POPPY:[One message received.]My phone beeped and lighted and thinking it was something urgent, I wiped my hands at the back of my shirt and hurriedly grabbed my phone from the kitchen table, temporarily leaving the unchopped vegetables.I was in a hurry to cook Kelly's heavy snacks, my five-year-old daughter was in kindergarten school. I forgot to prepare when I woke up late since I was finishing some freelancing gigs. “It’s okay, Mommy. I can just ask for my best friend,” I remembered her saying. Despite being a single mom, it was still a wonder how I was given a mature and sweet little child. Another notification popped up. Brows furrowed, I checked my phone.[I finally located you, Poppyseed. I know you are with our child right now. I'm coming there to get you.][I will fix my mess. I am sorry.][I still love you.]The smile vanished from my eyes after reading the message. The color drained from my face. Only one person called me Poppyseed. Nolan Woods. My ex-husband who did
POPPY:The stranger was wearing an expensive suit and dark sunglasses which perfectly molded and fitted his chiseled jaw. His expensive perfume slapped my nostrils and screamed rich even though I could not afford to buy it. A god. What else would visit me like this? He had a sharply pointed nose. His jawline could cut paper because of its sharpness. His raven eyes were watching me with intense glares."W-Who are you?" I managed to ask when I was brought back to the present.Hmm. The more I stared at him, the more the voice inside me told me he was familiar.Who was this man?I was certain this man was not a Hollywood actor. I could enumerate all of them and know them like the back of my hand. Stupid, Poppy. How dare you swoon over someone like him? You have more important things to cater and swooning over this man was not part of it, okay?You made a promise to never like another man again after your divorce from Nolan. For you, men were all the same, all after women's v-card. The
POPPY:Oh, god. Boyfriend? Fucking boyfriend? Soon-to-be husband?Seriously, Poppy? That was the best thing you could come up with?Why not? My dear ex-husband seemed to believe in my words. Now. If only Sebastian Holding would be kind and go with the flow. That would be much appreciated."Poppy, that is only a lie, right? I understand I am a jerk for saying everything I said five years ago. But I already regretted it. Please tell me the truth that this man is not your boyfriend. That you two are not going to marry each other. I had been looking for you for quite some time and now that I found you, I promise I won’t be wasting this opportunity again."Nolan’s eyes were pleading with me.Since when did he learn how to beg? Back when he was my husband, he was always cold and rarely showed his feelings. It was always me who was always telling him that I love him. That he meant a lot to me. But now.Was this really the Nolan I knew before? "It's... it's true! Bastian is my new boyf
POPPY: I hated Sebastian’s guts. He reminded me of people who looked down on me because I was raising my daughter alone in this world. He reminded me of those assholes who pointed their dirty fingers at me while saying I will not succeed in raising my poor child alone. “I am waiting, woman. I’ll be giving you a minute to think. After that, you will never waste my time anymore.” He looked at his expensive watch where I could only see at an online store which billionaire’s could only afford.It was not definitely designed to brag. I crossed my legs.“You are desperate, Mr. Holding. You barely even know me.”“Poppy Brooks. You are twenty-nine years old. You are living with your five-year-old daughter named Kelly Brooks in this rented house. Your neighborhood is protective of you and would willingly kill anyone who dared to harm you or your daughter. Your ex-husband was Nolan Wood. You lost contact with your family.”Fuck.That was comprehensive information about me. It was amazing ho
POPPY:As I continued staring at Sebastian Holding, something was telling me he did not even love Olivia Green. Whenever he spoke of her, there was no warmth or any feelings in his eyes. It remained unchanged. Distant. Cold. Menacing.I felt sorry for that woman. It was plain that he was using her for whatever reason he had. Sometimes, rich people would agree to contract marriage for the benefit of both families. I wondered if Miss Olivia Green loved this man? That’s no longer your concern. Whether they both loved each other or not, you are out of that, Poppy. You need money more than this man. And you will get it. As long as Mr. Holding would willingly pay me, everything was good. I did not care whether he truly loved Miss Olivia or not.I would always be after the money he would pay in my bank account. Imagine the bills I could pay and the investment I could have with that amount. "I want to be honest with you, Mr. Holding. I am only after your money."He was not at least offend
POPPY:“Mommy, I’m bored,” Kelly muttered while licking her lollipop. She kicked her feet continuously and it hit the feet of the chairs in front of her. She was back at the house the next morning. It was Saturday. No school. We can have all the time in the world for our bonding.As always, Christy had done a great job of taking care of my child.After cleaning the kitchen, I walked towards Kelly and hugged her back. "Do you want to go to the park, love? The other children are playing there."Kelly faced me, frowning. Her cute little lips pouted. I was thankful she resembled me instead of my good-for-nothing ex-husband. There were no traces of Nolan on her physical looks. The only thing she got from her father was liking tomatoes and could even eat them raw, something I could not do. And speaking of that bastard, he never called me again. Good for me. If he continues making my life chaotic like what he did six years ago, I will make sure I will be asking John to give him the best
