Chapter 2

Eight years ago

"Selina, Helios, these are our friends, Jose and Rebekah Sebastian." Their father, Dante Ramirez, said as he introduced his children to the elegant couple.

"Uncle, Auntie." The twins greeted them at the same time making the Rebekah giggle.

"You're the same age as our daughter." Rebekah Sebastian said happily.

"Where are those two? They were supposed to join us an hour ago." Jose Sebastian complained to his wife. "I'm so sorry Elissa, Dante, my children are a little difficult." Jose Sebastian said, shaking his head.

"It's okay Senator Jose. Our families go way back, we don't mind." Elissa said with a smile.

"If only our children could be more responsible. I want Alexi to run in the next election for Mayor, but he's busy going out with his cousin, Benedicto's kid, and getting into trouble. He thinks we don't know, but come on, he's come home with more than a few scratches." Jose Sebastian said, shaking his head.

"At least your daughter is doing better, at least from what I heard." Dante Ramirez said as he offered his friend some food.

"Ah, so unladylike." Rebekah Sebastian complained. "You're daughter seems much better."

Selina blushed at the compliment the elegant lady just said. Rebekah Sebastian sat regaly next to her husband, her long black hair fell straight behind her shoulders as she moved like an empress.

"Ma'am, your other guests have arrived." One of the Ramirez family's help announced.

Behind the maid was a man and a young woman, the woman looked to be Selina and Helios' age. Like Selina it seemed she didn't conform to traditional female stereotypes, she wore jeans and a black halter top, her brown hair was tied up accentuating her other features. However, it was the man next to her that caught Selina's attention, to say he was hot was an understatement. He was handsome like an actor, he was tall with broad shoulders, it seemed like he did sports since he had a perfect brown tan on him as if he spent a lot of time outdoors.

"You're late." Rebekah Sebastian scolded. Selina assumed that these two were the couple's children.

"Sorry mom. We had to drop someone off." The girl complained as she placed a kiss on her mother's cheek.

"She was on the way." The man said with a shrug.

"Dante, Elissa, these are our children, Alexander and Katerina." Jose Sebastian said introducing the two new guests.

As Alexander and Katerina respectfully greeted her parents, Selina noticed her mom calling them over. She pulled her otherwise clueless twin and joined them.

"Alexander, Katerina, these are our children, Selina and Helios." Elissa Ramirez said introducing the twins.

"Nice to meet you, please call me Alexi." Alexander said with a smile.

Selina froze, his smile was captivating.

"Likewise." Selina heard her brother say next to her.

"Why don't you kids sit over there while the adults talk?" Jose Sebastian suggested.

His son simply nodded and led the group to a different table.

Selina couldn't help but stare, something about Alexander Sebastian made her heart beat faster. Even just his back seemed handsome as she walked next to Katerina.

"Don't fall for him." Katerina suddenly said.

Selina was surprised by what the girl beside her had just said, she looked up and gave her new acquaintance a puzzled look.

"Alexi, don't fall for his charm." Katerina explained. "I've seen how girls and women look at him, I see that look in your eyes too. You seem like a smart decent girl, don't let my elder brother trick you. He has a new girl on him every month, I assume by the time he finishes studying that'll be a new girl every week. I like you, you seem decent. So I'll warn you. He's bad news." Katerina told Selina with a shrug.

Selina didn't know what to say. She just nodded and agreed with what Katerina said, if his own sister told her that the man was a playboy, who was she not to believe.

"So Helios, it's Helios isn't it?" Alexander asked, to which Helios simply nodded. "You and you're sister are still in highschool?" The man asked. Selina looked at her brother, he didn't seem intimidated at all.

"Yeah, we're seniors." Helios answered.

"Ah, what do you plan to take in university?" Katerina asked as she leaned back on her seat and crossed her legs.

"I'm trying to get into Juilliard. I want to act." Selina excitedly said. She couldn't help but glance at Alexander who seemed to lick his lips as she caught a glimpse of him.

"What about you Helios?" Katerina asked Selina's twin making her snap back and look away from the good looking man.

"Probably business, take over after dad retires." Helios was never one for words around other people, it was usually Selina that spoke more.

"How about you Katerina? Are you in highschool too?" Selina asked, Katerina seemed to be right around their age.

"I should be, but I'm not." Katerina said with a wink.

"What do you mean?" Selina asked in a shocked tone, how could the daughter of a family like the Sebastians not be in high school.

"Don't let my sister deceive you." Alexander said, rolling his eyes. "My two sisters are geniuses. Both of them skipped several grades, both Katerina and Natalia are university students. Natalia isn't here because her term break hasn't started."

"Ugh, why do you have to always ruin all the fun." Katerina complained. "I study in America, I'm gonna be a lawyer." Katerina proudly said.

"Wow! You're amazing." Selina said as she was surprised that Katerina was already in university.

"It's nothing, just hard work." Katerina said with a laugh.

"Alexi, Katerina. Time to go." The group heard Jose Sebastian call out.

"It was nice meeting you." Alexander Sebastian said as the pair bid the siblings goodbye.

After seeing their guests off, Selina couldn't help but ask her parent's the question burning in her mind.

"Mom, dad, how do you know them?" Selina asked, she didn't recall her parents ever having friends in politics, and these people seemed to be one of the older and more powerful political families.

"Well, I went to university with Jose." Dante Ramirez explained.

