(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
(Anj’s POV)I need a miracle.I looked heavenward, closing my eyes and praying as the heat of sunlight kissed my face. I could not help myself from wincing as I covered my face with my hand and lowered my head right away. I hissed as my fingers grazed my cheeks lightly, wanting to cry as I felt the red spots, looking like pimples invading my face.My lips pouted, wanting to hate Mrs. Antonetta for insisting on sharing her meal last night with me, unaware there was crab meat in it. When I woke up this morning, I could hardly see, and I bet Aunt Rose would confess at the church after cursing under her breath seeing my face puffy and red. She and Anya, her daughter, panicked that they had to apply a cold compress to the swollen area of my face before Sister Grace could see me.Sister Grace is my legal guardian, but I lived in Aunt Rose’s home, her biological sister, for as long as I can remember. I was not related to any of them, but they were the only family I knew in my sixteen years o
(Sky’s POV)I need a miracle.As to where or how the miracle will happen, I do not know because I was still raging in annoyance when I got home. One of our drivers, Frank, panicked, seeing me leaving my car in the middle of the driveway, and as he approached me, I tossed the key to him, my nostrils flaring in anger as I walked into the house.The maid must have known I was coming because she had already opened the main door before I could hold the knob. She lowered her gaze as I walked past her, and I doubt if any of the female servants would want to look me directly in the eyes except for Elenita, our housekeeper, the one who managed the house and the household maids after Mom divorced my father two years ago.Elenita was only twenty when she was hired as my nanny when I was born, and now that I am twenty-four years old, she is still here, focusing on taking care of my eight-year-old sister and managing the house since Mom left and Dad got sick.“Sky!” I heard Elenita’s voice calling
(Anj’s POV)“You should have taken medicine, Angela,” Sister Grace said, her index finger holding my chin as if balancing my face. As of my count, she sighed three times already just from studying my face.Dylan and I had to hurry to take the blankets from the clothesline outside because the cluster of clouds covered the perfect blue sky, hiding the sun and promising a thunderstorm. We reached the porch just in time for clouds to shower their tears on the ground, but before I could hide from Sister Grace, she had already opened the door and seen us.“I’m fine,” I whispered, glancing at Dylan, suppressing a smile on his pressed lips. My eyes narrowed as I watched him continue our work. “Does my hideous face bother you, Sister?” I asked, showing a playful smile at her.She scoffed at me, placing her hand on my hair, brushing off the strands on my puffy face to the side, and putting on my blue peacock hair clip.“Yes and no. Yes, I am bothered, but you’re not hideous,” she said as she pl
(Anj’s POV)Go straight to the hallway, and then turn right…I heaved a deep sigh as I carried the elegant arrangement of sunflowers, anthurium, hydrangea, and heliconia for the offering Mrs. Wilbur ordered from Sister Grace. She usually donates at the nursing home, but I seldom see her because she is mostly out of town, joining her husband on his business trips.The housekeeper had other flowers to bring, so here I am, forced to look for that room where Mrs. Wilbur expected the offering should be. I didn’t have the time to memorize the direction because I was also in a hurry to go back.Anya said that instead of meeting me, Claire was friendly enough, offering to pick me up outside the gate of Wilbur’s mansion because Aunt Rose asked her to run an errand before going to the party.“It’s a black SUV,” she told me. “When you get there, let’s meet in the lobby.” She has repeated those words many times, worried that I would wander and get stuck in a room called the library or study room.
(Sky’s POV)Leo and Jake must be kidding me bringing a kid to a party. The freckles or maybe red spots on her face could not hide the fact that she looked minor and had not been to this kind of party. I could not help myself feeling angry at Jake because she looked drunk already with a glass of appletini in her hand.“Are you kidding me, Jake? Why did you bring-” Before I could add ‘a minor’ to my words, she advanced toward me, pouring liquid onto my lap. I growled, screaming at her. “Are you crazy?” I said angrily, grabbing her arm and dragging her to the room.I banged the door, but I didn’t feel guilty when her body jerked, startled by what I did. I walked past her and went straight to the bathroom, taking a towel to dry my pants. My head peeked at the ajar door to see her, and I was right that she was trying to open the door.She could be fifteen or sixteen, but thinking about it, I must have just overreacted because Jake would never do such a thing. He knew that the fraternity ha
(Sky’s POV)Tempting…My hands which grip her hips, want to pull her inside the room again, but when my lips touch her nape, her baby sweet scent woke me up. If I were right that she lied to me about her age, I would be in big trouble.“How about we get out of here together, get that appletini you want, and call whoever Anya is?” I placed my hand on her head to protect her from the window frame.She squinted her eyes for a brief second and then smiled, nodding as she agreed with me, jumping at the short distance from the window stool to the landing area of the staircase. I took the bottle of liquor and glasses.“Hold this,” I said, and she took it, opening the lid and smelling the alcohol. Before I could stop her, she drank from the bottle. I had to snatch it away from her before she could finish the whole content.“This taste better,” she giggled, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.“Move,” It was an order. Her slow steps were making quiet thuds as she went down. I followed h
(Anj’s POV) My brain must be on haywire. Like taking my medicine, after drinking Appletini, I feel dizzy but in a really good way. I felt lighter and free and had the courage to do everything I wanted. This gorgeous Greek god must have used his magic spell on me that I just kept on following everything he said. I heard he told Frank to bring us to the nearest coffee shop, but I didn’t want to get sane yet. He was driving us somewhere when my eyes caught a glimpse of a place I had never been to before. The seashore. “Woah! Is that…? Stop the car, Frank.” I gasped and tugged him in his arm, but when he didn’t stop, I cried again. “Stop the car! Please…” When the driver finally listened to me and stopped the car, I didn’t wait for him. I unfastened my seatbelt and got out of the car, dashing toward the beach, ignoring the handsome man running after me. I could hear Mrs. Antonetta’s voice telling me to do something crazy once in a while. I was not up for it but seeing the full moon
(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