(Sky’s POV)“Say it, Anya,” I said, not looking at Anya as I joined them for dinner.“Nothing,” She shook her head, smiling wickedly as she ate, but as she chewed her food, she kept looking at the band-aid on my finger.“You envy my band-aid? Angela has plenty in the cabinet,” I said, ignoring her again.She chuckled. “I was just wondering how many stitches Anj did, that’s all.”Angela rolled her eyes. “Anya, it’s a small cut,” she hissed.“That’s exactly my point,” She turned to my daughters, pretending to glare her eyes at them. “Cover your ears.” My children raised their hands and did what she told them, covering their ears. “What took you so long?”“We can still hear you, Aunt Anya,” Selene giggled.She grinned. “You must have powerful ears,” she winked at them, putting her index finger to her mouth, gesturing them to keep quiet.“She did ten stitches on my finger,” I said, looking at Selene, hoping she would smile at me, too, but she lowered her gaze.“I’m sorry, Daddy,” Lyra He
(Sky’s POV)Sleeping in a small old bed was worse than waking up with a hangover, but when I saw my little angels walking and making noises in the early morning, this one was a treasure, much better than Frank’s or Catherine’s good news about the company hitting the goals.“Wake daddy up,” I heard Angela saying to one of our daughters.I groaned but smiled when two of my daughters dove into me as if I was a swimming pool. “Ugh!” I groaned. “I think they hit my -”“I hope not the -” Angela cut in worriedly.“Ribs,” I continued, smiling naughtily at her.She rolled her eyes at me. “That’s what I’m about to say, Sky. I hope not the ribs,” When she smiled, Leyanne and Lyra Helene giggled, pulling me up from the bed. “Don’t hurt Daddy. That’s my job,” she said, kissing Selene. “You all want to go to school today?” “Uh-huh! Uncle Dylan said Teacher Joy will teach us the spelling of words today,” Selene answered while her mother combed her hair.“Daddy,” Leyanne said, “Teacher Joy is a good
(Anj’s POV)One clear line. Another faint line.I swallowed hard as I closed my eyes. It was still early to conclude, but when I opened the cabinet and saw the unwrapped sanitary napkin, I realized I hadn’t had my monthly period, which was supposed to be this week.Maybe I was stressed or too anxious because of everything that had happened between Sky and me. Sweating, I threw the kit and washed my hand as I counted back the days when Sky and I started enjoying the pleasure of lovemaking and thought of instances when my beloved menstrual cycle had changed or been delayed, but I couldn’t think of one except when I got pregnant.My eyes blinked perhaps more than three times in a few seconds. For someone genius like me, when it comes to Sky, I become stupid.After inhaling and exhaling, I opened the door, startling Sky and me. He was about to knock when I opened the door, and I wasn’t expecting him to be there.“And?” His eyes were wide and expecting, although I wasn’t sure if he wanted
(Sky’s POV)Angela was lying on the couch across from where I was sitting. Since there was another entrance to Anya and Dylan’s office, she found it okay to enter their office not wearing proper clothes appropriately. She was wearing denim shorts and a pink V-neck cotton shirt, her head on the throw pillow, looking relaxed as she read the magazine.My eyes couldn’t take away from her face down to the perfect curve of her mounds. When she raised her hand to flip the page, my eyes flickered to her belly. Flat belly. I sighed, glancing at my smartphone when she looked my way, smiling wickedly as her mouth was busy sipping straw from a chocolate tetra pack she found in Anya’s office. She crossed her legs, and I almost groaned, wishing those legs would wrap my hips again as she arched her hips to me.I breathed out, focusing on Elenita’s message, asking me what time we were coming because Dad kept asking her. I raised my head when Dylan entered the office, causing me to narrow my eyes when
(Sky’s POV)“Daddy!”Three girls chimed in, already dressed in their pajamas; they ran to me as they saw me enter the family room. After Angela went to Dad’s bedroom to read him his favorite book, I had to go to the study room for an urgent meeting online.Elenita, although she asked Nina, who used to be Olivia’s nanny before, to bathe the kids, she was still there to check on them. She was in her usual seat, answering crossword puzzles while waiting for Olivia. She glanced at us, then returned to her own world of puzzles. It was much better than seeing her read horoscopes again.“Ready to do your homework?” I asked, flickering my eyes on Olivia, sitting on the floor as she does her homework in Math, and Finn relaxing on the couch. “Is the world going to end?” I smirked at Finn, finding him here in the Family room, not doing anything like watching the TV or playing video games. I had to get their worksheets from the bedroom and bring them to the kids.I sat on the egg chair while the
(Anj’s POV)I couldn’t sleep.I didn’t know what got into my big brain, or maybe it was my ego, that I wanted to annoy Sky. I got up from the bed, and the man I wanted to kill with irritation was not in the bedroom. He must have retreated somewhere to avoid me.My kids were still sleeping, but they were early risers like me, so I was sure they would wake up any minute. I climbed down from the bed and walked to the closet room to change before my children saw me in this funny but truly sexy night dress.I chose a pair of shirts and shorts, but before putting them on, I looked at my reflection in his large mirror.“Hold in there, buddy,” I whispered, groping on my flat belly. “No one’s running away this time. We need the daddy this time to help us.” I heaved a sigh and put on my clothes.As expected, my three girls were awake when I left the closet room.“Good morning! How’s your sleep?” I asked, sitting on the edge of the bed, as they all came to me and embraced me.“Mommy,” Leyanne st
