All Chapters of Will you marry me, Mr. Mayor: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

Althea's POVThe air in Daniel’s province felt different the second we stepped off the bus—thicker, warmer, carrying the scent of trees, dust, and something sweet I couldn’t name. Manila always smelled like rain on concrete and exhaust. Here, the wind smelled alive, like it didn’t have anywhere urgent to be.Daniel grabbed our bags as if they weighed nothing. “Welcome home,” he said, grinning, his eyes shining the way they always did whenever he talked about this place.People moved slower here. They stared longer, not necessarily unkindly—just openly, like privacy was a city habit they never learned. I held myself the way I had practiced for months as Althea Balmes: ordinary, quiet, unremarkable. A girl who belonged anywhere because she belonged nowhere in particular.Except my chest didn’t feel ordinary.Daniel flagged down a tricycle and we rode through narrow roads lined with small homes and bright storefronts faded by sun. Children ran barefoot near the roadside. Someone called D

Althea's POVThe house woke up before the sun did.“Althea, come here! ” Daniel’s mother called, waving me over with a towel in one hand. “Try this on. We need to check if it fits.”“It fits, Tita,” I said, laughing softly, but I let her fuss over me anyway. She smoothed the cloth like she was smoothing my future.Across the room, Daniel’s cousins were tying ribbons on small souvenir bags, laughing loudly. Someone was arranging plastic flowers around a simple arch outside. Someone else was testing a speaker, the music cutting in and out like the town itself was practicing for a celebration.And Gia—Gia moved through it all like she belonged at the center.“Here,” she said, handing a box to one of the cousins. “Put these on the table. And don’t forget the candles. We need candles.”When she noticed me watching, she smiled brightly. “Are you okay, Althea? You look pale.”“I’m fine,” I said, keeping my voice light.Gia hummed, her eyes sliding briefly to my ring. “Just nerves, then.”Bef

Althea's POVMorning came too fast.The house woke up in layers—first the kitchen, then the hallway, then the living room—until every corner was full of footsteps and voices and hurried hands. Someone knocked on my door before the sun fully climbed, calling my name as if time itself was chasing us.“Althea! Wake up, hija! ” Daniel’s mother sang through the wood. “It’s your day! ”Your day.I sat up slowly, my body heavy as if I hadn’t slept at all. My eyes felt swollen, my throat tight, but my face—my face was calm. Calm the way a storm cloud looks calm from far away.“Coming,” I answered, voice steady enough to fool anyone listening.They flooded my room soon after—women carrying a dress, pins, combs, and a curling iron someone borrowed from a neighbor. The air filled with perfume and powder, the scent of fresh fabric and hairspray."You're so beautiful," someone said from behind.“Smile, Althea,” another said. “You’re a bride! ”I wanted to laugh.I wanted to scream.Instead, I let

Mayor Alexander's POVThe moment she walked away from the hall, the air changed.Not because of the whispers—those were inevitable. Not because of Daniel’s face turning stiff with humiliation, or his mother’s sudden panic, or Gia’s wide-eyed performance.It changed because the bride didn’t stumble.She didn’t fall apart the way people expected a woman to fall apart after a public betrayal. She moved with her chin lifted, veil trailing behind her like a flag she refused to surrender. Each step was controlled, deliberate—like she had decided that if she was going to bleed, she would do it standing.I watched her leave, and the only thought that cut clean through the noise was simple:She’s not safe here.“Mayor! ”Daniel’s mother shrieked, voice cracking. “You can’t just let her ruin this! You have to do something! ”I didn’t look at her. My eyes stayed on Althea’s back until she disappeared past the crowd.Then I turned—slowly, the way you turn when you want people to understand you’re