"I thought you were dead. Why are you here?" Audrey shockingly asked. But he remained silent.
Grae is now lying on the couch while Audrey interrogates her father about his whereabouts.
"Why did you suddenly appear now?" Her father just stared at her. He wants to say something but he can't speak it out.
"I… I…" Her father stammered.
"Have you eaten yet?" She calls out to Manang Linda to prepare food for her father.
While eating, she interrogates her father again. When suddenly, her father started speaking.
"I've got a lot of reasons why I've been hiding. And that reason includes you. I wanted to protect you, Audrey. Not all people can be easily trusted. You have to be careful." Her father explains. "And I don't trust this young man. Why are you with him?"
"You saw the news." Audrey sat at the chair facing him. "Dad, look. I'm sorry. It's not our fault. We were just.."
Audrey's words trailed off. Calisto Alcantara saw his daughter's struggle in finding the right words to say to him.
"I get it. But, I will still have to talk to him once he wakes up." Audrey was stunned with what her father just said.
"Dad!" She warns him.
"Someone needs to be responsible." He stares at his daughter. "HE has to be responsible for you."
Fews more minutes passed, Grae woke up like he just had a nightmare.
"Glad you're awake." He looked at the man who spoke. "We need to talk."
Calisto stood up and went to the back porch of the house. Audrey stared at the stunned Grae.
"Is he a ghost?" Grae finally asked.
"I don't think so. Hey, I'm also surprised he's alive. I didn't know." She explains to him. Grae stared back at her.
"You didn't have the chance to summon the dead yet. So I think I should believe you." He finally gets up.
"I think I know what he wants to talk about. He saw the news." Grae just shrugged.
"Then I have to be ready for the worst." Audrey glares at him.
"You don't have to take responsibility. It's not like we both had a choice that time. We were chased by those people. Not to mention the paparazzi."
"Well, it's my fault too. For dragging you into this. I guess I have to get ready to be punched or what's the worst to come. Your father looks furious." He smiled at her. "Don't worry. I can handle this by myself, Audrey."
"Sorry." It was all Audrey can say. "It's been thirteen years since I last saw him. So, I'm not quite sure if his expression is the definition of furious."
"We'll see." Grae just gave her a reassuring smile. Which made her worry for him.
Meanwhile, Calisto is already waiting for him at the back porch. Sitting on a chair.
"Since when have you and my daughter known each other?" He asked him.
Grae swallowed hard before speaking.
"Since Lianne introduced her to me. Lianne was a common friend, sir." He politely answered.
"When?" Calisto gave him a warning look.
"The first day of my wedding preparation, sir." He swallowed again this time. He wasn't sure why he was scared of the man.
He suddenly thought that maybe it was because he first thought the man was a ghost.
"You dragged my daughter here. And you let the media follow you." He paused. "But I'm glad you protected my daughter."
Calisto stared at Grae for a moment.
"Mr. Graeson Montereal, you better take responsibility for my daughter. Just to let you know, if your dad finds out she is my daughter, she will be in grave danger." He spoke in a serious tone when he said that.
"What do you mean, sir?" Grae was confused.
"The plane crash was not an accident. It was planned by your dad. I just let everyone think I'm dead to protect my daughter." Grae was shocked by what he heard.
"Why would he-" He didn't finish his sentence. He was too shocked to continue.
"He wants my company. Which was, of course, managed by you now." This revelation made Grae more shocked.
He already had suspicions when he was eleven. The day his father brought his stepmother to their house. But hearing it from someone made it more painful.
"I guess I will really be the one to take the responsibility." He felt like he would be punished for his father's sin.
"You knew?" Grae shook his head.
"I just had my own suspicion, Mr. Alcantara." He honestly said while staring at him. "It's just that I didn't know if I should believe it or not."
"It wouldn't matter if it wasn't my daughter you took that day. But since you took her, I'm afraid of what your father might do to her." He stated.
