CHAPTER 1

"No, it can't be!!" I shouted, then looked at my parents in frustration. 

"Cassandra, why can't you see that we are doing this for your own good?" Mommy explained gently while holding onto my arm.

I didn't want to be rude to my mother, so I just shook my arm out from her grasp instead of shouting at her. My emotions were in turmoil.

I looked at them with hatred. "How can this be for my own good? How can marrying someone I don't fucking know be good for me?!"

Daddy lowered his head as if he did not know how to even begin explaining the things they were doing. 

I laughed for a moment. "Don't even try to tell me that your company is losing money, so you need to marry me to a man I don't know. That is just rubbish straight out of a tele-series."

He massaged the bridge of his nose before giving me a serious look.

"Come to my office—" 

"Are you sure about this, Deyniel?" my mom butted in.

Dad just gave her a warm smile and lead the way to his office. I could do nothing but obey. Mommy quietly followed behind me.

What the hell was going on? I had just come home from a friend's party, and now I had to face this shit? To marry someone I didn't know. Well, erase that thought. I would never marry someone I didn't love. 

Daddy sat down in his swivel chair then emptied his drawer. I heard Mommy sniffing in the background, so I looked at her.

Why the heck is she crying?

I was nervous for a moment. Was our company already losing money? But that was impossible. I had just come back from the company the other day and everything seemed okay. 

Daddy caught my attention when he pulled out a folder and placed it in front of me.

I grabbed it and scanned the files. For a moment, I felt like my world had collapsed. 

"W-what the hell is this?" I tried to ask, stuttering. Slowly I glanced at my father.

Tears automatically started running down my face when I saw my father smiling, yet his eyes were full of sadness.

He grabbed my hand then kissed it. "You know I love you so much, princess, don't you? I'm sorry if I'm pushing you to make a decision you don't like. I just want to see my princess with the right man before I die."

And then we all broke down. 

My father, my dearest father, has brain cancer.

"N-no, no, this can't be. You'll get treatment, Dad. If not here in the Philippines, then we'll go to the US," I said.

Daddy touched my head and ruffled my hair gently. I could do nothing but sob at the warm smile he gave me in that moment.

"Who doesn't want to live a long life? I also want to see my future grandchildren, but what can we do? The Lord gave me a limit to my life."

All I could do was shake my head and whimper. Mommy slowly approached me, then hugged me tight.

"Sorry, my princess, for being greedy. I just want to secure your future. I don't know how long or short I have left. If I am unable to see my future grandchildren, then your wedding will be enough," he said emotionally.

I ran to him and hugged him tight. 

"Please fight, Daddy. Why do I feel like you are already surrendering? Fight for us, Daddy. Fight for me," I begged. 

My dad just hugged me back then kissed the top of my head. 

"I'm not surrendering, princess, I've just accepted the facts. I want to spend my remaining days with you and your mom, rather than suffer in the hospital." 

I cried even more at what Daddy had said.

"I love you, Daddy," I said and looked up at him.

He smiled at me. "I love you too, princess. I love you and your mom. Please take care of her when I'm gone."

"Stop it, Deyniel. Please stop speaking like that," Mom stopped Daddy's words while crying. 

Daddy just smiled at her then touched my mother's face.

"Always remember that I love you both," he said, teary eyed.

"Of course, we kno—"

"AHHH!!" 

Dad shouted while holding his head. Mommy and I quickly attended to him. 

"Get the medicine from the drawer, Cassandra!" Mom shouted while holding Daddy's hand on his head.

I was literally crying as I searched for the medicine. I looked back and forth between my dad and it, scared that I might miss something.

"Hon, honey, I will call Dr. Soriano. Please stay with us, please. I-I still can't live without you," Mom cried hard as she said the last line. 

I quickly gave Mommy the medicine I had found. She opened it, took out a pill, and then gave it to Daddy.

Why? Why did they just tell me about this? 

I just cried silently as I saw how Daddy complained about his headache.

What kind of child was I? Why didn't I see or notice it at all? I thought it was just because of work. That was why Daddy seemed to be losing weight. I thought it was because of his old age that his hair was falling out. I didn't know he was already sick.

After a few minutes, Daddy gradually calmed down, just in time for the doctor to arrive. He checked Daddy in the room. 

He was lying down now and sleeping, probably exhausted by the extreme pain he felt earlier.

Mommy approached me after the doctor left. She smiled at me, then straightened a runaway hair on my face. 

"You can go to your room now. I'll take care of your daddy," she said while combing my hair with her fingers.

"When, Mommy? When did it all start?" I asked. 

Mommy sighed before sitting beside me, then she pulled me in for a hug.

"After you graduated from college, that's when your daddy's severe headaches started. He used to get headaches, but he ignored them because he thought it was just stress from work. But a few weeks after you graduated, that's all, everything got so much worse, and he was already experiencing various symptoms of brain cancer," Mom started the story.

"He went for treatment. Your daddy fought for us, Cassandra. Every time we told you that we had a business trip, he was really taking his meds with me, chemo and so on... But your daddy cannot neglect the company either. Many people depend on us, dear." 

"Why? Why didn't you ask me to help with the company? Yes, I don't know anything yet, but I can still learn, Mommy," I asked, as if that would turn back time.

She just smiled at me, then kissed my forehead. "Yes, we thought of that, but your daddy loves you very much. We knew that you had been studying all your life. You did nothing but give us reasons to be proud of you. Deyniel wanted to give you the freedom to do anything you wanted after you graduated. He wanted you to enjoy the things you did not experience while studying."

"I'm sorry. I can't say no to your daddy. I love you too, and I can see his point. I want to help you with the company, but no one will teach you because your daddy is often at the treatment center with me. Forgive us, Cassandra, for not immediately telling you about this. Like you, your daddy and I also hope that his condition will improve."

"But nothing has changed. Maybe this is really the Lord's plan," she growled. 

"But even so, I am still not ready, my child. I am not ready to be left behind. I cannot afford to be alone. I have not yet accepted this, dear," she continued as she cried silently.

I could do nothing but hug my mother and join her in her silent crying. 

Daddy loved me dearly. He did everything he could to make my life happy and orderly. Who was I to be selfish about a thing that could make him happy?

I wiped away my tears then boldly looked at Mommy.

"Who is the groom, and when is the wedding?"