BEATRICE:I held my breath as I waited for my son to respond. Please tell me that I was only hearing things. “Grayson? Who is your Daddy?” I asked once again, careful not to scare him off. "It's Mr. Drake, Mommy. I am now calling him Daddy. I like him so much, Mommy. He takes care of me when he is here. Please don't get mad at him, Mommy.""Did Mr. Drake tell you that you should call him Daddy?"He shook his head. "He did not say anything like that, Mommy. I called him Daddy myself. Are you angry with me, Mommy? Mr. Drake was not angry when I called him Daddy. I hope you are not angry, too."Am I angry? Actually, I was not. But…saying I was scared was the right term for that. No matter how much I stopped it, Grayson would still call him Dad, proof that he liked my ex-husband so much."Do you want him to be your Daddy?""Yes! Yes! Yes! Can you marry him again, Mommy? I want him to be my dad. It must be nice to be his son." My mouth went dry. "Who told you that?""No one, Mommy."
BEATRICE:I could feel my ex-husband’s happiness as we drove to our destination. He was whistling all the way despite the location of Sebastian’s resort. He was chatty, which I did not know he was capable of doing. When we were married, he was not usually like this. His words were limited and I had a difficult time making him talk. Grayson, Drake, and I were in the backseat. His driver was driving the car. I thought he never had one. Whenever he visited us, I never caught a glimpse of him. When we were still married, he was possessive of his cars. He did not want others to drive it since he was treating it as his baby, but now, it was a surprise that he was letting someone drive it for him. People changed, Beatrice.Or maybe he only wanted to sit beside us. Or maybe between me and Grayson. The place that we would be visiting was already far, but my son was enjoying the scenery and was always pointing everything to his Dad and Drake was patient in answering any of those queries. I
BEATRICE:I was not expecting a chat from Josh last night or this day. Or any day at all. If not for Christina and Drake, I would not be able to remember him. The two never failed to make me remember that man. I texted a few replies and hit the word send. Out of courtesy only. The man was nothing but good to me and I wanted to return the favor. [No worries. You can take all the time that you want.]A few seconds passed and I received a reply from him. He was not yet busy right now. Or maybe he was the type of man who would give time to anyone he loved? He is courting you. It's natural that he will give you his time. It would be better if he would focus first on his business than wasting his time on me. [Did you eat? I hope you didn’t forget to take your breakfast. Please don't be sick, Little One. That will surely make me sad.]How could I forget to eat when I went to the kitchen that morning, breakfast was already served. Courtesy of my ex-husband. He never gave me an effort li
BEATRICE:I was one hundred percent sure that my ex-husband was hiding something from me. But I will be able to verify it later when Christina will give me her findings. And the idea that I could not let it go despite already talking about it was also annoying. I mean, was this man important to me?“Deny anything for now. You may do it.”My phone beeped once again.Drake was throwing a murderous expression on my phone as if he was thinking it was Josh himself. "Go on. You may answer that one,” he growled while his eyes rested on Grayson’s hair. "I don't need your permission on whoever I am allowed to chat with. You're nothing but my ex-husband.""You must be happy reading his messages. Was he the reason why you are smiling now?"What? Back to that again just because I was talking about his secrets? “I don't know why we are talking about this.”Our exchanges were nothing but pure question and answer. Our voices were low as if we were having a chat, but if someone was listening, he w
BEATRICE:As fast as my hands could move, I wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth and straightened myself, pretending that I did not wish the ground to swallow me whole. Damn it.How could I sleep like a baby beside my ex-husband? I did not want him to believe that I was already getting comfortable around him “We are here, Beatrice,” Drake announced. “I hesitated in waking you up. You are sleeping like a baby.”I averted my gaze. “Y-you did not wake me up when I slept on your shoulder. Why is that?” If he only woke me up, I wouldn’t be drooling earlier. “I want you to rest. You’ve been working for five years already. This time, I want you to relax and do nothing.”Such beautiful words that caused my heart to flutter. My body was truly tired from taking care of my son and the bills. And now, it felt so good to know someone was offering his hand to help me. My eyes landed on his lap and did not see any traces of my son. “Where is Grayson?” My heart hammered against my ribcag
BEATRICE:"It is also nice to see you wear one," Drake admitted, shamelessly. "But if not, it's fine, Beatrice. I'm not going to force you to. Who am I to do that?""Who are you, you say? You're my ex-husband, Drake and you will continue to be like that.”“I promise I won't forever be your ex-husband. And you can wear anything you want, Honey.”“So you wanted me to wear one for your eyes only.""You could say that. But I'm not forcing anything," he whispered, his gaze softening. "You should be. You don't have the right and I will wear whatever I like to wear. Let's go, Grayson.” Glancing over my shoulder, I said, "Be sure to put that bag in our room."He quickly followed as if he was our servant. As if he was our loyal dog. Everything he was willing to do for us was still a surprise to me. A billionaire and CEO was willing to become our slave? "Understood, Beatrice,” he retorted while he carried the three heavy bags full of clothes in his two arms as if they weighed nothing. My e
