February 2005, NYU

“You should tell her, man.” Zach told him.

“Tell her what?” Liam acted like he didn’t know what his friend was talking about.

“That you like her, moron. She’s out there with that bastard Cameron, Cameron spending Valentine’s Day and you’re here drinking beer with me.”

“She doesn’t even want to see our faces, remember?” He shook his head. “Why the hell did you hand her that rose?”

“I didn’t intend to do anything! I wrote your name on the card. If she had just accepted it, she would have known you’re digging her.”

“I didn’t ask you to do anything, Zach. I’m handling it.”

His friend arched his brow. “Really? How?”

2013

It was already known to those who knew him that Kyle was a very handsome guy. For Liam, he was too pretty to be a guy. Blame it on his old feelings for Chanty, but this man just didn’t appeal to him. He’d rather spend the day with Pete.

“We’re a long way from the finish line and I hope we get things straight first,” Kyle said, facing him. The man was wearing a simple white shirt and rugged pants. His black hair was neatly brushed away from his serious face.

Liam raised his brows. He didn’t expect the man to initiate the talk.

“I just want you to know that Chanty and I are good friends. And I now know that you two are…” the man trailed off and let his gestures finish his sentence. “Just want to let you know that I’m cool with it and I hope that you don’t feel anything toward me that may affect our work. The relationship I have with Chanty is not like the one we had. We’re very good friends and I hope you understand that.”

Okay, he changed his mind. Kyle was a nice guy after all. Liam liked his friends honest and perceptive. The guy knew where he should stand and that was enough for him.

“Hey,” he reached out his hand and added, “I’m cool with it.”

Kyle grabbed his hand and shook it. Liam was glad he didn’t have to take his frustrations out on the man.

“So, what do you intend to do now?” Cassandra was the one to ask the question. Angelica was busy looking at her nails, probably thinking of multiple things in her brain.

They were inside her office and Chanty couldn’t get away from her friends. Angelica was not due to go back to the hospital where she worked as a doctor in a week and Cassandra had her time to herself being self-employed as what she called it.

“I don’t know yet. I guess I’ll just do what’s right,” Chanty lied to her friends.

Angelica looked at her with a frown. “And what do you think is right?”

“Wait,” Cassandra interrupted Chanty’s answer. “You told Liam the truth, right?” she asked.

Angelica glanced up from her nails. And then she and Cassandra’s eyes bulged in shock when they saw Chanty’s gaze waver away. “You didn’t tell him!” they both cried.

“Well, I tried! I did! And he wouldn’t believe me!” she gritted out in frustration. “Can you believe it? I am Chanty Strindberg and I don’t lie like the two of you.”

“Hey!” they both cried out.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” she said, brushing their protest with one hand. “Liam wouldn’t believe me. He thinks I was only saying those things because I didn’t want him to play his part as Willie’s dad. And then he gave the speech of I have a stronger reason to stay.”

“Aaw… that so sweet!” Angelica said.

“Not at all. I feel guilty already.”

“Why?” Cass asked.

“Because I told him he was right, that it was true. Willie is his son. I only told him that because I realized I might just have the chance to make Cameron go away.”

“Cameron will want tests,” Angelica challenged.

“Yes, but if we can fake the result, then my problem will be solved.”

“Hmm…that’s not really reassuring. How do you fake a result?” asked Cass.

“There is actually a way around it,” Angelica announced. “Henry said they had faked a lot of things in the past.”

“We can’t let anyone know about this lie,” Chanty rushed. “You can’t tell your husbands. If the number of people who know the truth increases, the bigger chance it will be for the lie to spread. I don’t want it to reach Cameron’s ears. So please, girls, leave your husbands out of this.”

“Fine,” they drawled.

“But how do you fake it? If we can’t ask for Henry’s help, how would you do it?” asked Angelica.

Chanty had no answer for that.

“I have an idea,” Cass uttered, her face lighting up.

That very moment, Chanty knew Cass finally realized her desperation and she decided to give her full support.

“But before I tell you about it, I just want you to know that…” Cass said as she opened her phone. “My husband is on his way and he wants to talk to you and Liam. Like now.”

