She knew that he was trying to make her laugh, making her temporarily forget about her situation.
Gemma watched as the two of them got along and from her observation, Nana was indeed fond of Livian. They spoke of different topics including their marriage, how many children he thought they should have and when Gemma heard him say he would love it if they had three more, her eyes widened. "What do you think we are creating? A basketball team?" She jabbed him and reprimanded sternly. He thought about it seriously as though that was what he had actually been considering. "Well, a basketball team would have been awesome. Unfortunately, four cannot make an actual team so we can go for a table of Ludo players." "You are full of crap." She burst out laughing. "What's wrong with a table of Ludo players? I think it's a good idea." Nana expressed her support for Livian. She loved children so much. How Gemma wished sheThe couple was so excited about the gender reveal that when morning finally came, they had barely slept.Livian turned in bed and took a look at his wife who was wide awake. He smiled and pulled her into his arms."Are you excited?""I'm on the verge of flying off!" She confessed through a bout of laughter. It was only 7am and they had booked the doctor's appointment for 11am but she slid out of bed, freshened up and dressed up like she was late for a meeting that had already begun."Slow down, my love." He urged, even though he was in a hurry himself."Let's go." She pulled him away when she was done dressing up.He grabbed the keys and let her drag him to the parking lot.They were at the hospital a couple of hours before their appointment time so they spent a little time with Nana.Gemma sat beside Nana's bed and held the elderly lady's hand. "I'm so nervous, grandma.""Why are you
Gemma was nervous as they waited for the doctor to arrive. She took deep breaths as she looked at the bed where she was supposed to lie. She had already changed into the hospital gown but that was not nearly enough to prepare her mind for the procedure.Livian held her hand and tried to keep her mind off of it. "What would you like to eat later?""I don't know. Chinese?" She made a random choice. "Anything that tastes good." She felt hungry just at the thought.She frowned and looked up at him. "Is this really normal, love? I've been eating everything around me. I'm certain that if you were edible, I would have already eaten you as well." She joked.He laughed."I'm serious here." She hit his shoulder. "At first, I chalked it up to your skill in the kitchen that has been improving day and night but is that really it?""There's three of us now." He reminded her, touching her slight bump lovingly."Then the b
"Are you ready?" Asked Dr. Valentine. She took a pair of gloves from a box near the monitor and slid them onto her hands."I am." Gemma had a sudden urge to get it done with. Maybe deep down she knew that no matter what the result was, she would still be overjoyed. To be exact, she had not been worried about the result of the gender reveal to begin with. All she wanted was to be certain that her baby was in good health, what with her past record of losing a pregnancy.She was nervous even though she knew that when it happened, it was not due to natural causes. At the back of her mind, part of her still believed that it could have been caused by her body's inability to carry a baby. The thought that someone else killed her baby was harder to swallow and the memory of it sent a chill down her stomach.Her hand flew to her bump. "I'm sorry, baby. I should not have thought about that." She muttered under her breath, but Livian caught her words.
