Chapter One: Enigma

Imogen Madrigal and Kieran Belmonte first met each other at a benefit dinner party for an impoverished orphanage in Metro Manila.

It was a boring affair with rich and influential people as the main guests, classical music and vicious gossip in the background. They’ve been forced to attend because this was what the buena familias did to keep up appearances.

She stood in the balcony at the edge of the ballroom of The Peninsula Manila in Makati, away from the crowd, as a vision of white lace and black curls. 

Her expensive white lace eyelet dress accentuated her best features like her long legs and creamy skin. Long dark hair fell down to her back in carefree waves and framed her perfect oval face. Violet eyes glittered under a fringe of long, black lashes as she stared out into the moonlit ocean. Her long, slender fingers lightly clutched the wineglass that sparkled with champagne. 

Everyone expected the beautiful and single Imogen to arrive with an escort but she arrived alone.

She’s been going through the party circuit alone for the past three years and that suited her just fine. It meant that she could drink as much wine as she wanted and nobody will care.

Imogen never noticed when other people glanced at her direction or tried to join her on the balcony. She was blissfully oblivious of the attention that she got from the other guests. 

Nobody could ignore her even if they tried. She had a magnetic beauty that separated her from the rest of the other heiresses inside the ballroom. She possessed a romantic and melancholic loveliness that made men sigh and women wonder.

Of course, she didn’t escape his eye. 

Kieran Belmonte, newly arrived from a long stay abroad in America, stood in the middle of the room to talk with rich investment bankers and minor politicians as a way to ease his way back into society.

Everyone who approached him commented about his charming manners, handsome looks and fat portfolio. His tall and imposing figure cut him out of the crowd. 

All of the girls sighed after him; all of the men talked about him. Everyone knew in their small, privileged circle that he was a ruthless and savvy businessman who made a fortune even when he was still in high school. 

They envied and admired his unconventional decisions. They discussed his bright future. Even though he was only a third son of an affluent family, great things were expected from him.

As the night aged, Kieran found himself standing next to the beautiful girl he noticed earlier after mingling with the other guests. 

The balcony door was open so a faint summer breeze blew inside. Her hair rippled in the shaft of moonlight. She looked lost in her own thoughts while holding on to her half-empty wineglass. 

He cast a sidelong glance when she tipped her head back to down the rest of the champagne.

"Thirsty?" he asked with a small grin. “That's pretty good champagne.”

Charming girls was one of his many skills. He used to work with his mother on her makeup business through the marketing team after hours in high school.

He’d picked up early on that it was his job description to charm women in parties and to use that connection later on for business. 

It was a skill that he often used in real situations because he was not above using it to get what he wanted like a pretty girl’s phone number. 

"It's my fourth and I have an empty stomach," she answered absently. Imogen’s smile was brittle. "But please don't tell my mother if you know her. She doesn’t know that I love champagne very much."

"Why are you drinking so much?" Kieran was genuinely curious.

She looked very sweet and innocent so he was quite surprised to know that she drank four glasses in a party that had lasted three hours. 

"Because I have to do this," Imogen replied with a flirtatious wink. 

The mysterious, beautiful girl in front of him took his hand and gave him the empty champagne flute. He watched, fascinated, as she straightened her dress and then shook out her hair. 

He was still staring as she straightened her posture and took a deep breath.

Then his surprise turned into shock when she walked towards the small podium at the front of the ballroom.

"We would like to thank all of you for coming and for supporting our cause. Without you, the benefit for the children will not be a success.” The emcee announced proudly. “We're very pleased to announce the presence of the Crystal Voice of Manila because she will be singing a special number for us. Please give her a big round of applause…”

Kieran was staring with more interest when the girl got up on the stage with a shy smile. His grip on the champagne glass tightened when her melodious voice filled the air. In the soft light, she looked like an angel. 

There were no traces of the girl who drank on an empty stomach; there was no sadness in her aura.

"Moon river, wider than a mile..."

She sang straight into his heart with her sweet voice and an angelic smile. After the performance was over, he belatedly realized that she was gone.

Kieran Belmonte looked for her in the crowd but she'd simply disappeared.

All he had left of her was the empty champagne flute with the faintest imprint of her kissable lips.

x0x0x0x

"Imogen, your mother is here to see you," Marie, Imogen’s Yaya since childhood, announced.

Her beloved little mistress was on her dressing table, getting ready. She was dressed in a lilac silk dressing robe with a matching slip underneath. Her hair was wild and flowed down her back like a dark waterfall. 

In the safety of her large mansion inside Forbes Park, she lived like a nymph inside a haven. 

The only Madrigal heiress got up from her excitedly to hug her mother as she entered the bedroom. As she inhaled her mother's deep, spicy and floral fragrance deeply, she reveled in her mother’s presence.

Vivian Madrigal smiled down at her only daughter. Sometimes she wondered if Imogen was really hers because they looked so different from each other. 

She was a handsome woman with short dark hair and bright brown eyes. Though petite, she often gave the impression of being bigger because she carried her authority as the CEO and founder of a multimillion toy company with ease. 

