Chapter 1 Prologue

• (TYRON)
• Everything was in pitch black when I came to consciousness, awoken by the breeze biting at my skin. It took a while for my eyes to adjust in the darkness but just a second for me to realize I was in sleeping robes. I fumbled for the lamp in the nightstand and fell on the floor, tipsy from the liquor I had.
• Only when I stood up to get back to sleep did I realize her presence, lying comfortably asleep at the other side of my bed. She looked like someone I know…like Janine. I squinted intently to see if I was dreaming. Or if it was the alcohol.
• My body felt suddenly hotter. Unwittingly I was staring hardly at her lips, pushing back the desire to kiss them. I did and gave in to temptation I never had known was deep within me. The woman, whoever she was, responded with similar intensity. I couldn’t help but think of Janine as our bodies touched intimately and wished it was true.
• I wished it was Janine.
• (JANINE)
• I woke up breathless to a man’s limbs on top of me. I tried to thrash myself free from his weight and felt shame creep up fast to my cheeks when I realized I was naked.
• Naked!
• My movements woke him up, and before he could take a gaze at me, I pulled the blanket up to my body. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw who it was. It was him.
• “Ty-Tyron...” I stammered at him who just stared back without saying a word.
• I tried to just leave but strong arms pulled me back beside him.
• “…stay,” he whispered as he hugged me tight and lulled me back to sleep.
• I let my drowsiness take over and shut my eyes whilst his lips kissed my forehead gently. His warmth was comfortably good until it made all the memories surge back altogether. My eyes flung open as fast as thunderbolt as I recalled what happened between us that night. It suddenly felt like a joke.
• I stood up and screamed on the top of my lungs, distancing myself from him while holding the blanket tighter around me.
• “Take one more step or...” I threatened.
• He just smiled at me with that smile that I couldn’t resist. “Or what?”
• (TYRON)
• I looked at the woman as she warned me not to take a step closer. My drunkenness has worn off and I could see clearly who she was. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Janine who was adorably flushed as she spoke in dread. It was really her all along. And it made my smile widen.
• “Seems I have a really good morning,” I emphasized ‘good’ with an enthusiasm that made my eyes light up. “Good morning, Janine.”
• She absentmindedly took a pillow to hit me with. As if that thing would hurt. It was a little foolish. And cute. I got the chance to step closer at her and pulled her by the hand.
• “Let go of me Tyron!”
• She went silent when I kissed her in the forehead. “You’re mine now, Janine.”
• My lips lowered down to meet hers. She had that habit of expressing surprise through wide eyes and at that moment, she was undeniably readable. The silence was romantic and I anticipated her to give back the kiss or least hold herself from resisting. I leaned in more to deepen the kiss, only to be met with a slap that surprisingly hurt. I just smiled in response.
• “I deserved that; I know,” I said in realization that I went too far but also in disguise for another surprise kiss.
• “Are you still dreaming?! “she slapped me in both cheeks, repeatedly. “Wake up Tyronooo!”
• “I’m perfectly conscious. Want some more?” I teased.
• Slap.
• “Do you think I’m fooling around?” she was annoyed.
• I smiled to annoy her more, “Do you think I’m fooling with you?”
• I stole one more kiss on her cheeks before I stood up and looked at her, “You’re not a toy so, why would I?”
• She remained quietly gazing at me longer than usual. And that I know was a good kind of surprise. I slipped my robes on and winked at her before leaving for the toilet. She was still yelling at me and I couldn’t help but smirk at the thought. I caught her reflection in the mirror, shrugging her head with a big genuine smile on her face.
• Splashing cold water on my face, a thought popped in. Who among my two foster fathers planned this?
• (WENZIEL)
• I didn’t know if James’ family could really be called a family.
• He was a college mate to me and Eriez. Back then, I was in the College of Law, he was a Business Administration guy, and Eriez was a medical student. Among us three, only he married. And he’s the busiest on top of it.
• His wife, Mitchelle, gave birth to a healthy baby boy called Tyron but passed away right after her delivery. James was suddenly left with the responsibility of being a single parent and a director of a company in place of his late wife.
• Tyron grew up without James often at his side. It was me and Eriez who filled the fatherly role when he wasn’t around. Until one day, James suddenly got ill and spent few days hospitalized. I still could remember him being extremely grateful to us for looking after Tyron when we met him after his three-day confinement. It was supposed to be a normally happy day until things took downright worse.
• James passed out at a conference held that same day. Unexpectedly, he was declared brain dead. Alive, but never to wake up.
• Tyron was suddenly handed with the obligation of running the company that his father left behind. Eriez and I stayed at his back, all the while helping him with corporate responsibilities a seventeen-year-old couldn’t possibly handle with ease. News spread like wildfire about him, the scion to another conglomerate giant called the Cryzastic Corporation.
• It was a curse to the rich to make sudden sacrifices in the face of business. To Tyron, it was his youth. All the glimmer of adolescence has passed him by as he was bounded to the corners of a company that was facing its struggles. I used to watch him with worry that he’s wasting away his life for the sake of his father’s legacy. After all, at that age he should be making memories not paper works or conferences.
• Five years had passed since he took over and made the company thrive. The bigger the company has become, the smaller the smile that he has. He came to understand the industry so well that he even removed the sycophants, the flirty women, and the gossipers from work. He hardly expressed emotions, rarely talked, and was dead-set on making the business even more successful. He’s become an enterprise robot that even his father wouldn’t hope he’ll be. James only wanted him to be happy.
• Genuinely happy.
• @SenaMangampo