XVII - Surprise Gone Wrong III

Third Person's Point of View 

They slowly exited the bar to make sure no paparazzi are waiting for them outside. Before leaving earlier, Juliana could not help but whisper to Noah who was serving other customers. 

“Good luck in your work, handsome. I will text you later,” she whispered and kissed the young man on the cheek when she saw no one looking at them. 

He immediately winked at her and Alexa coincidentally returned from the restroom. She invited her to continue the surprise for Elaine. They just took the time to make sure that no reporters are following them because they are too annoying and they cannot enter the hospital since there are a number of them. 

“I saw that. You flirted. If you don't tell me about it later, I will report you to Kaizer,” Alexa whispered as they entered the hospital. 

Her eyes are clear when it comes to such things. After all, Juliana has nothing to hide from her because Alexa is the most reliable person around her. She won't probably betray her this time. 

"Yes, as long as you don't make noise about it," she said. They slowly entered the hospital. She motioned to the rest of her team that there are no more reporters inside. 

“Are you sure we could still make it? Brother Louis must have gone ahead of us,” Alexa asked as they walked to the elevator. It would be so tiring if they climb the stairs to Elaine's room. 

"You know what to do," Juliana said. 

When they reached Elaine's room, they immediately knocked. They prepared the balloons left and Louis’ gift. Alexa opened the door and was ready to speak but they were shocked to see Louis hugging the woman in bed. 

"Are we bothering you?" Juliana asked, but the girl immediately pushed Louis and covered herself with a blanket. 

“Obviously. Tss,” Louis said while frowning. He was right when he predicted they would fail this plan. If he only knew, he wouldn’t have entrusted the surprise to them. 

“Sorry, Brother Louis. We're just going to go out,” Juliana said and was about to close the door when Louis stopped her and aimed a gun at them. 

"B...B-rother, what are you doing?" Alexa asked. she was swallowed up in no time with nervousness. Does he intend to kill them because they have mistaken the woman they should surprise? 

"Follow my lead," Louis whispered and she immediately nodded in nervousness. It looks like he intends to continue to surprise Elaine, but what is he planning? 

They opened the door and immediately shouted, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Ma’am Elaine!” The woman then got up to look at the people outside. She immediately turned to Louis who smiled at her. 

“Happy Valentine’s Day, wifey. Can we have a date tomorrow?” Louis asked. Elaine couldn't help but tear up because she had never been surprised like this. She thought that everything they prepared was for Mariella because she saw the news on TV. Not only that, she thought it was just some people who opened the door so she immediately covered himself with a blanket out of embarrassment. 

"Of course," she replied and immediately went to Louis to hug him. Elaine doesn't know, but she was so happy that the young man was fine and that he didn't forget about her this Valentine's Day. She just hopes he doesn’t change the way he treats her because she knows within herself that she is falling for the young man. She was surprised when he suddenly offered his right hand to her. 

“Can I have this dance?” he asked, earning a nod from her. Louis prompted them to play a song and they did so. 

They played the song "When I Met You" by Apo Hiking Society. They smiled when the two started dancing. This is probably the sweetest thing they had ever seen. It is only now have they seen their older brother Louis making such an effort for a woman. 

In a few minutes, they finished the song, Juliana came over and smiled at Elaine. 

“This is Louis' gift. I'm sorry, Elaine. He didn't mention the name to whom we should give it,” she teased. Elaine immediately smiled because Louis was frowning when they gave the dog and cat which are his gifts. 

"Tss, you can leave now," Louis said while gesturing with his hand. 

“Yes, I didn't even receive any thank you. Hmp,” Juliana said and turned around, pretending to be sulking. She immediately ran away when she heard Louis' gunfire. 

“Goodbye, Elaine. You take care of Louis,” she shouted and waved as they left the room 

"Thank you," Elaine whispered but enough for Louis to hear. He smiled secretly and immediately turned his back on her so that she won't see the redness of his cheeks. 

"You deserve it," Louis said. He approached the girl to kiss her on the forehead, but they were startled when suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Louis sighed because it ruined their moment again. Elaine just smiled at him and opened the door. A woman in a wheelchair exposed herself to them, wearing a mirror and a scarf so that the paparazzi would not recognize her. 

"Where is Louis?" she asked Elaine. Her right eyebrow went up because of what she asked. Who is she to search for the young man? 

"What do you need from him?" Elaine asked back, but the woman only immediately removed her shades and spoke again. 

"If you're one of his flings, get out of my way," she said and pushed her, but Louis immediately turned his attention to them and went to Elaine. 

"What is happening here?" he asked. He looked at Elaine to see if she was okay and then turned his gaze to Mariella when he made sure Elaine was fine. 

"And what the hell are you doing here?" he asked with his forehead furrowed. Mariella tried to stand up in her wheelchair to match Louis' face. 

“Can you tell your fling to go out for a while?” she asked, heating up the young man's head. He doesn't know why he feels like that every time someone talks ill about Elaine, but he immediately pulled her close and kissed her in front of Mariella. 

