Gift felt a little nervous at the attention he was gathering to make this sudden announcement, so she closed her eyes to compose herself and clamped her hands on the table to support herself from falling over, an action she took innocently without too much thought.But to Zenith who had spent almost half of his life in the business world, that was a move that risk takers and successful tycoons made.It was a movement that he made whenever he had succeeded in acquiring a new company or winning a bid or signing a contract with an investor he proposed to. So he made a mental backtrack to find out what she had checked him on and when he found nothing, he thought she must have made a secret move. “Zenith, what's the announcement about?” Gift called out like his father had encouraged her to but the absence of a title in the way she had addressed him made him recoil even more as he tried to think about what mistake he had made in the past that made her talk to him without any respect. “Do
So while the other two woke up feeling refreshed and excited for the new weekday, Gift was the only one who walked out of her room with eyebags.She didn't get to have any eyeshutter after deciding to go with a gray five piece suit that she had chosen mainly because of its price tag in the mall.Glad that she could properly make use of it, she dragged her feet to the kitchen and made breakfast and lunch and after packaging the lunch in three different lunch bags, she cleaned up and returned to her room.It was still six am, so she decided to watch some online videos to do her eye makeup to cover her eye bags and the dark circles.By the time she was done one hour later and fully dressed, she looked very much like a young CEO with the smokey eye makeup and walking cane that added sophistication to her one in a hundred suit of its kind made in the whole world. 
So haven done what they did for all eyes to see, it was now the time to cement it. That way, if the Proprietor was told that she had a mother, then there was no way any one of them could insult her in that regard again.To them it was foolproof, but because he saw his sister happy and was too upset about not being the hero, he didn't bother to think about their plot holes and just acted together with them, nodding whenever they told him his part.“Your father's wife, but…”“It's still not yet official, so of course we would like you to continue to keep it a secret, after all, a seed can always be withdrawn,” Gift spoke next and the countenance of the Proprietor changed.“A seed that has started to bring forth fruit cannot be taken but can only be watered,” he said with a stiff smile and Gift confirmed his personality type, Greedy.
Each call started with him singing praises to the well respected mothers who were married to well respected men in the country.The women who made his school's name ring in high places and gatherings.After full time flattery, he then went on to tell them about a new mother who after hearing about them wanted to meet them.His schemy ways wouldn't let him be direct, so he went through roundabout means without really telling them the true reason why he had called and gathered them together and after getting the agreement of the nine mothers of the other girls and boys in Olivia's class, he created an online group and added them to it.All with the exception of Olivia's new ‘mom’ as he didn't have her number.But all in all, he was looking forward to a good show as he thought it was a gang of nine against one and Gift wouldn't stand a chanc
“Gift, what's going on? We didn't see you after you returned to the city and were really worried about you,” she acted like she cared when Ken didn't come out of his trance and decided to further embarrass her.Gift swallowed hard and tried to suppress the emotions that were rising at the back of her throat.“She even dares to ignore the girlfriend of the youngest manager in the company, I think you were right when you said she was nobody,” the older lady said as she crossed her hands across her chest and spread her legs.“It’s fine, we are old friends, so she must be shocked to see me,” Trisia decided to ride on their cocktails.“If you're in a bid, I can talk to my fiance and we can help you. Are you here to see someone?” She asked again but was ignored by Gift who was starting to hyperventilate because of the small space
“Hm hm,” he cleared his throat as he passed by the group and they greeted him hurriedly before returning to their bullying, giving Zenith more time to get closer to them undetected.They didn't realize until he was so close to them and they could no longer escape from his wrath.“What's going on?” He asked, sending jolts of fear to their hearts, while the only person who had remained frozen was Gift.This came as a surprise to him and made him dislike these people more.Even if anyone was to make her cry, it had to be him, yet they had broken those walls before him and left her vulnerable making it difficult for him to think of a revenge plan when she looked like that.So he made a mental change of plan which was to build her back to her arrogant self and then get his revenge, until then, he had the strong urge to bring
