Katherine was at lost for words but decided to open up to her "I overheard his discussion with his assistant. His grandparents refused to hand over their family's business to him unless he is married, so he wants to rent a bride for a year which is the duration his grandparents gave him that his marriage will last before he becomes the owner of the Baldwin Empire. As a punishment to me for eavesdropping on his discussion, he decided to make Felicity his rented bride" she shuddered as she mentioned Felicity as a rented bride.
"My, my, that's a whole lot to take in.""Exactly!""Hmm, so what are you going to do now? You can't say no to a man like that and what's worse, he is your boss.""That's it Mercy, that's why I'm confuse" Katherine buried her face in her palms."But why would he choose to fool his grandparents like that?""I don't know. I guess he just doesn't want to get married for real.""So, his plan is to divorce Felicity immediacy after owning the company?"Katherine nodded "but he said the wedding will be fake.""And he offered you some money didn't he? I mean you need to use money to rent something right?""Two million dollars and a promotion.""My goodness that's a whole lot of money!" Mercy exclaimed "you wouldn't finish spending that in the next five years!""And I will have a promotion on top, which means bigger salary" Katherine grinned before sighing "his offers are tempting but my conscience...""You are worried he would hurt her don't you?""Yes. I mean he doesn't have a clean record with women.""But you know this is inevitable right? I mean, Felicity is a woman, she deserves to witness the world the way that it is. You can't keep her locked up forever, if we want her shock to leave her then we have to let her socialize with people, she needs to know she is a grown up and who is the best to show her that but your boss? When he brings her to all those social gatherings and she learns to interact with people her age, she will start bringing herself out from her shock with is her hideout and live her life to the fullest.""Are you saying I should give it a thought?""I'm saying that you should accept and like you said, I will go with her and I will take care of her. Now, Raymond Baldwin is paying to use her to get his family's company while we will use him to educate Felicity on basic etiquette, a sense of fashion, how to act in public, it's a win for us in all angle. One year with a man like Raymond Baldwin will do wonders for our Felicity don't you think so too?"Katherine nodded as a new understanding dawned on her "but what if she falls in love?""Love is something one cannot control. Hiding her inside here won't stop her from falling in love if she will. So it's better we let her pass through the lessons of life. You cannot protect her from all of these, falling in love will be a step taken for her to grow up.""Mercy, it's not like I don't want her to fall in love, I just don't want her to fall in love with Raymond. I want her to fall in love with someone that will reciprocate it to her.""What if Raymond Baldwin does?""He wouldn't.""You never can tell...""He said so himself that he wouldn't.""Hmm, well, we just have to wait and see but I must have you know, I have not seen anyone who met Felicity without loving her, she is so adorable so I'm sure her innocent charm will hook even the almighty Raymond Baldwin.""I don't know, I just don't want her to get hurt and Raymond is the one person that will shatter her to pieces.""Then we can always tell her not to fall in love and don't you forget that I will be there to guide her, I won't let him hurt her, we will add it in the contract.""He already promised me not to hurt her.""So that's settled then" Mercy smiled "we need to let her take this chance, you don't know what the outcome will turn out to be."Katherine sighed and then nodded "I guess we can give it a try.""That's good, let her live a little" Mercy smiled.Eight months later, Felicity and Raymond were on a date, she had finally given into his persuasion three months ago and they have been dating for three months now. Although she was more matured and poised now but sometimes she still shows him her childish behavior which led him to believe that he now has three children.He has gotten a lot closer to his children and everyone found out that miraculously, Darryl was a daddy's boy. He always wants his dad around him and sometimes he claims to be sick just to miss school and then he will bug his grandaunt later to take her to work with him so that he will see his dad and will stay in Raymond's office the whole day till he brings him home. Of course he won't go to Felicity who was now working in the ICT department of The Baldwin's Empire, because he knows she will end up dropping him in the school.How did he know that?Because it has happened once to him.Although Felicity may be cute, but she didn't want to spoil her kids,