BEATRICE: Realizing the flow of my thoughts, I reprimanded myself for feeling things like that. Had I not learned my lesson? That this man will only hurt me in the end? Why would it feel as if this was the first time hearing someone compliment me? It is not like that, Beatrice. It is the first time hearing your ex-husband compliment you like this. He never spared you a glance in the past. That's why…hearing him say that you are lovely created a new feeling. Still…Drake was incapable of loving someone.Except for your son, the other part of my mind said. Yeah. Except for my son. I should stop myself from liking to hear words like that. "Mommy! Come here!" Grayson called for the second time. "The water is so clear, Mommy! Let's swim together!"He was right. The water was crystal clear and staring at it reminded me of the beautiful blue sky. And the ocean was calm today, inviting me to join them swimming. I hated how Drake continued looking at me. As if I was some kind of specim
BEATRICE: I did not know why my ex-husband was saying those things and if he had the right to be jealous right now, given our past, but one thing was for sure: his jealousy...was a little bit making my heart flutter. No matter how many times I told myself to hate him, the other part won't listen. I felt my phone vibrate again. The notification would not stop coming in, but I did not bother to pick up my phone and read who was the one sending it. Let me enjoy my ex-husband’s reaction and the way he was overthinking a lot. "I don't think you have a say on whoever is texting me. We are divorced, remember?" I reminded him. “Whoever is texting me, you should not care.”"I know. But I still can ask you questions, Beatrice."I scoffed and turned sideways, facing him. "Questions and I have the right not to answer them."“Is it your suitor?” he asked quietly for the second time. "What if it's Josh? I did tell him that Grayson and I are going on a trip," I lied. Let him overthink it eve
BEATRICE:I was about to tell Drake, but stopped myself from saying out loud. There was already too much that was running on his mind and I could not afford to add more problems to him. “It was nothing, babe,” I replied and leaned on his shoulders, as he continued to drive the long road. Grayson was in the backseat already knocked out. “Nothing that you should be concerned about.”“Are you sure because you seem bothered after talking to your Mom. How did your conversation go? You know what? I made sure that you and your Mom will have some time to talk.”“Really? That's the reason why you left us at the table?”How considerate of him. How could I not fall for him over again? He was worth it. He was worth everything. “Yeah. Your Mom won't talk if there's some audience around us.”And she was able to say everything she wanted when we were alone. “Tell me the company's situation.”He was silent for a moment, before saying, “No need to worry about it. Let me handle it, doll. I will make
BEATRICE:Something about the board losing their trust on you? I wanted to ask, but no words would come out of my mouth.Why was it so difficult to ask him?“Hey. Are you okay?”Are you okay? Why can’t you tell me the truth? Why do you suffer in silence, Drake? Don’t you believe that I could help you, too? We are all in this together, right? Why don’t you let me join your suffering? I want to help you with it. So please…at least let me join you.“I am. How about you?”He chuckled. “I am fine. How about you?”“You’re acting weird, Beatrice. But to answer your question. Yes. I am fine. I am always fine whenever you are with me. I forgot all my problems because there is you, doll.”“Tell me how much the company meant to you.”“It’s my life,” he answered. “I worked hard for it. That was the result of working too much because of our absence, doll. I promised myself that I would make it successful so that when you returned, I could offer it to you.”"You did well, babe. I am so proud of you
BEATRICE:Seeing my reaction, Mom clicked her tongue together. "Based on your reaction, I assume that your ex-husband did not say anything to you about it.""He...He did not, Mom.""The board of directors agreed that if he did not do something to save the company, they will pull off the remaining of these stocks and what do you think will happen?""Worse case scenario, the company will continue to have losses and would eventually file for bankruptcy.""What about his people? Do you think he is fine with that? He will blame himself for what happened and he's the only one who knows what will happen."I clenched my fist. "Why are you telling me these things, Mom?" She shrugged off her shoulders. "I was surprised that you were able to have a child.""When Drake divorced me, I didn't know that I was already carrying a child during that time.""I won't question that child. He took a lot after you which is fine with me.""What do you want, Mom?""You? What can you do to save your ex-husband