Chanty groaned. Philip had been quiet yesterday about the sudden news of Willie’s alleged real dad, but it seemed that her big brother was not going to keep his mouth shut for long.

“What do you mean? She’s pregnant?” Liam asked, holding his phone in his hand. Zachary Astor was calling him again to share his problem with Julianne, the girl from that stupid contest he had got himself into. It was actually because of Liam’s challenge that Zach decided to enter the show. But lo and behold, he succeeded in making his friend believe that there was actually a woman out there for him. And it was in the person of Julianne Grey who had been giving Zach a hell of a difficult time.

If Liam could do it, he would shake the woman to her senses. She had been dragging this thing between her and Zach for a long time and Liam badly needed a friend right now and Zach could not be there if she would continue being such a hard-head.

“What? How the hell did you find out?” he asked again. “You know what? Don’t explain. I don’t need this right now. I’m doing the job you should be doing but that’s fine. I’m having problems of my own. I’ll talk to you when you get Jules—okay, okay, Julianne!” Zach hated it when somebody else called Julianne Jules. “Just call me when you get Julianne to her senses and she stops being such an ass. No, I will not apologize for that. You both deserve what’s happening with you two. Fix it like a man and help me with my problem with Chanty and our son!” He punched the red button before Zach could utter another word.

He knew his last sentence would make Zach crazy as hell. And sure enough, his friend was calling him again. He didn’t answer the phone. The man could come here himself if he wanted answers.

He had had a long day at the site with Kyle and he would have to go back home. Chanty had called that Philip was coming over and he was sure it would not be a very good meeting. Philip Strindberg was not such a good and pleasant man to talk with and now that he found out Liam was Willie’s father, Liam would surely have a hard time.

Philip was not in a very good mood and Chanty was very sure of that. She knew her brother well enough and the look on his face was shouting total devastation.

“Where is he?” he asked for the fifth time.

“He is at work,” she answered for the fifth time.

“He’s taking his precious time.”

“Come on, babe. Give the man some slack. He just found out himself yesterday.” It was Cassandra who said it. She was the only person brave enough to answer back to Philip.

“My sister should have known better than to lead us on,” Philip threw Chanty a glance.

“Well, we also kind of lied to them, didn’t we?” Cassandra reminded him.

Angelica nodded. “Yeah, you two did a lot of lying back then.”

The secret that Philip and Cassandra had been hiding for years was finally revealed a year ago when Cassandra couldn’t take it anymore. Their parents were shocked but it didn’t last for a long time given that they had resolved the problem on their own.

“This is different,” Philip insisted.

“I have our own reasons why I lied,” Chanty uttered. If they were thinking about why she lied about Willie’s father, let them be. She was talking about why she lied about Liam being Willie’s father.

“You made us believe that Cameron was the father,” Philip said stonily.

“It is because no one really asked her,” Angelica answered, looking up the ceiling like the answers were pasted up there. God, her friend was such a good liar! However could Henry tell whether she was lying or not? Even Chanty, after all these years of being with Angelica, couldn’t point out her lying and I’m-telling-the-truth moments most of the time. “Well, yeah, to think of it, no one really asked who the father was. We just assumed it was Cameron,” Angelica continued.

Everybody was silent. Angelica was right. No one asked if Cameron was in fact the father when she spilled the news that she was pregnant five years ago.

“Then why did you not correct us?” her brother asked.

“Because I didn’t want you guys going after the father of my child,” she answered back, her brain working for a believable lie. “Before I found out I was pregnant, Liam was on his way to London. We had a thing, but it didn’t work out.”

“Did you tell him? Did you tell him when you found out?”

“I told you, I didn’t. I had an affair with Liam. He left, I got pregnant, Cameron left and that’s the end of it. I didn’t bother telling Liam knowing that things were still hazy between us.” Angelica was looking at her with pride. She shot her friend a look. Cass was silent beside her husband, but she could recognize the awe on her sister-in-law’s face. The lie was spontaneous, she knew that. And it alarmed her. This was getting easier and she was afraid where it might lead. Sooner or later, she would leave loose ends.

“Then why did Cameron think he’s the father?”

“I didn’t tell him about Liam. I told him I was pregnant and he got scared.”

