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A/N:Criticism is welcome as long as your are not too rude. I'm trying my best here. :)

Enjoy readers!

Comment/Like/Vote/Promote.

Photo: Andy Garcia as Nicholas Grande (Angelo's father)

Chapter 10

Angelo's P.O.V

The rest of the Friday passed by really quick, along with my mother answering all my questions that was eating inside me.

She told me about how Sebastian decided to stay and protect me anonymously during my childhood after their agreed contract had ended. She also told me that my aunt Lisa, aunt Carol, and aunt Anna weren't related to me at all, instead, they were my mother's trusted maids when they used to work in Italy. And most importantly, she told me everything about the story of the family I belong to.

"Let's start with the family bloodline." she mused. "You're father's line has been unique from the very past. Each of generation had only one child, who will then inherit all the family's fortune and deeds. The most distinctive traits of Grande family, aside from having taste buds to perfectly describe a wine, are their eyes."

That made me thought for a second. The thing that she mentioned about describing the quality of wine was true. My tongue was very sensitive in the way how a wine can taste like, as if every single molecule that makes the wine was concretely present in my tongue, tingling and segregating to each other, making its own recognition. Within just one sip, I can tell the year, the brand name, and the way it was made into wine.

I thought that it was just a trait, or more like a talent since my father was the owner of several wine industries around the world. However, after what my mother told me, it was clear to me now that it was my in blood to get along with wines. No wonder why my job back in Brisbane was a bartender. I just love wine and other beverage from the very start.

The other thing were the eyes.

"Grande's eyes are very unique. Your bloodline has a very rare case of Anaridia. Each generation has it, it has been past from the father to son, father to daughter, mother to son, and mother to daughter. However, your eyes' black colour will fade into greyish black just right after the next generation's eyes turned black- which usually at the 30th years of age. And you are one of a kind in the history of Grande since yours turned too early at the age of 21. In our family, the darker the eyes you have, the higher the rank you have, so to speak. That only means you are the new head of Grande family. Every servant of the family is under your command, the whole manner and the entire business is yours, well not until you're officially taking over it."

I was overwhelmed by the information I learned. But I'm afraid my mum wasn't nearly done yet.

"Now tell me, when did your eyes turned black for the first time?"

I was caught off guard by the sudden question; however, I tried to think about the situation when I figured out for the first time that my eyes turned black from brown. "It was just on Thursday; actually, I didn't notice it myself. There was this guy..."

Then I blushed. I never thought that thinking about Daniel makes me uneasy- but in a good and nice way.

"Angelo dear, your eyes are black again. What are you thinking now?" my mum's voice echoed softly in my subconscious, her tone was a mixture of intrigued and amused.

"I... I was just..." I tried to reason out.

She smiled and said, "This guy, I can tell you like him." My face paled and my heart skipped a single beat. Do I like Daniel? It can't be. I only know him for like two hours or so. And I can't bear to fall in love and get hurt again, the wound inside my heart was still fresh and I couldn't stand anymore pain.

My mouth was gaping like a fish out in the aquarium trying to breath.

"It's okay dear. I can see that this matter is sensitive to you." She said, probably sensing my uneasiness and the way my face drained all the blood out of it. "I'll just get back to what we were talking about. Tell me what you felt before this guy told you about your eyes."

It's not that love is a sensitive matter to me. It was just that I wasn't exactly the hardest and strongest brick in the wall. I cracked easily; which was the reason why I had dispelled romantic feelings after the painful memory I had. I bruised easily. I get scratched easily. I get wounded easily, and in my opinion, only the strong survive after so much pain and ridicules. And I wasn't even one of them.

I looked down from my seat, trying to overcome the upsetting feeling that started to brew inside me. "We were having a debate activity in class. And this guy was a bit annoying on how he deliberate his opinion. He is a bit fond of himself, too confident of himself and a bit intimidating. I have never been intimidated by anyone. Usually, it's the other way around, but this guy was different. My heart beats fast whenever he talks to me. And the strange thing was, it felt good and I want him talking to me all the time."

My mother screeched like a teenage girl and hugged me tightly. "Angelo love, you like him! And to answer your question, the way how your eyes turned black was triggered by strong emotions that you feel. Emotions like anger, hate, resentment, sadness, happiness and in your case, love!" she happily announced.

