CLAIRE’s P.O.V.
“Are you okay? You want me to get you a food or something?” Elijah asked me, for a hundred times I think.
“I’m fine, Elij. You can leave us here. I know you’re tired. Get some sleep. I can handle this.”
“Are you sure?” He looked at me, worried.
“Yeah. And thank you for helping us.”
He nodded before walking towards Alexa.
“Hey,” I heard him greeted my little sister.
Alexa just smiled at him. A few moments later, after he realized that my sister wasn’t planning to say a word or anything, he just tap her head before saying goodbye.
“Bye, Alexa. Bye, Claire.” He waved at me and I waved back.
As soon as he was out of sight, Alexa came near me and hugged my legs. I instantly knew that she’s crying because my jeans was starting to
CLAIRE’s P.O.V.“We can’t lose Dad, Claire. Please do something.” Alexa looked worried, with tears still streaming down her cheeks.“Don’t cry. I’ll do anything as soon as I find out what happened.” The doctor came towards us, a sympathetic look plastered on his face.“Ms. Braganza, your father needs to undergo a surgery. We need to operate him as soon as we can. His heart has two holes, and he’s in a very dangerous state right now.” At that moment, I instantly knew that Mr. Herrera was right. I think it’s time for me to beg. It is time that I set my pride aside and be a good daughter even just for once.“We will perform the surgery as soon as we receive your permission. For now, I think you need to prepared a huge amount of money for the operation expenses.”
DARREN’s P.O.V. I called my lawyer as soon as Claire agrees to my own terms and condition. I looked at her, feeling guilty every time that I remembered her crying face. I’m not sure if she did cry earlier. Though I could see the sadness on her eyes up to now.“Do you need anything, wife?” I asked, trying to put a facade of arrogance again. I don’t know what’s with me, but everytime I saw her face, I feel nervous. That’s why I’m trying to act cool and dominant whenever that she’s around.“Wife? Is that an endearment?” she asked, arching one of her brows.“Maybe... What do you think about it?”“Can’t you understand sarcasm, Mr. Herrera?” I stopped as I look at her face. She was seriously mad at me for calling her that way.“Well, after an hour or s
CLAIRE’s P.O.V. He called me wife for a second time today. But instead of feeling pissed by his voice, I felt warm crept into my cheeks and I don’t know why. He pulled me inside of a jewelry store before calling the saleslady on the counter.“Hey, miss. I wanted to buy the diamond ring with the highest value in here. One for me, and one for my lovely wife.” Again, I felt butterflies on my stomach. The saleslady looked shocked at first but after a while, she smiled at him before pulling out a small vault from the locked wall of the store.“Here you go, sir. This diamond ring cost one hundred thousand US dollars each.”“I’ll get it.”“Darren!” I looked at him, shocked at how he unwisely spent his money. He just smiled at me as a response. Amusement was al
CLAIRE’s P.O.V. I wake up at the smell of roasted bacon and garlic fried rice. What a great way to start anyone’s morning. I slowly sit up from laying down the bed. Darren’s not in this room anymore. I decided to use his bathroom since he’s not here and I wanted to prepared myself before seeing his Dad. I grabbed my towel and toiletries before opening the bathroom door.“What the hell?!” It was Darren, half naked. My eyes widen as I saw his wet masculine body. The water streaming down from the shower also make an intense effect to the view I am seeing right now. I can’t help but to bit my lower lip.“I’m s-sorry.” I stood there like a statue, unable to move my feet.“Stop watching!” I closed my eyes shut and run as fast as I can away from him. I slapped my
CLAIRE’s P.O.V.“So... Who’s Gabriel?” he asked, looking at me while patting a bag of ice on my cheek.“Do we really need to talk about this right now?”“It’s fine if you don’t wanna answer my question. I’m just... Curious.”“Why are you so curious about it, anyway?”“Hmm... Just look at what happened, Claire. If only I knew about this earlier, we could have avoided that scenario at the office.”“It’s your fault. You didn’t tell me that you’re engaged to Kate. You should have told me that at the first place.”“Okay... I’m sorry. I just didn’t know that you two have already met before.”“She’s my high school bestfriend...”“So what’s the story between you two? I’m badly curious about it. Don’t you think I deserves to know the truth after w
