"Aunt Helena...today I met some good men...actually three in total. I believe atleast one among those three matches your tastes. Do you want to go on a blind date?" the child suddenly proposed her plan in a serious tone and took off the black framed spectacles to check Helena's joyfully smiling and charming face.
Isabella lost her patience again, she wanted to smack her child once and for all so that she'd come to her senses.
"Tina....shut your mouth" Isabella warned her child in a cold tone.
"Mom...you didn't like the man I've shown you in the morning. At least I want him to become my godfather. See for yourself how beautiful aunt Helena looks" the child said hugging the woman who held her.
Dumbfounded with the baby's words, Helena asked Isabella about the good deeds the child did the whole day. Isabella explained everything with a red face and heaving chest. "So..I immediately walked out with shame because of this devil's intrusion" Isabella said shaking her head helplessly.
The child didn't heed much to her mother's fuming and still held Helena's neck with her little arms and moved her head closer to Helena's ears.
"Aunt Helena, tell me what type of man you want? Today, I met one both with good looks and wealth but I don't know his identity yet and second one with wealth and average looks and his name's Uncle Rick and the last one with only looks and little wealth...his name's Uncle Paul. I found the first one more reliable but my mom said she wants to find a better man. But I can help you match up with one among the three I mentioned" the child murmured near Helena's ear making Isabella wonder what nonsense her child's whispering to Helena for that long.
"Really...you want to find a man for your mother? and also me?" Helena whispered back and laughed on hearing the child's innocent but mature explanation.
"Yeah...but actually I saw another man in a car who dropped the first man at the cafe. That man's too handsome and looked rich than all the three from before. I want to make him my daddy. But mom's being too stubborn and not letting me find a daddy for myself" the child said in a low voice complaining on her mother to her godmother.
"Alright...when you meet that person again, take a picture. I'll look into him for you, okay?" Helena murmured back.
Helena loved the little one so much, she played along with her plans of searching her father(s).
"Thank you mommy Helena " the child kissed on Helena's cheek immediately because she finally cheered up and felt relieved from her mother's continuous staring. With her godmother's promise, the child felt her heart satisfied for the first time since she entered the country.
"Mommy Helena ...Can I have apple tarts again?" the child asked looking at Helena before moving her head towards Isabella to know her reaction for her request.
Though the little one's way of addressing sounded odd, her sweet words still moved Helena's heart.
"Don't worry about your mom, I'll cook whatever you want" Helena kissed the child back in much affectionate manner.
Seeing the pair of one big and one little girls giggling before her, Isabella felt like she was utterly defeated in the fight with her daughter.
'How in the world god decided in making me this devil's mother? Which man in the world did the deed too smoothly while giving me this frightening seed? She's too cumbersome to handle' Isabella thought remembering the day from her past when she was sold to a mafia gang by her so called ex in-law family.
---
Outside a luxurious banquet hall in the middle of the city, a man dressed in a black suit sat in his car at the entrance with a pale face, red eyes and an empty beer bottle in his hands.
A mess of glass bottles and cigarette butts surrounding him. His body swinging from side to side and his eyes trembling in fear and pain.
"Bella...Bella... I'm sorry. I'm the fool to not realize my family's true feelings towards you in the first place. I'm sorry I caused you pain and for not dealing with those people properly. I'm sorry you suffered all these years because of my stupidity. I'm sorry to still behave like an asshole before you. I'm sorry... I'm sorry for entering into your life" That man mumbled continuously resembling a lunatic person.
"I...I..." that man tried to speak out those words he always wanted to but they got struck again in his throat.
'I don't deserve loving you anymore... forget it. I'll die here like you always wanted me to' the man thought and picked a glass bottle to crack open his own head.
He closed his eyes to make sure he's completely blind from seeing her again but the girl's face he saw for the first in the same banquet hall he's around at present, kept striking before his closed eyes.
His determination to kill himself faded and his mind replayed the memories from five years.
On a cold breezing night, he attended a dinner party along with his father held by a international architecture company for its recent project promotion. He saw the girl who caught his attention on the stage receiving an award and few other sovereigns as her prize.
He saw the girl for only once but her face got instantly etched on his heart. He followed her secretly to find her details only to know she's the only daughter of Mason Dubois whom he was forced to crush because of his father's order. He retaliated too much against his father, he finally got his way to get engaged with her using Margaret and her daughter Clara.
"Mr. Romano, I heard your family business's going down too drastically recently. How about you pair up with me?" a woman dressed in an exquisite blue evening gown murmured in a polite manner.
"Sorry but may I know who you are?" George questioned in a careless tone.
"George, I thought you're more professional like your father. How come you're so dumb to act like you never saw me because of that b*tch" the woman said in a jeering tone.
"Miss...you better mind your tongue" George roared at the woman standing beside him.
"Miss Clara, I'm sorry. My son's a bit old fashioned. He doesn't know how to deal with women. I apologize on his behalf" Edward walked forward to appease the young lady.
"You guys really know how to upset someone from our family. I'm the fool to think you really have motives to aid me in killing my brother so that I can get my hands on the family company" Margaret who stood beside Clara said in a impolite way making both the men from Romano family gasp in shame.
"I guess you people got the wrong idea, I merely wanted your help in making her and her designs mine. I never intended to ruin a family" George said in a cold tone.
"George, I know you love Isabella and I found a way for you to have her" Margaret's hopeful words reached George's head. He looked at the woman to continue her plan.
"I'll help you in getting her into your hands and also those designs, but you need to collab with us to show your sincerity" Margaret said looking at both the men before her.