“She is my wife. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have something important to do,” Louis said and touched Elaine's waist to help her walk out of the room. 

Mariella's face mirrored shock, but before they could finally come out, she held the young man's clothes. 

"Wait a minute, Louis, I just want to tell you something," Mariella said. The young man just looked at her as if he didn't care about her. 

"I don't care," he replied and slowly walked again, but this time, the girl held Elaine's dress. 

"Please, this is important," Mariella begged Elaine. The young man looked at her as if waiting for her to say something. 

Elaine sighed before finally answering. 

"Go on, I'll just wait for you here," Elaine said and Louis was about to speak but she just smiled at him before finally walking to the nearest seat. He watched Mariella and Louis enter the room to talk. In fact, she was not in a position to be jealous because they do not have a thing together. It’s also not clear if they feel the same way. What if Louis was just doing it to convince the people around them? 

When the two entered, Louis immediately asked Mariella, "What do you need?" 

He took a cigarette stick and lit it. He doesn’t do it in front of Elaine because it looks like she doesn’t enjoy the smoke. But smoking is one of the things he does whenever he’s not in the mood. 

"I...is what you said true about your wife?" Mariella stuttered because she cannot believe Louis would find a replacement for her. Louis only holds her like that before, now he does everything for Elaine. She doesn't know how to feel about him since she found out that he knew about her father's death, but her feelings prevailed. 

“Yeah. And what will you do about it?” Louis asked. She looked at him angrily, but she didn't know what to say when she remembered why she broke up with him. 

"Aunt Hacel, is Louis here?" smiling, she asked her boyfriend's mother but the woman just raised an eyebrow at her as if she said something bad. 

She intends to surprise Louis because it's their anniversary and she also wants to see him. He was out of sight for three days straight as if he didn't want to be with her. 

“Does he look like he's here? He went to the office early. Just look for him there,” the woman said rudely while sitting on the couch. She has some people cleaning her nails while the others are ironing her hair. 

“Thank you very much, Aunt. This is a cake I made for you,” she said, but the woman just looked at her as she lowered a paper bag containing the blueberry cheesecake she made. When she turned away, she could not stop her tears from flowing. She and Louis have been together for a year, but his mother still treats her badly as if she doesn't agree with their relationship. 

She tried to contact the young man but his cellphone was turned off so she did nothing but take a taxi to get to him. 

"Montemayor's Building, sir," she said while tightly holding the box that contains the cake she would give to Louis. When Mariella got off the taxi, the guard who was watching outside greeted her. 

“Good morning, Ma'am Mariella. Have a nice day,” he said before opening the door. She immediately greeted back and went inside. She was surprised when a woman approached her from the front desk. 

“Hi, Ms. Mariella, can I have an autograph? My daughter is a big fan of yours,” she said and handed her a photocard with a photo of her on the back. She couldn’t help but smile at what she said and started signing it. She was happy to know that someone admired her even though she had just started receiving projects on television. 

"What's your child's name?" she asked. The woman immediately answered with a smile on her face.

Hi, Elisse, Thank you for supporting me, I hope you're doing fine. Don't forget to greet your mom when she gets home. Love yah! 

Love, Mariella Althea 

When she finished talking to her, she immediately went straight to Louis' office and was about to turn the doorknob when she heard her Uncle Izaak talking while he was conversing with Louis. 

"I told you to break up with Mariella," his father said, surprising her. What did she do to make the young man's father angry with her like this?

"She is my girlfriend, Dad, and you don't have the right to order me," Louis bravely replied. 

"Then I will give all of my properties to Kaizer if you won't follow me," said Uncle Izaak. 

Before he could finish what he was going to say to Louis, Mariella just ran away, crying. Now she knew why his parents treated her like that every time Louis took her to his mansion. 

"Do you love her?" she asked him while holding back her tears, but he just turned away and was about to get out of the room. Slowly, she stood up and pulled the young man's clothes to kiss him on the lips, but her eyes widened when he suddenly pushed her. She fell and her butt was on the floor. 

"Don't fucking touch me because I don't know what I can do to you," he said making her tears finally drip down her face.

“I think I know the answer to my question. Thank you for proving it,” she said. She slowly stood up to pick her wheelchair. She put on the glasses to hide her tears from Louis. She was about to open the door when he suddenly spoke. 

"Don't think about the surprise earlier, it's for my wife," he said coldly to her. She just nodded before answering. 

“I know. Just help me clean my name in the media,” she said and finally opened the door to say goodbye. She almost forgot the reason why she went to his room and that is to tell him to help her clear her name. She was so emotional. 

But now, there is only one thing she is sure of and that is the fact that he no longer loves her. Then she will remove the possibility that he wasn't the one who killed her father because he seemed like he could do such a thing. He was able to hurt her just because of a woman. The young man really changed. He was far from the Louis she had known before.