A thirty-year-old woman sits on the couch, looking lovingly at her four-year-old daughter with love in her eyes. The little girl is playing with dolls she received as a gift from her dad.
Veronica is the apple of his eye, and he spoils her a lot every day. If he could, he would take a star out of the sky for her.
He lavishes her with the kind of love he has never experienced from his parents. He wants her to have a happy childhood, he wants to protect her with all his heart.
Hannah lifts her face and looks at the housekeeper, who sits down beside her, with a smile on her face. This woman is still an angel. She has taken care of Joseph all her life, and now she also helps them take care of their children when they are both at work.
They owe a lot to her.
— Today she is extremely calm — says the woman, watching the child play.
— I wish she would always be like this. Why did she have to ingratiate herself with her daddy?
The housekeeper giggles under her breath.
— At least you have the assurance that she can handle herself in life. In the future, she will pour over any boy who hurts her.
— I'm afraid Joseph will do it for her. I don't even want to think about what will happen in the future when Veronica grows up and brings her fiancé. The boy will have no life.
The girl lifts her face.
— I have a fiancé — she replies. — Lucas is my fiancé. — She puts her hands to her face and smiles charmingly. — Yesterday, I gave him a kiss. — She points shyly to her lips.
Hannah placed her chin on her hands and looked at her daughter with amusement in her eyes.
— Just don't tell dad about it.
— I won't tell because he will be sad.
The young woman can't stand it and parries with laughter.
— He would rather be jealous than sad.
Veronica tilts her head, and her face changes dramatically. A grimace appears on her face.
— Mom, are you laughing at me?
— Of course not, honey. — She crouches down beside her daughter and strokes her face. — I'm laughing because I thought of your dad.
— Why are you laughing at your dad? — The little one doesn't give up. — You can't laugh at your dad.
The housekeeper admits the girl is right.
— I'm burned out — claims Hannah as she sits down on the couch.
Veronica sees that she has made her mother uncomfortable, so she gets on her lap and hugs her.
— I love you, mommy. I love you and daddy. And Eric, too.
Hannah embraces her daughter tightly and kisses her on the top of her head.
— We love you very much too, baby.
There is an unexpected noise in the house. The loud screams are endless until a three-year-old boy runs into the living room. He stops in the middle of the room and looks at Veronica with sparkling eyes.
The little girl gets off her mother's lap and runs up to him. She extends her hand and leads him to the playroom, under the watchful eye of the housekeeper, of course.
— She's going to be a rogue after daddy — Tom speaks up as he enters the living room at his wife's side.
— You're talking about my daughter, Tom. Bite your tongue.
Bella slaps him on the shoulder.
— Joseph may have been a stallion in his youth, but don't talk about a child like that.
Hannah opens her mouth in indignation.
— Get away from my family, please, or I'll throw you out of the house!
*
The laughs are endless. Recollecting the past over tea is what Hannah dreamed of when she was a teenager. Even then, she believed that she would meet friends for life, that they would show her support and extend a helping hand to her when she needed it.
They are now adults. Everyone has a life, a family, an assured future, and occasionally, it's difficult to believe that the years of youth have passed so quickly. Hannah went through a lot as a teenager, but she made up for this hard time with a wonderful love. She met the man destined for her, has incredible children with him and lives a good life, does she require anything more?
If she had a chance to ask for one wish, she would like to know what is going on with Jin. Where is he, is he doing well, is he happy?
Hannah dreams that one day he will knock on her door and prove that everything is okay with him. Since he went abroad, she hasn't heard a word from him. He left the company in the care of his mother Danielle, thinking that he needed to start a new life.
The other day, he disappeared without a trace.
— Why did you get sad? What is it? — Bella looks at her friend, certain that something is bothering her. — What are you thinking about?
— About Jin. I wonder, how is he doing? I'm worried about him.
Tom lowers his head, nervously playing with his toes.
— What hurts me is that he has been friends with me and the other boys since he was sixteen, and since he left, he hasn't even written a stupid word, hasn't spoken to us at all. It was as if he had forgotten.... As if we were no longer his friends.
— Veronica, looking at our photos, asked me when she would meet her handsome uncle. I answered her that he is far away now, but one day he will definitely visit her. — Hannah smiles slightly. — I hope that day will indeed come.
— Do you think he's okay? — Bella rests her chin on her hands.
— When Jimmy was with his woman in Canada, he reportedly saw him on the street. He wanted to approach him, but he disappeared into the crowd of people.
— He was completely blown away by Danielle....
— I hope he will put everything together in his life and one day come back to us. I miss him very much.
Bella rests her head on her husband's shoulder and sighs loudly.
— Not everything in life has a happy ending. Some people are born under a dark star and get their asses kicked because of it.
— Hannah and Joseph were also born under a dark star, and yet they overcame all obstacles.
The brunette smiles at the thought of her beloved.
— Every person has a destiny.
*
Veronica grabs a much older boy by the hair, who moments earlier threw sand at Lucas. She pulls him mercilessly, so hard that the child begins to cry, and only Hannah's intervention, calms her daughter.
