“Go on.” “There has been unusual movement at the house since last week. But, we are yet to figure out what is wrong.” Zeke pressed his lips together as his man said and then leaned in his seat gently. He had not seen Elena for over a week. He had visited her office three times in the last week but her assistant had told him that she was on leave instead. When he asked her how long, she only told him she did not know either. Elena was not one to miss work, he knew that much. And it was even the fact that she was still in the country that bothered him. Not that it was a bad thing… but if Elena was out of the country… Maybe for a business, it would be understandable as to why she had not been at work. The children had not been going to school too… since last Monday! Ariana had not been at work either. His informants had yet to gather what was wrong and they only could if they could follow one of the cars that left the mansion. He was quite uneasy about this because Elena had s
It had taken Elena everything in her to deliver the news to the man who stood astounded in front of her. Three days ago, the doctor had backed up his claim with the result that Natalie indeed has Leukemia. He proceeded to tell them that the lymphoid cells that had turned into leukemic cells had reproduced many new cancer cells in her body. Which eventually overwhelmed the bone marrow, spilled out into the bloodstream, and spread to other organs. According to him, she needed to undergo treatment instantly before it got uncontrollable, and there, Elena had told the doctor she would be her daughter’s donor. The doctor said to her that they would need to carry out a test to know if she would be a match first and while they were at it, her parents including Ariana decided to get tested too, hoping that one of them would be a match. However, a while back… he returned with the result. #FLASHBACK# “I am sorry to inform you that none of you is a potential match for being a donor,” he an
As soon as they got to the hospital, they arrived at the ward first where her family were waiting outside. When they saw Zeke, they went mute and only stared at the huge man who stood behind Elena. “Greetings to you, mother, father… Ariana,” he bowed gently and then clasped his hands in front of him. Jay grunted and looked away from him with a hiss and Karina nodded her head at him, acknowledging his greetings. Ariana turned around too and returned to look at Natalie from the glass. “C… can I see her?” Zeke sniffed and asked. “Later. Meet the doctor first,” she said and he nodded his head. They both turned away from their family and then walked away, heading to the doctor’s office. === It’s been several minutes after the test and the couple sat in the doctor’s office to wait for him to return and there, Zeke occasionally glanced at the woman who looked worried beside him. “Is the result coming out immediately?” He asked her. She turned to look at him and shook her head. “No
“Congratulations!” Elena turned to look at Zeke as the doctor said and then widened her eyes. “Is he a match?!” When the doctor smiled and answered, Elena let out a short scream, turned to look at Zeke, and then picked up his hands. “You are a match!” Zeke smiled and nodded his head in excitement. “I am so happy to hear this!” The doctor watched them as they squealed in joy for a while before he proceeded. “I am happy for you too.” “So what is the next step?” Elena asked. “As planned, the surgery will take place in the next four weeks, and while we prepare, there are things for you to take note of IF you really want to do this for your daughter,” he turned to look at Zeke. “Me?” “There are certain things you must do and avoid as a donor. First, get enough rest. Like, a lot. There will be a screening process to know about your sleeping schedule and some eligibility criteria like medical history, physical examination, and all, and if by chance you have an underlying medical i
When Elena stared at Zeke who smiled mischievously, and realized what she had said and how it must have sounded, she shook her head. “I am serious. Your body does not belong to you now. It’s mine. Every inch of you.” REALLY?! “No… no, I did not mean it that way,” she waved her hands at him. Instead, Zeke nodded his head, his lips tugged to a smile. “I am serious. I did not mean it that way. I only meant that… uhm, your body needs to be taken care of as it is not entirely yours for now.” “I know, okay? It’s mine and yours,” he chuckled. “Only for now!” She snapped. “I don’t mind till eternity.” Elena smacked her tongue and picked up her spoon again. “You may have forgotten, but I have no. Only. For. Now. I don’t care what you do to your body after the surgery,” she said in a quite harsh way that he twitched his lips upward. “I know,” he nodded his head and then picked up his spoon after exchanging glances with her. Elena breathed out and then stood up, her chair making quite
“Natalie has cancer?” Jeremy repeated his question and stood from the couch. Zeke had decided to tell his family about Natalie and this was because they were going to know sooner or later. At first, he thought of keeping them in the dark till the surgery was over but it was in fact, still a miracle that it has not piqued the Internet’s interest yet. His mother widened her eyes and covered her mouth with her palm. “Y… your daughter?” “I thought you all deserved to know… before the surgery takes place. I will be her donor.” “Oh, God!” Chloe slapped her forehead and shook her head. “How did I not know?!” She had not seen or heard of Elena in a while and right now, she felt so horrible that she was quite neglectful of her. “She has acute leukemia so I will be donating my bone marrow.” Chloe moved over to him and wrapped her hands around his arms. “W… will she be fine? C… cancer…” She broke into tears and tightened her grip on his arm. Zeke patted her back and watched as she b
