“Why can’t I meet Damien?” Alfonso protested in a sharp tone.
The next day after they returned to Los Angeles, Siena made an appointment to meet Damien in his office, but she asked Alfonso to wait for her in the parking area.
“Because last time you met Damien, you two had a quarrel. Not to mention we suddenly left Los Angeles without telling him a word. Don’t you remember, Alf? We are here to ask for Damien’s help, not to start a quarrel. I don’t want any trouble,” Siena retorted quickly.
Alfonso was not at ease. He could still remember vividly how Damien had kissed Siena when they were in the hospital in Palma!
“And let him kiss you again?” He raised his voice even higher.
“W-what…? You saw that…?” Siena stammered.
Alfonso was fuming with anger, but he d
Siena stepped out from Damien’s office building five minutes later, and made her way to Alfonso’s car.“How is it going?” Alfonso asked as soon as she got into his car.“Damien was still busy. He said he didn’t have time to talk at this moment. So… he is coming to Grandpa’s house at six tonight.” Siena stopped talking, and stared at Alfonso with her pleading eyes.“Alf, please don’t think negatively or get mad at me. We need Damien’s help. I told him to come to Grandpa’s house for a dinner. But trust me, we will be just talking as friends. I hope you don’t mind if I meet Damien tonight,” Siena gave a quick explanation.Alfonso stiffened. His brain was actually screaming with disagreement. How could he let Siena have a dinner with that wise-ass Damien? But… he also had another plan for tonig
Alfonso stood in front of a unit of apartment. This apartment was far from luxurious, unlike his apartment. The corridor was narrow, and there was not enough empty space between each unit that made the whole area feel stuffy. Why would Gloria choose this kind of apartment for herself? He knew exactly how her taste for luxurious and glamorous places.Alfonso knocked on the door of Gloria’s apartment unit. The next second, her face appeared from behind the door.“Honey Bear! Come in! I’ve been waiting for you,” she sounded so cheerful, her face shining.Alfonso walked into the room. It was a small unit as he had estimated before. There was only one bedroom and one bathroom at the right side of the unit. The rest was a living room adjoining with a small kitchen which could be seen directly as he stepped in.“Sit down, Honey Bear. I have prepared you some dinne
Alfonso parked his car in the front yard of Adalfo’s house. He went straight here as soon as he left Gloria. It took only fifteen minutes to drive from Gloria’s apartment to this house. Touching his neck and his forehead, strangely he felt his body warm all of a sudden.He kept on striding into the house. Siena asked him to come after Damien left, especially to taste the Paella cooked by her. Hmm…, he felt his stomach growl at once thinking about his favorite Spanish traditional food.Alfonso saw Siena standing near the kitchen island with her emerald green dress. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, showing the bare and glowing skin of her neck and her shoulder. Ah, his body warmed up instantly as he saw Siena looking so desirable! How he wanted to feel her skin with his touch, to kiss every inch of her smooth skin, and to claim her sweet rosy lips!“Cherry….”&n
“Are you willing to satisfy my desire tonight, Cherry?” Alfonso asked with a mischievous grin on his face.“Alf, you’re not funny…!” Siena snapped. She quickly took several steps backward, crossing her hands over her chest, staring at him with an annoyed face.Alfonso couldn’t hold his laughter back, but he regretted it immediately. Oh, he should not have teased Siena, because it aroused his body even more! He buried his face in his hands, trying to shake away Siena from his imagination.Siena realized Alfonso was fighting against his own self. “Alf, you’d better sleep here tonight. You can use one of the bedrooms here. I will tell Lucio to prepare you a room.” Then she rushed to find Lucio.Lucio came and showed Alfonso the way to his room. As Adalfo’s personal butler who had been serving more than twenty years, of cour
“Siena Chan…!”Siena lifted her gaze. Imelda ran toward her with her face shining cheerfully. They had made an appointment to meet in a café this Sunday morning, and it was definitely not Cheers Café. Siena had something important in her mind to talk with Imelda, her best friend.“I couldn’t reach Brian for these past two days. He didn’t go to work. His manager in Cheers Café said he was sick. But strangely, he is not in his apartment either,” Imelda chattered as soon as she took a seat next to Siena. That was exactly the one thing troubling Siena all this time.“Really?” Siena’s expression turned gloomy.“What is it actually? When you called me, you said you wanted to talk about Brian.”Inhaling deeply, finally Siena decided to tell Imelda everything happened that day, the
