BEATRICE:Everette inhaled sharply and there I saw how his face darkened. “You never learned your lesson, Beatrice. How could you still be a fool and love your ex-husband? That man…you and my nephew don’t have any future with him!” he growled. “Stop loving him and move on.”Was I considering Drake to be my husband again? I did not know. But one thing was for sure. I wanted to annoy the hell out of him for barging into my house uninvited and for saying mean things towards me."He is a changed man," I said. "And whether I choose him or not, you don't have a say on that."I bit the inside of my cheeks. What was I doing again? Defending Drake? Really? As if he was already apry of my life again. Everette inhaled deeply and I could feel his disappointment mixed with frustration on his face."You're out of your mind. It's clear Josh is better than your ex-husband.""You don't know Drake."He cursed loudly that I was afraid that Grayson would be able to hear us."Stop defending him, for g
BEATRICE:Josh's smile faltered and looked at me with a nervous expression on his face. My eyes narrowed even more.I do not like it when someone is acting suspicious. I had already had enough of men betraying me.If Josh would betray me in the end…I did not know what I would be capable of doing. "You did not answer my question, Josh. How come you know that Everette visited me? I never said anything like that.""I-I am so sorry, Little One. But that time, I was in your house vicinity to check on you annd found your younger brother stepping out of his car. I became embarrassed and did not continue entering your house. You know how protected he is to you especially in high school.""How will I know if you're telling the truth?" I asked.He chuckled nervously. "Are you suspicious of me, Little One? Is there some harm in knowing about your brother's visit?"I folded my arms in front of my chest. "Why not? Everyone might be a suspect, especially the burglar who was not caught."The smile
BEATRICE:Josh was dangerously close and even if I was staring back at him, he was not doing anything to lean backward. His eyes continued staring at my lips while shamelessly getting closer and closer. My hands were at my side, not having the strength to push him off. Maybe I want to know if he would really kiss me or not. Would he dare to? In front of this crowd? At the corner of my eyes, no one stopped and looked at us, all of them minding their own business.Yeah. No one was watching us. So, what's the harm of letting this man kiss me and see for myself if I was now ready to be with another man. Maybe Josh was the one who would change my views about marriage and men?Inhaling deeply, I closed my eyes and waited for him to kiss me.Whatever.How would I know if I won't allow him to kiss me? I was single for crying out loud and why would I imprison myself in the past? I waited for his lips to land on mine. I waited, but it already took a couple of seconds, but there was no kiss.
BEATRICE:That was him! The man who was with me on that night! The fast beating of my heart told me that I was right!I ran after him while Josh was calling me behind. But I never listened to him anymore. Instead, my eyes were glued to the mysterious man who was in my head day by day.I must not lose him!I did tell myself that I no longer cared about uncovering the truth about the reason for my marriage's failure, but then, I have to use this opportunity to uncover the past! Who was I kidding? Knowing the past on why he took those pictures and sent it to my ex-husband was one of the best things to do. What would you get out of it, Beatrice? It was already done. You cannot bring the past anymore. The man stepped into the awaiting car and started the engine and ran away. I was about to chase him, but someone pulled me away and found a car that was about to hit me. The car honked a couple of times out of anger towards me. Do I look like I care? I did not! I want that man!"Beatrice
BEATRICE: I tried to tell myself that I don't owe Drake any explanations, so why did my heart skip a bit when he asked where I was too? Why did it become difficult to answer that question? My mouth opened, but no words would come out of it. Dang it. I looked like I was already outlining the things that I will see in front of my house when I returned. "Are you perhaps with someone else?" Drake pressed, not wanting to let go of the topic. “I hope you will be able to swim.” "Where is the teacher?" I asked, changing the topic. "She already went home when I arrived here. She said she had some kind of emergency in her house. But you did not answer my question, Beatrice." "Are you hungry now, Grayson?" I inquired, still don't have any plans of answering his questions. If I kept on evading it, I looked like I was guilty, right? "I am, MOmmy. Could Daddy come with us? I want to eat with him. What did you cook, Mommy?" "Something delicious. Vegetables. Your favorite." His eyes bulged
BEATRICE:With Grayson gone, my ex-husband could now ask questions which he believed he was entitled to hear, but he did not. But he was not the type who would listen. He was stubborn. Very much hard-headed.Sensing that this would be a long talk, I pulled one vacant chair, and sat, still monitoring my son outside. There was indeed someone who was with him and Drake saw that man too. Seeing he had no reaction to the man, then he might be one of the bodyguards that he was talking about."You won't get any answer from me," I retorted, shifting my attention back to him. "You cannot demand anything from me, Drake.""You're avoiding my questions even if I did not still ask them. Which means that you don't want me to know."I scoffed. "What do you want to know?""Where were you? Why were you late?""You want to know the answer?""Yes. I want to know the answer."Unfolding my arms in front of my chest, I replied, "Fine. I was on a date with Josh." I saw the man whom you thought I was having
BEATRICE: Josh had a wife? But he never said anything about it. Not about his wife dead. Or even anything about that woman. He was married…Josh…for someone as open as him, I was not expecting that he was also capable of hiding something from me. Why? You think you're the only one who is allowed to keep secrets? the other part of my mind said. Josh was not like that. I thought he was an open book that he was not hiding anything from me. I did not know what was surprising. The fact that Josh was able to hide some important facts in his life while claiming he was pursuing me or that he had a wife and she was already dead while Drake was claiming she was murdered. Josh never said such things. Or anything about his wife. So I don't…Josh being a murderer? Images of his smiling face flashed in my mind. He sure did not look like a murderer to me. I shook my head, refusing to believe Drake's allegations.I was certain if that was true (not being the murderer thingy), Josh was hiding it
BEATRICE:“What is it to you if my brother knows about me and his nephew? Are you scared?” I asked, seeing how his face turned ashen. Wait.Why was he giving me this kind of reaction?What. Was he scared of Everette? He was older than my younger brother for crying out loud. Yet he was intimidated? Everette sure had a way of intimidating men surrounding me. But my ex-husband being intimidated by him? “I’m...embarrassed to face him, Beatrice. Or any member of your family. I don’t have the face to see them after what happened.”Grayson’s hand held mine tightly and did the same. “It’s natural that you will feel like that after what you did in the past.They were the living witness of how I acted in the past.” Of what a fool I was. Are you sure you’re not a fool now? Embracing this man into your life again is another sign of foolishness, Beatrice.That might be true, but I did not accept his feelings. What we have is nothing but for my son. “You should be,” I mumbled to myself. We smi
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