CELINE’s POV-My mind woke up following I heard my twin giggling. Other than that, I feel the pillow I often hug is becoming hard. I squeezed my pillow.“I have a tickle there, Celine.” I heard Tristan giggle.Immediately I opened my eyes and the smiles of my twins and Tristan’s face opened up to my sight.“Good morning, mummy!” The three speak, but the voices of my twins are loud.I hugged Tristan while one of my feet rested on his thigh.Tristan and I talked a lot last night, and I just fell asleep here.He opens up to me with something about his family, just like his brother, who is looking for his first love, the reason he doesn’t want to get married either. His father has been cheating on his wife several times and he never does not want to imitate his father in such a thing and one of reasons Tristan doesn’t want to come back to his family. For the length of our conversation last night, I got sleepy, but I was holding back my sleep because I was also curious about Tristan’s fa
CELINE’s POV-I accepted what Tristan offered me. Except this is a good chance that I can avoid Lance if I am in the kitchen. My twins are enrolled in a kindergarten closer to the Heavenly hotel. The travel time will only be ten minutes, unlike here where the travel will take almost an hour to get there.I signed the contract, the one Tristan gave me. Afterwards he asked me who I wanted to be there with so I said it was Bianca and the rest that I would be with was Tristan, who asked our staff.Due to the impending reduction in staff, Tristan is busy dealing with the applicants who have applied here. He wants to screen the applicants himself like before, but the problem is that there are too many applicants.It’s fine with Tristan that the applicant has no experience, however most of the girls who applied flirted with him. There’s even a woman who asked Tristan to marry him during the interview.“There are still a lot of applicants.” Bianca said, laughing after taking the resumes of
CELINE’s POV-“Are you sure?” Bianca’s concern asked me.I nodded. “I am so, so sure.” I responded.Lance returned the menu book to Bianca without removing his gaze at me. After Bianca got a menu book and left us, I put my total attention on Lance.“Good day, sir.” I smiled at him.“Your smile makes me melt.”“I hope you melt now,” I whispered.“Ha? What are you talking about, Celine?”“I said here is the menu book, sir.”I handed the menu book to Lance that he accepted and looked at. Unlike a while ago, when he was looking at the menu book with a bored look, his smile now reached his eyes.“You can sit down while waiting for me to order.” Lance stated that the smile on his lips would not disappear.I shook my head. “No, Sir. We can’t do that.” I reason.We had little strict house rules here at the restaurant, as long as we served well and there was no harm.“Your feet may get hurt while waiting for my order.”“You don’t have to worry, sir.” I kept smiling.“It’s up to you. Well, I
CELINE’s POV-“Thank you,” I told the server who helped me with what I ordered.“Ma’am, what are you planning to do here? Why did you put the table here?” he asked me.“Nothing. Suddenly, I thought. Alright, you can go back to work.” I said.He nodded and went down, though there was clear doubt on his face. He must have been curious about what I ordered for him because for the five years he was here, this was the first time I just did this kind of special treatment to a customer. Well, this is for my special VIP customer.I walked closer to Lance and, as before, a smile on his lips slowly fluttered once he saw me.“Celine.” He warmly called my name.My heart skips a beat every time Lance joyfully and excitedly calls out my name, even after all this time. I’m still not used to it. Every time he sees me and calls my name, he suddenly smiles. For three years we have been together. He barely calls me and if he mentions my name is lifeless.“Lance, I want to apologize to you for the mista
CELINE’s POV-On this new day, I won’t be surprised if Lance decides not to come back after what happened yesterday.Bianca called me last night and informed me that Lance was looking for me. She handled the situation by showing Lance on the CCTV footage where it clearly showed that I had left and never returned. Tristan was so busy with applicants that he did not notice the close time. Only then did Tristan leave the interview room.Tristan also called me last night that he was busy and didn’t notice the time. He even apologized to me because he said he didn’t accompany me to pick up my twins.“Mummy, is daddy Tristan still busy?” Skye asked.From yesterday I picked up my twins until we left and to this time they ask where Tristan was, especially Skye who is very sad that Tristan is not in our apartment when they wake up.“Sweetheart, daddy Tristan has been busy since yesterday so he didn’t call you.”Skye pouted his lips. “He is busy again.”We just arrived outside the kindergarten
CELINE POV-“Celine!”I turned to the person who called me, and when I saw Tristan, I said goodbye to Bianca.“Let’s talk again later. I need to talk to Tristan.”I almost ran to Tristan. I give him a quick sideway hug before we head to his office together.As Tristan entered the office, he asked about my twins.“How are the twins?”“My twins searched for you all night until this morning. They miss you so much. “Are they excited about tomorrow?”“Yes, they are so excited about tomorrow.”“Glad to hear that. I have already booked our flight to Florida. Also, I have already booked a hotel where we will stay.”“What? What?” I asked in surprise.Tristan stopped arranging his things on the table, then looked at me. “Why? Is there a problem? Don’t you want to go to Florida?”“No… that’s not what I meant. I’m just surprised that you’ve taken care of everything. I am about to ask you about our hotel and flight, which I would have taken care of now, but you have already done it. And it makes
CELINE POV-“My name is Tristan, and this woman’s name is Celine, my future wife.”The surrounding people applauded, following the hired ones, while I mentally let out a sigh.Tristan has been like this often, especially to people who don’t know both of us or people who praise how handsome he is. Tristan will introduce himself, then he will empathize with me to introduce him as his future wife.I don’t protest anymore because I know Tristan is doing this to avoid the people who have always had a crush on him and admire him. “So, let’s start your training.” I said and separated Tristan’s hand so I could move.———Training newly hired has been not difficult. They all follow what we teach and ask what they should do or not do.I am more glad they’re asking every detail. For me, it’s better to ask questions than to guess what to do.Sebastian and Olivia are the only ones who have experience working in a restaurant and the rest are first-timers to have a job.I think in the past few day
CELINE POV-In the end, I decided to continue our trip to Florida.Tristan is right, he is the acknowledged father of my twins and another thing is that I promised my twins we would have family bonding. I don’t want to break the promise I made to Skye and Sunny because I am sure that if I cause our family bonding not to continue, it will leave a lasting impression on the minds and hearts of the twins. And maybe at their young age the next time I promise them they won’t believe me anymore. What I fear the most is that the twins might get mad at me for breaking a promise. It was midnight when I woke up with Skye and Sunny.Waking up this early is not something they are used to, and despite my prior notification yesterday that I would wake them up at this early time, and their excitement expressed last night, it will still be hard to wake them up, especially Skye, who still has a frown on their face.One of Skye’s inheritances from their sperm donor is always frowning and being grumpy
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