(Anj’s POV)“I’m not accepting it. It’s final.”I walked around the fountain, glancing at my kids eating breakfast with their father and uncle, while I nervously paced with Nitro following me, thinking we were playing Trip to Jerusalem.“I understand,” Anya said, then she hissed. “It’s negative,” she yelled, causing me to move farther from my phone.“You don’t have to yell,” I laughed at her.“He’s annoying me, wanting to see the kit,” she said. “Wait, let’s do a video call. I want to see the cute monkeys.” She ended the call, and a few seconds later, she did a video call. “Woah! You’re in paradise, Angela!” She exclaimed, seeing the roses behind me.“More like a gateway to hell, Anya,” I smirked and turned my camera to my children. I had to zoom the camera so she would see them.“Ooohhh,” she moaned. “Having breakfast with the yummy Daddy and handsome Uncle Finn,” she laughed. “Where’s the grandpa?”“In his bedroom,” I answered.“Return the camera to you, Anj. The annoying man here w
(Anj’s POV)“Can I borrow it?” Olivia asked me.For sure, she could see my hands trembling as I took the accessory from my hair. When I handed it to her, Olivia took the time to check if it was genuine or not, and then she nodded as if she was talking to herself.“Take a look at this, Angela.” My head moved closer to her. “These are real turquoise stones, the blue ones are sapphire, and the ones at its feathers’ end are real diamonds. I’m sure this is the missing clip because of this etch.”My breathing and heartbeat stopped altogether when I read the small and fainted Mars word, which I never noticed. No one ever noticed it.“The Mars had this for many generations, passed to the eldest daughters, but in my father’s case, he has no sister, so my grandmother gave this box to my Mom before grandma passed away.” She gave it back to me. “Freya is supposed to have them, but we lost her, so -”I stepped back, retreated, and ran away from her. I heard Olivia calling my name, but I was too sh
(Anj’s POV) Two years later… I glanced at Anya as she rubbed her baby bump. She hissed as she continued to touch her belly. “Dylan was so ecstatic about having a boy that I wanted him to carry our baby. This little one seemed to practice taekwondo inside my belly,” she complained. “I’m not sure if he’s practicing for the Olympics too early.” I chuckled, looking at my girls as they listened to Olivia playing the violin in the pavilion, and then my eyes went back to the three children playing on the sand. “Dayana!” yelled Anya at her daughter, startling me. “Good lord, don’t eat that!” “Relax, Anya. She was only smelling the shell,” I laughed. “Cloud, Rain,” I called my boys, shaking my head at my twins. They giggled and stood up, walking toward their sisters, leaving Dayana as she continued to play with sand. It has become our tradition to visit the Angela Island every year. Although this year was different without Steve, leaving us all last year just before his birthday. “I onl
(Sky’s POV)“I want to marry the Mighty Sky,” I remembered Angela saying dreamily.I looked at Frank, and as he smiled, I recalled telling him that night, ‘I’ll marry this lovely angel today.’“Are you ready?” Father Jesse asked, his eyes wandering at the small chapel I asked to build for this celebration before looking at me.I turned my gaze to him. “Yes, but Father Jesse, I have a question.” Not giving him a chance to talk, I asked him, “I came to you and asked for Angela, but you said you didn’t know her.”He chuckled softly. “You were looking for an Angela with red spots on her face, and you were describing her to me as if she was ugly. I didn’t know any ugly Angela. I only realized she was the same person you were looking for when I opened the envelope.”“My bad,” I smiled nervously, and Father Jesse patted me on my shoulder before entering the chapel.Olivia sat in front of the piano organ and began playing. The wedding organizer smiled at me, giving us the cue, and I walked on
(Anj’s POV)“Aren’t you scared of being on the plane with me?” Sky asked when his new private plane took off.I shook my head.“Then why do you have that long face?” he asked me again, pulling me to him.I placed one arm on his waist and rested my head on his shoulder. I felt him kissing my hair. “I convinced Anya and Dylan to go with us, but I guess she was having difficulty with her pregnancy.”“Have you experienced that with the girls?” he tilted his head to see my face.I craned my neck to look at him. “In my first trimester. It was hell,” I chuckled. “I couldn’t even make my own perfume, but after that, I could study and work again.”He heaved a deep sigh. “I should have been there. You shouldn’t have carried them alone.”I raised my head and reached for his lips, kissing him. “What would you do? Get one baby and put her inside your belly?” I teased him.“I wonder if men will like that,” he laughed at me, then he pouted, looking so cute. “I’m still mad at you. Why didn’t you want
