"SWEET ANDREA"

ALONG the way, Lana remained silent. She could feel the intense tension inside the car but she had to show Andrew that she was not affected by what had happened to them earlier.

"I couldn't believe it!" Andrew spoke emphatically but almost in a whisper and it reached the young lady's ear.

Lana let out a deep sigh as she felt anger at the young man's tone. What was that for, she did not know?

"Don't you want to say anything? Won't you speak?" the young man's tone was intense and Lana could not understand that.

"What is your problem?" calm but annoyed, she asked.

Andrew's jaw twitched at her question.

"Damn! So it means I can fuck you whenever and wherever I want because you're a game after all? Is that so? Because it doesn't matter to you? As in it's like nothing?" the angry and consecutive question of the young man.

Lana's face quickly warmed at what she heard. She wanted to slap Andrew but because he was driving so she tried to calm down. When she dies, what will Andrea's life be like?

“Of all my decisions, our daughter is the first one I consider Andrew,” the young lady replied calmly but firmly.

That was when Andrew let out a sarcastic laugh. "Really? Is that also the reason why you thought of hiding her from me?"

"Yes! We all know, don't we? What you are and what am I? What assurance do I have that you won't deny the child?"

"And what made you think that I would deny her?" his question-answer to her.

Lana was silent there because, in fact, Andrew was right in what he said.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them. She was hurt but she couldn’t understand why. She could not understand what was happening to her.

"I-I'm sorry," when she remained silent was what she heard the young man say.

Lana did not speak and instead preferred to look out the car window.

"Tell me, what's our daughter's favorite food?" a moment later Andrew asked again.

Lana felt as if a bird's wing had touched her heart. So she smiled inwardly and then faced the man.

"Actually she loves ice cream," she replied telling the truth then followed her words with a husky laugh.

Andrew smiled though his eyes remained focused on the road.

"Just like how you love coffee, I guess?" he turned around for a moment.

Lana's chest trembled quickly because of what the young man had done. She couldn't explain that despite what had happened she was really still not immune to Andrew's charm.

"A-Andrea is a bit of a, well, she loves telling stories and also very inquisitive," she replied instead then looked back out the window.

"Really? So in that part, I think she's just like me," Andrew answered vigorously.

Lana laughed again. "It looks like it," she said agreeing with what Andrew said.

Soon they reached their house. Lana expected the reaction of Mama Cecille who was surprised when Andrew entered the house after her.

"Isn't he---," the woman couldn't continue what she wanted to say when Andrea, who came out of her room, ran towards her.

"Mommy! You're home early!" she hugged her.

A few more moments and the child's eyes were focused on Andrew.

"H-Hello there," she said with a smile greeting the man standing behind her.

*****

ANDREW quickly felt the strange warmth that touched his heart at that simple greeting from his daughter, Andrea.

And it intensified, even more, when Andrea approached him. And then she seemed to have known him for a long time, his daughter held her hand while she remained to stare at him.

"I-I'll just prepare something for you to eat," it was the woman whom Lana had called earlier as Mama Cecille.

Andrew understood that so he wasn’t surprised when she hurriedly turned around to leave them there.

"I think I saw your face on TV," Andrea said again, still looking up at him.

The young man was swallowed up in succession due to severe pain in his throat.

Then he looked down and then faced Andrea. "Yes, that's me," he let out a sigh wanting to loosen even a little of his tight chest.

"Grandma loves you, eh," Andrea's tone of the story was lively, followed by a small giggle.

With a wide smile, Andrew glanced at Lana who was just staring. Then returned his sight to his daughter's beautiful face.

"Really?" unable to restrain from touching the child's little hand. "You're so beautiful," he added, holding back his emotions.

"Thank you. Why, we have the same eye color, blue," Andrea giggled again. "What is your name?" she asked again.

Andrew opened his mouth to speak but Lana preceded him.

"Andrea, you can call him D-Daddy," Lana said in a broken voice.

With what she heard, Andrea's eyes widened quickly.

"Daddy? Is he my Dad?" Andrea's question with twinkling eyes.

That was when Andrew nodded one after another and then burst into tears.

