woman who resembled her in the way of a reflection caught in a body of water–all vibe, no hard edges. This was her older sister, Manang Nanette, who stared back with all the longsuffering exasperation only an older sibling could muster.

The third woman at the table was a willowy version of Noreen, radiant with the glow of 14-year-old youth. This was her daughter, Lili. Evidently used to her mother’s outbursts, she only offered a perfunctory eye roll from behind her phone.

Noreen and Lili had just been fetched from the airport by Manang Nanette and immediately whisked to her favorite cafe in Bacolod, famous for ensuring it used well and generously Negros Province’s most famous crop, sugar. It was here, as they tucked into deliriously sweet slices of mango cake, sans rival and pecan pie, that Noreen unveiled her scheme.

Manang Nanette folded her fingers together. I’m sorry, Neen? You want to…

Steal an anting-anting from the Ysmael heritage house, said Lili.

It’s not an anting-anting, Liliana, it’s–

Lolo Pigoy’s sigbin key ring. Manang Nanette groaned. "You have got to let that story go."

But Manang, it all checks out! The color was high on Noreen’s cheeks. Our family’s fortunes dried up when Anabel Ysmael bewitched Lolo Pigoy so that he gave her the key ring; and where are the Ysmaels now? She pointed outside the window. Across the street hung a giant tarp emblazoned with the jowly, pale face of a grinning man, the words ‘Re-elect Toti Ysmael for Governor!’ plastered underneath.

Noreen, be reasonable, Manang Nanette said. The farm going bankrupt had nothing to do with our grandfather losing a tiny carved statue. What I can tell you for sure is that the scandal of him courting the Ysmaels’ spinster daughter while married to our lola didn’t help.

I knew you would say that, Manang. Noreen patted her sister’s hand. You’re very logical. That’s how you see the world: one plus one, black and white. And I honor that. Her lips stretched into an impish grin. I, on the other hand, am intuitive. I see patterns in seemingly random occurrences. I believe in the magic of chaos.

Lili barely lifted her eyes to her aunt to say, She’s been on about that lately.

‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy,’ quoted Noreen. A butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazon…

"...and a river