We used his yacht to go to the hotel he recommended to me. He said it was the nearest one from our location. He did not manage that structure though he was sure we were safe to roam around in there. He also commanded his ten men to take a look of me always without making me feel their presence. I debated no more because what he thought was surely for my safety.
He was standing just beside me as we watched the minimal movements of the clouds above. I realized even more that this was I needed. That me being resided in an island also deserved a moment like this.
What I liked to see in the sky were the birds soaring so high without problems and worries. Their wings captivated me in a way only them could make me close my eyes.
"Do you like this?" I heard him, his voice so smooth, like the air I was breathing right now. "If Kyra is here, she would be really glad. I am hoping we can do this next time, if you would like this to happen again..."
"We should. You ar
"I am sorry, Mrs. Sandoval, but he doesn't want to continue the call anymore. Should I give the phone back to him--?""No. Do not." I caught my own breath. "I have a favor. Please, do not tell about this to Neil. Please, do not say to him that I have just talked to Daniel."She hesitated at first, but at the end, she assured me she would be silent. Truth to be said, the conversation I had with Daniel was not enough at all. I thought a phone-to-phone call one would be enough but I was wrong. It never calm me down. It did not set aside my worries. When in fact, now that I knew he really still loved me, I could not help but to overthink.I did not want myself to choose between my relationship with him and my family's. Undeniably, he's my savior before, but, he was not the one I knew before. Because when I talked to him earlier, I heard how his voice changed. Before, it used to comfort me to tell me everything was going to be alright, but earlier, it seemed like he
They acted so differently. Mom even tried to ask me if I forgot something or not. Cluelessly, I did not. I brought nothing when we went into the hotel aside from my own phone and that was the only thing I thought had the chance to be forgotten."Mom, are you okay?" What's bothering you?" Kyra asked me as she hugged me from behind. We did not have any maids in this place that was why I was the one who was doing the households chores. Mom could not even waste a single energy and Marixa was always busy in her lovelife. It's also impossible for Marcus to voluntarily helped me so I did not bother to ask for his help."I am okay. I am just confused at everything. You all are acting so weird."She was frozen, and her small laughters echoed. Okay, there was really going wrong in here without me knowing what was it."Kyra, tell me what's going on here." I stopped the faucet from running so that I could turn around and face my daughter who was still hiding her cute
"Hi, Ma'am! How are you? Can we ask when will you come back in here?" one asked me while waving her hands."I am not sure. I will wait for Neil's decision. Somehow, we are not being damped in here and we all can eat three times a day."They blushed. "Speaking of that Neil, Ma'am, we can't believe that he is really handsome! I only see his pictures in the internet but as he was the one who called our service, all of us almost collapsed."I again, was confused.Why did he do that? Was there an occasion for him to exert lots of efforts?"Did he tell you the reason why he called first?"Shooking their heads while grinning, they answered, "We do not know, Ma'am."I really believed that something was going on in there. I connected all the dots I had but I still failed."The sales maintained their usual amount. So we really
They all laughed, until I heard them counting from number one. While thinking for the possible reason why we were doing this, I bit my lip and remained not moving for Kyra not to be hurt. Even though, Jesus, I was baffled at what was happening now!"Mom, this is your day with Dad..." Day with Neil? "Happy anniversary for the both of you! Please, stay strong!"They took off the handkerchief in my eyes, and my eyes were blinking while watching the big tarpaulins wherein I read 'Happy Anniversary with us, baby!'. Below it was our picture taken together earlier. Marixa cheered so loudly, as if Neil was about to propose to me even though he was not!"Is today our anniversary?" I confirmed again. Well, I had loved him before but years had already been passed. I even forgot that anniversary existed in life, to us. "T-Thank you,anyway. Seems like you really prepared this thing."To my surprise, they al
But he shook his head. "No, you should stay here. I can handle many things. Just promise me you will be safe in here. The securities are all alive, still. Also, you can go the hotel where we were in hours ago. I am sure you are safe in there."Okay... But what would happen now? Why did he sound like he was about to go to another place?"And, I need to say my temporary goodbye. Leaving abroad is my one and only choice right now, Sydney. I will pursue and send some proposal to some businessman who happened to be my friends. Hoping they would consider me again.""Is this all about Daniel again?"His head tilted into another side, and I could only see his side profile. His eyes were gazing the water. "Maybe. Since he is the root why Ambrosia is dead, making her parents not to stop attacking us."I felt uncomfortable. I expected this moment to be full of awkward scenes, unlike this th