On the other hand, her daughter was a spitting image of a classic Madrigal woman because she was beautiful in an ethereal way that always made anyone catch their breath. 

"How are you, dear?" Vivian asked anxiously as they moved to sit on the couch in her daughter’s massive bedroom. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to go with you. My meeting didn’t end quickly enough and then they made you sing something that you weren’t able to rehearse properly…"

Imogen shook her head, smiling. She looked really happy. It was rare for her to see her mother on a weekday afternoon. "It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed performing for them."

"They were there to hear you sing. If it wasn't for your efforts, the benefit wouldn't have been possible!" her mother said in a relieved voice.

Her brown eyes sparkled as she stared down at her only child. "Now, tell me the latest gossip. Did any of those old bachelors ask you out?”

Soon, they were both crying with mirth at Imogen’s anecdotes from the party last night.

They didn’t spend enough time together because Vivian's business trips took her out on long overseas trips that also led to frequent absences and late hours. It was painful to think that her lovely daughter grew up in the care of maids but she pushed that thought aside. 

Imogen had grown up to be a kind and clever young woman who would be a credit to any family. She was well-educated, possesed lovely manners and charming. Everyone attributed her social success to her hardworking mother and illustrious family name. 

Vivian was a single mother who was also the owner of a very large empire that had holdings all over the world. She worked very hard to leave a legacy for her beautiful and intelligent daughter. Vivian wanted to show her that a woman could do anything that she set her mind to. 

Imogen often told herself that she was not mad at her mother's absences ever since she was a child.

She knew that her mother worked very hard to be the CEO of a multimillionaire company that made everything because she wanted her to have a comfortable life. It was impossible to hold a grudge towards her hard working and loving mother for it. 

As an heiress, she had everything she ever wanted. Clothes, makeup, shoes, overseas trips and unlimited resources for her best friends…

She had it all.

Well, she had everything she ever wanted except one.

That was not something money could ever buy.

Imogen pushed the thought away from her mind. She forced herself to smile as her mother also asked about the eligible young bachelors who attended the party.

In a laughing tone she told him about the tall young man whom she talked to before she sang onstage. He was a new face and it was a welcome change. 

"How old is he? I won't let you marry anyone who's over forty!" Vivian teased her.

She smiled kindly at Marie who brought in a tray with a teapot, two teacups, two plates with slices of cheesecake in fine china and lovely silver cutlery. There was even a small, glass vase with a single pink rose. 

Teatime with her daughter before her next meeting was the only time she could ever relax. 

"Mama, please stop!" Imogen answered in a mock-scandalized tone. Her violet eyes gleamed mischievously. "I'm not looking to get married yet. I’m only 25-years-old! "

Her mother smiled gently and reached forward to tuck her some of her dark hair behind her ear.

"You're right. As much as I want you to stay with me as my little girl, I'll have to look for someone to take care of you. Maybe it's time for me to help you find someone to marry…"

Imogen knew that 25 was a marriageable age and there was no escaping it. It was the custom of their family for young ladies to marry early. Even her closest cousin was already married before that age.

Imogen belonged to a very old family who valued tradition and customs above all else.

It was just the way things were done. 

She had put it off as long as she could and she'd already run out of excuses. Perhaps it was really time to ask for help...

"I'm fine by myself. I am happy to be single! just hope that you'll live for a long, long time so I don't need to leave you," she joked.

The elderly women in their family were unusually healthy and long-lived so there was a good chance that her beloved mother would live up to 90.

"Very funny," her mother giggled before she wrapped her treasure in another tight embrace. "Mama Vivian is always right. You'll see."

“What shall we do? Shall I go on a blind date with one of your amiga’s sons?” Imogen teased. Her mother pushed her bangs back to stare deeply into her daughter’s beautiful violet eyes. “I certainly don’t want to date anyone from our company.”

“Leave it up to me!” Vivian winked conspiratorially. She already had a few candidates in mind for her daughter.

Imogen smiled and nestled deeper into her mother's embrace.

When Vivian went silent, she quieted too. It was inevitable. She knew more than anyone else in the world that when her mother wanted something, she would not stop at anything to get it. 

If she wanted to see her daughter as a happily married woman then she would definitely make it happen.

Imogen knew better than to stop her. 

But Imogen didn’t have the heart to tell her beloved mother that when she lost him, she lost all desire to love again let alone get married.

She was happy to be working for the family business, spending time with her friends, helping out with her charities and enjoying life as a single woman.

She had pushed all desire to be in a relationship out of her mind so she can be a successful businesswoman like her mother. 

If her mother wanted to provide a date or even an arranged marriage for her then she couldn’t stop her. Who knew her better than her own mother?

"I'll find the perfect match for my beautiful darling, Imogen," Vivian promised brightly. “You are the pearl of my world and you deserve to have only the best.”

Imogen bit her lip to stop herself from saying anything. All she had to do was to roll with it and let her mother do what she wanted. If she didn’t like any of the options then she couldn’t be forced to date any of them. 

There was no harm in giving a marriage interview a try, right?