The Morning After

KALEX’S POV

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the silence.

It filled the room so completely that, for a few seconds, I simply stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, caught somewhere between sleep and reality.

Then I slowly turned my head toward the other side of the bed.

Empty.

She was already gone.

I remained still for a moment, letting the memories of the previous night settle into place.

The quiet conversations.

The laughter.

The way she had looked at me.

The way, for a few hours, neither of us had needed to explain who we were or what had brought us to Tagaytay.

Then I pushed myself upright.

That's when I saw it.

A faint stain on the white sheets.

My eyes remained fixed on it.

I didn't need to wonder what it meant.

I remembered the moment last night when I realized she was a virgin.

I had almost stopped everything.

I remembered the hesitation that had immediately taken over me because I knew that continuing meant trusting her decision—and making sure it was truly hers to make.

She had been certain.

So I had respected her choice.

Still, seeing the evidence in the morning made something inside my chest tighten.

Last night felt different in the light of day.

Not because I regretted what had happened.

What bothered me was how little I knew about the woman who had trusted me with something so personal.

I didn't know her name.

I didn't know where she lived.

I didn't know why she had been alone in Tagaytay that night.

I didn't know what had happened before she sat beside me on that viewpoint, crying as though the weight of the world had suddenly become too much.

And I didn't know what she would think when she woke up and remembered everything.

Now she was gone.

I glanced around the room.

She hadn't even left a note.

Nothing.

Just the quiet evidence that she had been here.

I slowly got out of bed and walked toward the window.

Outside, the morning fog was beginning to lift from the hills, revealing patches of green beneath the pale sunlight.

Everything looked peaceful.

My mind wasn't.

I rested one hand against the window frame and stared outside.

For some reason, I kept thinking about her.

Not the details of the night.

Her.

The woman who had sat beside me on the floor and somehow made the silence feel less lonely.

The woman who had smiled despite clearly having the worst night of her life.

The woman who had walked into my resthouse as a complete stranger and disappeared before morning.

Maybe she had trusted me.

Maybe she had simply been lost.

Maybe she already regretted everything.

I had no way of knowing.

My gaze drifted back toward the bed.

That small stain shouldn't have meant anything to me.

It was simply evidence of something that had happened between two strangers.

And yet, I couldn't completely ignore it.

It reminded me that whatever had happened between us hadn't been as meaningless as I had initially assumed.

At least, not to her.

I picked up my phone from the bedside table.

The screen was filled with notifications.

Messages.

Missed calls.

Meetings.

Business matters.

Manila was already waiting for me.

Normally, that would have been enough to pull my attention back to reality.

This time, it wasn't.

My eyes drifted toward the empty side of the bed again.

Who was she?

Why had she been alone that night?

What had happened to her before I found her?

And why did I suddenly care?

I frowned.

This wasn't like me.

I didn't get attached to strangers.

I didn't wonder about women after they walked out of my life.

And I certainly didn't chase people who chose to leave.

I slipped my phone into my pocket and reached for my jacket.

Whatever happened between us ended when she walked out of this room.

That was how it should be.

One night.

One stranger.

Nothing more.

I walked toward the door.

Then I stopped.

For a moment, I looked back at the bed.

There wasn't a name.

No number.

No way to find her.

Nothing that could connect me to the woman who had disappeared before I woke up.

I exhaled quietly.

Then, almost against my better judgment, one thought crossed my mind.

I wished I had at least asked her name.

I opened the door and stepped outside.

The morning air was cool against my skin.

I should have been thinking about business.

About the meetings waiting for me in Manila.

About the decisions I had to make.

About Elena.

About everything that had gone wrong before I came here.

Instead, as I walked toward my car, I found myself thinking about a woman whose name I didn't even know.

For the first time in a long while, I caught myself wondering whether I would ever see her again.

Or whether that night would simply remain a memory of someone who had briefly crossed my path.

I didn't know then that I wouldn't have to wonder for long.

Because fate had a way of bringing people back together.

Even when they had no idea they were already connected.

---

JASMINE’S POV

Days passed faster than I expected.

Before I knew it, an entire week had gone by since that night.

I tried not to think about it.

I kept myself busy with work, stayed focused on my daily routine, and avoided giving myself too much time to dwell on everything that had happened.

There were things I didn't want to remember.

Things I didn't want to question.

So I pushed them aside and continued with my life as if nothing had changed.