No, Neil, you should not apologize. You were actually sacrificing your happiness for her future so, please, consider yourself as hero."I...." he breathed. "I will miss you. A lot. For sure."I did not answer."I am not sure if you feel the same way, though.""I will. Of course. We are friends.""Friends... Alright." Then, he pointed his hands on mine. "Friends are doing this thing..""Friends do holding hands.""Well..."I chuckled. "Just be safe in there. Contact me if you need to talk to Kyra.""I will contact you from time to time, then.""Sure. And please, focus on your own goal. I can take care of my own business.""I have... Something to confess about, anyway."My eyes furrowed. Aside from his love to me, what was the something he was talking about?"Mom, what did Dad tell you?" Kyra snapped me out from my overthinking. I stood up, panicking. I forgot I was cooking a rice and now I wond
I almost kissed him. I meant, I almost kissed him! Marcus' appearance was really right so that Neil wouldn't think that only Azucalda would soften my heart and push me to kiss him. Goodness, I still had to control myself. It was not because I was happy with what he said that I would tolerate it. You were indeed a great fool, self."Oh, why did you two stop? Go on with what you were supposed to do and I will just quietly watch it." And as expected, Marcus never left us again. He would really use what he saw to make me die of nervousness. "It's a pity that Kyra did not see you almost kissing. I hope I was able to take a picture too!"Neil picked up some sand and threw it towards my cousin's face. I also wanted to keep laughing at him because his cheeks were red like a ripe tomato."Jerk! Get out of here! You have a business problem so prioritize that over messing with us here!" I told him. Really, right? His business was also in danger so that was what he should f
"You are really sweet, Dad! Mama must have sweetly answered you so you prepared all of these!" Kyra shouted happily at Neil. Neil, on the other hand, still looked serious, who also seemed to just chose to smile even though the truth was, just like me, he also felt a lot of embarrassment right now.Soon, the cold wind blew, and we all sat down to begin what had to begin."Kyra, darling, don't be surprised by what we are going to say but ..." Neil took a deep breath, and in the depth of it, I almost drowned. "I'm doing this for you, for your future and for your mommy's. I can't just be here forever and happy without worrying about of our business."Kyra fell silent. Her smile faded. She turned to me, and I averted my eyes. I had tears in my eyes now, and I did not want them to see me being emotional.Maybe it was just because I was so tired. Tomorrow, I would definitely okay again."Are you leaving?" My daughter's voice was full of fear. I also rarel
Mom and I were finally okay. She asked for my forgiveness even though I never loathed her. For all the bad things she had done to me, I still loved her. Nothing could change that fact."What is the name of this place once again, Mom?" Kyra asked curiously as she roamed her eyes around the place.A smile touched my lips. "Azucalda."We were safe to live not worrying about anything. Ambrosia's family were now settled in jail. Daniel, also, already found his life, the woman who would change the fake romantic love he felt towards me. "This is where we belong, Kyra. Be comfortable in this place, because starting from now, we will leave here, we will start new memories," I hugged her."When Dad will come back?" she asked me out of the blue. "I mean, we have been already waiting for years! Last night, Dad and I talked, but since this morning, he never texted me anymore. I am worrying, Mom! What if he alread
"If I could just turn back the time."I was used to say that statement to myself. Days and years without Sydney, I realized life was hard without her. Though I had no choice, I could not get her back because I had no right. I hurt her. I should face the consequences of my actions."Sydney has a daughter, Auntie. And she is now currently studying. She is an academic achiever," Marcus informed me. Marcus was one of my enemy before even though we were blood related, but as time gone by, we became close and decided to help each other."I have a granddaughter, then..." I whispered using my weak voice. That meant that Sydney was pregnant during the moments she was not in this country. That meant she lived without my guide. That meant she raised my grandaughter alone. "I have remembered what you told me before. You told me she has a business in this country, right?"He nodded. "She owns a grocery."&
We still lived in the same house, and I witnessed how they both loved each other. But I never liked that."Auntie Trinidad, I successfully closed the deal," Neil announced to me. To my delight, I smiled. "Thanks to Sydney, though. He pushed me to work hard."I heard a lot of news from work, especially from company employees. Because Sydney and Neil worked often at the same time... they also went home together so that caused surprise to others."I know they are both married," Marcus threatened me. This businessman had never really changed. Still ruthless. There was no sanctification. Even so, I still treated him well because we were just relatives. I know he was not gay to spread the word."Just do not let them know." I got up. I would have planned to build a boutique. Because since I was a child, that was really what I wanted to have. Now that Neil was taking care of the company, maybe
