Candy sighed. She had no idea what he could do. His lips were cool and firm and dry against hers. She caught the faintest scent of something indefinable that seemed to be the very essence of Kenneth Ruiz.

To her amazement at what it did, the lurking tears seemed to flow back into her tears ducts. She seemed to have been knocked to the ground.

Richard had kissed her many times. And Richard’s kisses were tender and warm. But Kenneth's lips claim, evoking a faint feeling she had never dreamed of feeling.

Adriana didn't even realize that her hands were spontaneously wrapped around his waist. She closed her eyes tightly in an effort not to think about what was happening and just respond to what it wanted.

And if she is going, to be honest with herself she wants to… she wants to…

Suddenly he ended the kiss and pulled her towards the top of the stairs.

"Why did you do that?" She turned to him confused and angry. "You deliberately kissed me in front of the door so Richard could see!"

"That's what lovers do, isn't it?" he said in an infuriating calmness.

"What are you saying — let me go!" She pulled her arm tightly without letting go.

Kenneth smiled mockingly. "When you talk you look like you're locked in bars, Candy."

"And what couple are you talking about?" she stormed, tugging at her arm.

He reached for her arm again and pulled her closer, forcing her to face him as he meets her anger head-on. “Everyone around you earlier can see and guess what you want. Richard was also there. That’s why I kissed you — to save your face!

“You made the first day of Karen and Gabriel's marriage difficult. And I have no intention of letting you bother Stella and Richard. I heard when Richard introduced Stella to her parents, that the next occasion was their wedding and that could be in the next two or three months.”

Candy was speechless. She was divided between confusion, anger, and intense emotional pain. Confusion at what it says and anger at its presumptuousness. And emotional pain at what Richard… and Stella did.

She felt betrayed. Abandoned. Humiliated. Because Kenneth is right. Almost every guest present knew that she was Richard’s girlfriend.

"Go up to your room, Candy, and get dressed for our trip," he ordered afterward.

Trip. Only now did she fully realize what he was saying earlier in front of Richard and Stella that they were leaving this afternoon. This will take her back to M City!

So, she was right. Karen ordered Kenneth to evict her from her parents' house at that very moment!

That explained Kenneth’s hostility towards her. He resents it. She bothers him because he is unable to refuse the cousin’s request. After all, she had no intention of living with his cousins because they wanted to evict her from her own household.

"I don't have to get dressed because—"

“Because I have no intention of taking you on the trip wearing your bridesmaid gown. You won’t be comfortable there on the five-hour drive. Come on up,” he ordered again. "Then I'll return to get your luggage."

“Don’t be ridiculous, Mr. Ruiz. I will not go with you. And I have no intention of joining you in the painting exhibit of any of that painter!” she said lying through the skin of her teeth. She has read Valerie Blair and her well-talked marriage to one of the most gorgeous men in society.

“Will you stop calling me Mr. Ruiz, Candy. Your dad and my cousin are married. We are practically related that’s why I have been burdened with you.”

She waved her hand in front of it as if she were holding a magic wand. “Then consider yourself unburdened, Mr. Ruiz. I will not go with you!”

His eyebrows met his strong rejection. He reached for her arm and again face her towards the stairs.

“Don't make a mess of your daddy and Karen's relationship, Candy. Think carefully. I'm not giving you a chance to choose where you want to stay. You will come with me back to M City. Now."

Its violent voice simply emphasizes that she has no choice. It suddenly occurred to her what her daddy had said two nights before his wedding that Kenneth would take her on his return to M City. She didn't pay attention to that because she had a personal plan. That as soon as Richard arrives she will be with him.

But that plan vanished like a bubble. Now she felt like excess baggage. Her stepmother dumped her to this man, she thought bitterly. However, she did not have to go with him. She raised her chin defiantly.

“Don't worry, Mr. Ruiz, I have no intention of destroying my own father’s happiness. And—”

"I hope I can believe you, Candy," he said with an impatient sigh. “Let's not prolong this pointless conversation. Go up and get dressed.”

“But I don’t have to leave now,” she bargained. "At least for the next three weeks." Tomorrow morning, the couple will leave for Japan for their honeymoon.

"Honeymoon's off."

Her eyebrows met. "W-what do you mean?"

"If you had listened to what Karen had to say to you earlier instead of running into Richard's arms like crazy, you would have known that they weren't leaving."

She winced at his description of her, "B-but why?"

“The plan has changed. The doctor advised Karen not to get tired and to postpone emigrating. She’s pregnant. I'm telling you in case you don't know yet.”

Of course, she knew Karen was pregnant. Not because the couple mentioned the matter to her. That was the secret she would keep in her chest if she wanted to see her father happy.

“And think of Daddy relentlessly in his sermons to me about unwanted pregnancies,” she uttered drily.

“If you think Karen's pregnancy is unwanted, think again. When your daddy and I talked about Karen's pregnancy, he was excited about the possibility that their child would be a boy. Now I understand why he doesn't want another girl.” His tone was mocking as his eyes surveyed her.

Bewildered, she sighed. “So, okay, they can't continue going to Japan. I'm still not coming with you, Mr. Ruiz. And don't think that I will mess up Daddy and Karen's marriage because I will be staying with my friend in L Province.”

“That’s out of the question, Candy. You just graduated from college. Karen suggested to your father that you take a long vacation and have some fun. And also, as a reward for the preparations you made for their wedding.”