(Sky’s POV)The luminance of the glow-in-dark stickers in the bedroom still shone vividly when Angela and I collapsed on the bed, panting and catching our breath as I pulled her closer to my body. The thought of dying in the plane crash still made me shiver, and I couldn’t imagine leaving Angela alone, raising our kids, and hating me for the rest of her life for not coming back to her. I kissed her again, not wanting to stop, but I knew she wanted to know what had happened.“I hate you, Sky,” she whispered as her fingers traced my cheeks down to the hollow of my throat. Her hand slid down, stopping her palm on my heart and closing her eyes as if to make sure my heart was still beating. “What happened to you?”“Frank and I didn’t expect it to happen. I was about to enter the cockpit when Leo called and reported someone saw Leonard escaping to Macau. I didn’t need a plane to catch him, so Frank and I got out of the plane but gave my pilot and his co-pilot a go when he asked me if he c
(Anj’s POV)Don’t blink!Don’t disappear!Sky claimed my mouth before I could say his name again. If this were a dream, I would probably hurt anymore who would dare wake me up. It was an intense kiss and hungry as if there was no tomorrow.I could feel the tears rolling on my cheeks, and I cried when Sky stopped kissing me and moved slightly away from me, pressing our foreheads together. It was one long second that I thought my heart had stopped beating again.“I love you, Angela!” He whispered, his lips reaching mine and planting a quick kiss.My mouth opened, hoping to utter words, but no sound came out except my sobs. The mixed emotions stirring in my heart and mind made me dizzy, and all I wanted was to be in his arms. Slowly, I raised my hand, placing my palm on his chest, feeling his beating heart.“Say something, pumpkin,” he sounded begging, but I was more afraid to speak.If only Sky knew the news almost killed me and broke my heart. If he only knew that the days without info
(Anj’s POV)“Angela!”My hand stopped from opening the door, and I turned to the female voice I rarely hear in this place. I saw Jocelyn smiling shyly at me, and behind that curve in her lips, there was tenderness in how she looked at me.“Yes, Jocelyn?” I asked, wondering what she wanted from me.“I wondered if our granddaughters could sleep in our room tonight,” she asked.Our room? My eyebrows raised. With Olivia? With Finn? With Steve?“Steve -” She heaved a deep sigh, blushing like a teenager. “Umm… He wanted to ask if the kids could sleep with us tonight.”“Ah!” I exclaimed, opening the door and finding my children, now in their pajamas, jumping on the bed as Anya read them a book.“Mommy! Mommy!” Lyra Helene called me.“Please, girls, stop jumping. You’re making me dizzy,” I smiled softly at them, stopping at the edge of the bed.The girls stopped jumping and ran to me.“Yes, baby?” I asked, brushing their hair with my fingers, starting with Leyanne, then Selene.“Mommy, Aunt A
(Anj’s POV)The large clusters of clouds had been hiding the beautiful and perfect blue sky for two days now. As I leaned my back facing the garden, I noticed that even the flowers were gloomy about the weather, and sadness loomed in the mansion.Elenita shared with me that it has never been this busy in Mars’ residence except when Freya died. In the kitchen, as she claimed her kingdom, the maids seemed to have never stopped cooking. It was only yesterday when Jocelyn came, hysterical with the news about his son was missing and could be dead somewhere. Steve, though looking tired, remained the strong head here at home, but when he saw his ex-wife, I saw him break into tears for the first time.After seeing Steve cry, I understood what he meant when he told me not to break down because when everyone saw him and Jocelyn crying, it was like looking at the top of the tower falling to the ground. All I wanted was to sit in the corner and wept, wanting to scream for Sky.Finn and Leo have n
(Anj’s POV)“Sky is alive!”It was what I wanted my heart to believe.After Sister Grace left, Aunt Rose came, giving me her warmest hug, and for a while, she cried with me. She sniffed as she moved away from me, her palms on my face as her thumb softly touched my cheeks, wiping the tears.“Have you eaten already?” She asked, and when I shook my head, she forced a chuckle. “I’m not asking you, Angela. I’m asking that little Sky in there,” she took my hand and placed my palm on my belly. “He might be hungry and tired. Or should I say, they might be hungry?”“They?” I released a brief laugh, tears rolling again. “Aunt Rose!”She smirked. “What? You’re a Mars now. You should have known the rumors about them.”“Rumors?” My eyebrows raised at her.Aunt Rose grinned at me. “They were wealthy because someone in the family always produced double. Steve has twin brothers, and you knew he has twins, too, right?” She pursed her lips. “I guess you broke the tradition of producing only two. They s
(Anj’s POV)After giving birth to two babies, the doctor asked me to push again. I remembered glancing at my sun and bright star before nodding to her. She was expecting another girl to come out, but she said it was as if my moon goddess helped me push her brother, but despite that, he still didn’t survive, and Selene almost didn’t make it.When I heard Selene’s first cry, I sobbed, wishing Sky was here. With three babies on top of my chest, I told my children that the sky was almost complete. My heart ached for Cloud, but with three babies, I had to live and wake up. They needed me, and with the thought of me being an orphan, I swore to my children that they would not lose a mother.“Mooommmmyyyyy!” My children wailed, crying as they tried to get into the bedroom. Nina has been stopping them because she thought I needed the time alone.I blinked, and my head turned, following the cry of my girls. My lips curved a sad smile as I opened my arms to them. I saw Nina wiping her tears, ste