"Starting today, you are the only one I will love. Expect me to love you every day."I closed my eyes when Zimon, my husband, gently gave his tender kisses to me. To this day, I still could not believe it. We were married. We were officially legal.Our family welcomed us as well. Nothing could stop us from being together. We would also be able to form our dreams together, and one of them was having a child, or if possible ‘children’. We even wanted a girl to be our first child. But what the Lord gave us, we would wholeheartedly accept it."Zimon, here is your lunchbox. Please, do not stay up too late at work. I know you want to give us a very good future but we are already rich. I am not proud of our living condition, but I just hope you learn how to rest, okay?"That was really what I kelt reminding him of. Health was important so I wanted him to take care of himself. We would have a chi
How many times had I tried to love my child as much as many mothers like me love. But even so, I still could not bear to look at her without remembering what his Dad did to me and how he hurt me until I was exhausted.I could say that me giving her birth was the most important event in my life, but like I said, I could not... I could not afford to love her, because whenever I smiled at her, I felt like I just forgave her Dad right away. And for me, that shoul not have happened. No one could stop me...I did not know if my own child hated me. If she wanted to hate me until she voluntarily gave up, go on! I did not care. Even if it was bad in the eyes of others, I would do what I thought was good for me, for the comfort of my chest."Is the average yourself from studying? How dare you smile at me while you were showing this shit to me? How many times have I told you that this grade is not enough for me? You are stupid, really. I am still wondering why you ev
When we were at the venue, we looked around. Until the woman who invited us to be in here acknowledged us with a big smile. I immediately recognized her because of the sweetness of her smile. She talked to us and the other guests. I could say the event was really social and prepared for elites because you could just see from the guests' gowns that they were really expensive. Not to mention that Neil Sandoval was admired by many."Hi, there is still an empty table near the long table. Other guests also want to meet you. Because you know how much everyone admires you, Neil Sandoval," the woman praised him again.Neil was really grabbing attention now, not only because he was handsome in what he was wearing, but also because he looked like the girl he was holding so tightly. Just a look at them and you would know that they were blood related - the way they walked was similar.Anyway, he was no longer wearing jogging pants. Before we finally went here we also reserv
"Thank you, Sydney," said the one in front of me. Because of the bonfire, his eyes seemed to be on fire as well. You could even mirror yourself through those orbs. "I will be back. I will be back safe. I am not going to hurt myself."I knew. Because of Kyra, you would have even more reason to be safe forever. We both knew we could not afford to see Kyra struggling, so that was enough reason for both of us to make sure we were safe."Are you cold already? Do you want us to go inside?" he asked me."You? Do you want to?""Yeah, so that Kyra can lie down properly."I laughed and immediately stood up. We entered the house, and I helped him put Kyra to bed. Even though I was just helping, I could already feel the weight of my daughter."I'm leaving--"I stopped him."Just sleep here. It's okay with me."He was shocked. He looked at me with indescribable amazement in his eyes. "All right. But I will just sleep on the sofa so y
"You are really sweet, Dad! Mama must have sweetly answered you so you prepared all of these!" Kyra shouted happily at Neil. Neil, on the other hand, still looked serious, who also seemed to just chose to smile even though the truth was, just like me, he also felt a lot of embarrassment right now.Soon, the cold wind blew, and we all sat down to begin what had to begin."Kyra, darling, don't be surprised by what we are going to say but ..." Neil took a deep breath, and in the depth of it, I almost drowned. "I'm doing this for you, for your future and for your mommy's. I can't just be here forever and happy without worrying about of our business."Kyra fell silent. Her smile faded. She turned to me, and I averted my eyes. I had tears in my eyes now, and I did not want them to see me being emotional.Maybe it was just because I was so tired. Tomorrow, I would definitely okay again."Are you leaving?" My daughter's voice was full of fear. I also rarel
I almost kissed him. I meant, I almost kissed him! Marcus' appearance was really right so that Neil wouldn't think that only Azucalda would soften my heart and push me to kiss him. Goodness, I still had to control myself. It was not because I was happy with what he said that I would tolerate it. You were indeed a great fool, self."Oh, why did you two stop? Go on with what you were supposed to do and I will just quietly watch it." And as expected, Marcus never left us again. He would really use what he saw to make me die of nervousness. "It's a pity that Kyra did not see you almost kissing. I hope I was able to take a picture too!"Neil picked up some sand and threw it towards my cousin's face. I also wanted to keep laughing at him because his cheeks were red like a ripe tomato."Jerk! Get out of here! You have a business problem so prioritize that over messing with us here!" I told him. Really, right? His business was also in danger so that was what he should f