Chapter One

Lulu's P.O.V

when i was finally alone i get my phone and was about to call my family when a notification was sent to me 'Anak, Kailangan namin ng pera pwede ka ba magpadala kahit kaunti lang, umaataki na naman kase ang sakit ng ate mo, tatanggapin namin kahit magkano, wala pa kase ang mga sweldo namin pati sila tita at tito mo wala pang sweldo, nakakahiya na madami na silang naitulong saatin,' (My child, We need money can you send at least a little, your sister's illness is attacking again, we will accept no matter how much, we don't have salaries yet and your aunt and uncle don't have salaries yet, it's a shame that they have helped us so much,), now i feel guilty that instead of helping my family i have caused a big trouble here in America, i text them immediately 'Sige po pa, susubukan ko po mag padala, as soon as possible po icontact ko po kayo pag napadala ko na' (ok dad, I'll try sending money as soon as possible I'll contact you when i sent it there)

I sighed deeply and wiped a tear from my cheeks as I saw their agreed-upon response. After a few minutes of zoning out and staring at the walls, the door barged open, "Where.did.you.make.a.stupid.fake.i.d!" A slight tan-suited man in blue first said when he barged in, "a-i-am-i don't-am-I'm-i." I began to breath fast. My heart was also beating too fast. 'I don't know where to start. If I'll say, I don't know or I didn't do it.' He let out a sigh and put his hand in his forehead and signaled the lawyer to get out of the room. I looked at the lawyer and looked at him saying 'don't leave me' without actually saying that, but he just gave me the look of 'can't do anything' and left me with this guy. He looked at me, he looked really pissed, so I just looked down in embarrassment and scared at the same time, "What exactly is the reason for you to do all of this?" He said in a calm tone and pulled a chair in front of me, sat on it, and looked at me with a serious face. In my thoughts: 'he doesn't look old, maybe only a few years older than me?, or maybe he just turned 18, that's why he was called a 'young man' by the attorney.' "Are you not going to talk?" he asked again, and I cleared my throat and looked at him in the eyes. "I need money... The I.D I used is made up by an online shop. I've had it since I first landed here. That scumback just blew my cover. Is that enough? " I said, while he listened carefully. I averted my gaze because I was afraid he'd accuse me of being a con and throw me away somewhere. : ' I'm basically a beggar now. ' "Well, are you still willing to do the marriage?" He asked, "I want to but.. will that work if I'm only sixteen?" I asked, 'If I could, I would have enough money to give to my family. I will do it, no matter what the consequences are.' Minutes later, he answers, "We could get it to work. We will change the time to the original one. "I will turn 21 at the end of October, which is the right age to get married, but because you're only 16, we will only proceed with the plan once you're 18," he said, clarifying everything I nodded and said, "Don't worry, I will be 17 this September. We will only have a year to do that. I happily answered. I stopped when the door opened and a lady that looked like a cleaner came in. "Excuse me, I will just clean the restroom. We were so busy earlier that we didn't clean it properly." She said and walked with the cleaning cart but stopped in the door and looked at us. "If you mind, this is a hotel, not a motel," she said and smiled. Once she entered the door and took one step, she looked at us again and said, "They sound the same but they are different." I was confused and looked at him and saw him looking away and moving away from me too. I was still confused, but seconds later, I finally understood and I couldn't help but look down. 'Why would she say that!? That has nothing to do with what we're discussing. She misunderstood us. Fuck this day!' After the cleaner finished, she immediately left, but looked at us first before closing the door like a scary nun. Minutes later, no one said anything, but thankfully, the attorney came in. "Is everything okay?" he asked, but no one answered him. He let out a sigh and asked us again, "Is everything settled?" We nodded at him, and he just nodded too. "Then, what did you both settle with?" He said to take turns looking at us. "We will do it after a year, once she turns 18," he answered, and I just nodded, "Yes, okay, great. I'll change the papers and we're all settled. " A genuine smile We both smiled at him. I only gave him a nervous slight smile and looked away. 'I can't even look at this guy. What the fuck is in that lady's mind?' "Did something happen while I was outside?" So he asks again, so I finally answered, but at the same time with 'Mr. Vitale', "Nothing happened. / The lady thought we were fucking." He looked at me shockingly. When I looked at Vitale, he put his left hand on his forehead Mr. Costa said, "Can you repeat that, miss?" He asks confusedly, and I gulp and explain to him what happened. For some reason, he was relieved, and Vitale just nodded at everything and 'didn't even bother helping me.' After that, they decided to take me out of that hotel and let me stay in the vacation house of Mr. Vitale. I agreed because I didn't have anywhere else to go. The sun was setting now. When we were in the car, I sat next to Mr. Vitale because he said he would never sit in the passenger seat, and I had already gotten in the back before him, so we both just sat next to each other. Of course, there's a gap between us. I got along with Sir Costa. We kept talking in the car. "Does your family know about the situation?" He asked, "Just call me Lulu. They don't know yet, but I'll tell them later. Don't worry, they will understand. " I said, happily. He smiled. "I would like to talk to them too. I need to tell them that I adopted you here for the transaction. They need to know, especially that. " I looked at Vitale and he was just busy with his phone , "What'chu doing?" I playfully asked him and leant near him. He looked at me seriously. "It's none of your business, signorina (miss)," he said and turned off his phone. I just went back to my space and pouted, "Why do you need to be mean?" I will just be quiet because I don't think he likes me. ' It doesn't really matter, but how will things work if he doesn't like me? I need him to like me, even if it's just a slight friendship we could build. Maybe not now. I'm tired.' I'm in my thoughts and feeling my eyes close nonstop. I didn't fight it and eventually fell asleep.

Robert's P.O.V

We were all quiet after she pouted at me. I keep thinking I should make up with her even though it's not my fault for the past couple minutes. I sighed first and was about to lean forward when I heard a *tog* countless times and looked at Adrianu, but he just looked at me and shrugged his shoulder, saying he didn't know. When I looked at Delacruz, her head was hitting the window and she was still sound asleep. I carefully hold her head and lean it towards me and the sound stops. I was about to let go of her head when I realized that it probably hurt her neck when she stayed with her whole head hanging, so I moved beside her and put her head on my shoulder. She moved a little and made me stiff, but she just made herself comfortable and sounded asleep again. I just let her sleep for a couple of hours. I was about to complain because my shoulder hurt, but Adrianu spoke. "We are almost there, Sir," he said. I nodded at him and put my head in the door. When the car stopped, I got out and opened her door, but she was still not waking up. I called her name multiple times, but she didn't respond. I held her in my arms and walked while carrying her. There were a lot of my maids looking shocked or somehow happy, but I didn't care and just walked until we got to my room. I didn't care where I'd put her. I was too tired to care about such things. After I carefully put her in my bed, I sat tiredly on the couch and closed my eyes. When Adrianu called me, "What is it?" I asked him, "We should talk about the young lady's problems before everything goes the wrong way." I stared at him for a sec and stood up and went to Delacruz to cover her in my blanket. "What might be that problem for this small lady?" I asked and looked at Adrianu. "I would agree that she's adorable, but she has a foul mouth," he said, and moved to make way for me. "Let's talk in the garden." I suggested, and he informed me, "The maids are in the guest rooms, double cleaning them, and I also put in for hiring maids just in case your fiance might need it," he confirmed. I nodded and walked towards him. I carefully closed the door to avoid making too much noise and successfully went out.