CLAIRE’s P.O.V. After lunch, I still couldn’t compose myself properly. Darren and I bid our goodbyes to Alexa before deciding to leave. I just let our Dad sleep as much as he wanted and we didn’t bother to wake him up. He needs to rest as much as possible.“Stiff at my presence?” Darren arrogantly asked while driving his car. I didn’t answer. I just rolled my eyes on him instead.“Don’t worry. Whatever it is that I’ve said earlier, it was all for a show.” I was stunned for a moment. I shook my head at how stupid I am to believe in his lies. He’s right, everything that we’re doing is only for a show. For the sake of our fake marriage.“Are you alright?” He sounds worried but maybe I was just assuming and imagining things again.&l
CLAIRE’s P.O.V.“Knock-knock!” Alexa and I turned our gazed at the door, where a man is currently standing while looking at us. He grinned before waving a tons of shopping bags at our faces.“Darren... You’re here... Again.”“Looks like you don’t want me to be here.”“Well, if Claire doesn’t want you to be here, then you can visit me. I would like you to be always here in our hospital room,” Alexa stated as she run towards him.“Hey... I bought something for you,” Darren smiled widely at her before giving her almost half of the bags he had. Alexa happily took it all before thanking him. She opened the bags and surprise was all over her face. It was full of branded clothes, chocolates, toys, and more. I could see the happiness in her eyes.“Thank you so much, Darren!” She hugged
DARREN’s P.O.V.“Hey, bro,” I could feel the sleepiness in Elijah’s voice.“Hey...” I smile for apparently no reason.“Why did you call me at the middle of the night?” he asked.“Nothing... I just... I couldn’t sleep.”“Why? Is this about Teacher Claire?”“How did you know that?!” I sit up from laying on my bed.“I can sense your happiness over here.” He chuckled. “Claire was just like that earlier this morning. I often caught her smiling to herself while we’re at work.” It felt nice to heard those words coming from Elijah. Thanks to him, I could finally sleep now knowing that our feelings are mutual.“Bro, you two are in love!” he shouted at his phone. I pulled mine away from my ears because of his high pitched voice. Is he reall
CLAIRE’s P.O.V. Looking at Mr. Herrera with Cloey in his arms, I couldn’t hide the happiness that I’m feeling right now. It’s like when Darren first met her, the emotions were mixed with each other. Cloey deserves to have a complete family.“Yey!” Cloey beamed as her grandfather put the last piece of the puzzle on the board.“Do you want us to build another one?” Mr. Herrera asked and my daughter quickly nodded. He took a week off of work just to play with Cloey. We are now living here in Herrera residence. Dad decided that Alexa and him will stay at grandma’s house but they promised that they will visit us here very often. That wasn’t a problem for Darren and Mr. Herrera owned a private plane and chopper. We can easily pick them up if ever.“Hey,” Darren greeted as he sat beside me on the couch opposit
DARREN’s P.O.V. I looked at Claire, who is now nervously staring at her reflection on the mirror. I almost laugh as she trembles when my hands touches her shoulders.“Hey...” I greeted her, trying to suppress my laughter.“You startled me!” she complained.“Sorry, wife. Just, don’t be nervous, okay? Dad will be the one who supposed to be surprised so please, stop worrying now,” I assured her.“Okay... I just... What if... What if he doesn’t like Cloey? Or what if... He’ll be mad because you didn’t come home for over half a year here...”“That wouldn’t happen. Everyone loves Cloey. And hey, I promised to him never to come back here if I still haven’t got you yet... So I’m sure he will be glad to see you... With a bonus, of course. A grandchild he’s been waiting for.”“Okay, okay. I ca
CLAIRE’s P.O.V. We are currently on a trip, waiting for our plane to land in order to see our home again. The country we’ve come from. How I miss the fresh air and the very accommodating people. Because of Darren, I finally got the chance to feel that again. Speaking of him, he’s now sitting by my side while our daughter is in another seat next to him. She was looking out of the window, while Darren is staring intensely at me.“What?” I asked, confused at his stares.“Nothing. Just let me stare at you for a moment.” I just chuckled before giving him a quick peck of a kiss on his cheeks. He instantly blushed, and that made me laughed.“What was that for?” he asked.“Uhm... Nothing? I just wanted to kiss my husband.” Again, I saw a
