"Alright," Clapping her hands, Leonica shooed Ashely to bed. "It's time to tuck in the blanket."It had been a few hours since she had pulled Ashely out if school during the day, taking him home so that he could rest his mind and mental health after all that had happened.Her parents had been surprised the moment they saw their daughter and Grandson walk into the residence in the middle of the afternoon. Questions after questions followed, but the answer remained the same."No one's forcing the kid to stay at school." Leonica had replied each time her mother mostly, questioned.Eventually, C*ssandra had given up, leaving the duo to settle on the couch while she joined the cook in the kitchen to prepare their dinner.Dinner with her entire family was a pleasant experience, not wanting the rare occasion to end too soon, Leonica offered to stay the night in her parents place, making Ashely over the moon.Which brought them down to where they currently were, dressed in sun and moon print
If Angelina’s set goal was to annoy and get under Leonica’s skin with her unnecessary announcement, then she was succeeding.Hearing those words, although she had expected to hear it some day, hit Leonica like a brick she had not physically prepared herself for.Her strut towards any crowded direction which she could use as an escape alternative had come to a stop, giving Angelina, who had seen her halting step, a chance to pound the horrible, yet incredibly lie for her, into Leonica’s head.“Yeah, you heard me right. I’m pregnant, and it’s Gabriel’s, so don’t bother trying to disrupt our wedding, after all, a blessed child such as mine, should have nothing less than a perfect family.”Angelina continued to boast, hands on her hips and chest as she addressed herself in a third person’s point of view.“But you know, I have you to thank for this. It’s all thanks to you being the sn*ke and b*tchy woman you are, that Gabriel could still open up his heart to me, after three whole years.” S
With a neutral expression on his face, Gabriel calmed his thoughts and heart alike before they could spiral out of control, and gave a simple nod in Ashely's direction, acknowledging him yet showing clearly that he had no intention of interacting with the younger male.At least for now, with his frame of mind, he had no intention of facing him. Perhaps some other time.Turning around, he ignored the look of confusion on Ashely's face and attempted to walk away. That was until the rowdy voices of a certain group of men caught his attention.They were walking in the direction where Ashely now stood still, looking at him, while carrying a stack of weighty and unbalanced technical props.As they got closer to Ashely, the props wobbled, showing signs topping over in the nearest future and Ashely, well Ashely was blissfully ignorant of his impending doom.Seeing the scene play out in his mind, Gabriel cursed. He was already mentally exhausted, and now he had to add this situation into the e
Close to fifteen minutes had gone by since Leonica began her search for her best friend and son altogether. Weaving her way through the crowds, she muttered strings of curses underneath her breath, bashing Angelina for having shown up to ruin her perfectly fine day."F*cking hell, where the F*ck are they?" She threw her hands up in the air, having had enough of looking around for one grown adult and a child, like some lost service dog."How the F*ck could they have even gotten this far?" She questioned herself, about to move on when a small and familiar silhouette walking towards a photo boot caught her attention.'Ashley, there you.'Raising her hand, she was about to call out to the younger boy through the crowd, but the words instantly died on the tip of her tongue upon seeing the figure lazily trailing behind him.Gabriel.Sucking her breath in, her body tensed at the sight.No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No F*cking way.She tried to shake her head, hoping and praying that her ey
Leonica couldn't hide the surprised expression that marred her face at Ashely's words.She blinked, once, then a second time before uttering the only sentence her mind could manage to conjure."What?""My...new daddy?" Ashely repeated, this time with hesitance as he quickly sensed the troubling aura emanating from his mother.Had he said something wrong?'Fudge!' Cursing his stupid unfiltered mouth, the young boy lowered his head.Leonica's brows remained furrowed. She wasn't sure what to think. Ashely wanted Gabriel to be his...new daddy? What? When had the two even gotten so close for Ashely to begin harboring such thoughts?Or was this perhaps Gabriel's handiwork?'No,' She shook the thought away as soon as it crossed her mind.Gabriel was a sly b*stard but he had no use corrupting Ashely with such thoughts if he wasn't going to benefit anything from it.This...this was obviously the handiwork of one thing. The connection shared between father and son. As much as she hated it, seei
Looking at the hard evidence in front of them, both Lloyd and Christian were shocked.The boy in the picture, some place around the age of four to five, had light blonde hair very much resembling the color of Leonica's hair five years ago. His eyes were round and held a bright shade of grey, which, just like the rest of his facial proportions, looked very much like Gabriel's own.There was no denying it, the kid they both were gazing at, or at least the photographic version, looked a lot like little Gabriel slapped into Corel-draw and edited with yellow locks."Wow, so you have a kid," Lloyd reached for the picture, examining the child's face as he brought it closer to his eyes. "An actual kid," he added with a smirk. "And here I was thinking that I'd be the first one to knock up some chick. Congrats man."Putting aside his friend's unnecessary excitement for the situation, Christian spoke. "Fine, maybe you're right. The kid does look like you,"'An awful lot!' He couldn't stop his fa
Surprise ridden by the sudden revelation,Gabriel was left speechless. He remained silent, staring almost blankly at the test result in his hand, yet his mind was swarming with thousands of questions.At last, he gathered himself and asked. "Angelina was pregnant? When?" He glanced between the doctor and his fiancee, who hung he'd head low under his stare."Eight years ago." Doctor Ken answered and sighed. "From her chat history that I have studied, it's clear that the baby had been miscarried, but Madam Fernandez insists that it was an abortion.""I'm not lying," Angelina defended."Medical chats don't lie, Angelina," Gabriel nearly snapped, the entire news of having had a child that he lost eight years ago, without even knowing of it, felt somewhat overwhelming for him. "It's either Doctor Ken forged this papers, or you are lying, so which is it?""I...Gabe, please," She begged, water forming in the corner of her eyes. Gabriel felt bad, but nonetheless he stood his ground, knowing th
"Who the F*ck does he honestly think he is?!"Brimming from head to toe with anger, Leonica stormed into her office. Behind her, Kennedy, the giver of bad news followed. Although he made sure to put as much distance between as possible, not wanting to be within reaching range when his boss finally blew the remaining of her fuse."Ms. Romero, please calm down." He advised, voice low and tentative in the event that Leonica took actual offense to his suggestion.And she did.Shooting a sharp glare at him as soon as she sat down, she questioned. "Why should I? That F*cker is obviously challenging me just to get on my nerves." She spat. Kennedy winced at her choice of language, although a grown as man, he still chose to speak in a more subtle manner compared to his boss."I understand your anger, Ms. Romero," Closing the small space between himself and the table, Kennedy gently aligned all the documents he had been carrying in his arms ever since stepping into the company this morning, wit