Chapter 3:

"Because I'm serious… I never want to see him again."

Aviannah's last words to her friend Sandra kept replaying in her mind after their phone conversation earlier. She was determined—she truly never wanted to see Andrei again. That was what she had been carefully planning: how to avoid him now that he was back in the country.

But barely a few minutes had passed when her father knocked on her bedroom door, insisting that she join them for breakfast.

Every excuse she had given her father earlier seemed useless. In the end, he won—and now, here she was, sitting at the dining table, face to face with the very man she had sworn never to see again.

She stared directly at Andrei, and he, in turn, studied her intently, as if examining her closely after five long years of not seeing each other.

"I had Vangie cook all of this for you, son. Didn’t you say you missed eating these kinds of dishes?" Cristy said cheerfully to Andrei.

From Andrei, Aviannah’s gaze slowly drifted to the food laid out before them. Aside from the ham and bacon sandwich, which was her father’s favorite breakfast, there was fried rice, crispy galunggong, dried fish, and eggs. Seeing these dishes made her unable to stop herself from reminiscing about the time she spent in Palawan with the people who had once shown her love.

“Good morning, my child. Come and have breakfast with us,” Mang Gener greeted and invited them.

“Wow! Our meal today is my favorite—dried fish and eggs!” Tonya exclaimed happily upon seeing the food Mang Gener had prepared for them.

“Alright, let’s eat. You and Jake still have school,” Mang Gener reminded them.

Aviannah wanted to ask where Drei was, knowing that his work shift wasn’t until tonight. However, as if Mang Gener had read her mind, he spoke before she could say anything.

“Uhm… Andrei is outside fetching water. He woke up late, so he’s only now getting water for the kids’ bath,” Mang Gener explained.

“A-Andrei?” she asked softly.

“Yes, Ate Belle. Kuya Drei’s full name is Andrei,” Tonya replied.

“Andrei Tuazon. That’s Kuya Drei’s full name,” Jake added, which made Aviannah pause. The name sounded familiar to her, as if she had heard it somewhere before.

“Andrei Tuazon?” she repeated the name in a whisper.

“Yes, my dear. That’s his full name. Now, let’s eat before he arrives,” Mang Gener said. Aviannah simply nodded in response, and they all began eating.

While they were in the middle of eating, Drei arrived, sweat dripping from his forehead. However, Aviannah couldn’t understand why, despite that, he still looked so handsome and effortlessly cool.

“Oh, grandson. Come and eat,” Mang Gener invited Drei.

“Sure, Grandpa. I’m hungry too,” Drei replied with a smile before sitting across from Aviannah. He even glanced at her, which made her quickly avert her gaze and hurriedly take a bite of her food. However, she suddenly choked and started coughing.

“Oh, my dear, are you alright?” Mang Gener asked worriedly. Drei immediately handed her a glass of water.

As she reached for it, their hands accidentally touched, and she felt a strange jolt of electricity. Her eyes widened, and for a brief moment, she and Drei locked eyes.

“Go on, my dear, drink some water,” Mang Gener reminded her, snapping her out of the moment.

She quickly did as told, feeling her cheeks heat up as she drank the water that Andrei had handed her.

"Thank you, Mom. You’re right, I really missed these kinds of dishes. Grandpa used to cook these for me often," Andrei politely responded to Cristy, bringing Aviannah back to the present.

Aviannah swallowed hard before stealing another glance at the man. Her heart skipped a beat upon realizing that his gaze was still fixed on her. In the end, she surrendered and chose to avert her eyes instead.

"In that case, here—eat as much as you want," Cristy said cheerfully as she placed more food on Andrei's plate.

"Thank you, Mom," Andrei replied.

"And you, sweetheart, you should eat too," her father said to her.

"Sorry, Dad, but I’m not hungry—"

"Would you like your nanny to cook something else for you?" her father interrupted.

"No, Dad. I really don’t have an appetite."

"But you need to eat."

"I’ll just eat later when I get to the shop," she insisted, eager to leave the table. She was feeling increasingly uncomfortable, especially since she could still sense Andrei's unwavering gaze on her.

"Is that so? But it would be a shame to waste all this food. Besides, it’s been a long time since we’ve been together as a family," her father said, making her pause.

