1 The Beloved Guest

"Good morning my dear daughter!"

Philip greeted his one and only daughter and was a bit surprised on how Lisa looked. "And where do you think you're going this early?" He asked with his hands on his hips.

"Seriously, dad? Was it the first time you saw me in my jogging outfit? I will just be within the vicinity of Peninsula Estates okay? You overreact as if I'll be gone to another country for the nth time!" Lisa answered with disbelief and threw his dad a weird look.

'Surely this old man is up to something'.

"Ooooh.. Right, right, right! You better Take care and we'll have a delicious breakfast when you come back. And... one more thing." He paused to calculate what could Lisa's reaction be. Lisa raised an eyebrow asking him to continue. "We'll have a very important visitor today so... can you stay in the house for the whole day?"

'Just as I thought'

Lisa smirked while shaking her head slowly. She sighed and headed to the front door to leave. There was a silence of confusion and anticipation. Philip was thinking if Lisa had heard him clearly. She opened the door and raised her hand to give a thumbs up sign without facing her father and run towards the gate to start her morning routine.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSS!!!" Philip exclaimed after Lisa left the house. "Everyone! Please gather here! We are expecting a visitor early this morning." Philip happily called all their servants to give instructions regarding preparations for the upcoming guest although the cook had already been informed the night before that the visitor will be coming early for breakfast. So the rest just need to clean the house and the garden.

Dave, his personal secretary, saw the excitement in his boss' eyes and can't help but voice out his observations. "Seems like this guest would be the best candidate so far. Of all the bachelors you invited here, this one seemed to have the grandest preparation! And for you to be this hands on? Surely, you won't let this one slip away."

"You really know me well, Dave!"

That was his short answer and started to walk to his room upstairs while not letting his wide grin out of his face.

'Who could it be this time dad? I thought I already met every male son of your friends and business partners! Ugh! What's up with this matchmaking? Do you want me out of your life already?'

Lisa thought to herself while jogging towards the park near the Peninsula Estates' clubhouse to stop for her stretching routines. As a dancer in her high school and college years, keeping her body in good shape had been a habit that continued after she graduated from college. Her whole day felt damn good when she start it with this kind of routine - jogging, stretching, zumba and other cardio workouts.

After two hours of sweat-dripping workout, she decided to go back to their villa. She walked slowly enjoying the beauty of the few villas inside the Peninsula Estates. Each villa was magnificently designed to perfection that all of them complemented the beauty of nature that surrounds them. 'Someday, I'll be designing my own house,' Lisa thought while reminiscing her childhood dreams. She remembered that she was only high school back then when she had this extreme eagerness to study architecture and engineering. She loved to draw and design houses and other infrastructures. She was already five meters away when she saw a white Honda civic, the latest model, parked outside their villa.

She's not curious at all to whosoever the beloved guest that her father was talking about. She was thinking more of how to turn off the guy. On the guys her dad introduced to her before, she already had a plan ahead on how to make them regret even visiting their house. She would be playing childish, spoiled brat, mischievous, evil and there was also a time that she even played bipolar so the guy would disappear early. And the last time she was introduced to a guy, she even put too much chili powders in his food, knowing that he has allergy on it, so he was brought to the hospital and got confined for a week. But on those times, she got a heads up on who would the guest be so she was able to research about the guy and learn the best way that could turn him off.

Seeing the car outside, she thought that this guy was way different than the others. Someone who's not there to show off or brag about his family's wealth. Most of them would show off sports cars or highly expensive limited edition cars just to prove their net worth.

Hmmm. The first one to score a point this early. Let's see how far you can go.

As she entered the house, she saw her dad on the living room at the right side talking to a man who's back is facing her so she was not yet able to see his face. Nice back though.

"Oh, Lisa! It's good you're back already. Come!" Philip waved to her to sit beside him. She was a bit anxious due to her haggard look from jogging and her workout, she sheepishly walked, just looking at the guy through her peripheral view but could not take a better look since he was looking down on his phone. She turned to sit beside his dad, as his butt landed on the sofa, the guy raised his head.

As Lisa was able to see a full view of this man, her eyes widened. Is she seeing things? She blinked a couple of times and pinched her cheek to check if she was only dreaming. Or having a nightmare perhaps. But...

"What the f*ck are you doing here!? Of all people, you are the one who will show up?! Why you!? And why just now!?" she exclaimed in frustration pointing her finger to the man and faced her father, "Dad, you are an awesome father and truly the best at that. However, if you are up to a big joke, sorry but I cannot laugh this time. I can't believe this!"

She shook her head in anger and trying to hold her tears from falling. She ran upstairs and locked herself up in her room.

Philip, shocked of how his daughter reacted, was nailed to his position with awe visible in his face. He thought Lisa would somehow be happily surprised with this man, but it's the other way around.

What did he miss?

Lance, the man behind the disgust of Lisa and the most awaited visitor of Philip, just smiled it away to comfort Philip and show him that it's alright. He knew that the anger Lisa showed was not enough. She just shouted at him? How kind-hearted was she! Actually, he was expecting a series of slaps from her.

It's been seven years since he left her and gave her false hopes. But those were not actually false hopes since he really meant to fulfill the promises he made but he knew it was really way too late. He thought with time Lisa would forget about him, or at least forgive him. But the pain in her eyes seemed to be still fresh like I just hurt her yesterday.

'How on earth can you forgive me? You might not want to see me anymore but I'm sorry. I will not give up. I have no intention to leave you again. Ever."