However, the scene of earlier when she had defended his sister and gotten revenge for her with their childish plans resurfaced in his mind and he retraced his steps back to her side, telling himself that he was only doing it because he owed her that much for protecting his sister.Unsure of how to comfort her, he sat on the floor beside her, crossed his legs and pulled her close to his chest, feeling very conscious of her body heat yet another time.Gift who felt that her prayers were answered and she was given an extra gift of comfort leaned into him even more and let it all out.After some minutes of crying and blowing into his handkerchief, her face which had dark circles and eyebags under the concealer was now also bloated and she was hiccuping non stop.“Why don't we go to my office so you can have some water?” he asked, unable to un1llllll10lderstand this side of h
Haven gotten no sleep at night, what was supposed to be a little dozing off and nap turned out to be a few hours of sleep with her stretching over the three seater sofa and waking up with a little drool in the side of her mouth.Gift was startled awake with a sense of emergency and the feeling of being watched, but she woke up to a rather relaxing scene of Zenith having a normal conversation with some other guy that she didn't recognize until he introduced himself.Zenith had noticed that she was awake from the first time she fluttered her eyes but he had pretended to be engrossed in the conversation he was having with Trenor instead.“Did I sleep for long?” Gift asked softly as she rubbed her eyes, stretched and sat up. Trenor reacted first as he turned with a smile.“The sleeping beauty has finally woken up, here, have some water,” he said as he gave
Gift's POV Today is the happiest day of my life, or rather each day has been getting happier for me ever since I met him, my boyfriend. We've had a lot of rocky days of course, but seeing him standing in that expensive suit, dressing to match my rhinestone dress which he had gotten for me to celebrate my matriculation just makes me feel even more happier and I have no doubt that he would find a way to make me happier woman by this time tomorrow. I can't help but smile at the thought of all the things he has put together and worked on for us to get here. He changed himself to fit me, a one of a kind man. “Gifty, where's my daughter?” I heard someone call from a distance as I looked around and saw Ruby Yu. She looked unlike how I'd ever seen her all the times we've met either physically or through video calls cos not once have I ever seen her in a pair of denim skirt and a white short sleeved button up shirt. I gasped as I walked up to hug her, “you look so stunning mom, I thought
“Who taught you how to make this” he asked with a voice so soft she had to be sure it was the same meanie talking to her. “No one. It's my first time making this,” she confessed.“How about your mother? She must have cooked this for you when you were younger, right?” He asked as if he was talking to a child, trying his best to be careful with his words“Uhn? I grew up in an orphanage,” She stuttered as she tried to form the words that failed to form. She wanted to tell him to stop acting nice as she had learned to be unrestrained and speak for herself over the months, however, there was a glistening in his eyes that made her stop. Something wasn't right. She watched as he set the chop sticks aside with shaky hands before rinsing a fork and grabbing a small ceramic plate for himself as he sat on a stool. After serving himself a small portion of everything which was a surprise for the young man who was around to assist in the supervision that he stood and watched with his mouth sligh
An hour down and the kitchen was left with just six of the original contestants; Gift, Beauty's mom, an Italian through and through, the lady with a fringe from earlier and two others who seemed to be sisters. “We can do this. Let's learn under Master Luca together,” the sisters cheered for themselves as they continued cooking, arranging the ingredients and trying their best to stay till the end. “It's a little too soon to address me as your master, don't you think?” Chef Luca said coldly and the ladies went silent, but that didn't diminish the brightness in their eyes. They were set and the determination was evident. Gift wasn't lacking behind either although she was with nobody to cheer for her beside her, she worked between sitting and standing while trying her best to remember and incorporate the basics that she had learnt over time. She only had her motivation and occasionally water and candy breaks to keep her company and that satisfied her. “And where do you think you're
“You tell me why you decided to choose this particular cucumber even though it's already starting to ripen?” He asked and the lady who had a fringe gulped and adjusted her expression before answering him. “This is a family dish and although people would not go for the ripe cucumber when buying in the market, I chose it so that that part could be served for the younger ones, l-like the child dish…,” she cleared her throat with a little stutter before continuing, “since the cucumber is not going to be steamed according to the recipe, this is the best way to make it easier for the child,” she said nervously, blinking up to ten times per second. Chef Luca had a straight face as he dropped the cucumber back in the ingredients plates before turning to look at Gift and saying with so much tenacity, “the competition can start, but I'll have you know that I won't hesitate to kick you out for the slightest of errors. Do your best if you want to prove yourself!” He said as the stuttering lady
