3 Gia Vitoria

Ares just got home from their mansion in Batangas to see her daughter's doing when there is a young man waiting outside the house in their big lawn. It was already seven in the evening but he had recognized the young man.

"Mr. James." The young man nods.

"You're here...." He looked around to see if he was with someone or a bodyguard.

"I just got here and I am here for..." he was explaining but Ares had raised his hand in front of the young man to stop him from whatever he will say.

"Let's talk in my office." He said strictly as he gestured to him inside the house. The young man followed him inside the mansion. The lights are dimmed and only the lanterns are giving a little light, but it still shows how passionate they are about French style houses. "Let there be light." Ares said and the lights in the living room turned on through voice recognition.

They looked at the young lady who was lying on the sofa with an open book over her face while on the carpet is an Irish wolfhound dog lying. The dog's head lifted to their direction.

"That is Prince, and my youngest daughter."

His heart skips a beat when Ares removed the book in his daughter's face. It was love at first sight when the first time he saw her and now he was struck by that love at first sight again. He still wants to watch the girl asleep but Ares told him to follow him in his office. The young man followed him as his neck twisted to gaze at the Sleeping Beauty on the sofa.

Ares sat on his swivel chair in front of the big desk and signed him to sit on the comfortable arm chair in front of him. He sat down in a formal way.

"Is this about the Proposal?" Ares asked.

"Yes sir. I would like to settle a formal co—"

Ares raised his hand a second time to stop him on whatever he is going to say.

"Before that, there are things you should know about my youngest daughter. But I want you to ascertain things you want from my daughter and I have to consult my wife about this."

"Yes Sir." He nodded.

****

Prince woke his master who was still sleeping on the sofa. Prince is the only one who can wake her up. She has had a hard time waking up since she was just a baby. He bit the blanket and he pulled it off. She moaned when Prince leaned his front feet on the sofa and started licking her cheek. He barks two times and she opens her eyes.

"Good morning lazy head." His dad greets. She scratched her eyes and pulled the blanket from the floor covering to her face. "Sorry if I came back without your mother. They had a conference last night."

"Okay..." She murmurs and moans closing her eyes again.

"Get up now please. I have something for you."

"Yeah..." She moans and yawns still not getting up.

"Vitoria." He said in a little husky voice.

She got up and scratched her eyes and faced his father.

"Just so you know dad, I'm so sick in here where I had finished the series of Sherlock Holmes all day and I am sick of being bored staying here."

"Okay. Just be ready for our breakfast so we can talk."

In the dining room her face is on the glass table while her father is watching the morning news. She is not eating her breakfast and her dog is down her side eating the dog food on his bowl.

"Vitoria please sit up straight. We are in front of food."

She did sit up but her brows are furrows and her lips are pouting.

"Dad is there a chance that I can get to DIA?" she asked with a little sad sound.

"Honey you are unwell. There's a possibility that you will fall asleep everywhere or in the middle of the mission. You might jeopardize yourself."

"But dad..." She said childishly.

"Your *Kuya is still working on the Nurse Body Scanner and we are still working on your sleeping syndrome and narcolepsy."

"Okay." She pouted and played on her food. "But I can have my own adventure?" A glimpse of a smile draws on her lips.

"As long as you got someone with you. Simoun's sons are your Ate and Kuya's own right hand now and I am still looking for someone whom you can trust."

Simoun was Ares' bodyguard and butler when he was young and now Simoun is his personal lawyer and everything. And his two sons are Victoria and Alex's personal lawyer and bodyguard.

"So you need to hire one for me?" She asked. He nodded and then shrugged. "What's that even mean? You keep things complicated." She snorted.

"Someone had volunteered."

"Oh-kay." She ate her pancake and drank her orange juice. "I'll run to the book store today."

"I'll go with you."

"Okay, no problem."

"Don't forget to drink your vitamins." She groans. She wasn't that really sick.

<><><><><>

Ares accompanied her to the bookstore and he went to the hardware to buy something for Alex's invention. When she bought her books she put it all in her backpack and walked around to look for another bookstore. But a black van from Lawrence's and her father's design which is an anti-gravity car stopped in front of her. There are strange and armed men who went out from the car holding electric guns. She stepped back. The big men grabbed her arm but she elbowed their nose and their crotch kicking their asses.

When she had resisted herself from them they pointed the electric gun to her. Before they had fired someone had kicked the gun and he dropped the gun. He was good at shooting them with their own guns and defending himself with martial arts. She studied his moves. She nods bouncing her head while pouting.

He's quite good. She thought.

