CELINE POV - At this time we are here at the inflatable playground. We are in the part of the slide that goes straight to the sea. Lance is already in the sea; he slides first while holding a phone pointed at us. Lance slid first to catch Sunny. We are all wearing life vests, but it is still dangerous for Sunny if her vest gets stuck to her body, and she might have difficulty breathing in the sea. Sunny sat down, then raised her hand and, without hesitation, slid down. Next, Skye got ready to slide. “No!” Skye yelled so Lance could hear that Skye didn't want to be caught. “Okay!” Lance simply replied then effortlessly placed Sunny around his neck. “One! Two! Thre–” Before I could finish counting, Skye slid happily, while I almost felt my heart jump out of my body from the nervousness of what he had done. When I saw Skye descend smoothly into the sea, my heart rate returned to normal. I realized that I was next; my nervousness returned. This was my first time going into the se
CELINE POV - It’s been over an hour since I put Sunny and Skye to bed. After dinner and playing with Lance, I put them to sleep easily because of the tiredness. But, for me, no matter what, I’m tired too, and no matter how hard I try to close my eyes, I can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes, our laughter and what we did all day suddenly come to mind. What happened all day was like a dream. No. Even in my dreams, I wouldn’t have thought that these things would happen. Lance would be with us full of joy and happiness. I forget to think of anything like the fear of if he would hurt our children, if he would throw me out, if he wouldn’t get furious because I talked to him. For me, this is kind of magical that I don’t want to end. That’s probably why I can’t sleep right away; I'm scared. I don’t want to think about things like this in front of my children. I don’t want to think that even what Lance showed our children wasn’t true. I got up and made sure there were big pillows on bo
CELINE POV - “Is something bothering you?” Lance intruded on the noisy silence between us. “You’re a heavy sleeper, so it’s just surprising you suddenly woke up in a short period of time.” I swallowed hard. “I just... suddenly woke up.” “Do you want me to believe your reason?” He sounded sarcastic yet concerned. My vision gradually blurred as tears formed. I saw the rise and fall of his Adam’s apple while he fixed his gaze at me. "Lance,” the moment I mentioned his name, my tears fell. “Hmm?” He questioned softly. How can I tell him the things that are bothering me when he himself is bothering me? And I shouldn't think about this matter because, after all, we both have an agreement. I shook my head. “I’m going back inside,” I said in a hurry. “Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you?” he asked before I even took a step. “I want to know how you feel; I want to know if I’ve done anything else that you didn’t like. This morning, I know I hurt you, but no matter what I think,
CELINE POV-Along with my puffiness and redness, my eyes felt dry, especially around my eyes from crying so much. I continued to cry even though there were no more tears coming out of my eyes and they were already hurting. Lance tried to calm me down from crying, and now we were sitting in the cabanas while his hand was holding my hand.Looking at my hand that he was holding, I couldn't help but cry… out of joy.“Hey,”When I looked into Lance’s eyes, he folded his pointer finger and gently wiped my cheek.“You’re about to cry again.”“I just can’t believe it,” I confess.“I also can’t believe your hands are so small.”I quickly glared at Lance.“I was just trying to lighten your mood—but, wow!” He brought his hand closer to my face. “Your face is small in my hand.”“Because your hands are big.” I laughed softly as I said it.Even though my mood was light at this time, I still couldn’t shake the feeling of being tired from crying so much. The joy I felt was still overwhelming.“You’r
CELINE POV - “I’ll be back before dinner. I’ll join you for dinner. It’s just something important that I’ll take care of in New York,” Lance explained in a whisper as we got off the private jet. We had just returned from Chicago. Before we got back here, Lance’s face was already worried, and he said he had something important to do in New York. I told him that he didn’t need to accompany us back to Chicago since we were already in New York earlier, but he insisted and wanted to see for himself we would arrive safely and return to the hotel with Conrad. I nodded. “I understand. Go say goodbye to the kids first,” I suggested. He nodded too. “Skye, Sunny!" I called out to them, who were now talking to Sabrina and Conrad. Before we could even get close to the kids, they had already come to us. Lance sat down in front of Skye and Sunny. “Did you enjoy yourself?” “Yes!” The siblings answered in unison. “When are we going back there again?” Sunny asked. “Before you finish school,
CELINE POV - “Here,” Tristan or Lucian handed me a white paper bag. I agreed to meet him at the nearby café. I asked Sabrina to watch my kids for a while, but she told me not to stay long because she didn’t want me to talk to Tristan anymore. “It’s a birthday gift.” I kept looking at the paper he was handing me. I wasn’t sure if I should accept it or not. “You shouldn’t have bothered.” “I’m sorry, if I had brought a gift.” “That’s not what I meant.” “I bought it last month. Like before, I prepared a birthday surprise for you three months before your birthday. I was planning to have a dinner date with you and the kids, but everything turned into a mess.” I can see through his eyes and voice the regret for what happened, but it doesn’t mean I will fall for those. I took what he handed me. I’m still mad, but the effort he gave was the reason I accepted it. “I hope you like it.” I opened the box inside. My eyes almost popped out after seeing the contents of the box. It’s a s
