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Gabriel The next day I know it's considered rude to stare at someone for so long but I can't help myself. I've been staring at Arian for the past ten minutes without her noticing as she's busy talking animatedly to Kary at the breakfast table. My breakfast is right in front of me but I can't seem to look away from her, long enough to eat and I have to get going soon due to traffic and all that.I let out a sigh, almost wishing my fairy godmother can appear to change everything in my life; I'd never meet Lucille and Arian would be my wife and the mother of my children. Two boys and two girls - they don't have to be twins - my boys would look like me and my girls like her. "Mr Cruz!" Arian's loud voice jolts me out of my thoughts, startling me but I quickly compose myself and flash her a smile."You were saying something?" I ask."Aren't you hungry?" She inquires."I am. Why do you ask?" I pick up my fork."You've barely touched your food." She jerks her head in the direction of the
ArianI've never gone shopping for myself before and I wouldn't really classify buying toiletries as shopping but it's fun to scour the aisles in the supermarket, staring at the skincare products on the shelves, snacks and whatnot. I'm tempted to also buy some skincare products but I don't want to spend past the budget I'd set for myself."That'd look good on your skin." A sales attendant sidles up to me as I keep staring at a particular product. I jump and turn to look at the attendant. It's a girl and she has this look in her eyes that I don't like. Maybe she thinks I am not capable of buying the product since the price on it is ridiculous but from the way female customers are walking over here to grab one or two for themselves - it's probably a good product."Uh... I guess." I reach out to take the bottle and quickly peruse it to see the ingredients that were used in making it and I shrug carelessly, deciding to buy it just to get the girl away from me. "Thank you." I turn to walk
Gabriel "The number you're trying to call is unavailable at the moment..." I yank the earbud out of my ear and toss it on the passenger seat. I'm on my way home to see Arian since she refused to pick my calls or talk to me when I told Theresa to give her the phone. I should be in the hospital with my family, waiting for my brother to wake up but I'm currently more concerned about Arian's state of mind.Theresa had called me earlier to tell me what went down between Arian and Penelope. I still find it hard to believe that quiet-as-a-mouse Penelope had spoken to Arian like that without being provoked and then she'd walked out on them even as Theresa called her back."Guess you don't really know someone until you know them." I mutter. I fully intend to take this matter up with Penelope much later and I'll make her apologize to Arian for being so rude and insensitive. I make it home a few minutes before twelve and pull up in front of the house, shut off the engine and get out of the ca
Gabriel "What do you think, Gabs?" I ask my sister. "Should we postpone the event?" Gabi looks around at the faces sitting at the table then back to me. The Laptop launch is Cruz Tech's long awaited project because it focuses on helping disabled and normal people make their lives easier. It comes with its own antivirus which can't be downloaded anywhere, its own AI, an outrageous storage space, HD camera, outstanding operating system and many more perks. Unlike Sky Tech's design, we made the laptop a whole lot lighter to carry around and its screen is one that cannot break easily and a Find my device feature to trace the laptop if it gets lost or stolen. It wouldn't be wise to postpone the event after such a long time and I really want us to get the whole thing over with. "It'll go on as planned." Gabi finally speaks up. "Let's just get the whole thing over with." "My thoughts exactly." I nod. "We'll celebrate the success of the event with an after-party where I'll tell everyone
Arian Mr Cruz is oddly quiet. He's been that way since he got back from work earlier today and even Kareena noticed that all is not well with her father. I watch him as he plays with his food, a thoughtful expression on his face and I wonder just what is running through his mind at the moment. "Have you finished working on your speech, daddy?" Kary taps him gently to get his attention. "I'm not going to give a speech anymore." He replies. "Your aunt will do it." "Are you okay daddy?" She looks concerned. "Did you get into a fight with anyone?" "No. I'm fine sweetheart. I just have a lot on my mind." He smiles to reassure her. "It's a lot if you can't even eat your food." She says. "I'm a good listener too." "Let me process my thoughts and I'll let you in on them." He says. "Do you promise?" She lifts her pinky. He looks down at her pinky with uncertainty and it is the first time I've seen him hesitate to make a promise to her. It's probably something he didn't want her to kno
Gabriel Three days later "Daddy, come on or we're going to be late!" Kary calls out to me from downstairs. "Just give me a minute!" I call back, chuckling. She's so damn excited about the inter house sports competition today and wanted us to leave as early as five am this morning but Arian was able to calm her down enough to get her to eat breakfast then she was back at it again. "Sixty... Fifty nine... Fifty eight..." She starts counting and I burst out laughing. "Let your father be, Kary. It's still very early." Arian says. "Six thirty am." "I don't want us to get there late." She whines. "We won't." Arian assures her. In Spite of everything my parents and Gabi said about Arian, I'm very happy that she's here in my house taking care of my daughter. It's because of her that I'm not stressed out about how to take care of Kareena, given my hectic schedule at work but now that we've gotten the launch out of the way and it was a smashing success... It's a lesser workload for
Arian They say you don't value what you have until you lose it. That is very true. Watching Mr Cruz dancing with his daughter to the song blaring from the speakers in the living room makes me imagine what my life would have been like if my adoptive parents had let me marry someone that I loved. If they'd not forced me to marry Rafael. Threatened to kill me if I ever thought of running away again - Rafael had told them about my escape that first time and they'd come to pay me a visit. I'd begged them to take me away from there and I was naive enough to think that they cared about me but I soon realized that they never cared when Fernando grabbed me by my hair and threatened to cut me from limb to limb if I ever put their lives in danger by running away. That was the day I knew that I was truly alone in this world. Seeing Mr Cruz now, grinning down at his daughter with his love for her shining in his eyes... I'm suddenly very pissed off that his wife doesn't care about him or her
Gabriel I'm playing a game with myself that I know I'm not going to win. I'm starting to care more about Arian than is necessary and I don't think it'll end well for me but right now, sharing her bed with her head resting on my chest and my arm wrapped around her protectively, I don't care about the consequences. Mom and I had that talk - the one she'd told me about yesterday. I'd not liked it one bit. She wants me to get rid of Arian and employ someone else because she believes that Arian seems like an unstable woman. I told her Arian is just suffering from some traumatic events she'd witnessed in her life but she refused to listen to me and I felt like I'd heard more than enough from her and to avoid our argument from escalating, I said my goodbyes and left the hospital. Kary loves Arian, scars and all and I know Arian loves her just as much. She does everything and beyond what a nanny should do and her presence here has made Lucille's absence go unnoticed which is what I've