"Yes baby, it's me. I'm your Daddy."

With a beautiful smile on her lips, Andrea quickly hugged him tightly.

"Daddy, what took you so long?" his daughter's face was still smiling and there was no trace of resentment.

Despite being a womanizer Andrew admitted that at that moment he was like a different person. It was as if his personality had suddenly changed.

He hugged Andrea tightly and then kissed her on both cheeks. All the regrets of a long time he had been separated from her were like bubbles that suddenly disappeared now that he had hugged her.

"I'm so sorry baby, I'm so sorry," he said, still in tears.

*****

"WHAT are your plans now?" it was Mama Cecille as helps her prepare dinner in the kitchen.

Lana sighed.

"He's entitled to Andrea," she replied instead.

"It's true," her aunt said.

“Whichever is more right Mama, I’ll do it for my daughter,” she explained

Mama Cecille smiled then started making coffee.

"I didn't expect this opportunity to come, you know that, Lana? This is what I have waited for you for a long time. But it didn't happen," at the last word Lana felt her aunt's intense pity for her.

"It's okay, Ma. I'm glad that this happened to Andrea, that her father came back to her. I've had a good life with you," she said with a sweet smile to her aunt.

Mama Cecille nodded and then handed her a mug of coffee.

"Give this to your husband," she said teasingly.

Whether Lana admits it or not she knows deep inside that she was thrilled at what her aunt said.

"H-Husband?" she said uncontrollably laughing.

Mama Cecille shot her a teasing look. "What if he offers you marriage, will you refuse?"

Lana immediately thought of that. "Marriage?"

Mama Cecille laughed softly.

"All right, leave me here and go with your daughter and your future husband," she shooed her away.

It is shocking that Lana just followed her aunt's command. In fact, she could feel the pounding of her chest again. And it only got worse when Andrew and her eyes met.

She quickly recalled what had happened to them earlier. Automatically, Lana felt the intense heat on both her cheeks so she decided to look away from Andrew.

"Here, drink this," she said as she set the coffee down on the center table.

"Thanks," Andrew's short reply then stroked Andrea's hair which was asleep while lying on his lap.

"Are you going to have dinner here with us?" that's exactly what Lana wanted to say and she's glad she said it.

"Of course, and at least I can have dinner with our princess," he replied abruptly. "Where is her room? To make her sleep more comfortably," Andrew added, asking as he stood up Andrea in his arms.

Then Lana stood up and led the way into Andrea's room. She arranged the pillows on her messy bed, after which Andrew carefully laid the child there.

"She's really a bit messy so her room often looks like this," Lana explained when she saw Andrew gazes his sight over the child's room.

"That's natural. Anyway, if you need someone to help take care of Andrea, I can get her a babysitter," said the young man who started picking up the scattered toys on the floor.

Lana couldn't help but smile because of that. "Andrea is okay with Mama. I'll just tell you when she needs something," she replied.

"Wow, first-time," she saw the amusement in Andrew's eyes as she looked back at him.

"First-time?" Lana's smile widened even more.

Andrew shrugged his shoulders and then sat down in the chair on the side of Andrea's bed.

"Because since a while ago, something happened between us already and it's just now that you smiled at me. The kind of smile that you gave me when I first talked to you in Palawan?"

Lana's face quickly turned red at what was heard.

"Mama might hear you!" she rebuke Andrew.

Andrew laughed softly.

"You still owe me an explanation" he reminded.

"What?" Lana asked frowning.

"Tell me, why did you leave me without saying goodbye? Why do you use a different name on Facebook? Or should I say, why is our daughter's name your username? Did you really mean not to show her to me? Were you really scared that I might deny her? Or maybe you want to be with someone else who can be her father?"

Lana sighed violently at Andrew's last question to her.

She opened her mouth to speak but her plan to explain was thwarted when she heard the voice of her Mama Cecille calling her.

"Let's talk about that in some other days," she said as she left the room.

"Oh yes, and I know of a special way we can do it while you're explaining" was the young man's meaningful reply.

Lana secretly sighed at what Andrew had said.

But because she didn't want to prolong the conversation, she decided not to hit it.