CELINE POV - “Why are you meeting with that man?"He immediately asked as he got in the car and started it. “How did you know–” “I was the first one to ask,” he said, holding back from yelling. “He said he had something to say to me,” I replied. “And you agreed right away?” I only looked at him. I don't understand why he is ready to throw a fist when he drags me. Tristan and I weren't doing anything, and Tristan wasn't doing anything bad when he caught up with us. In fact, if he hadn’t pulled me, I would have heard Tristan’s explanation once and for all. “Why is it so hard for you to avoid that asshole?” “Excuse me?” Lance gave me a quick look, then turned his attention back to the road. “Tristan and I have a misunderstanding, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to turn my back on him. He’s my friend too–” “He’s not your friend; he doesn’t see you that way.” “It doesn’t matter.” “It doesn’t matter?” He asked in disbelief. “It doesn’t matter if he sees you as more than a frien
[ N E W Y O R K ] . LANCE POV - Upon arriving in New York, I rushed straight to the hospital where Hannah was confined. She was on the VIP floor, where she was the only one confined on this entire floor, so I easily found her private room. Immediately reaching inside, I found Carla with Yuichi and Vince. Hannah is still unconscious. “She had a panic attack,” Vince stated, Astrid’s husband and owner of this hospital. “Panic attack? Why what happened?” I asked worriedly. There was only one thing that was making Hannah act like this, but I still wanted to be sure what caused it to happen to her all of a sudden. “We saw her on the road alone.” I shifted my gaze to Carla. Her eyebrows pulled up and together. “She was having trouble breathing while crying. When we approached her, she kept saying ‘that person’ appeared and approached her.” I approached Hannah and checked her entire body, from head to toe. I didn’t see any scratches or wounds on her body that weren’t covered by the h
LANCE HART POV-I put down the folder containing the documents I had to approve, but after a few minutes of reading it I couldn’t focus. Over three hours had passed since Celine left. Five minutes had passed when she called me to tell me to remove the body guards I had sent. After that, she said she would call me again in an hour. I can’t rest until my own eyes see Celine is doing well, also I miss her so much.I stood up to get a black coffee. Just as I faced the table again, I recoiled after I saw Skye sitting on the sofa. Upon approaching him, my eyes bulged when I saw he was holding Starr’s picture. As I often did, I looked at their pictures; among the many on the table, Skye focused on Starr’s lone picture.Celine will scold me if she finds out Skye saw Starr’s picture. We were planning to tell our children about Starr before we got married, but we planned to tell them together.I sat down next to Skye and put my coffee cup on the table. “Skye, why did you wake up?” I attempted
CELINE SALVATORE POV-I wore a sleeveless sexy backless white dress high waist slim a-line short dress, paired with three inch black ankle strap heels. For the make up I did I kept it simple, for my short hair is loose.After checking myself I came out of the walking closet. I straiht to the mini living room where Lance was watching a children’s cartoon with our children.“What do you all think?” I asked them.Lance turned off the tv first then he looked at me, followed by our children.“Mummy, you’re beautiful!” Sunny, lauded.“You look amazing, mummy.” Skye, acclaimed. “You look gorgeous as always.” Lance, extolled.“Are you all sure? Look again.” I turned around once to show them the entirety of what I was wearing.“What the f*ck, why is the back of your dress like that?!” Lance exclaimed as he stood up.I glared at him for swearing in front of our children.“Mummy, what is, what the fa... fa…” Sunny asked curiously but had difficulty saying the word she wanted to know.“That’s a
SABRINA RODRIGUEZ POV-I smiled after Celine sent a picture to our group chat. Joy welled up inside me at the thought of their happiness. I keep telling myself that she deserves her happy family. Despite all the problems and hardship they have gone through she and Sir Lance still love each other very much.I put down my phone and I drank the twentieth shot of whiskey.“Please have one more shot of whiskey.”I think the spirit of alcohol had kicked into my body. My head was aching from the loud music and the surrounding people, plus the various smells mixed with the smell of alcohol and cigarettes. Why did I even think of going to this bar?Since I’m finishing the project I’m doing for a client who will build a mansion for their growing family, I take a whole day off. I shopped almost everything I wanted I remained unsatisfied, so I went to the nearest bar I saw. “Thank you.” I told the bartender as he handed me a shot of whiskey.I drank the whiskey straight again and paid. I should
