“Dude, don’t be sad. What is important is you apologize to him,” Jason said. “He’s right. Forget about those negative things for now. You should ignore Miss Adriana too,” Princess said. “It just bothers me that I look like the bad guy to MVM,” Jason said. “Dude, like you said, it’s already happened and you won’t be seeing MVM again. He’s a busy man. He will forget about what happened. This is what matters: We are going to be Strike’s endorsers!”
Masoy and Jason cheered up, but Princess looked sad. Masoy said, “Who knows, this could be your chance to get famous! A new opportunity to make our dreams come true.”
Jason added, “She is right.” Masoy continued, “You dream to be a successful businesswoman, right? You even told us to mark your words. This is a stepping stone.”
Jason said, “Dude, come on, smile.” Masoy added, “Come on, Princess, are you not going to smile? You don’t want to, do you? Really, smile.” They tried to tickle her. She made a fist and challenged them, “Do you want to get a beating? Are you not scared of this?”
Miss Sunshine came out and told them, “Stop encouraging her. What if she dreams too high and falls? The fact that you won a competition doesn’t mean you should neglect your duties.” She asked them to find something to do.
Elise was never going to tell Princess about her father. Jason told Princess to forget what Sunshine said. Then she responded, “I’m used to people belittling me, but it doesn’t mean I won’t get hurt by it. They get into a fight because of me. It makes me wish that I had a father, so I’ll have someone to defend me.”
Jason asked, “Why? don’t I defend you?”
“You don’t defend me against your mother,” Princess responded. “You were so quiet earlier, but yeah, you protect me from other people. Thank you.”
Princess inquired, “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course,” he responded.
“Isn’t your father still alive? Don’t you want to see him? My father is dead, so it’s a dead end for me, but yours is still alive. Don’t you want to find him?”
Jason responded, “Dude, I don’t care about that. It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
Princess said, “It’s hard not to have a father. I wish my dad was still alive.”
Adrianna remarked, “Princess is so full of herself. Can you believe she picked a fight with me? I’m glad that Uncle Marcos backed me up, making her embarrassed.” She said this to Odessa, “If I was to decide, I wouldn’t let those two people sign the contracts. Odessa seems so lost.”
Odessa asked, “Are you okay, Auntie?”
“Distracted, but I guess,” she replied. “I’m just annoyed about what happened earlier.”
She inquired, “Auntie, what is it?”
Odessa revealed, “I saw Marcos’ ex-mistress.”
Adrianna shouted, “Who is that? The secretary mistress? The woman you used to tell my mum and me about? I thought she was already gone.”
Odessa clarified, “That’s what I thought, but this time, it looks like her child with Marcus is alive.”
Adriana asked, “You mean they had a child together?”
Marcus entered and asked, “Adriana! Who had a child?” Everyone looked stunned. He asked again, “Who had a child, Adriana?”
She glanced at Odessa.
Odessa explained, “One of my high school friends. Well, I was surprised too because he’s a little old to have a child.”
Marcos inquired, “Who is it?”
She responded, “Honey, you don’t know her. She’s now in England. One of our batchmates just told me about it. Have you eaten yet? Are you tired? How was work?”
Marcos responded, “I’m okay. It’s just a little tiring.” He turned to Adriana and asked, “How is our new Strike endorsers?”
She replied, “Uncle, everything is going well. I have already oriented them, and we are on schedule for the shoot.”
He said, “Good.”
But Adriana interjected, “Actually, uncle, it’s a little hard to work with them, especially the little person. But I’ll make sure to do my best. I won’t let her run the campaign for Strike.”
Marcos reassured, “Thank you, Adrianna. If you need anything, just let me know. I’ll go upstairs. I need to check some files,” and he left.
Odessa confided to Adrianna, “Your uncle can’t find out that I saw his ex-mistress, and he can never find out that he has a child with her.”
Adrianna sympathized, “I’m sorry, aunty. I was distracted. I was shocked about your news.”
Odessa added, “I don’t know what will happen if he finds out that he has a child with a woman. It can never happen.”
Adriana assured, “Don’t worry, Auntie. It will be our secret.”
Winona said to Elise, “I’m just telling you that you can’t hide it forever.”
Elise countered, “Winona, I kept the truth about her father from Princess this whole time. If I have to lie all my life, I will, so she can’t find out the truth.”
Winona warned, “We don’t know what could happen in the future. You never thought you could see Madam Odessa earlier, right? What if destiny is making a way to get them closer?”
Elise insisted, “I can never let that happen.”
Winona suggested, “Maybe it’s time for Princess to find out the truth. She deserves to know about her father.”
Elise pleaded, “Please! Can you please not talk about this?”
Winona said, “I’m just saying that it’s better that she finds out the truth from you instead of other people.”
Elise declared, “Princess won’t find out anything. She will never know that her father is still alive.”
Princess, having overheard, confronted, “What did you say, mom? My father is still alive?”
Elise stood up, looking stunned.
Princess demanded, “Is what you said true? Is my father still alive?”
Elise stammered, “Yes, your father is alive.”
Princess exploded, “Why, mum? Why did you lie to me? Why didn’t you tell me the truth? You made me believe that my father is dead. You know how much I wanted to have a father. Why did you keep that from me?”
Elise tried to comfort her, “Princess, I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
But Princess retorted, “But mum, I am hurting right now. I’m hurting because of what you did. You fooled me.”
Elise protested, “No, dear, I didn’t fool you
“You fooled me,” but she said, “No dear, I didn’t fool you. Listen to what I have to say, okay? Maybe you’ll understand why I did it.”
She said, “Okay mum, go on, explain why you did it.”
“I don’t want them to drive you away,” she said. “We don’t know whether your father will accept you, dear. That’s why I chose to keep the truth from you. I chose to lie to you, and I will do it over and over again. I would rather die than see you in pain.”
She said, “So mum, you are thinking that my father can’t accept me because of the way I look?”
Elise said, “No dear, that’s not true. Okay, let’s say he can’t accept me.”
Princess said, “I’ll get hurt, of course. It’s normal to get hurt, but if I ended up getting hurt, mum, it’s me who would feel the pain. It’s okay for me. It’s okay for me to get hurt if my father can’t accept me. But you know what hurts the most? That you lied to me. You fooled me. I can’t believe that you did this to me, mum. I thought we were in this together. I thought you were on my side.”
She left.
