A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry again for the delay, I just hope that this chapter will make up for it. Thank you to those people who added my work into their reading list.

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Lucas cannot hardly talk once Alessa left with Nathan in tow. It is as if, words left him and he doesn't know how to speak, which rarely happens. It may be due to the fact that he feels so many emotions all at once; nervous coming face-to-face with Claire; elated for she is fine together with their child; remorseful for what he did before everything happened; or simply because he was mesmerized with her. Her beauty despite in a hospital gown, no make up, hair in tangle, up in a messy bun, and most of all, for her courage in facing that difficult situation she was in. Braving to be well and did not give up in spite of a bleak and hopeless tomorrow.

He cleared his throat first before approaching the bed.

"Hello sweetheart." He started before kissing her forehead, thankful that she didn't turn away - he can see a ray of hope. Then he sat at the chair that Alessa vacated and gathering up more courage, he opened his mouth to speak.

"How are you?"

"I am fine, we are fine." Claire answered with a smile.

"Have you eaten?" He asked and before she could answer, her stomach grumbled, which made her face flushed with embarassment.

"I will take that as a no." He chuckled, amused, stood up and went to the pantry where he put the food he brought earlier.

Since the doctor advised to give her soft foods first, one that she can easily digest so as not to upset her stomach, Alvin made a soup with a toast. He prepared it and brought it to Claire. He assisted her to sit on her bed before he placed it in front of her.

He took the spoon, scoop some soup and offered it to her. Instead of opening her mouth, she just stared at him, unbelieving.

"Come on, open up. I'll feed you." He stared at her and waited, not backing off. He almost jump when, after several seconds, she sighed and opened her mouth, accepting the food on the spoon that he offered.

"I can do this on my own, you know?" He heard her say after sometime, but he pretended he didn't heard it and continued spoon-feeding her. She refused to accept another spoonful when the soup is almost half empty.

"I am already full." She said.

"Are you sure? You need strength Claire, so you need to eat." He said, gently reprimanding her. But what she answered next made him conceded.

"I know, but I am really full. Maybe an effect of not eating anything for several days." Though she said it lightheartedly by chuckling, it made him upset - again. It made him feel really worse. Maybe his face shows how he feels that is why she said, "Do not feel guilty, Lucas."

"I am trying not to." He answered, fully controlling not to sound so remorseful. He stood up, went to the pantry and washed the utensils. He made use of the time to settle his emotions. He is walking back towards her when she suddenly asked.

"Why are you here, Lucas? You already said your goodbye - though indirectly, that day." Claire asked which made him stopped on his tracks. Those very words are the things he does not want to hear, for it will open up so many things. For the second time around, he is again loss for words. It took him several seconds to clear his mind and continued to make his way to sit on the chair he is occupying.

"Please do not tell me you didn't say those hurtful words and do not tell me as well to forget what happened. I know we should let bygones be bygones, and even if we will do that, I will still ask you why you are here." Claire's quipped remark made him swing his head towards her. Though her statement may sound cruel, her face shows otherwise. A face full of understanding, curiosity and a hint of fear, yes, he was able to detect it for it mirrors his own. Fear of tomorrow, fear of what the other might say and what it would lead them both into.

Suppressing the fear he felt, he looked into her eyes and confess his heart out. He just hopes that she will not trample it like he did hers before.

"Claire, I know I've been an a**." He started that she quickly countered.

"You've been more than that."

"Sweetheart, please, let me finish first before you interject." He said pleadingly, which she answered with a slight nod. He took her hand and enveloped it with his.

"I've been more than an a** as what you have said. But, please know that what I am about to tell you are all true." Her silence made him continued.

"I will tell you my story from the very beginning. The story of my parents for I want you to understand why I've been like this, why I acted out that way."

"I already told you before that my parents were arranged to be married since they were kids. But it didn't deter them to live their own lives, for they've been into relationship with other people knowing that they will still end up together, especially my father. So, you can say that I am more like him in regards with this matter."

"Growing up apart may have added a great part with how they were growing up. My father lives in this part of the continent all his life, while Anne, my mother grew up in the west coast, she is from California. So it is not difficult for them to live their lives how they wanted it to be. Firstly, since they are not together and secondly, the engagement was done in private. Only them, their family and lawyers know about the setup and no one else."

