Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Iris Parker

"Mommy, where are we going?" Jacob asked, his face clearly saddening. I finished buckling his seatbelt and Jace was next.

"Yeah, and why isn't daddy coming?" I stopped when Jace asked. Ever since I started packing all of our stuffs, they've been asking questions nonstop. Although I didn't want to be frustrated, I was feeling that at this point.

"I'll tell you once we get home, okay?" I answered, trying to sound patient. As soon as I finished buckling Jace, I closed the car doors and turned around where nanay Grace was standing.

She sniffled, wiping a tear from her eye as she sighed. She held my cheek for a while as she stared at me.

"I don't know why you're doing this, but if you must, who am I to stop you?" she says knowingly. I didn't quite understand her, but I chose to smile and hug her.

"Don't worry, nanay. We'll visit as much as we can." I said sadly and gave her one last hug. After bidding my farewell, I went inside my car and started driving away Venialgo mansion.

From my rearview mirror, I stared as the mansion gradually became smaller in my view until we were out of the gates and it closed.

After my conversation with Liam last week, I slowly started gathering my and the triplets' stuff and slowly moving them to the Williams' residence. Ever since, I rarely saw Liam which kind of disappointed me. You'd think that since we weren't gonna see each other for a long time, we'd spend our last times together.

I still slept in our room because Liam insisted that I stay there while he slept in the triplets' room or in a guest room.

I have to admit, I still felt heartbroken, even more than before. The fact that we ended our relationship was only starting to sink in and each time I was reminded of it, I died more inside. But I can't complain because I was the one who decided on this.

And I hope with all my heart that this is the right decision.

From the back, the Jace, Jamie and Jacob were still asking questions about where we were going. Tired of their questions, I kept saying the same thing:

"We're going home."

The drive was probably half an hour from Venialgo and once we arrived there, the gates immediately opened. I rounded till the front yard where I could see my father standing in front of the door.

A smile graced my lips and I felt relieved that we were here now.

Finally home...

I got out first and my father immediately came towards me to engulf me in a big bear hug. I hugged him back while telling him that I missed him even though I haven't seen him only in a day.

He seemed to only glance behind me and saw the triplets from the car's window. His eyes widened and his eyebrows met as he tried to put two and two together.

I chuckled softly. "Dad, let me introduce you to them."

One by one, I unbuckled their seatbelts and they started hopping off the car. At first, their faces were all frowned up, clearly they weren't happy with us moving. Again.

However, when they focused their attention towards the man in front of them, they looked towards me for answers.

"Boys, this is my father, your grandfather." I say and smiled widely. My dad looked towards me, his mouth agape.

"Is this--"

"Yes, dad. They're my kids." I chuckled. "C'mon now, say hi to grandpa." I instruct the triplets.

At first, they weren't sure on what to do, but they start introducing themselves anyway.

"Hi, grandpa. I'm Jace, the oldest."

"I'm Jamie, the second oldest."

"Nice to meet you grandpa, I'm Jacob."

My father knelt down, lost for words as he took them all in one big hug. Soon, the triplets were complaining that they couldn't breathe and all I could do was watch and laugh.

Liam Parker's POV

They were gone.

When I stepped in the house, I could already feel the loneliness within the walls. This house in honestly uselessly large. A mansion for one person is pretty idiotic, don't you think?

I couldn't stop her, this is what she wanted. She wanted to be away from me and who am I to stop her? After all, I'm just the person who ruined her life.

I carried the beer cans with me to the garden bench where I sat with her when she was crying. Back when she told me how much she was hurting and I couldn't do anything but say sorry.

Damned sorry and all these apologies. As if they do anything.

I realize now that saying sorry is like putting bandaid on a wound that needs surgery.

I hoped my sorry reached her and she would feel how sincere I was and how badly I wanted her to stay. But no. It didn't.

I opened a can of beer and drank half of it in one sip.

"I don't remember teaching you to drink like that." a voice suddenly said and I look, searching for the owner of the voice. Of course it was nanay Grace.

I tried to smile apologetically while putting the cans of beer out of her sight although she already caught me. She walked towards me and sat beside me. The spot where Iris was sitting on.

Nanay Grace was practically the one who raised me since my parents were always busy. They hired her as my nanny and well, she grew on me. She taught me many things and I've always been grateful for that. I'm convinced that if it wasn't for her, I would probably have grown to be much worse.

I remember how she would hit the back of my hands with a wooden stick whenever I did something wrong. She wasn't afraid of my parents, she wasn't afraid of who we were. To her, she was only doing her job. And I guess it worked. She put some sense in me.

"So, what are you planning to do now, anak? Are you just going to let Iris go like that?" she asks. [A/N: anak = my child.] I couldn't help but giggle.

"Funny, you're asking nanay because I have no clue. All I know is that she doesn't want to be with me anymore." I explain.

"And you believe her?" nanay Grace pauses to sigh knowingly.

I turn towards her and smile sadly. "Well, do you have any better idea?" I ask.

"That's not the real question. Hay naku, you kids. Why are you making things so complicated, like those Filipino soap operas, my goodness." she says again and this time, a laugh escaped my mouth. It was only now that I see her pulling our her fan as she started fanning herself. [Hay naku = a Filipino expression that kind of means, oh my goodness.]

"Okay, so what's the real question?"

This time, she turned to me and she raised her glasses and looked at me with all seriousness.

"Do you still love her?"

I was taken aback by her question, but at the same time I wondered why she was asking. She and I both knew the answer to that.

"Of course I still do, but that doesn't mean anything anymore, nanay. She still hates me. She can't stand being around me." I see her rolling her eyes.

"Okay, let's say that she does hate you and can't stand being around you. But what about you? What have you done to show her that you love her?"

Again, her question caught me off guard and made me think for a while.

What have I done?

"Uhm, see, that's the tricky part. How can I show her that I love her if she still hates me? I mean of course I apologized and was nice and gentle--"

"Haaay naku, anak! See, that's the problem with men like you! You all say that you love them and assume all sorts of stuff without even knowing if that's how they really feel." nanay Grace fanned herself some more.

"Then what should I do? She's gone now."

"Are you really the same Liam that I raised? My my, ever since you fell in love with Iris, you've been a hopeless case." she stood up. She walked a few steps beside me where she picked up the cans of beer. "As for this, I'll be throwing it away. One can is enough. I don't want the--"

"It won't happen again, nanay Grace. I promised you that." I smiled. She nodded and said her good night as she left.

I stayed there for a long time, replaying her question in my head.

What have I done?