BEATRICE:Mom and Dad. I wanted to rush to their side and hugged them until they found it difficult to breathe, hoping that a tight embrace would fulfill the countless years of not seeing each other. Back then, I was still debating on whether I would see them face to face, but now... I was glad that Drake had pushed me to meet them. My heart felt like it weighed a ton. Dad's eyes simmered with tears, while Mom... I did not know what she was thinking. She wore a poker face. Mom was always like that. Unreadable. My other siblings called her Ice Queen Mother, for showing rare affection towards us. I always scolded them for calling Mom that, but they would only say that it was Mom's fault for being smart like that.I was the one who fulfilled the emotions my siblings craved. I thought it was enough, but it was not. Despite Mom's personality, they still wanted to feel her affection. "Mommy. Who are they?""Your grandparents," I whispered.They finally reached our table."Beatrice,"
BEATRICE:Guilt washed over my chest, knowing the tragedy that fell on Zereka's life. Poor child. I should have known that she had suffered. If I did, I should have been patient with her."Oh, my goodness, Drake. Are you telling the truth?""I'm the only one who knows about it, and I hope you will not tell a single soul, doll. She will kill me for sure. The tough exterior was only a facade, because she did not want others to treat her weakly. Deep inside, she was still thirteen years old I saw crying for her Mom's name. Please be patient with her, doll. I know it's unfair to you...""It's fine." Now that I know that child's background, how could I be a bitch? "I called her a bitch. She might be hating me for that.""You also cannot be blamed.""I want to meet Zereka again and who knows? Maybe we will be friends in the end. How about children? Does she want children? Do you think she will like Grayson?""I saw her staking your social media account and stare at Grayson. So, maybe she li
BEATRICE:“I told him I was going,” I explained. "He invited me at first, saying he will have a better chance than him being alone.""Oh, great. Does Everette know about that?"I shook my head. "He did not know anything. If you tell him right now, that's the only time he will know about the plan.""There's only a slim chance that they will invest in his company and do you know the percentage? Only one percent, Beatrice. After what he did to you, for divorcing you, do you think they will forgive you easily? You two became the talk among your relatives. They keep on asking questions about you and your ex-husband. However, when your Mom snarled and scolded them, they became silent. However, the rumors of your separation did not stop, angering Clara even more. Everette and I were witnesses to that. When you disappear from the family, the rumors become even worse.""More than five years had passed, Maybe she had forgiven what happened?" I hoped she did. And if she did not? I no longer
BEATRICE:“Beatrice? Are you still there?”What a bastard.He knows that Christina had her miscarriage, yet he called her?“Yes, I am here. What is it again?”“Is there no chance that the two will reconcile?”Exhaling, I inquired, “Did you call because he asked you?”“I was about to call you even if he did not call. But he got the right timing. He called me first before I was able to call you.”“Christina, the next time he calls you, don’t answer it.”“Why?" she asked, her voice full of curiosity. "Did something happen between you two that I was not aware of?"I bit the inside of my cheeks, debating if I should tell her or not.She's still not fully recovered, Beatrice. what if she will be sent to the hospital again, because of stress?There was a point, there. "N-No. Nothing happened.""So why are you evading him as if he is bringing the plague?""I-It's because of Drake. I have decided that I will give him a chance."I heard her mutter a few curses in the background. With a faint v
BEATRICE:Relax. Don’t fret. Control yourself, Beatrice. You will not lose your control because of that woman.“Did you hear me? She pulled my hair!”“Why would Beatrice do that, Zereka? She’s not the type to—”She sniffed. “You never listened to me, Drakey. You always believed that I was making a scene. That I am lying to you. How could I do that? I love you so much that I will never ever lie to you,” she declared, cutting off his words before he could even finish it. Rude. Every time she said that she loved her brother, the hair on my arms would always stand. It always felt like it had a double meaning. “Do you know what she called me? A bitch, Drake. I’m only eighteen years old and someone already called me a bitch!”“Beatrice. Is that true?”“What do you want to hear, Drake?” I asked. “Tell me so that I will tell you right away. Don’t waste my time anymore.”“Doll… I’m not saying anything wrong. All I wanted is you to tell me your side. I don't want to take sides as much as pos
BEATRICE:If Drake was here, I would never know why Zereka was here. If Drake was here, she would keep on pretending to be the sweet little sister of his. She could fool anyone with that sweet face of hers. "I'm sorry, but you don't have a say on that, too. We have chosen ourselves to love each other and even if a million people would be against our path, our love will remain strong. That includes you, by the way."It was a cheesy statement. I never thought the time would come when I would say those words, but here it was.She threw back her head and laughed. "Love? Are you freaking kidding me? Don't tell me that kind of bullshit. Love does not exist. Only lust." I was taken aback at her curse. My forehead knotted seeing how she bawled her palms into a fist. "Are you perhaps..." Did she perhaps not experience how to be in love? That she did not know how it felt? That she believed it was all lies? Right. I remembered. This woman was Drake's half-sister. And Drake's family had n