CELINE’s POV-“You will not go home yet?” I’ll change our topic.“I’m planning to sleep here.”My eyes winded. “What? There’s no extra bedroom here, you know that.”Tristan taps the sofa. “I can sleep here on the sofa.”“But it’s not comfortable to sleep here on the sofa. Your body is merely half of the sofa. ”“It’s okay for me to sleep on the sofa. I don’t want to sleep in your room when we’re not official yet.”“But–”“Celine, I want you all to be safe. I couldn’t even rest at my house if I was aware that Lance might come here. I want to protect you. Allow me to sleep here for just one night.”It looks like I can do nothing about Tristan’s wants. Another thing is, Tristan is right. It’s possible that I couldn’t even sleep deeply after the chaos earlier at the Stellar restaurant.I nodded in approval. “All right. I will only bring you an extra pillow and blanket in my room. ”After I got one pillow and the blanket, I returned to the living room to give Tristan to this.“Thank you,”
CELINE’s POV-After I fixed the twins, we left the room straight out of the apartment. Tristan went out first because someone called him. He said that one of his family was calling and Tristan didn’t want the children to hear what they could talk about and Tristan might say bad words.“Mummy!” Skye called me as I locked the door.I held the twin’s hand in both of my hands as we headed to the parking lot.“Yes, sweetheart?” I asked calmly.“Where’s daddy Tristan?”I couldn’t help but smile when Skye suddenly looked for Tristan. Not even half an hour after Tristan disappeared from our sight, he was immediately looking for Tristan. Jst the day before, Skye didn’t even want to see Tristan.I stopped walking, so the twins also stopped. I sat in front of the twins to match them both.They both smiled at me. I want to cry the way Skye smiles now. Usually, Skye is always frowning, while Sunny is a jolly person who is always smiling.“Sweetheart, Skye, can you tell mummy why you’re not mad at
CELINE’s POV-When we reached Stellar restaurant, Tristan went straight to his office while I was at the reception desk.I’m not a chef or sous chef, I just often help in the kitchen since I somehow know how to cook. Besides the fact that the chef in the kitchen is enough, Tristan has four sous chefs.Stellar restaurant is jointly owned by Tristan and I’m also an employee. Right now I am also the acting manager since our manager resigned because she is moving to another country to start a new life. “May I see how many made reservations today?” I told Bianca, who is also the receptionist.“Here, ma’am.” Bianca said and handed me the clipboard with about ten bond papers attached and printed with the names of those who reserved for this day, as well as the time and numbers.“Wow. The number of people who made reservations are almost all female names?” I laughed as I asked.“Don’t you know, ma’am?”I looked at Bianca. “Which one?” I ask as I return the clipboard to her.“Most of the wom
CELINE’s POV-Despite sounding upset with the person he was talking to, Tristan’s voice still conveyed a sense of calmness.When Tristan faced me, his eyes widened and the person he ended the call over his phone.“Have you been there for a while?” Tristan asked calmly.“Not at all. I just heard that your brother doesn’t want to get married, either.”“Ah, you heard about that.” Tristan just said and let out a sigh.“You and your brother both don’t want to get married… yet?” I commented as I sat down.“My brother and I have different reasons. He doesn’t want to get married, while I–”Tristan paused in his speech without taking his eyes off me.“Meanwhile, for me, I already have a bride who I want to marry.” He continued.I felt guilty. I feel like I’m one reason why Tristan can’t negotiate with his family right now.“Tristan, you know it won’t be easy for me to–”“And you know I’m ready to wait for you, Celine. You are worth waiting for. You and our children.”I wasn’t sure what to say
CELINE’s POV-When the customer was getting quieter and Tristan rested, he called me to his office. It was almost past twelve noon for lunch when he called me to his office. “I think you could tell me now what you and Lance talked about earlier?” Tristan asked as I sat down.I detailed Lance’s planned perversion to Tristan if I hadn’t allowed him in this morning. Tristan nodded after I told him the full details. “Now, I understand. What are you planning now?”“Nothing.” I answered straight and sparingly.Maybe because of the way we cooked him a burnt breakfast earlier, he won’t come back here. We didn’t even serve him coffee. Another thing is that lunch is over. Maybe he won’t come back here.“We’ll appeal if he threatens again.”“Huh? Why?”“Why not? He's messing us especially to you. I want to protect you from him.”“You don’t need to do that, Tristan.”“I have to do this so that he won’t mess with us, especially with you.”“Really, you don’t need to do that. One more–” I paused
CELINE’s POV-“You forgot that all the CCTVs are connected to my phone.”Holding the knob, I looked behind me again and looked for CCTV. When I saw one CCTV, I smiled there and waved.“Did you see me?” I asked Tristan from the other line.“Yes, I also saw Lance is there as well. I’ll be back there.”“No.” I said. “Can you pick up the twins and wait for me at the apartment?”“What? Why?”“I’ll manage everything here, and there’s a chance Lance might do something silly.“But,” I heard from the other line the exhalation of Tristan’s breath. “Okay. I get it. But I will call you from time to time.”“Thank you so much, Tristan.”As I ended the call, I just sighed and closed my eyes for a while.Maybe it’s better to deal with him–to Lance, than to run into him again and again. I don’t know what his purpose is in troubling me, but one thing for sure is that it won’t do anything good.Following, I opened my eyes. I jumped in shock when I saw Lance in front of me. His dry eyes used to look at