DARREN’s P.O.V. I didn’t saw her walking down the isle. I didn’t saw her wearing an elegant gown or whatsoever. We didn’t have a grand engagement party, nor a nice venue or a huge crowd for visitors. We didn’t have the wedding everyone’s been dreaming of. But we got married. A simple, yet full of love marriage. Holding her hand, in front of our few witnesses while we vowed our promises to each other, it is the most amazing feeling I’ve ever had in my whole life. It’s not about how grand the wedding is. It’s about the person whom you’re gonna share that moment and the rest of your life with. And if it’s Claire, money doesn’t have a value for she is the most precious treasure that I have.“You are now officially husband and wife,” the judge announced, after we signed our marriage contract. “You may now kiss
CLAIRE’s P.O.V. After we asked for grandma’s permission, she let us leave. We are now on our way to the park, where Darren said that he asked someone to help him set up a small picnic there. Alexa was happily sitting in the passenger seat, eating tons of popcorns while me and my daughter are currently sitting on the backseat. Cloey is now asleep, and I’m thankful for that because she’s saving her energy for later. I often caught Darren glance at me in the front mirror. I’ll just smile, before I saw him blushing like a silly teenager. I’ll just laughed to myself, afraid that if ever Alexa, my little sister, hear it again, she will teased us nonstop.“We are almost there,” Darren announced, looking glad by the sound of his voice.“Yay! This is my first time going into that place! I wanted to see how does it look like!” Alexa energ
CLAIRE’s P.O.V.“That’s it. Let’s stop apologizing to each other now... I-I... I love y-you, Claire. I haven’t told you that before you leave and I know that I’ll regret it again if I didn’t tell you that phrase right now. I love you, ever since I saw you standing in the pouring rain that night in front of the school. I’ve been loving you since that day and until now... Two years had passed but nothing changed. I’m still into you. I love you so much. Please, don’t leave me again, wife.” After he said those words, I couldn’t suppressed the sadness mixed with joyous emotion inside of my chest. I cried, half happy and regretful at the same time. If only I didn’t leave. But that doesn’t matter now that Darren is already holding me securely in his arms again.“I’ll do everything to earn your trust again, Claire. I’ll do everyth
CLAIRE’s P.O.V.“I wouldn’t leave you and take our daughter away. You know I’m not that kind of guy. So please, stop worrying.” After he said that, I felt guilty. He didn’t trust me before, so I’m having a hard time trusting him now. I just nodded towards him, still silent when he opened the door of his car for me. The first time I saw him in front of the mall, I felt nervous, and I didn’t wanna told him the truth. I’m afraid that if ever he found out about Cloey, he will take her away from me using his money. But he didn’t. He stay contented at the fact that I only allowed him to meet my precious daughter along with me. We spend the day buying Cloey’s stuff. Anything that she wanted, Darren bought it for her. He also tried to give me some money for Cloey’s expenses but I refused to
DARREN’s P.O.V. Today is the day I’ve been waiting for. I’m going to meet my daughter. I woke up early to fix myself. I want my daughter to like me. I want her not to be afraid or anything when she meet her Dad. I’m also excited to tell this to Elijah and my father, wanting to know their reaction. But for now, I’ll just keep this to myself. I drove to the place written on the tissue paper. When I arrived there, Claire isn’t still there. I patiently waits, knowing that I will see my daughter and the woman I love in just a few hours. And I wasn’t wrong for after a half hour or so, Claire entered into the shop, carrying a little girl on her arms. Mixed emotions overwhelmed my system. I didn’t know what to do, and I can’t also open my mouth to speak any words.“Darren... Meet Cloey, your daughter.”
DARREN’s P.O.V. It’s been exactly twenty six days since I started to stay here, in front of the mall. I’m still hoping to see her, even if it’s impossible to know if she came here for the thousands of people who passed me by. I’m currently sitting on the bench, taking a sip from my drink. I looked closely enough to the people to identity whether they are my love or not. I’m wearing a hoodie and a sunglasses so that if ever Claire saw me and she’s still mad, she wouldn’t run away just like what she did before. My attention gets fully occupied when I saw someone walking... Like Claire. I instantly stood up, not wanting to missed this chance if ever. I ran after her, grabbed her hand and called her name.“Claire, wait!” I received a hard slapped coming from her.“Who the heck ar