Faux Vows, True Desires

"Get out of here, Owen; Cecilia doesn't need you to walk her home."

With that, Becca turned on her heel, stepped briskly away, and firmly locked the garden gate.

Owen had planned to follow them shamelessly, but the lock on the gate made it impossible, even for someone with his thick skin. He could only watch helplessly as his mother-in-law retreated into the house. Owen had been squatting at her front gate all morning, and Cecilia had been blissfully unaware.

She had slept in, a luxury afforded by the fact that the store didn't open until nine.

She took her time washing and dressing before she sauntered downstairs for breakfast.

After greeting her family members one by one, Cecilia sat next to her older brother, Hudson.

Today's breakfast was simple: a bowl of soup and pastas for each family member.

"Mom, no toast today?" Cecilia asked casually as she picked up her spoon, ready to tuck into her bowl of soup.

"I just didn't feel like making it," Becca replied curtly.

Cecilia turned to her father. "Dad, who upset Mom this early in the morning?"

Her father, Kevin, offered his wife a piece of the sunny-side-up egg from his bowl and said without looking at Cecilia, "Don't look at me. I'm too old to get on your mother's wrong side."

In their youth, the couple had been hot-tempered and prone to arguments. But now, with age, they had mellowed, and their relationship had become more peaceful.

"Brother, it must be you."

Cecilia nudged Hudson.

gate who scared Mom. She was so upset that she didn't feel like making a proper

and he quickly

of relief. He didn't cook, and

still out there?" Cecilia asked, her tone betraying her

up her bowl and walked out. "I'm

more than anything else,

Soon, Owen saw Cecilia.

eating her pastas and asking, "What are you doing squatting out here?

can you open the

She was close, yet she seemed so far away.

don't have the key." Cecilia replied, taking a bite of her egg. "Even if I did, I wouldn't

was wrong, but she doesn't have the final say in

to

let me in to apologize to

a loss for words. She was so engrossed in her food that she was ignoring him.

eaten breakfast yet, and he had asked his bodyguards to bring him food and flowers.

you eaten yet?" Cecilia asked, finally noticing him staring at

me now? I'm starving. Can you open the door and let me in? I

finish eating

"Why?"

my mom kicks me out, I'll have to find breakfast somewhere else.

watched her, speechless. But deep in his eyes, there was an undeniable

once Cecilia finished eating, she reached into her pocket and produced

key, the Martinez family's bodyguards arrived. They handed Owen the flowers and three insulated boxes of food, which he