“You are only standing here because you're lucky I will do anything for my godmother,” The moment chef Luca returned to the kitchen, he glared at her and Gift knew that he wasn't lying about that one, so she nodded and offered a small smile which he didn't bother to appreciate.but the moment he turned away from her, she let out a sigh of relief but she knew how much he valued ruby Yu from the way he personalized ‘godmother’. At this moment, Gift and Winifred had already set their ingredients on the table and were having mini talks until the next phase of the cooking competition would start when there was suddenly a noise coming from the storage area where they went to pick their ingredients.As they turned their head to the side, they saw the pompous lady from earlier who was bragging about her servants run out if the storage room with tears in her eyes. “You just wait until my I tell my husband about this,” she cleared her throat and sniffled before pausing to raise her head up so
“I like puppies more than cats,” Beauty said as she carried the furry car that had two long white stripes running from the back of its two ears to the tail where they joined as one, making the fail complete white on the top and black underneath. “Them leave my cat alone, you aren't even being true to yourself,” Olivia scoffed as she took a sit beside her and started to pet the other two kittens that had run to her laps. “The cat's for your mother, plus you named this very beautiful cat after me. How could I not pet it when we sure the same name?” Beauty argued back as she hugged the cat closer, her hand still brushing it's fur on the back. “I wish she gave Jonold my full name too, but instead she made me share with this fatty,” Arnold lamented as he kissed the face of the cat on his laps. All four of them were seated on a cushion with Beauty,Jornold and two other cats whose owners they didn't know. “Are you blind or do you need me to remind you that I basically can't gain too much
She had some friends who supported her this time, unlike those who considered her as competition back at the orphanage. This time around, her distraction was the genuine love she recieved from her family and not from someone who wanted to bring her down. She was genuinely supported, however, unlike those times when those exam papers were marked without a care for who owned them, those times when they grades were given fairly and without partiality, Gift felt a heavy dose of partiality weigh on her. Winifred squeezed her hand to support her,but they both decided to let it go. “I'll just raise my hand next time,” Gift muttered tl herself and hoped that was really the case. “Now you all will move on to picking out the ingredients as described in the recipes. Just twenty minutes for this stage and there is just enough for everyone.” The Italian in white said and they all nodded stiff for a moment. Him saying just enough for everyone sounded like a declaration of scarcity for Gift and
“These recipe is so strange, I never even knew that such a combination could exist,” Gift muttered to herself as she picked up the small pamphlet that was handed to all thirty of the contestants. While every single one of them was each given the same meal to cook, it was still all strange to them as Winifred and Gift showed eachother their pamphlet and they were able to.confurm it when others started murmuring. Just one dish written in Italian and English, Luca Bellucci family meal, but even those who claimed to have cooking certificates have the little pamphlet the same confusing look as Gift. It was safe to say that they were about to cook a meal based in written steps and no idea of how to go about it or how it should even taste beforehand. Some of them had never even heard of it before.Gift who didn't have the luxury to eat many foreign food due to her financial status before had spent the past two months watching YouTube videos, because she had gotten another helpful tip fro
“Please cooperate,” he was past being stubborn and had to lower himself to make Gift concede. There was still the issue with the cats and the children which included Joseph, Beauty and Olivia as it so turned out that Beauty's mom had connections enough to let her know about the competition and what better way to form a good relationship than cooking together. However, she had gone in ahead while leaving beauty with Olivia and Joseph after begging and confirming that there would be no traces of Scarlet or any friends with a gun. “The kids, but not Zenith. He can't go to somewhere like that, it'll stress him,” Gift said as she remembered how Zenith had to be rushed to the hospital at midnight of the night the cat's were first adopted. He had tried to force himself to adapt to the pets by hugging them through the night but there was only little his body could take then. However he didn't give up the two months that followed, training himself and diligently following the doctor's presc