Three months later, Raymond pulled over in the driveway, he got down just as the door was opened and two children ran out shouting, "daddy!"He squatted and opened his arms for them and they slammed into him, he kissed both their cheeks, "how are you?""I'm fine" they both said excitedly."So, are you ready for a fun day?" He asked and they nodded vigorously. He smiled and kissed their head each. He looked up at the lady who was watching them, at his gaze, she turned and shut the door before approaching them."Now that we are set, let's give some rules, one, no running off, stay close where I can see you, two, no rough play and three, don't lose each other. If you obey these rules, then I will consider us going for another fun day" she said to the kids.The kids readily agreed to the rules and ran to Raymond's car while their parents followed after them. "Thank you" he said to Felicity but she ignored him.Raymond smiled, it's one step at a time, at least she
Getting to their destination, they all got down from the car and Hana looked at Raymond, "are you sure you should have come with us? I don't want little Lee rejecting us because of you.""If she doesn't want to see him, he would just stand outside and wait for us" Desmond said as they walked to the patio.Raymond said nothing but just walked silently behind them. Desmond rang the bell and the door was answered by Mercy.She was surprised to see them and she doesn't know if she should let them in or not, but at the end, she smiled and shifted aside for them to enter, "please come in."They walked in to first hear the voice of a little girl whining, "you said you will give me your cake.""You eat too much, very soon you will become fat" a little boy's voice reprimanded her."Alright hush you two, you mustn't fight all the time" a lady's voice was heard, they had made their way to the living room then to see the kids surrounding a woman who was placing two plates of c
Darryl tossed and turned on his bed, he couldn't get himself to sleep. He kept thinking of the gray eyes he saw today, the gray eyes that looked so much like his own. He has never been attracted to all those men that wants to see his mom like he was to the one he saw today. He wants to see him again. And after hearing his mom and aunt fight, he knew his instinct is right, that man is his father. Even though neither his aunt nor his nanny wanted to admit it, but he knew.He climbed out of his bed and approached his sister own, he gently climbed into it and gazed at her sleeping face, after what felt like minutes passed, he gently tapped her shoulder, "Sofie, wake up Sofie.""Mm, leave me alone" she pushed his hand away and flipped on the bed."Come on Sofie wake up, I need to tell you something.""Tell me tomorrow" she mumbled.Darryl pouted, "if you wake up, I will give you my cake in the morning."Sofia's eyes snapped open immediately, "you will give me your cake?
Katherine entered the house to see Felicity standing beside the sofa with her arms crossed on her chest, she sighed and knew she would be getting some questioning, "little Lee.""Don't call me that!" Felicity warned.Katherine heaved a sigh, "Felicity, I understand you are angry but, this is expected. You can't hide them forever.""I don't want him to know about them. For goodness sake aunt Katy, I don't want to have anything to do with him in my life again.""But you know that's not possible. No matter how bad you want to take him out of your life, you can't. As long as you still have the children, he is tied to you with them.""Not if he doesn't know about them. I want him out of my life and out of theirs. He doesn't deserve to be with them, he doesn't deserve to have them!""That's like saying it's not his blood that runs in their veins.""If I say it's not, its not."Katherine sighed, "Felicity...""Aunty Katy please" she raised her hand to stop her, "
Felicity and Katherine looked at each other before looking at him again, "why would you say that?" Katherine asked."Because I want to see my daddy. All my friends in school use to talk about how their daddy thought them how to throw ball and builds snowmen with them. I want my daddy to teach me too and build snowmen with me" as if that wasn't enough, he looked at his little sister, "don't you want to meet daddy Sofie?"The little glutton sitting on her Mommy's lap immediately nodded continuously, "yes, I want to meet daddy. Daddy will take me to amusement park and buy me ice cream and cake."Darryl rolled his eyes, "glutton, all you think about is food.""Mom, Darryl called me glutton again" she whined."Darryl, don't call your sister glutton again" Felicity looked at her daughter "but mommy use to take you to amusement park and buy you cake and ice cream.""Yes but daddy will carry me on his shoulder and spin. Then he will kiss my head and call me his princess" s