"I will protect her, Mr. Alcantara." Now that he confirmed what his father had done in the past and leaving Audrey alone would only put her in danger, he decided to stay.
"Marry her, Grae. That is the only thing that could put me at ease." There is a firm tone with Calisto's words.
Grae lowered his head and was in a deep thought. A minute later, he stared at the man and nodded.
"Yes. If that is the only way to protect her." He answered.
~***~
"They've been talking for hours already." Audrey wouldn't sit still in the living room.
Manang Linda was in the kitchen. She was preparing dinner.
Suddenly, Audrey's phone rang. It was from her Auntie Regina. Her father's younger sister.
[Finally, you answered!] Regina heaved a sigh of relief. [I thought it would take forever before you could answer, dear niece.]
"Right. Auntie, would you care to explain why dad is here?" She angrily asked her.
[Oh, good Lord! He came home?] Her tone confirmed that she knew her father was alive.
"Yeah. Alive and well. What is going on, auntie?" She was walking back and forth in the living room. She finally sat on the couch when her aunt didn't answer.
Well, it took her awhile to answer her question.
[I guess he should be the one to answer that, Audrey. I just followed his instructions and took care of you while he's gone.] She paused for a moment before asking. [Did he do something bad to your boyfriend?]
"Boyfriend?" She remembered her dad went home for the same reason. Her aunt must've seen the news too. "They were at the back porch, talking. About that. Aunt-"
She cuts her off.
[Let me remind you, Audrey Alcantara. You should keep the man if he took responsibility for you. If not, you better take a chance of running away from him and forget everything.]
She was taken aback by what her aunt told her.
"Y-yes, auntie." That's all she can say.
[How long was it? Did you two dated? How long have you been going out with that hot young man? Are you pregnant? Did you two plan on running away in front of all those people that day? Audrey, I didn't raise you to-]
Regina was cut off in mid sentence when Audrey interrupted her.
"One question at a time, auntie. To answer your question, No. It hasn't been that long yet. Yes, we dated." She was talking about the time they went to the cafe." No, I'm not pregnant. And no, everything wasn't planned. We were just caught up in the situation, we decided to make a run for it."
[ Oh, Audrey. I should've stayed with you.] Regina became worried.
Audrey smiled when she suddenly recalled that she has been enjoying Grae's company.
"It's fine. He's been kind enough to make sure I'm safe here. He was blaming himself, auntie." She stated. "I feel safer when he's around."
[Well, that's good to hear. Give me an update when they're finished talking, okay? I want to speak with my old brother, who loves to hide and disappears without a trace.] She sarcastically told her niece. Audrey just chuckled.
"Sure. Love you, auntie. Call you later." They finally said their goodbyes and ended the call.
She sighed before standing up and was about to go to the dining area when the two men came to the living room.
"You guys finished talking?" She shifted her stare from Grae to her dad.
"Yeah." Grae answered before looking at Calisto.
"Well? Let's have dinner then." They all went to the dining table when Manang Linda was already finished setting the table.
Meanwhile, at Grae's office. Kate received a message from her boss.
"Okaaayyy. Another problem to fix. I should call Judge Pentoruso for this one. Just need to call for Francois for the other." She checks her emails. "Right. I have to fix the new issue with the contract. There's also the issue with the annoying media."
She massages her temples when someone knocks on the door.
"Come in." She quickly closed every application opened in her laptop, leaving her gmail open. She quickly hid her phone in her bag. "Ma'am Nina! What can I do for you?"
Nina is Roland Montereal's second wife and Grae's stepmother.
"Kate, has Grae called you yet? It's been days already." She has been worried for her stepson. She can't even sleep at night because of it.
"No, ma'am. He hasn't called yet." Kate lied.
"Please give me an update if he has already called. I want to talk to him and see how he is doing with that young lady." Kate nodded.
"I will." Kate smiled at her boss' mother.
"I wanted to meet that girl too. She seems different from all the girls chasing after my son." She stated.
"Are you worried about her too, Ma'am?" Nina smiled.
"Yes."