(Anj’s POV) When I was two, Sister Grace made me go and join Anya in school because she thought an environment with children around me would be healthy for me – mentally and physically. Anya was in kindergarten, and I remembered her teacher let me stay in the play area to make myself busy with colorful blocks as they learned to count numbers and read alphabet letters. “What did you learn today?” Sister Grace asked me as she picked us up after school. She put me in a toddler carrier and held Anya’s hand as we all returned to the nursing home. Aunt Rose had to work full time after her husband died in an accident on the job site, so Sister Grace, after taking care of the residents in the nursing home, picked us up. “Counting numbers and reading alphabet letters,” Anya jumped cheerfully as she answered. Sister Grace smiled. “That’s nice. How about my little angel? What did you learn today?” “Counting numbers and reading alphabet letters,” I repeated Anya’s answer. Anya wrinkled her
(Sky’s POV)“That girl really messed up with your brain, huh?” Dad smiled as I asked Frank to stop the car on Heaven Avenue for the last time. “What if she doesn’t exist?”It had been two months, and I was like a lunatic still looking for her, yet I could not find her. What is the justification of heaven for making such a big joke? I asked for a miracle, not an ugly duckling who hid her true beauty and left a curse in my life like I could not give my whole heart to the woman I had been chasing for a long time.Lalaine and I spent a great week in the Caribbean. Still, every time I kissed her, I would remember the mysterious young woman I was with that night at the party, the angel I married, and a teenager who admitted and slammed the truth into my face that our marriage was never binding.“I can’t forgive her, Dad. No one messes with the Mighty Sky,” I gritted my teeth in anger and great pain hidden in my heart.“Angels can,” Olivia giggled as she pressed her forehead on the window. “
(Anj’s POV)Dylan pushed the door of the convenience store to treat Anya and me, and as he promised me last night, he would buy me ice cream after his crazy joke of marrying him.“I want a chocolate ice cream,” I demanded him as we crowded around the refrigerator.“You can’t have chocolate,” Anya said. “You don’t want your baby to look like a cacao,” she chuckled at her joke, but Dylan ignored her and opened the refrigerator, getting expensive ice cream.“Hey,” I protested, taking the ice cream pint from him and returning it inside. Instead, I chose the less expensive brand and gave it to him. “You have to save money,” I said, making him raise his eyebrows. “I might need to borrow money from you for baby stuff.”His lips twitched as he shook his head and turned to Anya, waiting for what she liked. “I had ice cream yesterday already, and with those calories, nuh-uh!” She took a yogurt instead and gave it to Dylan.“Make it two,” he said and waited for Anya to give him another yogurt
(Anj’s POV)Before reaching the driveway, I could see Dylan pacing and Anya laughing as if she was making fun of him.How long has it been?I cut my ties with my only two friends for almost six years, communicating secretly only with Sister Grace and Aunt Rose so they would not worry about me after Father Jesse had to go to Italy. If only Sister Grace had not gotten confined in the hospital, I would not have come back yet.When I stopped the car, Dylan and Anya dashed to the driver’s side and waited for me to go out. I glanced at my company, which had finally fallen asleep after long hours of talking, complaining, fighting, and crying. I opened the door and smiled.“Oh, my God!” Anya’s eyes widened, and she screamed excitedly as she saw me.“Anya!” I cried as we hugged each other. She was still the same Anya, only she looked mature now, bolder and sexier. She moved away and looked at me from head to toe. “Where’s my cousin? What have you done to her?” She laughed, smacking my arm lig
(Anj’s POV)“Good morning, mommy!” Leyanne greeted, her eyes still closed as she walked toward the dining room.“Good morning! Just mommy?” I had to come to her to ensure her head would not bump the edge of the table. Smelling my scent, she raised her arms, wanting me to carry her. I took her and sat her at the table.She opened her eyes, blinked her round eyes, and still sleepy, she greeted the others. “Good morning, Aunt Anya. Good morning, Uncle Dylan.”“Good morning, Selene,” Anya greeted sweetly as she placed plates and cutleries on the table.“I’m not Selene,” Leyanne mumbled. “I’m Leyanne,” She corrected, adjusting the brim of her eyeglasses.“Hmm,” Dylan knitted his eyebrows as he placed the scrambled eggs he had just made. “I thought Selene wears the eyeglasses?” he asked amusingly.Before I could explain that the three of them had eyeglasses, Selene came out of the bedroom, wearing the same pajamas.“Good morning!” she greeted cheerily and sat on the chair on her own.“Mommy
(Sky’s POV)“You really don’t have to go to the office, Dad,” I told my father, glancing at him seated at the back.He scoffed. “Pfft! I’m getting bored at home. With Olivia becoming busy in school, I have no one to talk to at home. Elenita’s only making me anxious,” he smirked as he looked outside the window. “My treatment had helped me prolong my life, only to die in boredom.”Frank pursed his lips, suppressing a smile as he glanced at my father in the rearview mirror.I heaved a sigh, swiping the screen of my tablet to check the schedule Catherine sent in my email.“When are you marrying Lalaine? Good heavens, I wanted to see my grandchild before I die, Sky,” He grumbled.“Next year. I just proposed to her, right?” I reminded him. Leo and Jake teased me that for a man who was head over heels with Lalaine, it took me six years to propose after my crazy marriage with a teenager.Dad opened his mouth to say something, but we were startled when Frank suddenly hit the brake to stop the
(Sky’s POV)“I saw an ice cream shop in front of the school. Would you like to have ice cream?” My father asked the girls when their activity was over.“Dad,” I hissed, meeting his eyes, telling him to stop it. We might have solved their problem for the day, but we don’t want their mother to be hysterical just because an old stranger invited them for ice cream.“I love ice cream,” One of the girls exclaimed.I bit my lip, wondering if it was Leyanne, Selene, or Lyra Helene, and thought of how to stop my father from bringing them to the ice cream parlor. I heaved a deep sigh as I sat in their small chair. “We don’t want your mom to worry,” I said.“But if we ask permission, can we go?” Another girl asked.“Oh… kay!” I said, my eyes following her as she ran outside the classroom. “Where is she going?” No one from the girls answered me. Instead, they put their small backpack on their back and sat, waiting patiently for their sister.When she came back, she was pulling the hand of their s
(Anj’s POV)No one asked me why their father did not come today, and no one from my three girls dared to ask what happened to my call. I went home early today to pick them up from school, and when I asked them how their day was, they all answered the same thing.“It was okay.”No... For me, it was not okay. I knew something went wrong today even if they didn’t tell me, and I could feel the pain in their eyes as if I did really bad to them.Before leaving the bedroom, I gazed at my three little angels. Leyanne and Lyra Helene would always sleep sideways facing right, while Selene on the left. I have only seen Sky sleep twice, but like Selene, he would always sleep sideways, facing left.I padded to the living room, sitting on the couch as I stared blankly at the TV.“You requested tea?” Anya gave me the cup. “Tea-quila?” She chuckled softly when I glared at her. “Just kidding. How’s your day?”I raised my eyebrows at her. “That’s a first. Now, I’m really worried that something happened
(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