At least, that was what I kept telling myself.

But sometimes, pretending something didn't matter was the easiest way to prove that it did.

I would remember Tagaytay at the most unexpected moments.

A quiet evening.

A certain song.

The smell of coffee.

A moment when I found myself staring into nothing, remembering the stranger whose name I still didn't know.

I would immediately push the memory away.

I had enough problems without adding another one.

I was still married.

I still had a one-year agreement with Jared.

And I still had to live with the consequences of a marriage that had never been what I believed it was.

So I focused on the present.

Or at least, I tried to.

Then, one afternoon, Jared came to me with something that immediately made me stop what I was doing.

“We need to move.”

I looked up at him, confused.

“Move where?”

“To my grandfather's mansion.”

For a moment, I thought I had heard him wrong.

“What?”

“My grandfather wants us to stay there,” Jared explained. “He thinks it would be better if we lived under the same roof.”

I stared at him.

“Why would he suddenly want that?”

Jared hesitated before answering.

“He's becoming more suspicious.”

My brows furrowed.

“Suspicious of what?”

“Of us.”

I let out a quiet breath.

“He wants to see us together,” Jared continued. “He wants to be certain that our marriage is real.”

I immediately shook my head.

“No.”

“Jasmine—”

“I can't just move into your grandfather's mansion.”

I put down what I was holding and faced him fully.

“I have a job. I have responsibilities here. I can't just pack everything and leave because your grandfather suddenly decided that we should live with him.”

“I know you have work.”

“Then you should understand why I'm saying no.”

He was quiet for a moment.

Then he stepped closer, his expression becoming more serious.

“Please, Jasmine.”

I looked away.

“It's only part of the arrangement.”

A bitter laugh escaped me.

“Everything is always part of the arrangement with you.”

He didn't answer.

He couldn't.

Because we both knew I was right.

Still, he continued.

“If we stay at the mansion, my grandfather will have more reason to believe that we're actually trying to make this marriage work. He'll see us together every day. We'll have to pretend, but that's exactly what we've been doing from the beginning.”

I crossed my arms.

“And what does that have to do with your inheritance?”

“Everything.”

His answer came without hesitation.

“The more convinced my grandfather is that our marriage is genuine, the easier it will be for him to give me what was promised in his will.”

I sighed.

I hated hearing about the inheritance.

Every time Jared mentioned it, I was reminded of why this marriage existed in the first place.

It wasn't because he loved me.

It wasn't because he wanted to build a life with me.

It wasn't because he had dreamed of waking up beside me every morning.

It was because he needed a wife.

And somehow, I had become the woman who was supposed to help him get everything he wanted.

“I don't want to do this anymore,” I said quietly.

Jared's expression changed.

“Jasmine…”

“I agreed to stay because you asked me to. I agreed to give you the time you needed.”

I looked directly at him.

“But that doesn't mean I have to pretend that I'm happy about any of this.”

“I know.”

“Then don't ask me to make it harder.”

He lowered his gaze.

For a moment, neither of us said anything.

I wanted to refuse.

I wanted to tell him to handle his inheritance himself and leave me out of it.

I wanted to walk away from this entire arrangement and never look back.

But then I remembered the agreement.

One year.

Just one year.

One year of pretending, and then this marriage would finally be over.

Maybe moving into the mansion would make things easier.

Maybe if his grandfather believed we were truly trying to make our marriage work, we could get through this arrangement with fewer complications.

I took a slow breath.

“When do you want to move?”

Jared looked at me, almost surprised by my question.

“As soon as possible.”

I closed my eyes briefly before letting out a resigned sigh.

“Fine.”

His shoulders relaxed.

“But I'm doing this because of our agreement,” I added firmly. “Not because I've changed my mind about us.”

“I understand.”

I nodded.

But as I turned away, an uneasy feeling settled in my chest.

I had no idea what awaited me inside my husband's grandfather's mansion.

I didn't know the people I would meet there.

I didn't know what secrets were waiting behind those walls.

And I certainly didn't know that stepping into that mansion would bring me face-to-face with someone I had desperately hoped I would never see again.

Someone whose face I had tried not to remember.

Someone whose name I didn't even know.

For now, all I knew was that I was about to step even deeper into a marriage I had never wanted to pretend was real.

But I had made a promise.

And promises had consequences.

So I had no choice.

I had to keep playing my part.

Even if I had no idea what that role would cost me.