: Chapter 1

I glanced at my wrist.

Nine-thirty.

“Ma’am, please turn off your cell phone. The plane is about to take off,” the flight attendant said in her angelic voice.

“Yeah, just a minute.” I threw her an apologetic look.

Nodding, she walked away.

“Mom, I need to hang up now. The crew already warned me for the second time.”

“All right, all right! I will let you go now. You’re coming to me in some hours, anyway. We will be waiting outside the airport when you’ll land.” Excitement dripped from her voice. A sudden homesickness filled my mind. It’s been two years since I met them.

“And keep that boy at arm’s length,” Dad spoke in the background.

Shaking my head, I let out a chuckle. “I will see you at the airport.”

“Love you, honey!”

“Love you too!”

Sighing, I looked out the window. Another plane took off the runway, flying high in the sky. It’d always fascinated me. Though I always struggled with myself not to flip during the taking offs.

A figure slumped beside me, making me turn my head. Letting out a huff, he settled against the seat.

“How’s your stomach now?” I asked, seeing the perspiration on his forehead and flushed cheeks.

“Not good. I shouldn’t have eaten the leftover macaroni last night. God, I swear I won’t ever touch leftovers again.” He groaned.

Poor guy. Even in this crisis, he agreed to come with me.

“I’m so sorry you have to travel with me in this state, Warner. You should’ve stayed back, you know?”

He flashed me a boyish smile. His brown eyes were warm. “Don’t be. It was my decision to tag along, even after knowing my condition this morning.”

“But it was me who asked you to come with me,” I said, guilt crashing on me.

“Don’t be silly. I can do anything for you. And this is just a slightly uncomfortable journey. It will go away just in a day. I’ve already taken medicine.” He grasped my hand, entwining our fingers.

I smiled, a grateful one.

“I love you,” he said, looking into my eyes.

The smile on my lips threatened to fall, but I managed to keep it on and squeezed his hand in return. The announcement of the flight attendant for every passenger to fasten their seat belts saved me from another awkward situation.

We’ve been dating for six months now. And known each other since I joined college. We were good friends from the beginning. After my several failures at keeping up on dating a guy for more than a week, I gave up on kindling any kind of relationship with anyone. And when Warner one day asked me out at a friend’s get-together, I couldn’t turn him down.

He was everything a girl would want in an ideal boyfriend. Handsome, intelligent, humble, honest. And most importantly, he knew me so well. After all, we’ve been friends for three years now. So, when he’d asked me to be his girlfriend, I said yes.

But even if he’d confessed his feelings thousands of times before me, I couldn’t just bring myself to reciprocate. It’s not that I didn’t like him, I did. He was a great guy. Maybe it’d take some more time for me to feel more deeply for him. And I was waiting for that day.

“Ma’am, would you like some coffee?” The air hostess’ voice broke my trance.

“Do you have tea?”

After hours later, when we finally landed in Los Angeles, I found my parents right where they told me they would be. Holding a placard that said ‘welcome home,’ Mom met me with her more than usual enthusiastic hug, where Dad had a satisfied look in his eyes now that I finally came home. Though it was just for two weeks until I would go back.

From the day I decided to move to New York for my high school, he took the world of worry for me on his shoulders. They both did. It wasn’t easy for me to stay so far from them, but it’d have been more difficult for me to stay here in Los Angeles.

I needed time to heal myself. The distance was necessary. As soon as the memories of that night started to flood in, I shut off my mind, burying them in the pit of my brain. Just like I did for the last seven years.

I’ve moved on.

“Welcome home, little mouse!” The moment I stepped into the threshold, I was tackled into a bone-crushing hug. “Look at ya. You’ve grown up!”

I rolled my eyes at my brother. “You just met me two months ago.”

“Yeah, but it feels like ages since I irritated you,” he said, eyes warm with nostalgia.

I smiled. I’ve missed him. Even though he visited me often in New York whenever he was on his business trips.

“You better keep your stupid ass away from me, I’m warning you!” I feigned a serious look.

