Alfonso left Irina’s office about an hour later. A satisfaction smile plastered on his face because finally he managed to persuade Irina. Irina did not mind if he wanted to move his mother’s grave to Los Angeles, to be placed side by side with his grandfather’s and his father’s graves. Now he could not wait to meet Siena to tell her the good news.
Alfonso strode into the café where Siena was supposed to be waiting, but he couldn’t find her. He stopped in his tracks as he realized who was sitting at a table in the café instead. Gloria?
“Hi, Alfonso….” Gloria greeted, flashing a wide smile on her face.
All at once he felt uneasy. “What are you doing here? Where is Siena?” he asked in an irritated tone.
“Why do you always treat me like this?”
Alfonso and Gloria stared at each other for a while. Alfonso understood they were both stubborn. If he acted rudely, Gloria might never tell the truth and he would not get the information he needed.“You have to take good care of yourself, Gloria. According to the doctor, you must get some rest and don’t get too tired.” Alfonso kept his voice as calm as possible. “Did you come to Melbourne alone?”“What do you think? I’m always alone since you left me, Alfonso….” She intentionally said that to put a guilt trip on him.Alfonso sat on her bedside, his eyes showing nothing but care. “Why are you so reckless, Gloria? You are pregnant. You are not supposed to travel far, not to mention you are alone…. You might harm your baby.”Hearing Alfonso’s soft voice,
Alfonso picked up his cellphone to answer an incoming call from James, his assistant. Right now, he and Gloria were in a taxi driving them to the airport to fly back to Los Angeles.“How is it going, James?”“Sir, I’m really sorry. But my flight to Los Angeles is delayed until tomorrow morning because of bad weather. It’s snowing heavily in New York now,” James spoke in a rush.Shutting his eyes, Alfonso tried to suppress his emotion. If James’ flight was delayed until tomorrow morning, James would not be able to chase Siena because her flight would have landed long before.“Okay, James, never mind. Just take your flight tomorrow. I need you in Los Angeles. I’ll call you again later,” Alfonso responded, then he hung up the call.Dang! Eve
“Come in, Siena….”Siena stepped into Brian’s apartment. She was already familiar of his place, because she had visited him several times together with Imelda and their other friends. Besides, his apartment was not far from her previous apartment.“You can use whatever you need here. The bed, the bathroom, everything. Just feel at home,” Brian continued. “Wait here, I’ll buy you something to eat. You love the ramen from the Japanese restaurant next to my apartment, don’t you?”“Brian, you still remember my favorite?”“Of course, I always remember,” he replied with a smile.Siena felt touched by his attention. “Thanks, Brian.”“Take a warm bath and get some rest,
Slowly Brian laid Siena’s body on the sofa. Even when she was asleep, Siena always looked so gorgeous in his eyes. He reached his hand out, caressing her soft cheeks.“If only you knew how long I have been holding my desire for you, Siena…,” he mumbled, his eyes fixed intently on her, admiring her angelic face.“I have known you and got close to you more than two years. Why do you have to choose Alfonso, that rude bastard? Sorry if I have to use this way. But unlike Alfonso, I will never hurt you, Siena…. All I want is to have you. Once you are mine, I will never let you go anymore for my entire life.”Brian leaned down and kissed Siena’s lips. He had been holding his desire for too long to have her, to touch, to kiss, and to unleash his deepest hunger. Now the opportunity was in front of his very eyes. He would neve
After changing her clothes, Siena got out of her room and had lunch with Damien. Damien left his job at the office purposely to accompany her. Eventually Siena heard the complete story from Damien about everything happened this morning, including the private detective assigned by Carlo to guard her.“I’m forever indebted to you and Detective Williams. Thanks for saving me, Damien,” she said, but she could not hide the sadness on her face.“Many things happened, but they just pained me more and more,” Siena continued in a bitter tone.Damien had never seen her looking so miserable like now, as if she was carrying a lot of burdens. Her sorrowful face made his heart ache.“Share with me, Siena. Let me help you.”Bit by bit, Siena began to tell Damien about wh
“What the heck is this all about?!” Alfonso roared furiously.He slammed the document onto Damien’s desk. Then with a very quick move, he grabbed Damien’s collars with his hands, bringing his face closer to Damien’s face.“I want to meet Siena! I don’t need this damn testament! Tell me where Siena is!” Alfonso growled, his eyes glimmering dangerously. His aura of arrogance and domination reappeared whenever he was in bad temper.“You know there’s no use to be rude, Alfonso. Do you think behaving like this will bring Siena back to you? Leaving you is her own decision. You should have known her reason better. Go on, you can beat me to vent your anger! But after that, make sure you have a very competent lawyer to fight against my lawsuit,” Damien sounded incredibly calm facing Alfonso’s wrath.
Alfonso’s voice kept on echoing in Gloria’s head. Did he say the truth? Finally Alfonso was willing to take responsibility for her child? Gloria felt as if she wanted to scream and jump in excitement. Her plan succeeded at last!“I-is that true, Alfonso? You want to… take responsibility?” Gloria whispered.“Yes, Gloria. I can’t let the innocent child suffer. The child deserves a happy life. So you don’t have to worry anymore. Just take a good care of your baby from now on,” Alfonso continued speaking in a soft tone.Gloria’s face glowed at once, a wide smile curving her lips. She quickly wrapped her arms around Alfonso’s neck and wept in joy.“Thank you, Honey Bear, oh thank you so much! You are the best! I always adore you!”
“Two glasses of tequila, Brian!”“Here you go, Rick.” Brian put two glasses of tequila on the bar counter.The man called Rick gave the tequilas to his customers sitting right in front of the counter, two blonde women in sexy dresses.“Wow, Rick…. You have a new staff?” asked the lady with short hair, staring at Brian attentively.“Isn’t he cute?” the other lady with long hair commented, winking her eyes to her friend. Then they both giggled.Rick glanced at Brian for short moment and smiled. “His name is Brian, my cousin from America. My mother and his mother are sisters,” he told the ladies.“What? Cousin? Give me a break, Rick! He looks so cute, adorable, and gentle. While you are&h
“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