CELINE’s POV-“Is it possible for you to please continue with everything you’re saying, Celine?” Lance said without taking his eyes off me and the way he looked at me, there was fondness in his eyes.I shook my head once. Maybe I am only misinterpreting his perspective. Why would he give me that kind of expression when he doesn’t even have any sentiments for me?“I mean sir, I suggest you have a four course meal. You can find an example on the menu for both individual course meals and combined meals, making it easy for you to decide.”“No. no. That’s not what I meant, Celine. Your suggestions earlier? The foods you know are my favorites and what foods are good for me? Those–”“Sir, if you haven’t chosen yet, I can give you time to choose what you want to eat.”“No, need for that.” Lance said before I could step out in front of him, “I already decided what I will order.”I nodded, then prepared my pen and paper.“I would like the four course meal. Hors d’oeuvre, mushroom soup for my a
CELINE’s POV-“I beg your pardon?” I asked. I think I misunderstood what Lance said.Lance pointed the other chair with one of his hands. “Eat with me.”“No, thank you, sir. We can’t eat during work hours, let alone eat with our customers.”“Even if we’re going to talk about business?”“Business?” I couldn’t avoid scoffing.We have no business to discuss. The moment I signed the divorce papers, we had no more business to discuss.“If you need anything, you can call me–”“I won’t eat until you eat with me, Celine.”“It’s not my problem if you want to starve yourself. I’m leaving.”I gave Lance a fake smile before turning his back on him, but I hadn’t even taken one step before he got my attention when he spoke again.“Is it true what I heard while you were at the reception desk?”Which one is he referring to?I didn’t show my nervousness as I faced Lance again.“What did you hear?” I involuntarily question. I felt my lips dry and suddenly my heart beat faster in nervousness.“Is it
THIRD PERSON POV-“I’ll explain again from the beginning?” Celine asked reassuringly while hiding her irritation.“I think you need a break first,” Lance said formally. “I’ll review what’s in the folder again.”Celine blinked her eyes innocently a few times for a second while looking at Lance, who was so engrossed in the folder that he didn’t notice Celine’s actions.She didn’t know what to do as she waited for Lance to finish reading the document in the folder again. She could already feel the pain in her feet from wearing three and a half inches heels.Celine wanted to sit down for a moment to rest her feet, but thinking that she was in a formal meeting, she wasn’t sure if she should sit down, so she stood up.By chance, Lance glanced at Celine’s feet and was surprised to see her wearing high heels. He hadn’t noticed that Celine had been wearing such high heels all this time.Lance shifted his gaze from what he was reading. “Miss Andrea, you can sit down.” Lance said, still formal.
CELINE (ANDREA) POV-A wry smile glimpsed on my lips after I presented Mr Lance Hart with the best wines we could offer him, as well as other wines he requested me to explain.In my last explanation of the presentation, I no longer look at the slides. Out of the thirty slides, I didn’t memorize five or four slides because of how many times I explained it to him.No. I was wrong. This is not a familiar occurrence, I prefer to call it an annoying occurrence.He tilted his head while looking at the folder Enzo had given him a while ago, where the printed slide I had presented to him several times was attached.Lance and I were the only two left in the conference room. His secretary, who was with him earlier, had to be dismissed because he had an emergency job that needed to be fixed. While Enzo, who was with me, also left because he had other work to do that Giovanni left.After a second, he looked back at me. “Can you repeat your explanation from the beginning? I don’t understand what’
CELINE (ANDREA) POV-I tilt my head, cross my arms, frowning as I look at Giovanni.“Andrea, why are you looking at me like that?” He asked.Giovanni is in the hospital, lying in a hospital bed. His favorite car crashed into a pole because he dodged a cat, so now he has a mild arm and leg injury.“After driving for so long and taking such good care of your car, you suddenly crashed your car into a pole? And now, really?”“Accident. I can’t avoid an accident.”“Why do I felt that I don’t want to believe you?” I blurted.“Are you saying I’m lying?”“No,” I shook my head. “I was just pointing out that… the timing of your accident was great.” I said with a sarcasm tone then sighed.While he was on his way to the company, he called me and said he was in the hospital.I was at the coffee shop when he called, serving customers’ orders. I was startled by his screaming in the other line, causing me to call our mother to come see him. He said that what happened to him was serious and that he
