"Why do you always go out with him? Do you like his company that much?" -Regan 

CARINA'S P.O.V.

To my surprise, she walked towards me with quick steps and hugged me tightly before I could react.

"Oh my god! Cari you're really here!" I felt her body trembled and that made me realized that she was now crying. My heart melted and I hugged her back. I could sense that she was surprise of me hugging her back but she didn't say anything after that.

"I'm sorry Cari. After all these years I couldn't forgive myself for not telling you about it beforehand. I understand if you're angry at me. I know we hurt you" She said full of regret when we were sitting on the couch. I looked at her intently and I could see how sorry she was.

"Please forgive me for not telling you the truth Cari. It's just that Reg begged me not to tell you and that he planned on telling you himself but things got out of hand and that led you leaving" She explained when I didn't respond while tears kept falling from her eyes. I sighed and took her hand.

"That's enough Tin. I admit, I got angry at you but then I realized that maybe you had a good reason why you did that. Let's just forget about all that and move on. We can't change what already happened"

"Am I forgiven?" She asked expectantly and I nodded. She hugged me again as she thanked me.

"Why didn't you tell me about it anyway?" I asked her. She took a deep breath and looked down for a second before she stared back at me again like she was gathering courage.

"As I told you, Reg begged me not to tell you. I agreed to him because I didn't want you to get hurt. Even me, I was hurting for you that time but I understood my cousin's reasoning then. Did he explain everything to you? About his marriage and all?" She questioned me. Now that I think about it, we never talked about it. I shook my head no as an answer.

"You must talk to him about it. I think you need to know everything" I shook my head again.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Enough of this. I don't want to stress you out. You're pregnant and I don't want this to affect your baby" I said. Her eyes widened as she put her hands on her stomach all of a sudden.

"What happened?" I asked her nervously but she smiled.

"Nothing. I just felt the baby kicked and it felt so strange" She giggled.

"Yeah. I know that feeling. When are you due? Who's the lucky guy?"

"2 months from now. His name is Jace. I will introduce him to you one of this days. Anyway, what do you mean you know this feeling? Don't tell me......" She asked curiously which made me chuckled.

"Yes. You guessed it right. I already have a child. She'll be down here any moment now" I said chuckling.

"Oh my god! Really?! You're not kidding are you?" She asked again. She never changed. I was about to answer her when I heard my daughter's voice calling for me. I looked at her direction. She was with Regan.

"Come here baby. This is your Aunt Christine. She is your dad's cousin and my best friend. Chris, she is Scarlet, my daughter"

"Our daughter" Regan corrected and I almost rolled my eyes. He sat beside me and wrapped his arms around my waist. Christine giggled looking at us then she beaconed Scarlet to come to her.

"Hello Scarlet. You're so cute. Come give Aunt Christine a kiss and a hug" Christine said and Scarlet obliged.

"Oh my gosh! She's really cute. I can't wait to see my baby. I wish she would be this cute too" She chanted while staring at Scarlet.

"Of course she is cute. She looks like me" Regan said proudly which made me rolled my eyes at him and elbowed him not so gently.

"Yes. Now that you mention it, she really looks like you more even though she got Cari's hair" Christine said while stroking Scarlet's hair.

"Yes. She really is" We all looked at the person who spoke. It was Angela.

"At last, you decided to come home my dear cousin. This is a nice reunion" Christine said playfully after they hugged each other.

"Well I have enough of wandering around the world. I think it's time for me to come home and work with my mom or maybe here with Reg. Wow! I never knew you're pregnant. Congratulations. Jace must be happy" Angela said while staring at her cousin's belly with amazement.

"Yes. He's very excited. Anyway, it's good for you cousin. I mean, staying for good" Christine said and sat down.

"Of course. I missed you guys. I will go home to France in two days. Ellie kept on bugging me to visit them. I didn't want to go there yet because life there is so boring but mom got mad at me so I had no choice but to agree" Angela said and sat on the single sofa.

"Anyway Reg, why don't you go home with me? Mom and Ellie would be delighted if they learn about Scarlet. Why didn't you tell them anyway?" She continued and took Scarlet onto her lap.

"There's a right time for everything Ange. We will visit them but not now" Regan said.

"Anyway, aren't you going to introduce us to your boyfriend Angela? Don't tell me you don't have one, I won't believe it" Regan continued with a teasing tone. Angela just smirked at her brother and kissed Scarlet on her cheek while hugging her.

"Well sorry brother but I don't need a guy in my life. I am happy and contented with my life so why would I complicate things by having a guy ruin it?" Everybody stared at her. I was trying to find any bitterness in her voice but I couldn't hear any. She was just telling the truth from the looks of her face. But then I saw her eyes clouded with an unknown emotion for a second before it disappeared.

After our talk in the living room, we invited Christine to have lunch with us which she gladly accepted. We continued talking random things while eating. Regan was extra sweet to me which made my heart fluttered.

****

After I took a bath, I went to the closet to look for something to wear with my dinner with Gian. I just chose a pink skater dress. I was busy putting on some make up when the door opened. It was Scarlet with her nanny.

"Mommy, where are you going?" She asked as she climb on my lap and sat there. I looked at the time, it was already 6:00 pm.

"I will just meet with your Uncle Gian. Be a good girl while mommy's gone okay? Listen to your nanny Fiona" I said and continued putting make up. When I finished it, I then fixed my hair into a ponytail.

"I want to go with you too mommy. I want to see Uncle Gian too" She insisted while thumb sucking. I sighed and removed her finger from her mouth.

"You're a big girl now baby. You need to stop thumb sucking. Next time, I will take you with me okay? Just listen to mommy for now. I will be home early" Instead of responding, she hugged me tightly.