— Mom, but he teases us all the time!
The boy runs away from the sandbox. He is afraid because he does not have his parents with him to stand up for him.
— Every child is entitled to play here, Vera. Why can't you live agreeing with others?
— Lucas is enough for me! — The girl tightly embraces the three-year-old, accidentally spilling sand from the bucket on his head.
Bella lowered her shoulders and sighed loudly, feeling sorry for her son.
— Why couldn't you make a baby with another guy?
Hannah looks with offended eyes at her friend.
— Veronica has a character, but Lucas is not a saint either. Let him grow up a little, and I'm sure there will be trouble with him. You and Tom, both of you are crazy....
— Crazy? We are just optimistic. It's your crazy husband!
Veronica gets out of the sandbox and runs up to the man, standing behind the fence.
Hannah looks over her shoulder, and her smile dims. She pales at the sight of Joseph's father, talking to her daughter.
She runs up to the four-year-old and takes her in her arms, wide-eyed at the face of the hated man.
How come he's already out of prison? Does Joseph know about it?
— Mom, is it the evil grandfather?
Joseph one day told her silly things, comparing his father to a cartoon villain.
— This is not your grandfather. He's a foreign gentleman — she replies in a nervous voice.
The man smiles at these words.
— You may hate me, Hannah, but I just wanted to say hello to my pretty granddaughter.
The young woman tightens her lips in anger.
— Do you think I would let Veronica get close to a criminal?
— Who is the criminal? — asks the curious girl, but Hannah does not answer her, too shaken by the sight of a man.
— It was you and Joseph who made me a criminal, but before leaving prison I thought a lot about it and decided to forgive my son. He was a pathetic kid who decided to get rid of his father in the easiest way. He betrayed the family, destroyed all the ancestral heritage. He couldn't fight in a dishonest way, you can see that the blood of the Scott family doesn't flow in him.
Hannah laughs nervously at these words.
— Joseph is intelligent and acted in the right way. That is what hurts you the most, the thought that he was able to get out from under your devilish wings. That's not how you raised him, is it?
— I am ashamed that I raised a traitor. — The man looks at Veronica and smiles at her. This is the first time Hannah sees that his eyes are serene. — She is sweet, but it is a great pity that my blood does not flow in her.
The brunette wrinkles her eyebrows as a dark blue Mercedes pulls up and Lana gets out of it. She removes her black glasses from her nose, assuming an arrogant face.
— Tell her husband that he has someone to take care of his dad. — The woman puts her glasses back on her nose. — It was a pleasure to meet you, Hannah. You have a lovely daughter.
She sits behind the wheel, and her lover takes the seat next to her.
— I'm about to throw up — Hannah whispers as Bella walks up to her and puts her hand on her shoulder. — They still have contact.
— All this time they must have been connected by romance. A snake and a viper together.... it's disgusting.
*
The girl is sleeping on her mother's lap when Joseph comes home. The young man moves quietly through the living room so as not to wake Veronica and sits down on the couch, clearly tired. He rubs his face with his hands, frowning as he looks at his wife.
— You look bad... Did I worry you with today's phone call?
— It's good that you called. I left the company earlier to meet my father.
Hannah swallows her saliva harder, looking concerned.
— Did you see him?
— Yes.
For a long moment, the two are silent, until Joseph speaks again:
— He found that time heals wounds, and he can no longer hate me for betraying him. — He smiles sourly. — It was so insincere of him.... Especially since he looked at me with disgust in his eyes.
The woman strokes his arm.
— I know you are sad about this, but it would be better if this man never comes near us again.
— After seeing him today, I realized that he is still the same cruel person, but I don't despair about it, do you know why? Because I have a family. I have you, Veronica and Eric. You are the most important to me. I don't need him. I have a company that I'm still developing, I didn't take anything from him, so I can still be independent.
Hannah twists the corners of her mouth in a slight smile.
— It's true.
— I would rather not have anything to do with him anymore. I met with him to tell him exactly that. I warned him that if he tried to get close to you and the children, I would take steps that would again affect his freedom. I told him that I know that he and his mistress are to blame for Solar's death, and if they stay away from us, I will not delve into the subject of the murder fifteen years ago. I think this is how we came to an agreement. Each of us will go our separate ways. I am no longer his son, he is no longer my father. Anyway... he never was.
Joseph rests his head on Hannah's shoulder and watches the sleeping child with love in his eyes. He doesn't need anything else to be happy. The important thing is that he has his beloved wife and children with him, for whom he would give his life.
They are his only family.
*
It's midnight. Veronica opens her eyes, awakened by sounds coming from the closet. The girl rises to a sitting position and stares at that place for a long moment, waiting for a nocturnal friend to come to her.
She smiles when the closet door opens and the figure of a child appears to her eyes.
— Julie?
The dark silhouette approaches her timidly, Veronica's eyes shining with happiness.
— Will you play with me?
The girl eagerly nods her head.
— You are my secret friend, so something — she puts a finger to her lips, then says in a whisper. — My mommy can't know about you....