"It's a beautiful name." Gemma squeezed her hand."We will consider it." Livian agreed."Thank you." She felt emotional. "I wish I was able to see little Liam with my eyes. It will mean the world to me if I'm able to sing him a lullaby and put him to sleep.""You will." Gemma leaned over to help her sit up. She then sat back down on her chair with Nana's hand in hers. "Grandma, you have to stop thinking about the negative side of life. I know you are having a difficult time and I totally understand it if you find it hard to be able to put up with what's happening, but you can't let it break you down. You are a strong woman, grandma. The strongest I have ever known of. And you have me."She caressed Gemma's face. She knew that the latter still felt awful about not being able to donate her kidney to her. Not that she would ever have accepted it.Constance arrived a while later, with a food flask in hand. William had to go back to
"Mother! That's…" Gemma didn't know what to say of the suggestion that had come out of the blue. She had never even thought about it, let alone expect her parents to ask that of her.Constance pulled her to the living room. "Let's have this conversation while we're more comfortable." She suggested.Gemma had started feeling tired from standing so she gladly took a seat.Constance sat opposite her and gazed at her gently. "I know how hard it has been for you, trying for a child for years. I would have loved to take care of you throughout your pregnancy. Besides, I have never been there for you for anything.""It wasn't your fault that we were separated. And who said you haven't been there for me? You have and we already had this discussion, mother.""I know, but still." She still didn't think she would be able to have peace if she wasn't certain of how her daughter was every day."I will be alright, mother." She
Livian came in from outside soon after she called for him."There you are." She smiled."Were you starting to miss me?" He joked and took her hand, spinning her around. "You look breathtaking.""Thank you." She let him take her hand and lead her to the dining room where the party had started.William poured them drinks and raised a toast."To my first grandson."Constance echoed him, and Livian held Gemma's hand up. "To our first child. I hope there will be a second and a third, and…"Everyone burst into laughter, interrupting him.Gemma down
"What are you going to do with that?" She asked."Making sure you had nothing to worry about." He stated, but she knew that was not the case. Did he also suspect that there was something wrong with the food?"Are you going to take it to the lab?" She asked."I can have Darrell drop it off. We will get the results tomorrow after visiting Nana." He explained his idea."That's a great plan." She was relieved. She would never be able to stay in peace thinking that there was a slight chance that someone wanted to harm her son.Hence, she sat at the kitchen island as he cooked."Is everything okay with the two of you?" Constance asked when she arrived in the kitchen. She had been looking for them."Yeah. It's all good." She responded quickly. Livian looked at her and she shot him back a reassuring look. They were going to have a test on her food but in case they were wrong about suspecting it of anything, they wo
"I hope it is." She sighed.Waiting for the results made her feel more anxious than she did the day before and by the time they were out, she had not moved an inch. She had sat on the bench the whole time but her body trembled with nerves.Livian was still stroking her back and when the doctor arrived with the results, he stood to speak to him."What does it say?" Livian asked."Luckily, there aren't any signs of sleeping pills in her bloodstream." He reported."That's a relief." they collectively let out the breath they had been holding.The doctor gave them a few reminders about being cautious and when they finally left the hospital, the first thing they wanted to do was find the head maid and interrogate her.In the car, Gemma thought of a possibility and grabbed her phone. "What if she runs away? She hid my food away when we found out that there could be something wrong with it." "I had a fe
Wendy had her eyes shut when he opened the bathroom door."What's the result?" He asked.She didn't intend to tell him without playing a guessing game with him, which he quickly found out. Luckily, it was only a two choice option."Is it positive?" He asked hopefully. She shook her head.His mood dimmed in the slightest but he still asked, "Is it negative?"She shook her head, and he was baffled. Was she going to make him have a gazillion options even though it was a question of yes or no?He tried again. "Were you unable to take the test?"She shook her head to that too, and he was about to ma
It had been several weeks since Mia learned the truth about the past but it was not in the slightest bit easier to bear. It was still hard to imagine that the woman she had hated all her life was also the one who had saved her life. She had not had the courage to tell Carlos about it. Maybe he already knew the truth but kept it to himself. It was probably one of the things that would become clear with time and she was not willing to pry into them before they naturally unfolded. It made her feel guiltier because they were growing closer by the day.They had agreed to be friends but spent a lot of time together, doing things that friends definitely wouldn't ever do—not that she was complaining.On Friday evening, she went to his office as soon as she clocked out. This was how it had been for weeks. He would either seek her or she would seek him, every day. They would either have dinner together or he would drop her off. On weekends—like today—they would coo