POPPY:My mouth gaped open wide upon hearing my daughter.Daddy?My head spun and got dizzy as I stared at my baby hugging Sebastian. She wrapped her little hand around the man while sniffing at him."You smell so good, Daddy!"Sebastian cocked his eyebrows and looked at me. His eyes ordered me to remove Kelly away from him.But…I could not move.How could I do it?For the first time, I saw my baby smiling from ear to ear. How could I extinguish the fire from her eyes and dampen the mood? How could I hurt her feelings right now?Mr. Holding continued looking at my baby. He glanced at his back and his bodyguard automatically stepped forward.No! No one will embarrass my child. I would kill anyone who dared to. Clearing my throat, I went to my baby and carefully untangled her away from Mr. Holding. "L-love? Come to Mommy."Kelly shook her head continuously and held Mr. Holding tightly. My heart tightened at seeing her hug Sebastian like he was indeed her father. I forgot these were t
POPPY:After making a few calls and calling Christy, I was back in the living room. The woman said she will be coming here to fetch my daughter.I did not know what to do if I did not know her. She was always to the rescue. With my heart at ease, I returned to where Mr. Holding was waiting for me. Sebastian was folding his arms and upon seeing me, his sharp eyes looked sharper than ever. His eyes looked bored. "I thought I would be sleeping here," Sebastian greeted me, his voice full of sarcasm. "This house is only for me and my daughter, Mr. Holding.""That's sarcasm."I know. I'm not dumb.I faked a surprise look. "Oh, really? I did not know it was."If this was the kind of employer I had right now, I would be peeing my pants. His piercing eyes could cut the hardest metal in the world.Maybe he did not love Olivia Green. If he did, he won’t be giving me a death glare right now. They said love could transform the hardest steel including Sebastian, but this man, he was hard as a r
85POPPY:Realization dawned on me.Mother was right.I was punishing Sebastian for his past which he did not do when we were together. He impregnated Olivia before we met, and he did not even know me by then.Tears swam in my eyes.Stupid. I was stupid.Now, I realize what I just did. “Mom. Is it okay if I return to the city? I have to apologize to my husband.”Mother smiled and brushed my cheeks using her fingertips. “Why does it feel as if it will be a long time before you will be back again, Poppy?”“I’m so sorry, Mom. Now that you have accepted us again, I will always visit you and Dad.”I inhaled deeply as the pain slowly lifted.I could not wait to go back to the mansion and talk to Sebastian.“I’m going to miss you, too.”“I will always call, Mom. I will just wait for Kelly, and I will tell her of my plans.”“She will be happy. She always asks about her daddy. Your second husband, I mean.”“She was completely smitten by him.”“The child knows a real man who will make you happ
POPPY:Do you know what's the most painful thing? It's the fact that Sebastian was not doing anything just to stop me as I grabbed my things and Kelly. He just stood there leaning on the door, like a robot watching me pack my things. And he claimed he loved me?Bullshit!Damn it!Why did I believe in his lies, anyway? He never loved me from the start. He was only forced to. And now that he had a child with his own seed, he can do anything he wants like tossing me aside. From all the packing down to grabbing Kelly, I was glad I never shed a single tear. If I did, it would be embarrassing on my part."Honey…" Sebastian started as I went out of our room while grabbing Kelly and my bag in both hands. "We only arrived. Kelly and your body are tired from the trip. Please think of the child.""You cannot stop me from doing this, Sebastian," I exclaimed while hardening my heart in the process. I forced myself to make my expression blank and cold as it was so that he would see that I was al
POPPY:From the look on his face, he was silently telling me not to tell his father about it. I did not get how he wanted to keep it to ourselves since having a baby was the only requirement left. I wanted to believe that it had something to do with his feelings, but if I expected more than that, I was scared that I would only be hurt in the end.“Anyone who wanted to answer me?” Arnold asked as his gaze kept on switching sides between me and Sebastian. “Poppy?”“Dad. I believe it’s my husband who has the right to tell you about it.”“Why is that?” he asked as his brows formed a straight line. “Son. Is there anything you want to say? Am I expecting a grandchild soon? A simple yes or no would suffice.”Yeah. A grandchild who would be the next heir of the Holdings. The child that Olivia and Sebastian badly wanted. And during that time, I would be kicked out of the equations. I would be tossed aside like a piece of rag. Together with my daughter.Oh, God.Why did I bring my daughter in