CELINE SALVATORE POV-Lance fulfilled what he said, after the grace period of three days he would finish all the work and, could take care of the wedding preparation. Today is our fifth day of preparation.We hired a wedding planner that Christine suggested to us. Her recommendation felt like a sure thing, given my experience with her previous wedding planning success. The wedding planner also suggested our photographer.This evening, we got back from Italy because we had a dress measurement.In Italy we found a designer who will sew wedding gowns, suits and bridesmaids’ dresses. I took the bridesmaids’ measurements one by one three days ago,. For the final touch, one week before the wedding, the tailor and designer themself will come to New York for last fitting for all of us.We have accomplished a lot in the five days of wedding planning. We might move the wedding to an earlier date.“I’m leaving.” I let him know after I took the bag from our room and returned to the living room.“
CELINE SALVATORE POV-I put back my gaze at the secretary. “Thank you.”I stood up and left in front of the secretary.I took a breath and it seemed heavy to know about that thing. It was clearly a work discussion, but the thought lingered–I quickly dismissed it from my mind.I shouldn’t waste time thinking about other things. Lance loves me, he loves our children, we love him–it is the important thing and above all I trust him.I was about to get in the car but I saw the man get out of the car and come towards me.“Can we talk?” Lucian asked as he approached me.I sight at the time on the watch I was wearing. “Sure.”——————————Lucian take me in a private restaurant, where he rented the entire restaurant for the entire time.I invited him to a coffee shop, but he refused. He said what he had to say was a private matter.When we arrived at the restaurant and sat down, the waitress served us food, after that, Lucian told them to leave us.“I’m sorry, Lucian. I didn’t plan on staying lo
CELINE SALVATORE POV-“What do you want for dinner?” I asked Lance after I cleared away the container. “I’ll cook dinner.”“About that.” He held my hand, his other hand caressing my knuckles. “I’m not sure what time I’ll be home. I still have a lot of work to finish, so I can finish everything by tomorrow.”He sounded sorry, as if the sin he had committed was too big.“It’s okay, don’t worry.” I said with a smile to ease his burden. “Just, please, take care of your health.” I said, almost begging. “On our wedding day, I don’t want our friends to drag you down the altar so our wedding can go ahead.” I joked.“I won't.” He said, laughing, then hugged me tightly, just enough so that my body wouldn’t be trapped in his arms. “Thank you for giving me strength. I don’t even need to drink energy drinks anymore.”I hugged him back.For a moment, the surroundings became silent as we still hugged each other.“Celine.”“Hmm?”“Can we have one round?”I pulled away from the hug. When I looked at h
FREYA POV-After I finished fixing myself, I put the final touch on my makeup, my red lipstick as red as blood. I checked my phone first. I tightened my grip on it seeing that until now, after two days, Lance announced his engagement to the whole world. They all kept talking about all this. Our wedding back then, it maybe, was grand because I pressured him into every detail but to announce to the whole world he didn’t do it. He hasn’t said who he’s going to marry yet but I’m sure it’s his pathetic ex-wife he’s going to marry.I called that stupid thing, but he still didn’t answer my call. In my annoyance, I threw my phone somewhere in my hotel room. That stupid. I cooperated with him back then because he promised he could find a way to keep Celine and Lance away. I even sacrificed my smooth face and skin. The beating me back then in the old building was our plan. No one kidnapped me. It was all a plan to make Lance believe someone else hurt me. After beating me and got hurt, I shoul
CELINE SALVATORE POV-“As soon as possible?” I asked, with a hint of doubt.“Why don’t you seem sure?” There was concern in his voice. “Didn’t you change your mind?” There was fear in his voice.“Of course not. I just don’t know if your schedule can handle it if we get married so soon.” I spelled out.The worry on his face quickly disappeared after I explained it to him.“When would you like us to get married?”“Before our kids go back to school, so they won’t be confused about which surname to use and can use your surname.”“When is the new school year for our kids?”“Two months from now.”“Two months?!” I was the one who was worried by his question. “W-Why?”“I thought I would have to wait just less than a month to marry you.” I lost my concern. I thought he was the one who changed his mind now. I wish to give back my surname to you. If possible, we will get married next week.”“That’s a short amount of time for preparation.” I explain with a beaming face. “On a serious note, when
CELINE SALVATORE POV-It’s not like it used to be that my children wake me up every morning, now I wake them up.Skye and Sunny were still rubbing their eyes when I woke them up.“Good morning, sweethearts.” I greeted them and gave them a sweet kiss on the top of their heads.“Good morning, mummy.” They greeted me sleepily.My smile widened seeing their father was still sleeping soundly. I saw that his forehead was unfurrowed, he didn’t smile widely, but his face was peaceful. He looked like a puppy sleeping. He was so cute when he slept like that.For all the years, I think this was the only time I’d seen him sleep. In all these years, I finally saw Lance sleeping without anger on his face.“Daddy!” Skye and Sunny happily approached Lance at the same time.Sunny climbed onto Lance’s tummy while Skye was on the side of Lance’s face.“Daddy, wake up!” Sunny woke up. I came closer to them, theb supported Sunny’s body when it moved.“Daddy!” Skye and Sunny woke up at the same time to th