"So you already knew…"That phrase echoed at Aisha"s ears and with a puzzled expression, she looked at Rio.
"D-Dad… w-what do you mean?" she asked fl.u.s.tering. But then, after a few seconds, she gasped with her eyes widened when she comprehended something.
"Dad… you knew, isn"t it?" she asked distraughtly.
Rio stood up and walked towards his table and pulled the last drawer and took something out. then he went back to his sit. He looked at the small picture frame for a second then he smiled. After a few minutes, he handed it to Aisha.
As soon as Aisha received the frame, she flipped to see who"s on it. she was definitely surprise when she saw her mom. Yes! it was her mom. She can"t be wrong. and the man beside her… is this Rio when he was on his twenties? What does it mean? She was trying to connect all the puzzle pieces.
Ethan, on the other hand, who was listening intently at their conversation seemed to grasped what was happening and now seemed to have connect all the dots. Does this mean that Rio and Sherry had some kind of romantic relations.h.i.+p before? but what happened? How did Sherry ended up with Silver—his half-brother? What happened fifteen years ago? He has a lot of questions in his mind.
"It"s my mom…" she voiced. "And the man with her…was it you?"
Rio nodded.
"Does that mean…."
"She was my first love." Rio started. "We we"re in a relations.h.i.+p for less than five years. back then, I got a break from my mission and decided to propose to her. She blissfully said yes and we made some arrangements for our wedding." He frowned as he remembered all the things that had happened before.
"We agreed to get married after my mission. That would be after six months. However, two months later, I received a letter from her. She wanted to cancel our engagement and wedding. but she didn"t tell me the reason why. I tried sending her a lot of letters but I haven"t received any answers for almost three months, so I stopped my madness." Pain was written all over his face.
"Dad…" Aisha doesn"t know what to say. She wanted to comfort her father but she doesn"t know how.
He smiled excruciatingly. "After six months, I came back home. I tried to search for her but they told me that she married her best friend."
"Cole?" Aisha creased a brow.
"Yes. I found out that before she sent me that last letter, she had already married Cole. I know they had a child but I wasn"t aware that they had twins. She looks happy and contented with her life so I didn"t bother her anymore and decided to move on."
Aisha was lost in her own thoughts. "How about Silver? Was he interested with my mom before?" she was curious.
"That I don"t know." he replied. "The truth is; Silver was my father"s son from his mistress. And when his mistress died, he took Silver in and he grew up following all of dad"s orders. I must say that Silver sees your mom often since she was a frequent visitor at the mansion that time. I don"t know if he liked your mother secretly back then but one thing is sure… Silver hates me so much and I don"t know why."
"When dad proclaimed me as his heir, Silver confronted dad and argued with him. I didn"t have an idea as to what happened to them since that was the moment I proposed to Cherry-Ann, your mom. Then after a few weeks, when I went back to my mission, I received a letter saying that Silver left the mansion for good." Rio explained.
Aisha felt sorry for Rio when she heard his heartbreaking or should she say tragic love story. However, her mind was full of questions. Why did her mom leave Rio? Cole was a good father for a period of time but he suddenly changed. He became a monster hurting her mom and them.
Aisha couldn"t get any sense as to why her mom did that. if only she waited for Rio then she should have been happy for the rest of her life. this man is more than a woman can ever ask for.
"Did you know that I was her child that"s why you took me in?" Aisha suddenly asked.
Rio chuckled mockingly as soon as he heard her. "I knew you would ask that. But that was not the reason though. And also I never had a glimpse of her children, not even once. Do you really want to know why I decided to adopt you?" he was still laughing.
"Of course!" she yelped with an upset tone.
"I took you in because you reminded me of my late grandmother. Your facial appearance quite resembles her so much. But then you have a very opposite personality. My grandmother was a reserved and dignified woman, unlike you." he laughed even more.
"Are you trying to imply something, dad?" she scowled.
"Hha! I"m not trying to say something here. I"m just telling the truth! My grandmother was more of a lamb but you? you"re a tigress like your mom!" he cackled.
Hearing Rio, Ethan couldn"t control his laughter too. So Aisha glared at him. "Even you?"
"I"m sorry, I can"t help it since Rio was right." he was laughing.
Aisha rolled her eyes. the h.e.l.l with these two? She glowered. After a few minutes, Ethan and Rio tried to calm down since they can see that Aisha is nearing her limit. She might burst out.
"Anyway…" Rio gathered his composure. "I also saw Cherry-Ann in you. if there is something you have in common, then that would be your spirit. You are both stubborn but the love of goodness and justice was engraved deeply in your soul." He smiled unbelievingly. "Who would have thought that I had found one of her child."
He sighed. "I don"t know if this is a coincidence or a destiny. but whatever it is, I"m happy that I took you in."
"Dad…" Aisha teared up. She stood up and went beside him and embraced him tight. "Thank you. and I am the luckiest person alive for having you. I love you so much!"" she mumbled.
"I love you more than anything…" Rio kissed the top of her head and caresses her back.
"But how did you know that Sherry was Cherry-Ann all along?" Aisha remembered.
"I had my doubts when I first saw her. But Johnny confirmed it the past days." He replied.
"Johnny?" She creased a brow.
"Yes, Johnny. He was supposed to tell you what Stacy had found out but I told him not to. you should be hearing it directly to your sister." Rio explained.
Aisha was a bit upset but she understood Rio"s intention so she let it slide this time.
"So what are you planning to now?" They heard Ethan broke the sudden silence.
Aisha"s sweet momentum with her dad suddenly changed. Her beaming face was slowly tainted by deep thoughts. Yeah, now that she learnt about her living mother, what will she do then? She straightened up.
"I want to get her back, but then she doesn"t remember me nor Stacy. I might have a hard time convincing her." Discouragement sweep over her.
Rio smiled meaningfully. "I don"t think that would be a problem."
"what do you mean?" she asked.
"I think she remembers you…"" he relayed.