Prologue

I was about to enter the office of my Father when I heard him talking with my uncle.

I shouldn't disturb him now, it's not good to interrupt a serious conversation.

"WHAT?!" I jumped scare on my position as soon as I heard Father's loud voice.

I never saw him lose his composure outside our family, as a Del Rosario we must remain calm at all time and never show our emotions to the others, unless it is within our family.

Mother disliked that rule of Del Rosario very much, so she said that if we are in front of each other we must show emotions.

I don't know what they are talking about, but I was curious why did my father lose his composure. So I put my ear on the door of my father's office.

I couldn't restrain my curiosity, even though I knew that this wasn't what a Del Rosario should do.

"Sebastian, how could you do this!? How could you gamble our properties like that!?"

I gasped to what I heard. Uncle gambled our properties? Are we gonna be bankrupt now?

"Brother, I can take those back! Also, those are mine. Father, gave it to me as soon as I became 18! Just trust me this time. If you lend me a million, I may double it or even triple!"

I sighed with relief after learning that it was just Uncle's properties.

My Father is the first born, as soon as he was 18 years old, Grandpa gave him most of the properties of Del Rosario. With what he earned from that, he created his own business company.

Meanwhile, uncle Sebastian is Father's youngest sibling. Because of the 17 years age gap between him and father, he was spoiled a little by Grandpa and Grandma.

"No! Don't you dare set a foot inside a Casino anymore. Your obsession will just grow until you can't stop anymore!"

"But brother—!"

"No buts!"

As I heard heavy footsteps coming from the other side of the door, I anxiously went to the room in front.

With my heart continuously banging my chest, I leaned towards the door and hear what it happening outside.

I heard the door opening and close with a loud bang.

Waiting for the footsteps sound to subside, I immediately went to father's office.

"Dad! Guess what? I am the valedictorian for our graduation! I am finally graduating elementary and soon I will be a highschool student!"

I didn't asked father anything about what I just heard earlier, he might learn that I eavesdropped on his conversation with uncle. And, eavesdropping is not what a Del Rosario should do.

"Amazing! You are like your older brother! He is also a valedictorian for his highschool graduation. Both of you really makes me proud."

I smiled widely when I heard those words. My brother is the best, he deserves to be the valedictorian.

"Dad, come to my graduation. Together with mom!"

"I promise, Amaryllis."

"Yehey!"

"Now, let's get down. Your mother must have finished cooking already."

After that, we went downstairs to the dinning room.

As soon as we enter the dinning room, I saw my brother prepping the table, while my little brother was playing with his plastic baby utensils.

I rushed over my older brother and hugged him.

"Brother Deus, I am also a Valedictorian!"

Brother Deus put down the utensils he was holding and hugged me back.

"I am so proud of you Amaryllis!"

I let go of the hug and let my brother continue prepping, while I sit beside my baby brother, Ameer.

"Baby Ameer, your older sister will be graduating valedictorian soon." I said and played with his hands.

My mother came out from the kitchen together with the food she just cooked, while Yaya Lita brought the rice.

"Wow! Caldereta! My favorite!" I said while looking at the serving bowl that mother just brought. "I will lead the prayer this time!"

After praying we started eating.

"Hon, why did your brother left angrily?"

Mother couldn't help but ask while we are eating. Although I already knew what was their topic, I pretended to be curious.

"Sigh, Sebastian gambled all the properties father gave him."

Mom was shocked after hearing what his father just said.

Losing those properties wasn't a joke, each of the properties could cost a few million pesos. Also, those aren't just simple property, those are the hard-work of Grandpa.

Uncle losing them meant that he is not respecting Grandpa!

"Does your Father knows about it?"

"No, it seems that Dad doesn't know about this yet. If he knew, he would have called me already."

"Are you gonna help your brother, hon?" Mom was worried that Father would help him. She fears that once Dad help him, it will just continue.

"No, I refused him. Even if he is my brother, I don't tolerate gambling. If I did, I will just nurture his obsession into something that I will not be able to solve."

As the eldest among his siblings, Father was trained by Grandpa to become the next head of the Family. He was exposed to the Del Rosario's spartan teaching since he was child. Outside the house, dad strictly abides to the proper composure that a Del Rosario should have in front of others.

Fortunately, Dad met my Mom. Otherwise, my older brother would received the same teaching.

***

There is still a week before my graduation, 2 days after that it would be my birthday.

I am so excited! I can now leave my Child Phase and enter my Teen Phase.

Currently, I am in my Dad's company together with my older brother.

It is a tradition in our family to learn family business every weekends after graduating elementary.

Dad suggested that before I graduate, I should learn some background of the company. What is better place to learn than be in the company itself?

In this small meeting room, me and my brother are being taught by Dad's secretary, Mr. Guitterez and his girlfriend.

I knew about Mr. Guitterez since I was a child, he is like the right hand of my Father. However, this is my first time meeting his girlfriend.

I asked her age during our chatter and she's in her early 30s!

I was shocked by how young she look despite her age, I thought for sure she was in her early 20s. My homeroom teacher is just 26 but she looked older than her!

Spending my time together with her, I came to like her. No wonder Mr. Guitterez love her!

Both of them are such a good couple, their age difference is not that wide but if a stranger look at them, they might want to call the police and take Mr. Guitterez in prison.

"Ryllis, did you understand how your dad established this company?"

Waking me up from my day dream, Ms. Cassie asked me.

"Yes, Ms. Cassie. Dad established the company with great difficulty. At first no one wanted to invest in him, so he got a loan from the bank using our farm as the collateral. With the money, he first bought a piece of land in the center of the city and opened his first restaurant..."

Although my father is the eldest son and heir of Del Rosario, Grandfather never gave him money. Only properties that, unfortunately, father couldn't sell them. Each of the property of Del Rosario possess a long history, dating back in the Spanish era. Selling them means you are stripping away your status as a Del Rosario family Head.

I remember dad telling me the story about how Grandpa was able to get the Family Head position. At that time, only the elder brother get to inherit everything as soon as he become an adult, while the other brothers work for him.

As soon as the heir of the family inherit the head position, they are actually penniless. Even if they get the properties, making money with the farm is a very slow process. Every harvest season they need to re-invest the income to the farm. As they are penniless, they can't spend the first income of the harvest casually.

No wonder Grandpa's elder brother, the head of the family at that time, gambled away the Del Rosario mansion. On gambling there is only two outcome, either you get rich or go broke. Obviously, Grandpa's elder brother was unlucky.

When great-grandfather came to know that happening, he stripped away his head position and then gave it to my Grandpa, the second son.

That's why dad was so angry with uncle when he heard that he gambled away the property given to him by grandpa. Even if uncle didn't inherit the Del Rosario main properties, those properties he got are still the fruit of Grandpa's hard-work.

"Dad spent 5 years working as the chef of the restaurant and finally was able to pay off his loan from the bank. On his 25th birthday banquet, he met my mom. She's the only daughter of the Fontalba, which owned a mid-size Hotel chain. She came to him with a proposal, buying the recipe of dad's restaurant in order to use in their hotel..."

From this history, I already knew how it ends up. During their business deal, they were drinking alcohol, which led to drunkness and had my brother. Obviously it is against the Del Rosario's bearing to run away from responsibility, so dad married mom right away.

Their marriage started with responsibility, however, mom and dad learned how to love each other. That's why they always say that I am the fruit of their love.