All Chapters of After Him: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

I heard almost everyone gasp for air, and some whispered in shock. They didn’t recognize me, or maybe I looked familiar, but still — I wasn’t someone special enough to remember.“You mean your girlfriend?” asked another intrigued reporter.I straightened up in my seat and stared at Xavier, even though he wasn’t looking at me. If he didn’t tell them the truth, I would.The whole room fell silent, waiting for Xavier’s response. But he remained quiet and kept his head down. I sighed and leaned forward to reach for the mic set in front of me.“Good afternoon, everyone. As you all know, I am Veronica Berdin…” My nerves threatened to get the better of me, but nothing could stop me now. I was going to finish this, no matter what came after.“I came here today because so many members of the media and reporters have been hunting me down — because of Xavier’s announcement about me last week,” I turned to look at Xavier, who still had his head down.No one spoke. Everyone just listened — even Sa

I woke up around seven in the evening. I freshened up before heading downstairs. The kids were already having dinner with the others. Ate Osang immediately signaled for me to sit beside her, where my place was already set.“Eat up, and then go straight to Sister Mona’s office. She’s been waiting for you, but I didn’t wake you earlier because you looked exhausted. Just finish eating quickly so you can head there,” she whispered.I simply nodded and quietly started eating.Just as Ate Osang said, I hurried through my meal. When I finished, she wouldn’t even let me help clean up — she sent me off right away, saying Sister had been waiting too long already. I didn’t argue; I didn’t want her to get scolded if I delayed.I knocked three times before opening the door. The office still looked the same — old-fashioned but beautiful. Sister Mona was seated on her wooden chair behind her desk. In front of her were two chairs, and someone was already sitting in one of them — a man.“Sister, you a

“I never used you, Vy… but you chose to believe that I did,” he said, trying hard to sound okay but failing. His voice was full of pain. He was hurting. I could see it in his eyes. “When you left that day, I wanted so badly to tell you the truth, but I was so broken seeing you disappointed in me. It hurt so much knowing you didn’t even want to hear me explain because you had already decided I used you,” his tears fell. I cried even harder. The pain in my chest doubled. He was right. I believed what I wanted to believe and shut my mind to his side of the story. I didn’t even give him a chance to explain. I just assumed, believed what Samantha told me, and walked away. “The moment I saw your world fall apart, thinking I betrayed you… it destroyed me too. But what crushed me even more was seeing that you couldn’t even look at me. What chance did I have if you couldn’t even look me in the eye?” he said with a sad chuckle, though tears still fell from his face. His eyes were so expressi

"Are you okay?" I asked. "I’m nervous," he admitted, which made me smile as I hugged him back. "Don’t worry, everything will be alright. I’m sure they’ll be happy to see us together," I whispered to him. We were on our way to the shelter in Bohol. He personally wanted to ask for my hand from Sister and the others. He proposed to me two days ago, and now he wanted us to go there so he could formally ask for my hand — and I couldn’t say no, because I wanted that too. Sister Mona and the others were the ones who took me in back then, they became my family and my parents in their own way, so I also wanted to show them how important they still are to me, at least in this way. After everything, we left. It had already been six months since I left the shelter after Lucas and I had that conversation. That night, when I finally decided to talk to him, everything became clear. I realized that everything I believed about him was wrong — and it was all Samantha’s plan to mess with us. When s

“Veronica Marchella Berdin — from the first time I saw you, I knew you’d be a part of my life. It was just a passing glance, but I couldn’t stop myself from looking at you again. I was with my friend Gian, the CEO of the company you worked for, when I saw you with your team, joking around as you left the office. Your laugh was music to my ears, so I kept coming back to your company after that. Gian started to wonder why, but I didn’t care. I was happy just seeing you every day. I secretly followed you, always stealing glances. Even when I was supposed to be watching over Samantha, I spent my time on you. Then one day, I was shocked to see you at their studio, with Samantha’s ex — and I realized he was your boyfriend. I was furious, even though I had no right. But I still couldn’t stop. I did everything I could to be with you, to get to know you. And I was right. The more I got to know you, the more I wanted to spend my life with you. What I felt when I first saw you grew stronger when