In a small mountain village in Benguet, Mr. Santos’ family fell into dire straits after borrowing money at high interest rates to invest in agriculture, but failed. With debts piling up, the whole family faced the risk of losing their land and home.

His twin daughters, Marites and Lourdes, only 20 years old, beautiful and intelligent, suddenly became the family’s last “salvation”. The whole barangay was in an uproar when Mr. Rodrigo Cruz – a widower, the richest man in the area – proposed to marry both sisters.

He promised to pay off the entire debt of more than 2 million pesos to the family, in exchange Marites and Lourdes agreed to live under the same roof with him.

Marites and Lourdes were in pain, but under the pressure of their parents and the burden of debt, they both agreed. The villagers gossiped, some sympathized, some scorned, but the two sisters just held each other’s hands, telling themselves that they would overcome it together.

The wedding day was a grand affair, the whole village came to attend. Rodrigo, though over 50, was still handsome, but his eyes were always cold and quiet. Meanwhile, Marites and Lourdes’ faces were full of melancholy.

Strange schedule

After the wedding, Rodrigo came up with a strange schedule: Marites and Lourdes would take turns sleeping in the same room with him, each three nights a week, and the other night he would sleep alone.

The two sisters, although annoyed, still accepted, thinking it was the price to pay. But the strange thing was that Rodrigo hardly touched them. During the nights they were together, he just sat by the window, or opened an old photo album and went to sleep.

Marites and Lourdes began to suspect: Why did he marry them, if he had no intention of getting close to them?

Secret in the photo album

One night, Lourdes curiously opened the photo album that Rodrigo always carried with him. She was stunned when she saw in the photo… two young girls who looked exactly like her and Marites.

The text below the photo trembled:
“Amelia & Rosa – 1995.”

Lourdes realized: those were Rodrigo’s two ex-wives, also… twins. They used to be the beauty queens of the region, but after marrying Rodrigo, both of them mysteriously disappeared.

Lourdes trembled as she told Marites. Both were terrified, but did not dare to confide in anyone.

Creepy signs

From that day on, the two sisters observed more closely:

In Rodrigo’s room, there was a wooden baúl that was always locked.

At night, he often mumbled dreamily: “Amelia… Rosa…”

Sometimes, he looked at Marites and Lourdes with a strange look, both gentle and scary, as if he was reliving the past.

One day, Marites pretended to sleep, and Lourdes secretly followed Rodrigo when he left the room in the middle of the night.

She saw him open the wooden baúl. Inside were not gold or silver, but old wedding dresses, combs, necklaces… all belonging to “Amelia & Rosa.”

Rodrigo sighed, whispering:
“Mga mahal ko, huwag kayong mag-alala… Nahanap ko na ulit ang anyo ninyo.”

(Don’t worry… I’ve found your figures again…)

A terrible obsession

Lourdes was so scared that she almost screamed. At that moment, she understood: Rodrigo married her and Marites not out of lust or love… but because he was haunted by the past, wanting to relive the two lost figures.

The two twins were now not just “prices” to pay off debts, but had become living copies of a sick obsession that had never subsided in Rodrigo’s mind

Since the night Lourdes saw the wooden baúl, the two sisters lived in fear. Rodrigo became more and more strange: sometimes he called Marites “Amelia”, called Lourdes “Rosa”, and hugged them in his sleepwalking.

Marites whispered to her:
– “If we don’t go, sooner or later we’ll end up like them…”

The sisters discussed. They decided to pretend to be obedient, doing everything Rodrigo asked, so as not to arouse suspicion. At the same time, they secretly saved money from the secret sale of small trinkets that Rodrigo gave them.

One day, when Rodrigo went out, Lourdes heard Lola Berta – the long-time maid – mumbling in the kitchen:
– “Poor Amelia and Rosa… so young and beautiful, but they died for nothing.”

Lourdes was startled and asked. Mrs. Berta trembled as she said:
– “Those two girls were twins like you. Mr. Rodrigo married them in 1995. But just a few months later, both of them disappeared. When asked, he said they left. But I know, no one left and left all their clothes and wedding items in the house. That night, I heard a terrible cry from the room. Then silence forever…”

Marites and Lourdes shivered. It turned out that the wedding dresses in the wooden baúl were the remains of the two ex-wives who had mysteriously disappeared.

That night, Rodrigo was drunk. He sat in the middle of the living room, opened an old photo album, and cried and laughed:
– “Amelia… Rosa… You left me, but I found you again. This time, you won’t go anywhere…”

His eyes slid to Marites and Lourdes, making them shiver. They understood: they were not wives, nor hostages… but living replicas for Rodrigo to recreate his obsessive love for Amelia and Rosa.

One rainy night, when Rodrigo was fast asleep after a drunken stupor, Marites and Lourdes sneaked open the door. They held hands tightly, ran in the dark, across the slippery dirt road leading out of the farm.

But just as they reached the gate, a voice rang out from behind:
– “Are you… going to leave me again?”

Rodrigo stood there, drenched in the rain, his eyes bloodshot. In his hand he held Amelia’s old comb.

The two sisters panicked. But luckily, the noise woke Mrs. Berta. She rushed out, screaming to call the neighbors. Rodrigo was startled, unable to stop her, letting the two girls escape.

When the police were called, Mrs. Berta confessed everything she knew from 25 years ago. After the investigation, they dug around Rodrigo’s backyard. From under the damp soil, two female skeletons were found, with fractures in their skulls.

The autopsy revealed that they were Amelia and Rosa.

Rodrigo was caught in a state of panic, muttering:

“I didn’t kill them… I just wanted to keep them with me… forever…”

Marites and Lourdes escaped the nightmare, but the ghosts of their memories remained. Both returned to their families, vowing never to fall prey to anyone’s greed or obsession again.

Meanwhile, in the village of Benguet, the story of the twins Amelia and Rosa became a chilling warning: that there are love obsessions that are never love, but only deadly imprisonment.