I always wanted a son and a wonderful family. Taking care of a beautiful kid and protecting him from hurt the world can give. I'm always dreaming of someone who stays by my side forever. I'm dreaming of someone who will pick me up when I stumbled down and will be my strength when the whole world is against me; somebody who can protect me cause I am weak. I was born weak. The thing is, I don't see fulfilling my dreams with a woman. I see myself living in happiness with a strong man, feeling the completeness of my soul. But that just seem impossible now; now that I was hurt and wounded, the scars from my past still haunting me.

I broke from the hug and looked at her with sorrowful eyes. That made her to calm down and regain her composure. It's funny how a certain memory of the past can change the mood of the present. "I prefer the emotion called happy than the feeling of love."

"Honey, I know what happened between you and Nathan. And I wished I could have been...."

"Stop. Please. I don't want to talk about it." I cut her off.

"Angelo, let go my love." She trailed off, looking sympathetic at me.

I was trying to fight the tears building up in my eyes. "I can't feel love again. I'm broken." my tears rolling from my eyes.

"There will be someone worthy enough for you to love. And when that time comes, you'll know. Let them fix you. Let them be your strength to move on and let go." she hugged me and tried to soothe me.

Once I calmed down, she laid me down in my bed. I suddenly felt exhausted, but at the same time, I felt light and free from burden for once. "I'm going back to Brisbane tomorrow morning. I have to go back to work on Sunday. Will you stay with me for tonight?"

Surprisingly, Sebastian couldn't be seen around the room. Knowing my butler, he probably took another room next to us to give us some privacy.

"Sure hijo. Dito lang ako (I'll be here)." She answered.

She then started to sing her lullaby to me, just like she used to do whenever she came back from Italy to visit me in the Philippines.

With her soothing voice and rosy scent, I dozed off to a deep slumber, forgetting all the worry that the day had brought to me.

***************

Sunday. We traveled back to Brisbane around 9 in the evening. I decided to spend the whole day touring the Sydney CBD. I thought I earned it after the heavy burden I carried for one day.

Sebastian and I agreed that he wouldn't make an appearance when we get back to Brisbane. It's for the purpose of not raising any suspicion that I came from an influential family. I was used to hard work in order to survive than using my parent's wealth. I prefer earning my reward from my own hard work.

I got home from my apartment early morning. I set my alarm to 6 o'clock in the evening that gave me time to prepare for my 7:30 pm shift at the bar.

 I went straight to bed and zoned off to sleep as soon as my body touches the soft and warm bed.

"What are we?" I asked. He had an expression like as if he wasn't expecting the question.

We were sitting under the mango tree at the back of our small house. I was on the fish net swing while he was on a bamboo bed sitting upright.

He just got back from the town after 6 months of living there.

"We are friends." He said, matter-of-factly.

"Do friends always say 'I love you' to each other?" he was looking around but me. "Hey, answer me. "I said softly.

"That was before." He snapped.

I was caught off guard by his sudden reaction.

"I'm sorry. Look,..." his facial expression softened. "I loved you before. And I still do, but as friend. What I felt for you before wasn't pure enough to call love." He sighed. My heart was beating so fast as my eyes gets teary, my heart was aching for the reason I didn't even know.

"I don't know what I'm feeling for you, but whenever I'm with you, I feel safe, I feel complete, I'm happy. And if its love, I didn't know that it hurts so much." I said, the first tears rolled down from my right eye.

"We were young back then. We don't understand what love really means. And now, I know what it truly means. I found this girl in the town, we fell for each other and I love her."

"Have you forgotten your promise to me? 'Forever we'll be together'" I sobbed.

"I'm sorry Angelo, but what we had wasn't right. It is wrong in the eyes of people and the everything around us." He tried to explain. "Please don't cry, you know I hate to see you crying. Damn, I would really kill someone who dared to make you cry." He tried to wipe the tears away from eyes but I stopped him.

"Don't touch me Nathan, please go away. Don't talk to me ever again." I said between sobs. "Just so you know, I decided to go to Australia with my mum next month. Thank you for your friendship and letting me feel what love means."

"You what? Please don't go. I can't live without you." He begged. The hurt was painted on his face as tears were rolling down his cheeks.