“What in the world…” Gemma was rendered speechless by the insanity she had just heard. “Why the hell would such a rule even exist?”The elderly lawyer had no definite answer to that, because it was not he who had written the will nor had he set the rules that his granddaughter was finding absurd. He could only hypothesize. “The old man didn't want his bloodline to go extinct. He had to set some rules, and you are lucky that he did not specify that you must have a son before inheriting his estate.”Gemma sighed when she imagined that such a thing was possible. She had not known her grandfather when he was alive, because her family was yet to find her when he passed away. From the tales she had heard about him from her parents and grandmother, she knew that setting such an absurd rule did sound like something he would do.Even so, it still made no sense when she thought about it. “But I'm a w
Mia translated the document and while she didn't think there was anything secretive about it that would make Carlos unable to give it to someone else, she got the work done within the deadline nonetheless. It was the only way to get him to stop seeking trouble. She hated having to do everything he asked of her but he was the boss and there was nothing she could do about it. At least not yet.He was still sitting at his desk when she returned."That took you half an hour,." He remarked when he saw her.She placed the folder on his desk. "I'm done." She muttered, wondering why he sounded like he was complaining when he had given her two hours. She had not even taken up half of the allocated time. Was he going to scold her for being too fast?"Thank you." He half whispered. It was the first time he was appreciating anything she did and she was baffled."You're welcome." She smiled. He was smiling back at her and for the first time as well. She not
She thought he would ask to spend more days of the week with her or something along the lines but what he said surprised her."Promise me that you will sue Declan and that you will definitely go through with it no matter what happens."She frowned. "How is that paying you back? It's in my favor either way." She looked at him in confusion. Did he have a misunderstanding about the meaning of paying back?"It does pay me back. It's a win-win situation for both you and me."She thought hard about it and still couldn't understand how that was remotely possible."Is it because the man who hurt the woman you love will be behind bars and you will no longer have to see his face around? or, do you have personal grudges with him? Are you planning to use his term in prison as a way to end him?He smiled at her vivid imagination. "It's nothing of the sort. Well, those would be added benefits of putting him behind bars but the main reaso
"You are so beautiful." Livian ran his hand down her shoulder and kissed her cheek. She would have thought that he was just saying it to get on her good side but when she met his gaze, she had to believe that he truly meant it. His eyes were filled with adoration and if it was humanly possible, his attraction for her seemed to have intensified after what they had just done.She purred like a comfortable kitten when he kissed her cheek. She was lying against his chest with her body half sprawled against his. She pulled her knee up against his thigh and it drove him crazy. He groaned in pleasure."You are insatiable." She chuckled. They had done it twice in a row and she was beginning to realize that it didn't take much for him to be hard again.He wrapped his arms around her waist and chuckled against her neck. "Who am I to blame for that? If the wife is too sweet, is it the husband's fault that he got addicted to her sweetness?"She looked
Liam and Wendy had a shotgun wedding and it was baffling to everyone. The first thing they had to do was fulfill a part of the contract, which was for Wendy to make an appearance in the Dumont family as his wife.Their plan was to pass off as a real couple but they were shocked when they found out that Gemma was not falling for it."The two of you broke up two years ago, didn't you?" She questioned them."We reconciled and realized that we didn't want to risk losing each other again, so we decided to get married." Liam held her hand.Gemma chuckled. "Or, Liam had his assistant get him a suitable wife for hire so he would be able to access the trust fund from his great grandmother and since his assistant couldn't get a suitable woman, you decided that it would be more believable if it was you and him getting married." Gemma teased."That's not…" Wendy didn't know how to defend herself."It's okay. It's perfectly
She was certain that if she chose to agree to the contract marriage, the money she would earn would be enough to pay all her debts including her rent. Forget paying rent. Even if she wanted to purchase the entire estate and kick the landlady out of the apartment complex, she would have the power to do so.She was only in such a predicament because she had a falling out with her parents and decided to leave.It was impossible to count the number of bosses and managers who had tried to take advantage of their position to sexually harass her.Even so, she did not regret her decision, nor was she going to bend her will for that man. She shrugged. Many of her problems would be solved once she received her salary from the diner.After eating her snacks, she took a shower and prepared to go to bed.…It was already 7pm and the traffic couldn't get any crazier. Wendy was already an hour late for her evening shift and she kne
Evenings were the busiest time of the day at the diner and when Wendy was finally done with her work for the day, it was already 7pm. Even so, she couldn't leave until her replacement who would be working the night shift arrived since it was a 24 hour restaurant.She glanced at her pocket watch in irritation. Alma, that bitch, was late again. What irked her was the fact that she knew Alma disliked her and she was doing it on purpose like she always did whenever she had to take over the night shift from Wendy.Clara had already changed out of her work uniform and sent it to the laundry, so she was ready to go. She offered a smile at Wendy as she made her way towards the back door. "Want to go home together? My boyfriend will pick me up. We can give you a ride. Go on and change, I'll wait for you."Wendy looked up from the orders she was preparing for a couple and their daughter, returning the smile. "It's alright. I'll take the subway." She was gratef