"Why did they come over?" Selina continued to probe.

"Tell her the truth." Elissa said as she nudged her husband.

"Well Selina, you see, Alexander is quite the playboy." Her father began to explain.

"His sister, Katerina, warned me. Did he get one of our employees pregnant?" Selina asked.

"No." Her father said, shaking his head.

"Then why?" Selina asked.

"Well, Jose wanted to introduce him to girls that he could consider." Dante said with a nervous tone.

"Consider for what?" Selina said, unable to understand what her father was saying.

"Consider to marry you idiot." Helios said as he shook his head and returned back in the house.

"Wait, you mean me?" Selina asked in shock.

"Don't worry. We said no. As a matter of fact we were quite surprised with them. We told them you were adopted so if they were looking for some old clan to merge with we said you wouldn't be someone they should consider, but Rebekah said it didn't matter." Dante Ramirez said as he scratched his head.

"Don't worry Selina, we said no." Elissa could see the panic in her daughter's eyes. "He's a good looking kid too, but you deserve better than a guy like that." Elissa said, ending the conversation.

Present day

"Selina! You're back." Jose Sebastain greeted with a nod. Jose was the sitting president of the country, this explained the heightened security outside their home as well as the number of cars around the vicinity.

"Uncle Jose, Aunt Rebekah." Selina greeted politely with a nod.

"I was just telling your mother what impeccable timing we have, we decided to visit the day you came home." Rebeckah Sebastian said with a smile.

"Your father was telling us about how you've built a successful company for yourself." Jose Sebastian told her with a smile.

"I can't help but be proud." Her father said with a shrug. "It was an interesting shift from acting to becoming a business woman. She took her time too." Dante Ramirez said with a laugh.

"Mom, dad, Selina and I will be going out for lunch, then tonight we're going out with some friends." Helios said as he sensed his sister's awkwardness. He didn't forget that years ago Rebekah and Jose were hoping that Selina would marry their son.

"Oh yes, don't let us keep you." Elissa Ramirez said as she let Selina go and wash up.

Selina and Helios decided to have lunch at a newly opened restaurant that had quickly become popular. Helios was able to pull a few strings and got them a table without making a reservation.

"Did Jen turn straight?" Selina asked her brother.

"How would I know? I didn't exactly keep in touch after you broke her heart." Helios said as he ate his food.

"You know that I told her from the start that I didn't like her like that. I mean, I'm straight." Selina said frantically.

Before Helios could respond to his sister they heard a commotion a few tables away.

"Let's go, I don't want to be caught up in messes like this." Selina said as she left money on the table and called for a waiter.

As they were walking out Selina realized what the commotion was about, some rich man's wife was berating a poor man for damaging her dress.

"Pay me five hundred thousand!" The woman told the poor man. From the looks of it he was just an ordinary employee and he clearly couldn't afford to pay the five hundred thousand.

Something about the woman's dress seemed off to Selina, after looking at it for a while she realized what was wrong, the dress the woman was wearing was a fake. A good imitation but a fake nonetheless.

"Your dress isn't worth that much." Selina suddenly said, intervening for the poor man. She glared at the social climber, she was sure the woman was a social climber, only they would dare carry themselves or make such a scene in public.

"What are you talking about? Your fashion sense is clearly off!" The woman accused in a shrill voice, the voice annoyed Selina even more. "This is a limited edition Frank Dress. A hundred thousand is cheap for this dress." The woman boasted. Of course Selina knew who the designer Frank was, he was a good friend of hers in Milan and she was one of his exclusive distributors to most Asian countries.

"Simple, because your dress is a fake." Selina truthfully said as she eyed the woman.

The woman stepped forward and raised her hand to slap Selina on the face. This wasn't the first shameless woman Selina had to deal with, so she was prepared. She caught the woman's hand and dug her nails in, making her opponent shout in pain.

"You don't believe me?" The Selina asked. "My name is Selina Ramirez and my company is the top fashion house in the country. There is only one version of that dress and it's sitting in my showroom. So if you are trying to tell me that the dress on you is an original it means that you either stole it or that's a fake." Selina said, as she crossed her arms across her chest and looked down at the woman.

"Impossible, the woman in the store said this was an original!" The social climber gasped.

"Social climbers like you always stink from a mile away." Selina said as she turned and walked away. She was hoping that what she had done was enough to drive that woman away for the office worker.

"Bravo sister." Helios said with a grin as they walked back to the car. "Who knew that you've blossomed into such a strong and independent woman." Helios teased.

"I saw a wrong and I just decided to make it right, plus it would devalue my brand if someone like her wore a Frank original." Selina said as she shook her head. Women like those did more bad than good to the brands they supported.

"Well you're in luck, I know exactly who that group works for." Helios boasted.

"Who?" Selian asked with a curious look.

"Those five people are all assistants to the Reyes Heir, you've heard of him, haven't you?" Helios asked his sister.

"Yeah, his family owns Elisia Malls, I'm actually more interested in his sister Ayanna, I want to do a collaboration with her." Selina said with a shrug.

"The Reyes Heir is the most mysterious of the five princes, do you know who else is part of that group?" Helios said with a raised eyebrow.

"I know, I know, Alexander Sebastian." Selina said, rolling her eyes. "I dodged a bullet there, look at how many women he sleeps around with, if I had let our parents arrange that marriage, I'd be a wife crying over his latest mistress. No, thank you."