When Lucas look back at Claire, whose brows crinkled in confusion, he knows that she has a question but decided to hear him out first. He may have an idea of what it was, so he answered that by continuing the tale.

"You may be wondering how they were paired up when they are not living in the same state. You see, it was both their grandfather's will for the two families to be joined. The arrangement was passed down to them since their grandfathers both bore a son as their children. No one contested it as well for everybody knows the presence of that will and the stipulation that whichever family broke it will give fifty percent of their assets to the family who remained faithful to that agreement. So we can say that it is more of a business venture that just a simple marriage."

"As we can see now, both families remained true to that aggrement. My parents were married when my father was twenty-three and my mother was eighteen."

"They were married privately and both families received a handsome amount for doing the deed. It is also part of the stipulation, their grandfathers both saved money through the years that was equally divided when the ceremony ended. It may also be one reason why everyone agreed to that."

"The first year, they were together was okay, I guess, as what I have been told. Both were still into nurturing the arrangement, they were tasked to do. They tried to have children as well, but everytime, my mother will have a miscarriage. It happened four times in a span of three years, until the doctor told them, specifically my mother, not to get pregnant again."

"They were devastated, both of them. My mother felt she was lacking while in my father's part, it means that there will be no heir to the company. I wad told that my mother left for quite a long time, while my father went back to his wayward ways, meaning different women and drinking. But he kept it discreet, he kept this until he met Lucille - my biological mother."

"He met her when she was seventeen, she applied as a housemaid in my father's house. She was already employed for several months when he noticed her. Some would say it was love at first sight, in my father's case, at least, since Lucille already has someone when they met."

"My father, as discreet as always, tried to woo her, but she was hell bent on not to mind him, although he was her employer. So my father did what a man with a crooked heart will do. He forced his way into her, not once, but many times, and in one time he did the deed, I was conceived."

"Not wanting to spread a scandal, my father opted to hide her somewhere away from here. So, he sent her in his vacation cottage in Texas... accompanied by Anne."

"Anne at first doesn't want to come, but she also doesn't want gossips of her husband having a child knowing that people didn't saw her becoming pregnant. So the wife and the heir-bearer lived together for several months until I was born. The initial irritation and annoyance from Anne left when she realized that Lucille was also a victim of her husband's wrongdoing, so she became her friend and an ally while Lucille is pregnant with me, and became devastated when she died giving birth to me."

"In turn, she promised she will take good care of me like her own, which she did. I've never been more thankful to her, because despite me being not her own blood, she treated me not differently."

Though Lucas told her not to comment anything, she cannot help but ask. "What happened after? You hated your father based on your previous stories."

"You are being impatient sweetheart." Though Lucas tried to jest, his eyes shows his inner sadness and pain.

"According to many, my birth and presence to the family gave so much joy and that although temporary, my parents became like a couple again. But I do not know if it's true or if they just pretended for the sake of publicity."

"But it all came crashing down when I was five. My father turned into drinking and gambling, the reason, I don't know. I stopped asking and looking for answers from him ever since...ever since, he started inflicting physical pain to my mother and me, when I tried to stop him from doing so. I was nine that time, almost ten."

"I do not know what happen to him and nobody said anything to me so I stop asking them as well."

He stop for a while before continuing. "So, when I am about to turn eighteen, I asked him to step down from his position as the CEO of the company before he can gamble all our business and money away. My grandmother helped me every step of the way, from building the company from scratch."

"My father continued drinking himself away until death eventually took him when I was twenty, and after that I just focused on building an empire, and here I am now, I can close a business deal and can keep up with business competition, but I cannot keep up a long lasting relationship with anyone."

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Claire doesn't know how and what to feel about Lucas' experience with his father. The story that he told is something that left a dent in her heart. She clearly saw on his face how his upbringing affected him. She cannot imagine herself growing up without the love she got from her parents and siblings. How can someone bring another life into this world without showering him of love that he needs. She knows that the world is cruel and some people can inflict so much pain into someone that will forever leave a scar, she experienced it firsthand. That some people doesn't have the things she had while growing up. She is not naive, she simply cannot accept the fact that she now knew someone who suffered from it.

The tears she so much willed not to fall finally fell at Lucas' next words.

"I am a broken man Claire, and I do not know how to be whole again."

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-blue