“Hospital? Is there a problem with Natalie?” Jeremy’s sudden question took Zeke by surprise that he turned to look at him and then shook his head. “Not Natalie,” he said and then peeked to see his mother and Chloe who were still talking. “Then?” “It’s Camila.” Jeremy raised his brows and smacked his tongue. “Camila? Why?” “A nurse… or whoever just called and told me to come. She was found unconscious by some bridge, they said.” “Are you going?” Jeremy asked. Zeke returned his phone to his pocket and nodded his head. “I should.” “I will go with you.” “You?” Zeke chucked. Jeremy rolled his eyes “Why? You don’t want me to?” Ever since they settled their differences with each other, they had been struggling to act more casual and free with each other. Unlike before when Jeremy had no mouth filter and could talk whatever he wanted simply because he didn’t want to come off as weak to his brother, he had gotten more solemn. And fortunately, to his greatest surprise, he had not
Zeke stared at the old couple who stood side by side beside themselves and then turned to look at Jeremy before they shook their heads in synchronicity. “Y… you are her parents?” He asked, practically for the hundredth time. But still, the resemblance was so clear! He could tell just by looking at the woman that she was Camila’s mother and they have a striking resemblance. But… this was not the people Camila introduced to his family months ago as her parents… “I am sorry, but we have been introduced to her parents… and it was not you. But… could you…” “Camila introduced to you other people as her parents?” The woman cut him short with snapped brows. “That brat!” The man snapped spitefully. “I knew she was going to do whatever she wanted! No wonder we couldn’t reach her any longer,” he added. “We are her biological parents,” the woman said to Zeke and Jeremy, and then the men turned to look at each other again. “How do you prove that?” Jeremy asked. The older man exhaled and
“I knew it…”When the low, hoarse voice of the little boy came up, Ramon turned around to look at him and then breathed out.“What?”Nathan adjusted in his seat and then glanced at the tiny rope that was used to tie his wrists together.“I knew… something was wrong about you. I have always known that.”“Shut up, you don’t know anything,” he hissed at the boy.Natalie stirred gently from where she sat too and then finally opened her eyes.Looking around at where they were and how they were tied, she whined gently and then burst into tears.“I know you were not a good person,” Nathan said again.“The problem with you is that you act like you know everything.”“I think you are actually pained that I have always been right about you.”Ramon forced a laugh and then shook his head. “Right about me? You don’t know anything, trust me!”“Aside from the fact that you hold grudges against little children like us which actually amuses me, I know for a fact that you have always had this darker sid
The call ended, and Elena shook her head vigorously.There was no way this was going on.She swallowed hard and dialed the number again but it was not going through.Skeptically, she looked around the car while she made sure she sat tightly.What if it was not a lie?What if there was truly a bomb in her car?How could anyone have had access to the car anyway?Finally, her eyes settled on the dash camera in her car and she squinted her brows when her eyes caught the faint red light that was flashing beside it.She leaned closer and when she realized that a camera had been planted in her car.No wonder he knew to call the moment she wanted to leave the car.If truly she was sitting on a bomb as he had said, then she could have died if he had called her a second late.Oh, what a psychopath!Her kids were missing and she has been made to sit forcefully in her car.She browsed through her phone and then clicked the camera application. She began to record the car and then gently down the s
“K… kids? Whose kids?” Elena stuttered.Zeke dropped the call instantly and palmed his face.“You are not talking about the kids, are you?” The gateman stuttered.“Why…?!”He sniffed and shook his head.“Why did you let them go with him?”“I have seen him before, so I didn’t think to refuse him. Besides, they called him uncle.”Zeke looked around and his phone rang again.He gritted his teeth and then picked up the call gently.“Where are my children?!” She thundered, breathing heavily.“I am going to look…”“You said Ramon has them?!”“The gatekeeper said someone came to pick them up. I believe it was Ramon.”“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Elena screamed from the other side.“Stay back, Elena, I am going to find them,” he said when he heard the sounds of footsteps.“You can’t tell me to sit back while my children are missing!” She yelled and then dropped the call.Zeke looked around and when he saw the CCTV camera, he moved closer to the security man.“Can I see the CCTV footage right away?”As