"It's time for me to love my self. Good bye Nathan." I turned my back to him as I fought the urge to hug him tight.

I was woken up the blazing sound of the alarm on the nightstand. My forehead was covered in beads of sweat as I tried to calm myself down from the strange dream I had.

I went to the bathroom and washed my face with cold water, trying to erase the painful memory that the dream had brought back for me.

"This is gonna be a long night." I thought, as I started to get ready for my night shift.

***********************

Daniel's P.O.V

Saturday. My little Jared didn't waste any time insisting about going to the shopping centre where he found his guardian angel.  He was hoping to find him again.

Unfortunately, my car was still in the repair shop and was scheduled to be picked up by dawn. So, instead of going out to the shopping centre, we decided to watch Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, again, for the 5th time followed by C.S Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia movie marathon.

Jared loves Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series and he has a complete book collection of it as well as C.S Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. Of course, he couldn't read yet, that's why it was my duty to read it to him every night before going to bed. I myself enjoyed the story as well.

While watching the movie, Jared was cuddling with me on the large sofa in front of the television; Angelo came up to my mind out of nowhere. So far, it was only me and Jared who knows about Angelo. Later that day when I told Jared about how I found an angel, I also mentioned to him that his name was Angelo, to which he giggled and said, "I think he is a real angel daddy." It was obvious that Jared would like Angelo when they meet each other someday.

I could only wish that Angelo would like Jared as much as my little son would. I hope he would love how Jared loves the Percy Jackson series and how he likes to cuddle up like a cat purring to soothe someone's feeling. Above all, I also wish that if everything had ended up in good terms between us, he will love Jared like his own son and with all of his heart.

Sunday.  It was another new day for Jared to ask me to go to the shopping centre. After having breakfast, I gave Jared a bath and dressed him up to get ready to go to the church. I told Jared that after the church, we are going to shopping centre and find his angel. He then couldn't contain his excitement as he giggled and jumped around the house, never stopping like a hyperactive kid he was. It took me 10 minutes to get ready and came downstairs.

Mother was already downstairs, ready and waiting for me, Jared was on her lap.

"Let's go now daddy!" said Jared, standing up from my mum's lap and walking towards me. He pulled me out of the house with my fingers; my mum was trailing behind us.

"I'll be taking my car honey. You take Jared out and I'll stay in the church for a while." my mum said as she climbed in her red Mitsubishi car.

I securely buckled up Jared in his car seat. After making sure he was safely seated and ready to go, I as well seated at the driver's seat. We drove off to the church, my mum trailing behind us.

As promised, I took Jared to the shopping centre after the church and patiently waiting and hoping to see his guardian angel again. But to no avail, we didn't see him.

Jared was a bit sad for not finding the person he wanted to see. Though I explained to him before we get to the shopping centre that there was no guarantee that we would find his guardian angel that day, the kid couldn't help but to feel upset about it. He does really adore that person, and somehow, that person had made an impact to my little son. However I managed to cheer him up with the new released movie of Percy Jackson in the cinema- it was the second book called Sea of Monsters.

Just a matter of time, Jared forgot about how upset he was for not seeing his guardian angel as he turned back to his old self- a giddy, excited hyperactive happy kid.

In the middle of the movie inside the cinema, Jared sitting beside me,  my phone vibrated in my pocket, signalling that I got a message.

I fished my phone out from my pocket and looked at the screen. The text message was from Dianne. I opened up the message while taking a sip from my diet Coke can.

The message reads:

To: Daniel

OMG Daniiie dovey! Alex told me about this Angelo guy and you need to tell me about him more! General meeting tonight at our bar! See yah love!

p.s: I support you!

I choked up my coke as it made its way out of my nose. I was quietly coughing so hard, Jared trying to pat my back. When I got out all the coke inside my nose and throat, I smiled at Jared who was by then seemed worried about me.

"Daddy is okay now, buddy. Enjoy the movie okay?" I told the little boy. He then went back to the big screen in front of him and watched the entire movie.

I looked at my phone again and wrote a reply to the crazy woman who texted me.

To: Dianne

Tell your crazy boyfriend that I will choke him with a gallon of diet coke!

Fine, I'll meet you later around 6pm at Alex's house and let's go to the bar together.

See yah!

I hit send and realized that I was about to face a deep interrogation from the crazy woman of the year.

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