Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A sharp elbow jab to her side snapped Naomi back to reality. She had been staring at the bouquet she was arranging—the one the bride would later carry.

Naomi was now a wedding coordinator and a makeup artist. She worked with her best friend, Aliyah. When Marco died, Aliyah brought her to Manila, where Naomi rebuilt her life with her child. She studied makeup—only a vocational course—but still finished four years of study related to business. Aliyah did the same. Since Naomi’s parents had money, they gave her and her friend start-up capital for the business they planned together. Little by little, she was able to recover the investment, even earning a profit.

It saddened her to think that she had to leave Ileana early today after the child’s graduation, but she had no choice. This was for her daughter’s future. Her parents were there anyway, and they promised to take her daughter to the mall.

“Why are you staring so hard at the bouquet?” Aliyah teased, making Naomi shake her head. “You’re even smiling. You’re remembering Marco, aren’t you?”

“What’s there to smile about a man who left us without a word and left behind a huge mystery? Most likely, he already had a family here in Manila—that’s why he came here without telling his girlfriend, who was already pregnant at the time,” she said bitterly.

Her friend stared at her, as if studying her face.

“But my godchild still hopes her father is alive. When are you going to tell her that there’s no hope of them ever meeting?”

“Later, Ali. It’s hard to explain things to a child. She’ll have so many questions I won’t be able to answer. And when she asks to visit her father’s grave, I won’t be able to show her anything—because I never even saw his body. I don’t know where his tombstone is. I don’t even know where he’s buried. It’s as if Marco never existed in my life after that. He’s worse than a ghost.”

She carefully wrapped the bouquet.

“Dad may be just a police officer, but even he couldn’t do anything because the family who came forward refused to give any information about them.”

“And they’re even billionaires!” Aliyah laughed, making Naomi shake her head.

“I’ll marry you…” Those were his words to her before something intimate happened between them.

Naomi had lied to her parents just to be with Marco then. Her alibi was that she had an all-day recollection, but now she found herself staring blankly at the hotel name posted on the mint-green wall of the room they had entered.

She gulped and looked at Marco. “Are you sure about this?” she asked, her heart pounding.

“One hundred percent. You? You don’t seem so sure.”

He stepped closer and smiled, then removed her cardigan. She was scared, yet excited. They had been together for a year, and it was their anniversary. In just a few months, she would also be graduating.

She felt Marco kiss the back of her head. He never failed to make her feel butterflies. The more he kissed her forehead, the deeper she fell for him. She had nothing bad to say about the year they spent together. Marco was very understanding and so loving.

“I love you, baby,” he whispered, making her turn to face him.

“I love you too, Marco,” she replied. He held her by the chin and kissed her on the lips.

She responded immediately, and as the kiss deepened, all her doubts disappeared. When his hand started to move down to her neck, she gasped and clutched his chest.

That simple kiss became more demanding, and she tried to respond to whatever her boyfriend was seeking, until they both forgot everything else. She didn’t even realize how quickly his hand slipped inside her tank top to touch her chest…

Naomi simply shook her head as that bittersweet memory tore through her mind. Her trust in love had been broken because of Marco, and she no longer had any interest in getting married. She was content being a single mother and staying busy with work for her child’s future. Even if they could be considered wealthy or well-off, she still wanted to be useful to her child. She didn’t want to simply rely on the inheritance from her parents.

Carrying the bouquet, she walked toward the table where all the wedding necessities were laid out.

She was about to place it down carefully when her eyes landed on a newspaper on the table. Who put a newspaper there? She shook her head with a faint smile. Their staff could really be messy sometimes.

She was about to look away from the colored newspaper when she thought she saw a ghost. She froze, suddenly afraid to look back at the photo.

She knew that face from long ago. No matter how many years had passed, she couldn’t be mistaken. Naomi forced herself to look again. She stared at the photo of a smiling man beside a woman raising her hand, as if proudly showing the huge diamond on her ring.

The Billionaire Marcus Ledesma’s Engagement to His Fiancée, Laureth Morales.

Without a word, the bouquet slipped from her hands and fell to the floor.