“And now he’s back and so is Liam,” Angelica summarized. “Now it’s clear. It’s all clear. Oh my god, Chanty, you should have told us!” She kicked her friend under the table. Her acting was not helping her think straight.

“That I cheated on Cameron? Come on…” she puffed out the answer she could come up with, her eyes on her brother.

“Well, okay, that’s considerable,” Angelica added. “I would have freaked out.” And then she threw Chanty a wink, telling her that she was doing a good job.

“Sorry, I’m late. I got stuck in traffic—” It was Liam coming inside the room and before he could finish his statement, he received a blow from Philip’s right fist.

“Philip!” it was Chanty who came to his rescue. “You don’t have to do that!” Liam felt her hands on his shoulders. He was hunched to his knees, his hands on his nose. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he managed to answer before he straightened up. “I deserved that,” he lied. Of course he didn’t deserve it. He was a victim here as well and he received a blow to the nose? But then, if he wanted things to be easy for him, he had to let Chanty’s big brother take his anger out on him.

“Yes, you deserve it,” Philip almost shouted, but his features were still composed. His head turned to his sister. “When did you tell him?”

Liam didn’t want to answer that. As much as he wanted to step into Chanty’s feet and face her brother’s questions, Chanty had to answer that one.

“I told you already! I just told him yesterday!” Chanty answered. “I’m telling you, Philip, Liam didn’t know until I told him.”

Philip clenched his jaw. Obviously, the man was trying to keep his anger from bursting out as it already did.

“I’m trying to fix it if you will only let me,” Liam said wholeheartedly. He truly wanted to fix everything for Chanty. He wanted her problems gone and he wanted to get to know his son and become his father. Cameron had to give up. That was the first step. But it was also important that Philip accepted this new fact.

“I can see that you’re trying to make it up to Chanty,” Philip faced him like he had never done before. This was Philip Strindberg the brother, not Philip Strindberg the big businessman. “You have been tailing her like a dog since NYU as what I have heard.”

Liam looked away. Well, that was true. He couldn’t contain himself when it came to Chanty.

“The question here is,” Chanty’s brother looked him in the eyes. “What are you going to do with Willie?”

“What?” Chanty asked in alarm.

Philip looked at the two of them, not hearing his sister. “When are you going to make it up to the kid? He deserves to know his father after four years of having none.”

Liam opened his mouth to speak but Chanty stopped him. “I don’t want to shock Willie—” Chanty started but Philip held up his hand to stop her.

“I am not talking about how you are going to tell him. I am asking about when you are going to tell him. I don’t care how, I don’t care where. I am asking when?” Philip Strindberg’s voice rose higher and higher as he talked.

Liam could see Angelica and Cassandra in one corner. The two women knew where they stood in this conversation and they were not saying a word. As talkative as Angelica was, it was really the right time that she uttered a word like, ‘stop and breath for a while, Philip.’

But no, they were on this one alone—Chanty and him.

“Is your silence telling me that you are not planning on meeting your son anytime soon?” Philip asked Liam.

“No, I mean, yes, of course I would love to meet Willie.” As a matter-of-fact, he said it too eagerly.

“When?”

Liam looked at Chanty. She was looking desperate. He knew she wanted to keep Willie uninvolved as much as she could, but it was not possible. But Liam was not going to stand here like an idiot. She better make up her mind or he would.

She shrugged and dropped her shoulders. That was answer enough.

Liam looked at Philip. “Soon.”

“Then let’s make the soon tomorrow. I suggest you talk about it. My nephew deserves to know who his father is.” Philip stated and looked at Chanty. “As you talk, Angelica, my wife and I are going for coffee.” Philip’s mood was lighter now as he turned toward his wife.

“We are?” Angelica and Cassandra spoke in unison for the first time since Liam came in.

“Yes,” Philip answered and looked at Liam and Chanty one more time. “If you cannot tell Willie, then there is no way I am going to accept him.” He was talking about Liam, of course, and Liam cringed.

As the group retreated out of Chanty’s office, he looked at the woman in despair. Philip Strindberg, as it turned out, made things easier for Liam. But Chanty was looking horrified. Why did she want to keep Willie away from him so bad?