The cemetery was located on the outskirt of Los Angeles. The white tombstone of Adalfo looked clean and neat. Siena always assigned one of Adalfo’s assistants to make sure the caretaker clean and take a good care of Adalfo’s grave regularly.Alfonso put a bucket of white lily flower on Adalfo’s gravestone. He kept on staring at the grave in silence. Siena could only guess the emotions he had in his heart. Was it sadness, guilt, or wistfulness?“My grandmother’s name is Lily. That’s why one of Grandfather’s favorite flowers is lily,” Alfonso said in a soft voice. He pointed at another white tombstone next to the right side of Adalfo’s tombstone. “Grandmother passed away when I was only three years old. There wasn’t much I could remember of her.”Alfonso’s words brought back Siena’s memory about the first riddle from Adalfo. &
Three days later.Alfonso and Siena sat in Adalfo’s private jet flying them to Melbourne, Australia. The problem was they were taking a journey without a clue this time. They had not found any accommodation owned by Adalfo in Melbourne. Alfonso’s assistant had searched through all the data about every accommodation in Melbourne, but to no avail.“I’m very positive that Grandpa’s last asset must be in Melbourne, Alf…. Maybe it’s just a small lodging house not registered by the authority. Or maybe the name of the owner is kept secret. No matter what, we must go to Melbourne to find it. Because it’s your birthplace and it must hold so many memories about you.” Even in the plane, Siena was still trying to convince Alfonso.Alfonso could not help but smile excitedly. The past Alfonso was a man always did a full planning ahead. He would never
“Dorms and apartments?” Alfonso looked at Siena with his eyes widened in surprise, as though he had just realized about the fact they missed.“I know Grandpa was a hotelier. He always built hotel, resort, or villa. But we have searched every accommodation to no avail. Why don’t we try searching another property, like apartment or dormitory?” Siena gave her idea, looking excited.“Geez, Cherry! You are absolutely genius!” Alfonso complimented in a shout.He immediately took out his cellphone and activated it again. Then he called his assistant, and instructed him to search information about all the apartments and dormitories in Melbourne.“Yes, James, search carefully this time! You have twelve hours!” Alfonso ordered in a stern voice.Siena covered her mouth with her hand while laughing. Once again Alfonso was ac
“What does it mean?” Siena’s brows knotted in confusion. “But today is not my birthday.”Ah, it had to be a code, Siena thought. Alfonso intentionally played a prank on her right on their wedding day!She searched for a pen and started to scribble on the paper. “My birthday is on September 17th. Probably it’s the key to shift the letters. Hmm, let me try.”She wrote down her answer on the paper.HVCPAQFKXDR17917917917ICLQHXGRGEY“That’s odd. It has no meaning!” Siena did a double take at the result. “Or… I should shift the letters to left, not to right!”She scribbled again on the paper.HVCPAQFKXDR17917917917GOTOTHEDOCK&n
“By the power vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”As soon as the pastor finished his sentences, Alfonso took Siena in his arms, caressed her cheeks blushing beautifully with the softest touch, and locked their lips in an affectionate kiss. All the guests were applauding and cheering for them.Everything ran according to Siena’s wish on her very special day. She did not wish for a luxurious party, expensive gifts, or fancy wedding dress like a Disney princess. All she wanted was to exchange their wedding vows faithfully and to have the people she loved around her.Once the wedding ceremony was over, Alfonso and Siena got hugs and kisses from Stefano, Carlo, as well as Irina who came all the way from Melbourne. Suddenly….“Siena Chan! Congratulations!” Who
Alfonso entered the bedroom with his face shining. Siena had changed into her nightgown and sat with her head leaning on the headboard. She turned her gaze at him instantly.“You look happy…. It seems like I don’t have to worry about anything you talked with Dad,” Siena said.Alfonso showed a wide grin on his face. “I have just got a Dad today.”Siena gasped. “Is that true? Dad has asked you to call him Dad?”Alfonso answered with a nod. “Yup!”“Oh, Alf, I’m so happy to hear that!” She opened her arms wide to hug Alfonso.Alfonso took a seat next to her and held her tight. “I can’t imagine I have a complete family now. I have a wife I love the most, a wise father, a freaky
