FIVE YEARS LATER…
“Athena, are you ready?” Maxime asked as she opened the door of Athena’s room.Athena was wearing a nude-colored deep v-cut flowy styled sleeveless long dress embroidered with Swarovski crystals. This gown emphasized her glowing skin and the perfect shape of her body. They fashioned her hair into a french bun with loose wavy strands to frame her delicate face.“Wow, Athena… You look stunning tonight.” She said, with her mouth agape.“Thank you. You too, you look beautiful.” Athena smiled at her.Smiling, Maxime was wearing a black tea-length dress, caressing her small baby bump. She was five months pregnant with her first baby. “Thank you, and this baby is growing… I can’t hide her any longer.” They both chuckled.“I can’t wait to see your boyfriend’s reaction when he sees how beautiful his girlfriend is. He probably won’t be able to take his eyes off of you.” Maxime giggled.Athena smiled and said, “His eyes should only be on me, or elWhile Ethan was at Country P, he found out that Austin's hospital in country Y will be hosting a charity event. He knew that Austin would show up and if he followed Austin it could lead him to finding Athena.Since he wasn't invited by the Morris', he asked one of the elite families attending the event to give him their invitation, trading it for a million dollars.He flew to country Y the same day and went directly to the said event. Because of his scandalous behavior the previous years he has been hiding from the press, and since he didn’t want to be recognized he sneaked into the event unnoticed. Upon his arrival, the whole place was abuzz with news of who’s going to be here and he was constantly hearing rumors about a well-known doctor and his date. When he heard it was Athena Morris, his ears tingled as he quickly scanned for her inside the ballroom. Knowing she was in the same room made him eager to see and confront her.He often thought about Athena and could
Rumors inside the ball were spreading as the bidding continued.“18 million,” Dr. Stephen yelled. ‘This will be my last bid. I have no more to give if he raises the price,’ he thought.“30 million,” Ethan said with a smirk. ‘You’ll probably go bankrupt if you make another bid.’ He thought as he glared at Stephen, who was now clenching his fist.‘Dammit! I can’t go over 30 million. What will I do?’ He thought as Athena held his hand and caressed it slowly, reassuring him it was alright.“Don’t worry about it. Everything’s going to be fine. At least you helped drive up the price of the jewelry, and the chosen charity will receive more than half of the proceeds. It can really hel
The event ended successfully, and a few guests were lingering at the ball, enjoying themselves and mingling with each other. Austin stayed, sending Athena, Stephen, and Maxime home to be escorted by the President’s security. They left way before the party even ended.Austin planned to keep Ethan busy with the help of the media. He was planning to confront Ethan after they all left because he didn’t want to drag his father’s reputation in the dirt and make an issue of what Ethan had declared earlier.Ethan knew Austin wanted to confront him, and he stayed because he wanted to know what his friend wanted to say. He considered Austin as his family and wanted to know why they didn’t confront him when they learned the truth. When the rest of the guests left, Ethan caught Austin standing in the corner, facing the floor-to-ceiling glass windows.“Do you think you can easily take Athena away from me?” Ethan said as he approached his friend.Instead of answering, Austin
The deafening sound of the alarm woke Athena up. Last night, she set her timer two hours earlier than usual.It’s been a week since the event, and since her foundation, Good Samaritan, was one of the chosen charities to receive the money from the auction, she treated the children from the foundation on a two-day overnight field trip. It excited the kids when they heard about it.Unfortunately, Maxime was scheduled for her pre-natal check-up, and Austin was accompanying her. Ever since he’d gotten famous, Stephen’s schedule at the hospital was always full. Only Marcus could come on the trip with her, aside from the security they assigned to Athena’s safety.“I wish I could really come with you… But sadly, I can’t. I don’t want to risk our baby’s health to go on a field trip. But next time, I will promise… I will accompany you.” Maxime swore.“Don’t worry about it, Maxime… We can go on another trip after you give birth to little Austin.” Maxime’s eyes widened and cover
‘This guy looks familiar… Where did I see him?’ Marcus wondered as he looked at the guy standing beside Athena.“Who is he?” Marcus asked with a frown. Marcus looked at him from head to toe. ‘It seems like he’ll give us trouble.’ He thought.“This is Mr. Ethan Reed. He will join us on our trip.” Athena said.‘Right! I remember him! I saw him on TV, he’s that guy from the news. He was the talk of the town last time when he declared being married on national tv.’ He thought.“Why is he joining us?” He asked.“He’s the person who won one of the jewelry sets at the auction last week. And since he picked out our name for the donation, he wanted to spend time with the kids and wanted to know them better. He has a charity in country P called Savior’s Foundation. So, I allowed him to join us.” Athena raised her brows and shrugged like she was saying we can’t do anything about it. Then she stood beside Marcus and whispered, “Please don’t tell Stephen about this.” She begg
“For today’s first game… We will play tug of war!” Kath, the guardian, announced. She is hosting the event that they prepared for the kids.“Divide the groups into 2. Mr. Marcus Strout will lead team 1, and Ms. Athena Morris will lead team 2.” She announced when Ethan raised his hand.“May I join the game too?” He asked, which made Marcus shake his head in disagreement.‘Why does he need to interrupt? We don’t need him in the games. He probably isn’t even fit to do anything but look good.’‘Why can’t he just sit and watch from the bench or enjoy the beauty of nature? Or stare at Athena from afar. We both know he came here for her.’ He wanted to tell him to stop interfering, but the kids were all present and he didn’t want to be the bad guy.“Oh, okay. Alright, Mr. Reed will join us too-”“My team is already full!” Marcus interrupts the host, and he grabs the other guardian, named Leo. But he regretted it as soon as he saw Ethan grin at him and went to Athena’
Two hours had passed, and there was still no news of the missing children. It was getting late, and the other guards who helped with the search together with Marcus had returned to the villa because they could not find them.“Where’s Athena? Is she in her room? Has she come back?” Marcus asked when he noticed that she was not around, and the guards started to panic.Ethan came to the lobby, oblivious to what was happening. ‘Why is everyone in chaos? What is going on?’ He wondered.“Is there any problem? What’s all this noise?” Ethan asked.“S-sir, 2 girls from the foundation went missing… And now, Ms. Athena hasn’
“I can’t explain everything to you right now… But all I can say is… I love you,” Using his right hand, Ethan pulled Athena closer to him while his other hand supported her back as he kissed her directly on the lips.Athena froze, and her eyes widened in shock. She couldn’t figure out what to do as she saw Ethan’s eyes close like he was savoring her lips. The minute he felt Athena stiffen, he took the opportunity to deepen their kiss. He bit her lips, making Athena gasp and part her lips.Athena’s mind went blank, but she felt something stir inside her. ‘The way he kisses feels very familiar to me.’ Her heart was pounding so fast, and she felt butterflies fluttering inside her stomach, which was something new to her. She was drowning in his kisses that she forgot why they were in the forest.‘Stephen kissed me before, but my body never reacted this way.’ Upon remembering her boyfriend, Athena pushed Ethan away. She covered her mouth with her hands because she felt guilty