POPPY:“Can you please read the message? I can’t do that especially when I am driving.”A muscle ticked in my eyes. “Are you freaking kidding me, Sebastian?”His brows furrowed.“What’s wrong?”“What’s your intention of letting me read the message? What are you trying to prove, huh?”“Honey. I meant no harm, okay? I just wanted you to read the message. I’m driving. What makes it difficult to understand?”“You know Olivia will text you, right?”“Was it her?”“Who else? She won’t stop saying you should divorce me.”“That’s not going to happen. It’s you I love. Not here. So please stop getting jealous, okay? You’re the only woman I love, Poppy. No one else.”That was supposed to pacify me, but it did not. Right now, I was still irritated at Sebastian, and I did not know how long it would last. I hated this feeling. It brought me back to my previous relationship. Of how I was jealous of any woman who was near to my ex-husband only to find out in the end that I have the right to be jealous
POPPY:I was kind of expecting that it was indeed the result, but it was different from hearing it directly in Olivia’s mouth. She was too proud about it, making me feel as if she was better than me, although there was no point in proving it.I was nothing compared to her. She was an actress. Rich. Talented. You name it. While I was a simple mother who wanted only the best for her child. “The look on your face says it all. You also know that the child is from Bastian.”“So what? You’re all talk, Olivia. Give me the papers.” She shoved it on my chest. “How rude.”Checking, I pulled out the paper inside the envelope and read the contents.Ninety-point nine percent. The child was Sebastian. He was the father of Olivia’s child.My knees almost gave out. Not from the shock. But it was more than that. “See? I have given him a child first. Bastian should be mine.”I showed her our wedding ring. “Oops. He married me first.”“I don’t believe the results,” Sebastian exclaimed all of a sudden
POPPY:Our stay in the resort was eventful. Sebastian toured us at the resort and introduced us to his family. The maids and all the maintenance staff were happy to see us and congratulated us. He made sure that we were taken care of. And then the next thing I knew, we would be returning to the mansion which I did not want to happen. It was too soon. I was not even satisfied yet. “Are we really going back?” I asked Sebastian while folding Kelly’s clothes. “I wanted to stay here a little longer.”The corner of his lips lifted. “Do you really want to stay because of that, or was it another reason?” he teased. My cheeks burned in embarrassment, remembering our sweet time together. Especially on the beach. It was only at three o’clock in the morning when we returned to our room. True to his words, Sebastian had emptied all the condoms and promised to buy another pocket if I wanted to. And then when Kelly was not inside the room, we took a shower together and made love again inside.
Warning: Sexual content ahead.------------------POPPY:We are free to do whatever we want, huh?Pinching the bridge of Sebastian’s nose, I asked, “Do you know that you sounded like a devil right now tempting me like this?”The corner of his lips lifted.“Am I? That’s my plan, Poppy.”“Yes. Why are you tempting me like this, Sebastian? Is it really true that I’m the only woman you brought here in this—”The words died in my mouth when he suddenly kissed me fully.I groaned as I tasted the strawberry taste of his lips against my mouth. Sparks exploded between us. Lips against lips. Mouth against mouth. It seemed like our lips were battling and no one wanted to lose. Using my lips, I showed him how much I longed for him. My longing for him was evident in how I kissed him. How I snaked my arms around his neck, bringing me closer to my body. Hardness against softness. He was all muscles while I was the complete opposite.My hands found his hair and pulled him toward me.“Give everything
POPPY: The rest of the day flew fast.Kelly and I enjoyed the resort a lot. Sebastian never left my side and did not even glance at his phone for any updates from his secretary. And if someone was calling him, I would remind him to answer the phone since he would only let it ring. But then he will just kiss me and say that it can wait. He wanted to focus his time on us and added that today was a family day. He won’t allow anyone to waste this time over some unimportant things.For Sebastian Holding, work was always important but when he said it could wait, my heart was filled with overflowing happiness. “And they lived happily ever after,” I said, reading the book which I bought. Kelly was already fast asleep. After reading for almost an hour, she was fast asleep. I was able to finish three books in a row when she was not yet satisfied with one book alone.Kelly stirred in her sleep and the blanket fell below.I pulled it upward until it reached her chin, then pressed a kiss on her
POPPY:I held my breath as Sebastian kept on staring at me, not even stopping the wind as when my hair danced along with it. The feeling of the rough texture of the sand entering my shoes tickled my feet.“Poppy. Do you want to spend your life with me?” Sebastian asked again when I did not answer.I wanted to scream yes! I would definitely say yes! I’ve been loving this man for quite some time now and now that he was offering an eternity with him, who was I to say no?An opportunity to spend the rest of our lives together? That would be fantastic. But what about Olivia Green? Images of her heavily pregnant belly while tears rolled down from her eyes flashed in my mind. It felt like tiny needles were being stabbed in my chest.Yeah. Olivia Green. Getting drunk with Sebastian’s offer to be with him was already too good to be true. Accept him, Poppy, my mind urged. How long will you keep on thinking about someone else’s happiness, Poppy? Why can’t you think of your own happiness, hu