“B… but… why have you come to pick us?” Nathan stuttered as he reluctantly got out of the gate.“Your daddy sent me to pick you up. He is running late at work.”Zeke had initially thought that they were going to close by 3PM as usual but they had closed by two.“Daddy?” Natalie raised her brows.“Have you forgotten? I am his friend. His only best friend in the world.”The twins exchanged glances again.“I know you two are mad at me about what I said the last time and I am so sorry, okay? Can you forgive me already? I’m taking you to your daddy. Can we leave now?”Nathan moved over to Natalie and then held her hand. “We will wait for Daddy to come.”Ramon gritted his teeth and then forced a smile hurriedly. “Come on, guys.”“Daddy promised to come pick us up.”“But he is not here yet.”“He probably thought we would be closing by three and not two!” Nathan snapped.Oh, this boy was smarter than his age.Ramon hissed,“Actually… I should not be telling you this…” he sighed and bowed his
“Can we not go to school today, Daddy?”Natalie forced a solemn look as she stared at her father who addressed her dress.“What?” “We are not going to tell mummy.”“What?!” He widened his eyes when Nathan added.“We’re going to act as if we went to school and then when it is time, you will take us back home,” Natalie said.“Jesus, when did you two become like this?!” He exclaimed and the twins burst into laughter.“You are being dramatic, papa.”“You want me to join you to lie to your mother!”“You are exaggerating. It’s not gonna be a lie. We’re just gonna tell her that we went to school…”“Whereas you didn’t?” He cut her short and she clasped her hands together.“Exactly.”“How did you two come up with that idea? It is so…”“Perfect? We know,” Nathan smiled.“Not perfect, guys!”Natalie covered the space between her and her father who knelt in front of her and then wrapped her arms around his neck.“That is because we have missed you, daddy. We want to spend the rest of today with
“But Daddy, do you pull your friends' clothes?” Natalie asked after they had watched Ramon out of the compound.“We were only talking. It is nothing serious. Trust me.”“I thought you were fighting. About what he told us.”Zeke sighed and then glanced at Ariana who chuckled. “We have settled everything. He had apologized for saying something like that so we are good now.”“Hmm,” Nathan rolled his eyes.“I am being serious.”He held the door for them and they both entered the car.“Have you told mummy?”He parted his lips and then scratched his forehead. “I forgot.”“Daddy!” They both exclaimed and he rushed back inside.Ariana laughed as they watched him run to the big door and she turned to look at the twins.“Your mummy will agree. Don’t worry.”===“Daddy, do you know our birthday is on Saturday?”He nodded his head as he took a turn out of the street before he glanced at them through the rearview mirror.“I do.”“We will be six years old!” Natalie shrieked and he giggled.“The ‘Ye
By the time Zeke and Elena got to the living room, Ramon was ready to leave. “Oh, I was just going to come to you to say bye!” He exclaimed, smiling. Zeke needed not to be told that the man was wearing the fakest and forced smile ever. “Oh… is that so?” Elena smiled and then moved away from Zeke. “I… sorry about your face,” she pointed her finger at his face and he chuckled. “I probably deserve it.” She nodded her head and he leaned closer to her gently and then hugged her. “I have missed you.” Zeke watched, with his hands curled into a tight ball. “When will I see you again?” She asked him. “When you feel like seeing me… but soon,” he pulled away and then stared at her. “Soon,” he repeated and then glanced at Zeke. He turned to leave the room after bowing at the old couple and then Zeke hurried after him. “Are you going to pick a fight again?!” Ray hollered. Instead, Zeke curled his arm around the man’s neck, turned back, and then smiled. “Not at all, fat
After they disentangled from the hug, Ariana waved her hands at her sister and then exited the room, leaving just the two of them in the room.When she got up to the living room, she rolled her eyes backward when she found her mother cleaning Ramon’s wound.Oh, Zeke should have hit him harder!At least, disfigure his face for the rest of his life.She grunted and then walked to the big door that led outside the room.“Where are you going?”“The twins are in the car. So, I’ll check up on them.”“Why won’t they come in, in fact?” Ray rolled his eyes.“I bet they think Zeke has come to return them so they chose to stay in the car till he returns,” she laughed.She dropped her eyes on Ramon, twitched her lips upward, and then said, “They love their father so much, you know. At this point, I can’t wait for them to become a proper family.”She said on purpose to rile Ramon up.Instead, the man only watched her while he faked a laugh.“Just leave them to do their thing,” Karina rolled her ey
“Zeke, no please!” Elena screamed and rushed to the man who threw a punch in Ramon’s face. She grabbed his shirt and tried to pull him backward but he would not budge. He kept hitting the man while Ramon raised his hands defenselessly. Zeke pulled him up, and then shoved him against the wall, “What are you doing here?” “C… Chill… you’re gonna kill me,” he coughed, trying to move Zeke’s hand from his neck. “What the hell are you doing here? How dare you show your face here?” “What are you saying, what have I done?” “You’re going to feign ignorance?” “I don’t know what…” Zeke raised his fist and tried to punch him again but Elena was quick to wrap her hands around his wrist. “Jesus, Zeke, you’re going to kill him!” “Let go, Elena.” “No, not on my watch.” “Why would you even let him in?!” He snapped and yanked his hands from her grip. “Just let him go.” Zeke turned back to look at Ramon, tightened his grip around his neck, and then breathed heavily. At that