He chuckled, and then his gaze fell on Warner who looked blue in the face from his marathon to washrooms every ten minutes. He seemed on the verge of fainting at any moment. He was extremely embarrassed when he had to run for the washroom before he could even shake Dad’s hand.

Way to impress my parents.

I wanted their first meeting to be good. Dad couldn’t dislike him anymore for that.

“He is too good to be true,” Dad had said once on the phone. I didn’t know why, but he didn’t approve of him the moment he heard we were dating.

“Hey, Warner! It’s good to see you, man.” Tobias gave him a side hug. “You all right, though? You look sick.”

“Nothing serious, just a stomach bug. And it’s nice to see you too.” Suddenly, his expression twisted like someone punched him in the gut. “Uh, if you don’t mind…”

“Go right and then straight up, the first door. You will find the guest room,” Dad said with a displeased tone.

Heaving a ‘thank you,’ he ran inside.

I sighed.

I will have to talk to Dad about this. Though Warner didn’t notice his tone now, he’d soon.

“Poor boy,” Mom murmured, subtly sending Dad a look of reprimand, which he proudly ignored and padded inside. Shaking her head, she looked at me. “Honey, why don’t you go to your room and freshen up. I will make something quick for you.”

Getting a nod from me, she followed Dad. Definitely to give him an earful.

Tobias threw an arm over my shoulder as we climbed up the stairs. “So? You’re determined to keep this one, huh?”

Like Dad, he also wasn’t fond of my boyfriend. But when Dad was blatant about it, he was sneaky.

“He is a good guy, Tobias. And the best thing is, he is my best friend.”

“Is it just it? You will keep him because he is a good guy and your friend?” He raised his brow.

“Isn’t it enough?”

He shrugged. “What about feelings? I don’t see you look at him the way you used to look at A—”

I put a hand up, not letting him finish the sentence. “I like him. I think it’s enough for me to stay in a relationship with him. And you should be happy for me, don’t you think?”

Something flashed in his warm blue eyes he inherited from Dad. A look I couldn’t decipher. Then he smiled. “If that’s what makes you happy, Em.”

My lips curled up. “Thanks for understanding.”

Once he left me in my room to freshen up, I left a message to Cassie and Beth, letting them know about my arrival and prepared for a long warm bath. It’s been so long since I’ve seen them, though Face Timing was regular between us. They’d wanted to join me in New York for college, but Beth couldn’t do it because her boyfriend was here. And Cassie, well, she’d left her studies for her modeling career.

Good thing it was the right decision. Her career was growing day by day. And I couldn’t be more proud.

At dinner, Warner looked much better. Tonight was our family dinner, so delicious dishes made by Mom were the specialty. If I missed anything all these years besides my family, it was her cooking.

When she placed a plate of apple-pies before me, I gaped at her, my face splitting into a greedy grin. “My favorite!”

Chuckling, she took her chair beside Dad.

When Tobias tried to pick one, I slapped his hand away. “Don’t you dare touch them. They’re all mine.”

He frowned. “But that’s not fair. I also love them!”

“Toby, let my daughter have whatever she wants. You had them these years all by yourself, now it’s her turn,” Dad said.

“This is partiality!” he complained, making us all laugh. Mom’s irises twinkled, watching us banter like old times. Then her gaze fell on my left wrist.

“What a beautiful bracelet! When did you get it, honey?”

I gazed down at it. An involuntary smile touched my lips. It was a thin golden chain, decorated with glittering emeralds and sparkling tiny diamonds, shaped like roses.

“Someone gifted it to me on my graduation day,” I replied.

I still remember that day. Mom and Dad couldn’t attend because their flight got cancelled due to bad weather. No one from my family could attend. With a sunken mood when I returned to my apartment that night after a wild party with my friends, I found a small box laid before my door.

It was from someone anonymous. No note or name. Though I didn’t want to keep it, I just couldn’t resist it. I fell in love with it at first sight.

“Who?”

I shrugged. “Don’t know. There wasn’t any name on the gift box.”

“Princess, you shouldn’t accept anonymous gifts. It can be risky. And who would give you such an expensive bracelet and not reveal their name?” Dad’s forehead creased.