For Alfonso, today had to be one of the most special days in his entire life. He had lost Siena for more than three months, struggling to survive with his broken heart, even enduring his life as if a zombie, his body was alive but his mind and his soul was empty.Those miserable days had passed. Now Siena returned to him. Even more than he dared to imagine, he got Siena back together with their unborn baby!“Don’t you want to eat, Cherry? I haven’t seen you eat anything tonight,” Alfonso spoke, looking worried.Tonight, their engagement party took place in the spacious back yard of the house. De Martini was a renowned and very important noble family in Siena City. No wonder the guests just kept on coming.Alfonso insisted that Siena sit on the sofa inside the gazebo throughout the party. He did not want her
“Good day, Mister Stefano.” Alfonso decided to greet first. “Carlo, Damien….” He nodded to the three of them.Stefano’s gaze fell on Alfonso’s and Siena’s hands holding each other. “Siena, you scared us to death. Did Alfonso hurt you?” Clearly Stefano ignored Alfonso’s greeting on purpose.“No, Dad. Alfonso will never hurt me,” Siena gave a quick reply. “Dad, please let us explain everything.”“I believe everything is as clear as crystal for me. You choose to hurt the heart of a very good man like Damien only to return to a man who has obviously hurt you before,” Stefano retorted in a stern voice.“Dad, it’s my mistake. Alfonso has never hurt me. I knew he had nothing to do with Gloria’s problem, but when he came
It took a moment for Alfonso’s words to sink in Siena’s mind. But all she could do was staring at him with her eyes wide opened and her jaw fell to the floor.“I beg you please don’t marry Damien. I want you to be mine only. Marry me, Cherry…,” Alfonso said it loud and clear, the words warming her heart.“Alf….”“Yes, Cherry?”“Did you realize you just asked me to marry you? In a locked garage where you have just kidnapped me right on the day I’m supposed to get engaged to Damien?”Alfonso seemed to ponder for a moment. “Well…, I could have done something more insane if you want me to. I could appear out of nowhere at your house and shout loudly to prevent Damien from putting the engagement ring on y
“You look as pretty as a picture, Siena,” said Viola, a woman around her forties who was Siena’s make-up artist today.Right now Siena was having her beauty treatment in a professional salon before her engagement party. At first she planned to do her own make-up, but Carlo insisted that she had to look special on this very special day.So she reluctantly went to the salon with Pino driving her here, while Stefano, Carlo, and Damien were preparing for tonight’s party in her house.“Don’t you think… it’s too much for me?” Siena hesitated as she saw her reflection in the mirror, since she never liked overdone make-up and preferred natural one.“Absolutely not. Your make-up is perfect for a very special occasion,” Viola convinced her with a smile.&
As Alfonso drove his car entering the front yard of his house, he felt suspicious seeing a white limousine car was parked at the public garden locating right across the house. Not many people would feel convenient to drive a limousine everywhere since it attracted too much attention. Who was the owner of the car, a Hollywood celebrity looking for attention on purpose?Alfonso strode into the house and came to a halt immediately as he scented an odd smell, the smell that reminded him of something familiar.He hurried his steps, his eyes searching everywhere until he finally saw what he had suspected before. Carlo was sitting in the family room of his house smoking cigar!“I believe it’s time for me to hire some bodyguards to keep my house safe. What do you think you are doing, barging into my house at your pleasure?” Alfonso sounded irritated.
Alfonso got out from his car. His gaze landed on Brian and Gloria sitting next to each other in front of their mobile coffee shop and staring at him with serious expression.“How are you doing, Alfonso?” Gloria greeted first, because Brian just remained silent.“Hi, Gloria. How are you and your baby doing?” Alfonso asked in return, standing in front of them.“We are good, though I feel I’m getting heavier day by day,” Gloria said and tittered at her own joke.“I think you seem more like a fashionable pregnant woman, Gloria,” Alfonso praised, but he glanced over at Brian.He said it only to give his support to Gloria without any intention to flatter. But he knew how possessive Brian could be. And he guessed it right, Brian’s expression cha