Their eyes met and he got those wide hazel eyes. His nose is pointed and perfect. The shape of his face is like diamond and his chin is broken. She raised her eyebrow to him folding her arms. The young man grabbed her hand and they ran.

"Hey!" She tried to resist but he just held her hand tight and they ran. She watched him while they were running and those armed men were chasing them. The sports car in anti gravity is waiting for them.

The car opened without any command from the owner and he pushed her forcing her to get in. She was about to hop out the car but the seat belt wrapped around her. When the young man had got inside, he stopped on the gas and drove it fast. She raises her eyebrow again.

"I can say that this is kidnapping." She told her.

The guy didn't speak like the cat got his tongue. But maybe he didn't speak in English.

"I guess no English." She murmurs and studies him well. She speaks in Italian but the same thing she said in English. She speaks in Spanish, Danish, and French but nothing.

"I understand your languages but I don't know what to say to you." He speaks. She sighed in relief.

"Finalmente!" She said. "I thought you were an alien from another galaxy. Actually you don't have to say something. You just have to tell me where you are going to take me." She said.

He did not try to speak again and just drive. She stared at him waiting for him to tell her the answer. It's distracting him so he held the steering wheel tightly

"That's a shame." She mumbles looking away. He opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out so he just shut it. So stupid. He cursed through his thoughts.

She wasn't wrong that he will bring her to their house. He might be her body guard that his father told her.

The big gate of the mansion opens and there are pine trees on the sides of the driveway. She saw her dog at the side of the driveway waiting for her. The dog barked and ran after the car. When the car stopped Gia immediately removed the seatbelt and hopped out the car. He was about to tell her something but she's already gone. He punched the steering wheel in annoyance.

"Prince!" She called and she knelt in front of the dog and hugged it while the dog was kissing her cheek. She giggles and scratches the dogs chin.

He hopped out the car and watched the young lady and her dog. Athena tapped him on shoulder and he faced her bowing at her.

"In the office now." She demanded him. He nodded and glanced at Gia one last time.

"Sweetheart." Athena called Gia. Gia smiled and ran to her mother hugging and kissing her cheek.

"Mommy, is he my bodyguard?" Gia asked her mother. Athena opened her mouth to speak but she closed it when she didn't know what to say. She raised her eyebrow thinking that her mother never stalled.

"Why won't you have a nap first and your father and I are going to talk about it."

<><><><><>

In Ares's Office, lots of monitors are around and controls. It's tidy and all of the furniture are

"My daughter thought that you were her bodyguard." Athena said as she gave a glass of cocktail drink to Edmond.

"We can't tell her that you are her fiancé because she will get mad." Ares said. "You are the one who should tell it to her."

"Not a fiancé but a suitor." Athena said. "She is just 17 and going 18 next month."

"I can be her body guard so I can have a chance to tell her about myself." He said and sipped on the drink.

"Not a bad idea," Ares said. "But you should know that she likes something thrilling and adventurous. Also, she got a heart disease and sleeping syndrome and narcolepsy that we are still looking for the cure for. No one can wake her except for Prince who patiently wakes her up, when she is very tired to wake herself up. But sometimes she woke up all by herself until she finished the ten hour sleep." Ares explain.

"She had asthma that just attacked anytime. When she cries hard to stop it and it will take almost two hours for her to get over it." Athena added.

"When did these all happen?" He asked worried.

"This happened when her beagle that Logan gave her was killed. She was just six at that time when robbers had hijacked our security system when we were in the Bahamas. And that is her second dog named Cheez." Ares explained.

"She cried for one and a half hours and we got very worried." Athena said feel hurt when she remembered those moments.

"What about her sleeping syndrome?"

"It was inborn." Athena said. "When she gets tired she will just lay wherever she is and sleep there. She's very hyper-active, that's why when she said she's tired and when she yawned and closed her eyes, that's the sign that she will sleep and no one can wake her except her dog. But it takes one and a half hours for you to wake her up." Athena explained.

"Very clear to me, don't worry Mr. and Mrs. James. I'll take care of her."

"Well, you must. She's hard headed sometimes and she likes to fight if someone messes up with her." Ares said. "She's a war freak when she gets mad just like—" Ares stopped and nods his head.

"Just like her mother?" Athena asked, narrowing her eyes at her husband. Ares faced Edmond to avoid his wife's piercing eyes.

"Since, we have work to do and we can't guard her moves anytime, her security is up to you and please keep our daughter safe, she's unpredictable sometimes."

"I'll do my best Mr. James."

Someone knocked on the door and they all stopped. Gia opens the door wearing a dobok or simply a uniform of Tae Kwon Do.

"Dad," she said. Edmond stared at her. She's beautiful as ever. I want to hear her sing. He thought.