CELINE (ANDREA) POV-When my parent’s mansion came home, I went straight to our room. Skye and Sunny are asleep. My mom is next to them. I kiss my children’s forehead first before bathing.I took a quick shower to just freshen up.Getting out of the bathroom, I slowly wake up my mom.“Are you just coming?” Mommy asked as she woke up.“Yes, mom.”“Who brought you here?”“Hendrix. They took me here before heading to the airport with Sabrina. ”Mommy smiled when I mentioned Sabrina’s name.“Sabrina, she looks nice.”“Yes, mom.” I proudly answered. “As I say, she is the last person I know will never leave me.”My mom kissed my forehead. “I’m happy you have someone to depend on when we are not with you.”I smile.I didn’t even tell my family what I had experienced in the hands of Sabrina’s parents.“I’ll take you to your room?”“Don’t bother. I will not get lost going to our room.” Mommy jokes. “Go to sleep. You must be tired. Good night.”“Good night, mom.”When Mommy got out of the ro
CELINE POV-After setting the coffee on the table along with the chocolate cake and muffin, I sat down.“I’m sorry if I only took care of you now. Ashley is still not very used to interacting with people.” I explained to Sabrina. “Taste them. They’re one of her specialties.”It was late at ten at night when Ashley and I closed our coffee shop. I helped her talk to our guests, so I didn’t have time to take a break and attend to Sabrina. Before Ashley left, she made coffee and baked Sabrina so that Sabrina would eat freshly baked.My family takes care of my children during these times.“It’s okay, Sunny and Skye entertained me, so I wasn’t bored either, also your brother.”I laughed when she mentioned my brother. “I hope Giovanni didn’t hurt your head.” I said, laughing. Knowing my brother, he has a talkative nature.“I’m used to it.” Sabrina laughed until she let out a sigh.“How are you?” I asked.She sipped her cappuccino, then smiled. “I’m fine. Your friends didn’t abandon me. Than
CELINE POV-The crowd applauded after the ribbon cutting for Ashley and I’s coffee shop.“I hope you all enjoy and–”I stopped speaking and left my hands in the air when I saw Lucian at the end of the guests with a bouquet of red roses.“Why did you stop speaking?” Ashley asked in a whisper, not yet noticing her fiancée.I pointed at Lucian.At the same time Ashley looked at what I was pointing at, our guests also looked.“Lucian…” I heard Ashley whisper in disbelief as she stared at her fiancée.As Lucian walked towards him, the crowd parted ways and gave Lucian a way to get to his fiancée.I took a few steps to the side so as not to interfere with them.Hendrix approached me. “Are you okay?” he whispered.I nodded. “I need to.” My answer whenever I am asked that question.I fix my gaze without emotion on the red roses that Lucian gave to Ashley.I don’t have a splendid memory of red roses, because of that memory I hated red roses. But Ashley loves red roses so I don’t just let her
( 7 M O N T H S L A T E R )[ MILAN, ITALY ]....THIRD PERSON POV-Rayne Ashley Evans was busy checking every item, every corner of the cafe that was just hours away from its grand opening. She had asked the staff several times if anything was missing and each of them patiently answered the cafe owner’s repeated questions.“I’m sorry for asking so many times,” she apologized to her staff. “I was just nervous.” She explained.“It’s okay Ma’am.” One of her female staff members assigned to clean said.“We understand, Ma’am,” her barista agreed.Ashley smiled at how her staff at her coffee shop were giving her so much patience.“Alright, get ready. We’ll be opening in less than two hours.” Ashley announced to everyone with a smile.“Yes, Ma’am.” Everyone said in unison before leaving Ashley’s presence to check how many times they had checked their respective jobs and positions assigned to them since two weeks ago.Meanwhile, Ashley sat down at the table and let out a sigh. Her he
CELINE POV-“Are you not going to stop messing around and now you make up stories?” I angrily asked Hendrix.After we had breakfast earlier and I dropped my kids off at school, Hendrix blocked my path and pulled me into his car. Before I could get out of the car, he got me inside and quickly started it.He took me to a private resort I assumed he was building because I saw its name outside.Everything was still being built at this resort and only in front of the beach could we talk quietly.He handed me some papers. When I saw its contents, I didn’t bother to examine it anymore, especially after he told me what this thing was.“What should I do so that you don’t come near me anymore?”It was getting annoying that he kept coming near me. I was tiring of pushing him away and now he was making up stories?“I’m not forcing you to believe. I’m just giving you a choice.”“Choice for what?” I asked, holding back my irritation. “One more thing,” I took a quick look at the paper he showed me,
LANCE POV-I looked at the sky where I ordered the fireworks. Celine would see my birthday surprise for her. I’m hoping she liked it and I also sent Hendrix to that place. Hendrix agreed to work with me, but he had one condition and that was to protect my family in his own way. I agreed as long as he would update me if my family was safe.“It’s so beautiful. Are those for me, babe?”I shut my eyes before looking at Freya with a forced smile. “Yes.” I answered sparingly.I need to be with Freya, I need to show I regret everything I did to her. It’s unfair to her after what happened to her. I will make her bait to those who betrayed me.I waited all night for a message from Hendrix and after he said someone was still trying to kill Celine, it was not enough to show a sudden change of mind. I had to make everyone believe what I was doing with Freya..I went back to Chicago. I shouldn’t have gone to Celine that day, but I couldn’t stop myself. I went to her and left because I might not s