“It might be Tom. And I’m sure he is the one who sends you roses on your every birthday,” Warner said, his tone was filled with annoyance.

“Who is Tom?” Mom looked at me.

I sighed. “No one, Mom. A guy from my college who once asked me out.”

“No one? He literally stalked you everywhere until something happened, and he disappeared in the air. He must’ve taken my threat seriously about handing him over to police,” Warner exclaimed, his features were grim.

“Stalker?” Mom and Dad shrieked at the same time.

“All this happened, and you didn’t even consider informing us?” Dad gave me a look of displeasure and disappointment.

Warner shifted uncomfortably in his chair at my glare. He had to open his big mouth right now, didn’t he?

“Calm down, Dad. He was gone before I could even take any action.”

“Gone where?”

“I don’t know. One day he just… disappeared.” I shrugged. “Maybe he got the idea of my disinterest and gave up.”

“He even disappeared from college,” Warner muttered, receiving another look from me.

Honestly, I didn’t care where he vanished. But I didn’t think it was him who gave me this bracelet. Such a beautiful idea couldn’t come to a psycho’s head.

“Still, you should’ve told us, princess.” Dad shook his head.

“It’s all right, Mr. Hutton. I was there with her,” Warner chimed.

Dad eyed his lack of muscles and went back to his food. Tobias’s lips twitched at the side in amusement. He knew about Tom, but didn’t inform my parents because he knew how restless they could get about every little thing.

Mom’s gaze darted to the door. My sister was still missing.

Just as I picked an apple-pie and brought it to my lips, the sound of heels clicking against the tiled floor reached my ears.

With a big smile on her face, she sauntered closer. “Hey everyone! Sorry, got stuck with something.”

Yellow sundress, high stilettos, shoulder length straight blonde hair, blue eyes, and perfect makeup. As stunning and sophisticated as ever.

“Hey, little sis!” Lightly kissing my cheeks, she sat next to me. “Look at you, you’ve grown more beautiful than the last time I remember.”

My lips turned up in a tight smile. “Thanks. How are you?”

“Oh, I’ve been good! More than just good, actually,” she chirped, her skin glowing under the light.

When her gaze landed on Warner, she recognized him immediately. Though I wasn’t in touch with her much, Tobias kept updating her about me on a regular basis. Even though she wasn’t interested.

After we were finished with our dinner, dessert was served.

“So, Em? You heard about the party tomorrow night?” Tess asked.

Mom tensed at the mention of the party. I raised my brows.

“What party?”

“They didn’t tell you? The party at Valencian house.” Now it was my turn to tense, where her eyes shone with excitement. “A party will be thrown at the celebration of Valencian Corp’s coming on Forbes business magazine. They’re ruling the country’s business world now. Isn’t it cool?”

Tobias cast a concerned glance. So did Mom. At Tess’s question, I just nodded.

“Yeah, that boy has worked hard for it. After his father, he handled their whole business single-handedly,” Dad said, his eyes held proud.

“Why not? After all, he is my best friend,” Tess said.

Flashes of that night floated in my mind. My hand curled around the glass.

“And, another thing! At this party, I’m going to announce something really important before the whole world. So, you all must attend.”

As I was about to open my mouth to say no, Mom gasped. “Is that a ring on your finger, Tess?”

Another smile stretched across her lips as she shyly raised her hand for everyone to see. A golden ring with tiny diamonds on it glittered under the light. “H-he proposed to me last night. And tomorrow, we’re going to announce our official engagement date.”

Everyone was stunned. Something churned in my stomach.

“When did this happen? I thought you guys weren’t serious,” Mom queried.

“I know. We were on and off. There were some issues between us. Especially with him, you know, after what happened to his family? But he finally got the balls and proposed to me last night! I can’t explain how happy I am.” Her eyes shone with happy tears.

And then my gaze fell on the letter that was engraved on her ring.

“What’s the ‘V’ stand for, Tess?” The grip of my hand tightened around the glass.

She followed my stare. “Oh, it’s for ‘Valencian.’ Isn’t it beautiful?”