Chapter 24
15 40 Fri, May 31
For the past few days. Ciara has seen how Callum seems to be serious about pursuing her. He would take her to dinner every day and give her flowers and gifts-such as jewelry and whatever luxurious things would suddenly come into Callum’s mind.
They would meet and would talk with each other. Little by little. Callum tries to break down her walls and learn more things
about her
Callum slowly realizes that there are a lot of things that he really didn’t know about Ciara and more than half of them, Ciara only likes because of him.
He wanted to scold himself for being stupid. for not trying so much, and only assuming. Just asking a question would actually help
He wanted her on deeper levels. But at the back of Ciara’s mind, she was wondering if Callum was only doing it to gain her
full trust
But how would he use me! If you use me against the Sullivans, then isn’t it too bland? I am a real Sullivan. But what if he would exacerbate the issue, reveal that he was seeing a Sullivan, and expose me? But what would he get out of it?
Or does he want to use me to spy against Sullivan: I am not a fool to ruin my family’s own business just because of him.
Or maybe Serra is right. I’m just overthinking things because I’ve been hurt in the past and I am afraid it might repeat, which I don’t want to happen again.
Her thoughts vanished as soon as she received a call from Callum while she was in the middle of checking some important
fles:
Callum would sometimes leave a message. Now that he called, it was unusual that her brows furrowed as she answered.
“Hello, Mr. Haynes, she called formally.
setting it into a loudspeaker as she continued to work
“Are you busy? I’m done with my meeting,” he informed.
“Yes, I’m a bit busy, but it’s alright. Why?” she responded.
“I just called to hear your voice, that’s all,” he said in his slurry voice.
Ciara stopped reading the document as she looked at the screen of her phone.
“Why? Homy?” she asked bluntly.
Callum barked a laugh “You think I’d call you for that reason?”
“Why not?”
Callum laughed sexily “Really?”
Cura pushed her laptop closed and took the phone as she leaned against the seat.
“Did you call for that reason?”
“No. Of course not. I’m just checking on you” he chuckled tauntingly
It’s been werks, and Callum has been so consistent that Ciara is already used to his presence every day. He would show up and fetch her for dinner. They would say random things that Ciara was slowly becoming open to
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“How’s your family?” he asked.
“They’re fine.”
“I wanted to talk to your father again. Is that okay?”
Ciara froze a bit. She knew that Callum was talking about the father, whom she introduced.
“I’ll set up a dinner if you want to talk to him,” she said.
“Really? Then… I’ll be fine by the end of this week.”
“Alright. I’ll tell him.”
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She knew that it was just weeks and she shouldn’t fall for him right away, but she was slowly becoming that woman again who would always say yes to whatever Callum wanted.
Though her heart learned to put a boundary between them, as she was now pursued and Callum was making an effort for her, she knew that this time she would start a different relationship with Callum. And this time, there were no pretending or
secrets.
She has no idea how Callum would react, but this time she was willing to say sorry and apologize for keeping it to herself, resulting in a misunderstanding.
“This is
your date’s scent. Mommy!” Cara said as soon as Ciara went home, and she kissed her cheek.
Ciara smelled herself, and indeed, Callum’s scent lingered on her every time she would stay in Callum’s car.
“And wow! You’ve got flowers again! You already have so many flowers! Wow!” Cara said as she clapped amusingly,
“You like it?” she asked as she handed her the food Calum bought for her..
“Yup! It’s pretty!”
She hasn’t told Cara that the man whom she was dating was none other than her real father, but she wanted to tell her once she settled her issue with Callum-telling her who he really is after Callum meets her real father-so she could introduce Callum to Cara 100.
She was now hopeful that she could build a happy family for Cara. Even though her daughter is fine without a father, she knows Cara deserves to have a father figure she can look
up to.
“Are you having fun with dating, mommy?” Cara asked while she was lying beside her after Ciara read her her favorite bedtime stories.
Ciara noticed that she looked so sleepy, but still, she looked so eager to talk to her mom.
“Yup. And guess what? I’m going to introduce you to him. Do you want it?”
Cara smiled and nodded. “Yes. And then we’ll dance.”
Ciara chuckled and tickled her. Cara laughed and wiggled a bit while trying to catch Ciara’s finger.
“Oh, love you, sweetheart.”
Cara slowly closed her eyes until she fell asleep with a smile on her lips.
One thing that makes her afraid is the fact that there’s a big chance Callum might be up to something, but then again, she is doing her best to give herself a chance-apologize and start again with Callum because of their daughter.
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It was Sunday when Ciara decided to take Cara to the mall so they could bond, at least. Despite her busy schedule at work, she didn’t want to lose some time for her daughter, so she wanted to make sure they were still doing the things they used to do, such as groceries and shopping.
“Can I have this, mommy?” Cara asked as she showed the box of toys she wanted.
Ciara smiled and caressed her cheek. “Of course, baby. Do you like it?”
Cara nodded and put it on the cart. “Thank you, mommy, I wont ask for anything. This is fine.”
Ciara laughed and kissed her cheek. “You might want anything other than that.”
She shook her head. “It’s enough for me. I have more toys at home. And Uncle and Auntie Serra were giving me lots of toys, too. Including grandpa. I don’t need more.”
Ciara’s expression melted. It was what she liked about Cara. As she was growing up, she could see the contentment in Cara; she felt proud of herself that she had managed to teach her child how to only ask what was enough for her. Though she wanted her to know that she could get all the things she wanted, Ciara knows that once she grows up, there are certain things that you just cannot have, and that’s okay.
After their grocery, Ciara lets the bodyguards take everything to the car, as there were two more bodyguards following them secretly, blending into the crowd, just enough that they could guard Ciara and Cara well.
They went to their favorite restaurant so they could eat while Cara was licking her ice cream while they were walking, and someone suddenly bumped into them.
Cara stopped as her ice cream shoved on the skirt of the woman Ciara’s eyes widened so much that she immediately opened her purse for a handkerchief while Cara looked at the woman, who just groaned.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean to-”
“You brat! Would you watch your way? Don’t you know how much this skirt costs?” She yelled so aggressively, cutting off Cara’s apology that Ciara stopped her movement-not just because someone shouted her daughter in public, but because the voice of the woman was so familiar.
She looked at who it was to confirm her speculation, and she was right. It was indeed Shane Wilson-the woman who accused her in the past of killing her child.
When Shane looked at her as well with an irritated expression, as soon as their eyes locked to confirm that it was Ciara, her expression worsened so much that it even darkened.
Ciara grabbed Cara and put her behind her.
“Mommy, I didn’t mean to…” Cara whispered in her worried expression.
Ciara glanced at her daughter and smiled. “I know you didn’t mean it. It’s okay. I will handle it.”
Ciara looked at Shane again, who was now in full anger, as it vividly showed on her face.
“So you have a daughter now. Wow. You’re happily married after ruining my life, isn’t it? “Shane said and laughed sarcastically.
Ciara sighed and opened her purse.
“How much is your skirt?” She asked as she took her check.
“You think you could afford it, huh? Oh..right. You’ve married a rich man. That man whom you cheated behind Callum’s back.” Shane laughed sarcastically.
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Ciara didn’t wait for Shane to tell her the price of the skirt, as she only looked at it once and immediately classified which brand it was. She wrote down the price and gave it to Shane.
“I doubled the price for the stain. Here. Take it and shut up.”
Shane looked at her with a smirk and a death glare. The anger she has for Ciara is showing, and Ciara would feel how much
Shane hates her.
“Does your daughter even know what kind of mother she has?” Shane asked, tilting her head to see Cara, who was peeking from the side of her mother.