"Hon, it’s okay. Don’t force Aviannah if she doesn’t have the appetite to eat yet," Cristy said to her husband before turning to Aviannah with a warm smile. "What’s important is that she’ll be there later," she added, causing Aviannah to frown slightly.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, I forgot. I haven’t mentioned it to her yet," Ark, her father, said.

"What’s happening later?" she asked in confusion.

"Uhm, there’s a welcome party tonight for your brother Andrei. Just a small celebration for his graduation and his return home," Cristy explained with a smile.

"What?" she muttered softly before glancing at Andrei. And just like before, he was still staring at her as if he were trying to read her mind.

"Your Tita Cristy and I, have invited some important guests. Some of our friends and relatives will also be attending," her father added.

"And my father, along with the kids, will be there too," Cristy said cheerfully.

She averted her gaze from Andrei and turned back to her father.

"So, don’t miss it later—"

"Sorry, Dad, but I have a prior commitment," she quickly interrupted him.

"What?"

"I really apologize, Dad, but I don’t think I can make it later."

"You should come, sweetheart," her father insisted.

"But Dad—"

"If it's about your business, maybe you can find a way to reschedule—"

"I can’t, Dad. I have a meeting with Mrs. Cheska Zhang regarding her daughter’s wedding."

"It’s okay, Tito."

Everyone fell silent when Andrei suddenly spoke, drawing their attention to him.

"If Aviannah really can’t make it, that’s fine. Let’s not force her," Andrei added seriously, his eyes fixed on Aviannah.

"Okay, fine. But still, if you can catch up later, make sure to come," Ark said.

"Okay, Dad," Aviannah simply replied to her father.

"I’ll go now," she said as she stood up from her seat and finally left the place.

When she returned to her room, she let out a deep breath, as if she had been holding it in for so long and was only now able to release it all. Finally, she had managed to leave that place. She could no longer bear the intense gaze Andrei had fixed on her as if he were carefully reading her every thought.

A few moments later, her phone rang with an incoming call. She picked it up and quickly answered.

"Yes, hello?"

"Ms. Aviannah, the team is ready for our proposal meeting with Mrs. Zhang later," said the person on the other end of the line.

"I’ll be there in 40 minutes," she replied before ending the call and hurriedly preparing herself.

Even though she was still overwhelmed by the fact that Andrei was back and that she had seen him earlier, she forced herself to push those thoughts aside. She needed to set them aside for now so she could properly focus on her work.

Once she finished getting ready, she quickly left her room to look for Mang Lito, their family driver. However, after seemingly searching the entire house, she still couldn’t find him.

"Oh, Aviannah, why are you still here?" Vangie asked as she approached her upon seeing her outside.

"Yaya, I can’t find Mang Lito. I also can’t reach him on the phone," she complained to her nanny.

"Huh? Where could he have gone? Wait, I’ll call him," Vangie said. But before she could dial Lito’s number on her phone…

"Mang Lito is on one-week leave."

Both of them turned toward the owner of the voice.

"What the hell?!" Aviannah muttered to herself. Her irritation was already mounting because she was running late, and now the man she despised had shown up again.

"One-week leave? Lito didn’t mention anything about that to me—"

"I just informed him this morning," Andrei quickly cut off Vangie.

"Oh… I-I see," Vangie could only respond to the young man.

"One-week leave? You were the one who gave him a one-week leave?" Aviannah could no longer hold herself back. Even though she wanted to ignore Andrei and not talk to him, she was furious at him now.

Andrei calmly nodded at her. "That’s right. Don’t worry, I can drive you—"

She scoffed. "And since when did you have the right to make decisions here?" she asked sharply, unable to hide the anger and annoyance on her face.

"Why? Am I not part of this family yet? Do I still not have the right to make decisions here—"

"You will never be part of this family!" she yelled furiously, cutting him off. Vangie was visibly shocked.

"W-Wait, Aviannah, please don’t argue. I’ll just call a taxi for you—"

"So you still haven’t accepted everything," Andrei responded calmly to Aviannah’s outburst, causing Vangie to fall silent.

"Yes," Aviannah replied directly, meeting Andrei’s intense gaze. "And no matter what, I will never accept you," she added, making Andrei’s jaw tighten.