THE NEXT MORNING, Michelle and Marsha prepared for the family day.
They both wearing pink tees. While Marsha partnered it with a cute Barbie jogging pants, Michelle paired her top with a faded denim shorts and sneakers. She was almost done preparing the food they would bring for lunch when the door bell rang.
“I’ll get it!” Marsha exclaimed and ran towards the door.
Michelle only chuckled, her gaze followed her daughter who seemingly had a great mood today. It didn’t take a while for her to hear the familiar voice of Jose who greeted Marsha right away. When they walked into the kitchen, Michelle smiled seeing them holding hands. Jose was wearing a pink t-shirt too and he looked dashing in it.
“Are you going to family day or some kind of photoshoot?” Michelle joked.
Jose clicked his tongue and winked at her. “Stop drooling, Signora. Do you feel my hotness over there?”
Michelle rolled her eyes. O
"KIDS, finish brushing your teeth and then wait for me. I will go to the faculty for a few minutes. We will go to the auditorium for your presentation after that. Your parents are excited about it!" the teacher said happily."Yes, teacher!" the ten little girls replied in chorus while brushing their teeth in front of a kid friendly sink.As soon as the teacher left the comfort room, Marsha looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was almost done, spitting the bubbles from her mouth and starting to wash it when her brunette classmate pushed her sideward. She nearly fell on the ground, if not for her other classmate who caught her.Standing properly, Marsha looked at her brunette classmate in confusion."Why did you push me, Bridgette?" her little voice asked innocently.The little girl, whose name was Bridgette, folded her arms against her chest as she rolled her eyes at her. Marsha frowned at that. As far as she knew, Bridgette wanted them to be
THE MAN CARRIED Marsha as they entered an enormous coffee shop. It was one of the high-end coffee shops in Milan, a business that was made out of pleasure and owned by his client.They went straight to the counter, where Marsha immediately looked for the menu being displayed above. Her little fingers were on her mouth, gently tapping it while she was pondering which food to order."What do you want, kid? Make it fast because a client is waiting for me," the man said."Uhm... I want that one!" She pointed her fingers to the chocolate frappe."No," he scoffed at her. "That’s high in caffeine.""But I want it..." Her lips trembled as if she was going to cry.The man breathed in heavily and eyed her coldly. "Didn’t I tell you to behave?""You asked what I wanted, and I told you what I wanted. Why are you mad at me?""I am not mad at you, kid." The man massaged the bridge of his nose. "I was just saying that caffeine isn
BACK IN THE KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL,Michelle’s emotion could no longer be controlled. Her daughter was missing and no one from the teachers knew Marsha’s whereabouts. They already searched for her in every place she could possibly hide in the school, but to no avail.“Jose, what are we going to do? Where’s Marsha?” Michelle cried, palming her face in front of Jose.He put his arm around her shoulder and gently tapped her arm to soothe her. When they figured out that Marsha went out of the school premise, he instantly called the police to report what happened. A dozen of cops were deployed, some were investigating the teachers and children and some were out there in the streets and road, trying to find Marsha and obtaining CCTV footages of the area.“Don’t worry; I am sure that Marsha is fine wherever she is right now. Your daughter is a smart kid, Michelle,” Jose said to her.But nothing seemed to ever m
IN THE CAR,“Do you know how to buckle a seatbelt?” Ethan asked Marsha.“Of course, mom taught me how to do it,” she replied and then proudly showed him how to buckle a seatbelt.Ethan felt amused at Marsha’s competency. He was quite surprised that a young girl like her already knew how to buckle a seatbelt at her age. For that, he wanted to commend her mother, for once. But the fact that she lost her was truly a disappointment.“Instead of going to the cops, will you be able to take me to my school instead?” Marsha innocently asked him.“And do you know the name of your school?” Ethan raised an eyebrow.Marsha glared at him, folding her arms against her chest. The way she looked at him made Ethan recall someone in the past. His chest slightly tightened, and shook his head. For the past six years, he’d been ignoring the memories he shared with that person who was coward enough to le
"DO YOU THINK I was a bad mother?"Jose glanced at her. They helped the cops to find her daughter, but so far, there has been no progress with the investigation. They had just collected all the CCTV footage and were reviewing it at the station. According to the cops, it might take another hour for Michelle to hear from them.She had nothing to do but wait. Michelle was already damn worried. Every second passed, Marsha’s life was in danger. A pang of anxiety consumed her thoughts. At the same time, she blamed herself as to why Marsha ran away. Had she only understood Marsha and given her what she wanted, things would not have turned into a mess like this.Marsha’s classmates would not have bullied her, and she would not have gone missing."I know you are trying your best, Signora," Jose replied in his soothing voice. He’d been trying to make her calm, but her heart would not relax unless she got to see her daughter safe."Whenever
ETHAN could feel the heaviness in his chest. Seeing Michelle hugging the little girl he helped and how Marsha called her mommy, he felt damn betrayed... cheated on. Worse, he felt like garbage that was thrown away.His blood boiled at all the memories starting to replay in his mind; all those good times he shared with her, and even the bad times, which were supposed to strengthen their relationship but in reality ruined what they had all at once.How could she have a daughter? A question that kept whirling around his head, but upon seeing the man standing next to Michelle, he had a conclusion in mind.With that, his jaw clenched, hands fisted as he glanced over at them from inside the car. At the time, he thought about destroying her to seek revenge for what she did, but a shred of an unfamiliar feeling enveloped him when Michelle walked towards his car. Ethan could no longer think straight at the close sight of her.Michelle never changed. She was still
"I'VE GOT SOME information for you, Mr. Steinfield," the private investigator told him during a phone call.Holding a glass of whiskey, Ethan was standing across the picturesque night view of the city of Milan, which could be viewed through the wide glass window from the VIP hotel suite he stayed at. He sipped on his glass while the other hand was holding the phone right next to his ear."Hmm, entertain me. Fire it away.""Michelle Finley, 28 years old, migrated to Milan six years ago. Her flower shop, which she named after her daughter, was known in Brera. She has a daughter whose name is Marsha, a 5-year-old girl who goes to the Brera Kindergarten school. She was never seen with other men except with Jose Bianchi, a businessman whose relationship with her hasn’t been confirmed yet. But they seemed very close," informed by the private investigator."How about her daughter’s father?""Definitely not Jose Bianchi, but I’m still loo
“SO, WHAT do you know about your father?” Ethan asked Marsha as they played catch.He threw the ball in Marsha’s direction, and was impressed when the little girl caught it without breaking a sweat. However, her shoulder sagged, perhaps because of his question.“I haven’t seen my dad yet but mommy said that he’s handsome,” Marsha replied. “He is working overseas so he can’t be with us. But I hope he comes home on my birthday. I want to see him so badly.”“Overseas?” Ethan’s forehead creased. “In which country?”“In America,” Marsha responded. “Mom told me they got married there. I know she misses dad too. I’ve seen her crying several times at night. That’s why I want dad to come home because of mom too.”Ethan stiffened in his stance, feeling the cold crawled through his skin. A bolt of fear suddenly went through him that al