MoanaWhen Edrick finally told his mother at lunch that I was pregnant with his baby and not some other man’s baby, there was a long silence. I felt my heart jump into my throat as my hands shook nervously underneath the table. What was his mother going to say? Was she going to accuse me of trying to lock down her son with a baby in order to gain money or social status? Was she going to tell me to leave and stay away from the Morgan family before I sullied their reputation with my status as a human nanny?All of these things swirled around in my mind for those long few moments when no one spoke, causing a slight wave of nausea to wash over me. Suddenly, I lost what little appetite I had for my lunch, although I was already so nervous before that I couldn’t bring myself to eat much anyway.Finally, and much to my pleasure and surprise, a broad smile spread across Verona’s aging face.“Oh, how wonderful!” she said, clasping her hands together happily. “I’m so happy!”Beside me, Edrick’s
Edrick As soon as I saw the picture on the tabloid, I knew that I had to have it taken down as soon as possible. I immediately felt my heart sink and, without another word to Selina or Moana, I called the tabloid straight away. This specific tabloid had been known to cause trouble in the past, so it was needless to say that I already knew the CEO somewhat well. When I called his office, however, he didn’t sound too keen on selling me the image. “I don’t know…” he said into the phone. “Tell you what; let’s talk about this in person, and maybe we can make a deal.” I frowned. Why couldn’t he just speak over the phone, just like he always did? Either way, I had to get that image taken down; if my father saw that picture, and it was very possible that he already did, it would cause an uproar. So, I did what the CEO asked and immediately drove over to his office. When I arrived, he was waiting for me in his dinky little corner office. It was honestly laughable to me that I had to meet
MoanaAfter I put Ella to bed, I decided to read in the living room for a little while to relax. The summer evening air was pleasant, but it was also warm, which made me sleepy. Before I knew it, I had dozed off entirely.However, I woke up the next morning in my bed instead of in the chair.That was strange… I didn’t remember getting up and going to bed, but I supposed that it wasn’t entirely unheard of. I yawned and rolled over onto my back, feeling the morning sun stream in through my window and hit my cheek…But then, I saw something next to me: a person.I immediately yelped and jumped out of bed instinctually. I relaxed a little when I saw that it was Edrick and not some stranger, but what was he doing in my bed? He was still wearing his clothes and even had his shoes on.As I stood there, my brow furrowed, Edrick’s eyes suddenly snapped open and shocked me even further.He looked around confusedly for a few moments, just as I had, before he came to the same realization that I d
Moana I was still utterly shocked that Edrick wanted to take me out shopping so soon after the tabloid incident, but the next morning, he was waiting for me in the living room when I came out of my room. He was dressed well, although much more casually than normal in a white Polo shirt and trousers. He had a mask and a pair of sunglasses in his hand, and I realized that he would be mostly unrecognizable dressed like this in public with his face covered. As I walked up to him, however, I noticed that he had a second mask in his hand. He held it out to me. “You’ll have to wear this,” he said. “Now that people have seen your face, you’ll have to be more cautious in public.” Admittedly, I felt a little bit hurt that we still had to be so secretive, but I finally understood where he was coming from and took the mask without fuss. As we walked over to the foyer, I also made sure to grab my sunhat along with my purse; the hat would cover my easily recognizable hair, at least a little bit.
Moana“We’ll take all of the dresses that she just tried on.”My eyes went wide and my face went pale. I knew that Edrick would insist on purchasing something for me today, but… Everything? I tried to protest, but he wouldn’t hear it. As I sheepishly walked back into the fitting room and took the expensive dress off, my heart was pounding.Once I was dressed again, I came out and handed the dresses to the grinning saleswoman, who was likely more excited to get a large commission for this purchase than anything else. I still felt utterly shocked as we made our way over to the counter and Edrick paid without batting an eye. I didn’t know how I would make this up to him, but I knew that I would have to figure something out.“I don’t know how to thank you,” I said quietly as we walked out of the store. “How can I make it up to you?”Edrick stopped and turned to face me. Even through his mask, I could tell that he was frowning.“You’re carrying my baby,” he replied matter-of-factly. “I’m t
MoanaWe returned to the penthouse after the incident with the creepy man, which unfortunately put a bit of a damper on the trip. However, I tried not to let the man get to me, and was instead grateful for Edrick’s quick thinking and protective demeanor. The entire ride home, I kept glancing at him by accident. I wasn’t sure if he noticed, but if he did, he didn’t say anything about it.After parking the car, we took the elevator up to the penthouse and finally took our masks off once we were on the elevator. I was relieved to finally take the mask off after wearing it all day and let out a deep sigh as we set down our things.Unfortunately, it seemed that our relief was short-lived. Selena quickly came into the foyer not long after we arrived with an expression on her face that was a combination of both concern and mild frustration.“What’s wrong?” I asked before she even said anything. Already, just from the look on her face, I could tell that something happened.She sighed. “It’s E
MoanaThat night, after Ella calmed down enough and agreed to clean up her room with our help, I laid in bed and found myself unable to sleep following the events of the day. Every time I closed my eyes, I pictured the creepy man from the mall; even more than that, however, I pictured Edrick’s soft eyes staring up at me as he held Ella on the floor and I felt his protective arm around my shoulders. I decided eventually that I couldn’t sleep for a while, so I decided to get my sketchbook out and draw. Although I had been working on another sketch for the past couple of days, I decided to turn to a fresh page that night and draw a scene that I couldn’t get out of my head: the image of Edrick holding Ella in her princess costume.As I drew, starting with the rough forms of Edrick and Ella, a soft smile inadvertently began to spread across my lips. That smile spread as I began to feel Mina’s presence. It had been a few days since I really felt her presence, but I could tell that the event
MoanaMuch to my surprise, the aloof Alpha billionaire almost began to open up for a brief moment… Almost. “Yes,” he admitted when I asked if the person he was arguing with tonight was the same person who I overheard him arguing with before all those weeks ago. His voice was low and strained, like there wasn’t enough room in his throat to get everything out in one breath. “Someone from my past. They’ve been bothering me; they usually start up again around this time every year, because…”The dark kitchen fell quiet after Edrick suddenly stopped himself from saying more. He kept his eyes fixed on his hands as they sat clasped together on the kitchen counter, but I could tell just from the look on his face and the way his body suddenly tensed that he already felt as though he said too much.I didn’t know who this mysterious ‘Olivia’ woman was or why she apparently popped back into Edrick’s life to supposedly harass him around this time every year, but I decided not to pry any further. Cl