"Sweetheart, mommy is talking to you" I said with a gentle tone while brushing her hair with my hand. She suddenly went down from my lap.

"No! You promised to be with me always during your vacation" She suddenly said pouting before running away and Fiona followed her. I took a deep breath as I finished prepping myself. After a couple of minutes, Regan entered the room with a serious face.

"Where are you going at this hour?" He asked as he stared at me.

"I'm going out with Gian. I promised him to meet him today. It was supposed to be yesterday but I couldn't make it so I just moved it today" I explained.

"So you're going to choose that Gian over your daughter? She is sulking right now and crying. She doesn't want you to go" He said sternly. I saw rage in his eyes. I huffed and stood up from my chair.

"Regan, I already agreed to his invitation. I stood him up yesterday because----" My cheeks reddened with embarrassment when I remembered why I didn't make it yesterday. I cleared my throat.

"Anyway, I will talk to her" I said and was about to walk pass him when he grabbed my hand and stopped me.

"Don't go" He said quietly while staring into my eyes intently.

"It's just a friendly dinner. I will go home after that" I tried to be calm as possible. I hated making my daughter sad but I'm sure I could persuade her. But Regan, I'm not sure. I could see that he was angry and jealous. 

"Why do you always go out with him? Do you like his company that much?" His voice raised an octave as he ran his fingers through his hair. I heaved a sigh and pulled my hand from his grip.

"I need to talk to Scarlet" I said and went out of the room. I hate him when he behaves like that. His possessive side was surfacing. I went to my daughter's room and saw her lying on the bed crying with Fiona trying to comfort her.

"Fiona, can you leave us alone for a moment?" I asked her and she nodded before going out.

"Baby, are you angry with mommy?" I asked her while pulling off the blanket from her face. When I saw her face wet with tears, I felt bad, guilty. I wiped her tears with my thumb and kissed her forehead.

"Stop crying baby. Do you want to come with mommy?" I asked her and her lips stretched with a wide smile and jumped out of the bed.

"Yes mommy! I want to come!" She said excitedly. Her sad face lightened with happiness as she went to the bathroom. I followed her and she was already undressing. I shook my head while watching her amusedly and decided to help her take a bath.

After 45 minutes, we went down and searched for Regan but he was nowhere to be found. It's already 7 pm but I called Gian a while ago that we would be late.

"Fiona, have you seen Regan?"

"He went out Carina. He said he's going to buy something at the convenience store" She answered.

"Okay. We will be out for dinner. Tell him that I took Scarlet with me"

"Okay. I will tell him. Enjoy your dinner together" she said. When we were inside the car, I tried contacting Regan but his phone was busy. I started the ignition and drove off to the restaurant. When we reached the place and parked my car, I mean one of Regan's car, I tried calling Regan again but his phone was still busy. I heaved a sigh and went out of the car. I opened the other door and took Scarlet out.

"Let's go baby" I took her hand and we entered the restaurant. The Maître D assisted us to our table where Gian was already sitting, waiting for us. We greeted him as he stood up and pulled chairs for us.

"You brought Scarlet with you" He said while smiling.

"Yes. She was crying and insisted to come so I brought her. Why, is there a problem?" I asked him

"Of course not. It's just that I'm just wondering if Regan couldn't look for Scarlet that's it. I mean don't get me wrong, I like spending time with this sweetie pie here" He said and ruffled Scarlet's hair which made her giggled. Soon after that, we were eating. Then I remembered about the surprise Gian was telling me about.

"So, what's the surprise you were telling me yesterday?" I inquired him a little bit curious.

"Well, it was supposedly surprise. I was planning for you to meet Christine yesterday but you couldn't come. I didn't know that she went to your place this morning. She just informed me about it this afternoon. I didn't cancel our dinner because I wanted to spent time with you. I hope it's okay with you" He said and took a sip with his wine. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Duh! Of course it is. You're one of my best friends and besides, Scarlet here likes to see you too"

"Really sweetie pie?" He asked Scarlet who was busy eating her meal. I laughed when I saw some smudged on her lips and wiped it off with the table napkin.

"Yes uncle Gian" Scarlet answered. I looked at the time and it was already 8:30. We talked about random things while eating. After minutes of talking and laughing, the pianist stopped playing music and asked everyone who wanted to play. Gian looked at me and I shook my head no because I already knew what he was planning to do. Before I could stop him, he raised his hand.

"My friend here can play" He suggested which made me glared at him but he just ignored me.

"What are you doing?!" I asked him in horror. I didn't touch piano for a couple of years.

"What? I know how good you are in playing piano. You can do it" I huffed and stood up when everyone at the restaurant clapped their hands while looking at me, expecting for me to play. I gave Gian one last glare, which made him smirked, before I went towards the grand piano. It's been years since I last played the piano because it always reminds me of my mom. She really loved playing piano that's why she forced me to take lessons when I was a kid.

I put my fingers on the piano keys like familiarizing myself to it then I started playing 'River Flows In You' by Yiruma. I really liked that piece so I decided to play it. I closed my eyes as I felt the music flows in my senses. Soon after that, I was so engrossed playing. It's been years since I last touched a piano and I didn't expect that it would feel this good and how much I missed playing it. When I finished the piece, everyone clapped and cheered which made me smile. I stood up and was about to go back to our table when I saw a very familiar figure staring at me near the entrance. Regan. His eyes were gazing at me full of rage.What is he doing here? I swallowed hard and suddenly became nervous. He looked really mad.

****This update was supposed to be posted last Monday but i was so busy helping my sister in searching for a 'stage' (I think this is an 'internship' in english. Not sure though) after my work. Anyway, i hope you like it. Please don't forget to VOTE and COMMENT or maybe SHARE this story. Thanks Much!****