Episode 1

My mom is dead, and no, I'm not crying. Nor do I feel sad. I don't even feel melancholy. It's not that I didn't love her, I do, like I love my cat Serafin. Maybe a little less. But the fact that I don't cry or feel sad about her death is because my mother and I were practically strangers. For her, I was like a stray dog that she kept by her side out of compassion or perhaps because she couldn't get rid of me, since I shared the blood of the man she loved.

The reason I'm sure she didn't feel love for me is because my mother never gave me a hug or told me she loved me. In my almost 18 years of life, she never addressed a word of love to me. We were more like roommates who only shared words of cordiality. She didn't meddle in my affairs, nor did I meddle in hers. I was content with only receiving the essentials: clothes, food, and money.

That was the only thing I needed from my mother, and the only thing she offered me. She never attended any parent meetings, nor school events, she never congratulated me on my good grades, nor did she reprimand me when I started smoking. Forget about celebrating my birthdays, even hers passed as if they were any other day.

That was the kind of relationship we had. And no, I didn't feel hurt.

It's not that I hadn't tried to get closer to her, but no matter how much I tried, she moved away from me as if I had lice or was a monster. So I simply stopped trying to mend our relationship. Perhaps, if it weren't for the warmth I received from my nanny, my personality would now be like my mother's: cold and inaccessible.

As for the reason for my mother's coldness towards me, I wasn't sure and I didn't rack my brains looking for an explanation that would only give me a wound in my heart.

I didn't need that in my life. As for the identity of my father, I didn't even care to know, whether it be love or hate. I felt nothing for someone I had never seen.

"Are you sure you're okay, Mia? You haven't shed a single tear, don't keep it all to yourself, cry, dear."

The concern in her tone of voice touched my heart. The way her eyes, surrounded by fine lines, looked at me sent a dagger straight to my chest.

My nanny was someone who had been with me since I can remember. Her name is Martina, and her age was unknown even to me, but perhaps it was around 50 to 60 years old. Her eyes were grayish, like the clouds that herald a storm. Her height was tall and her body slender. Despite her age, she still looked beautiful. She has a daughter and three grandchildren, who are her adoration. However, they had moved abroad for her daughter's husband's job, so she transferred all that maternal love to me.

"I'm fine, nana. Don't worry."

"Mia…"

Before she said anything, I hugged her and pretended to sob, because if I didn't, she wouldn't leave me alone.

"That's it, dear, vent. I know your mom wasn't the best mother in the world, but she loved you."

"She never said it. I don't think she ever loved me."

"Don't say that. She…"

"Don't lie to me, nana. I'm not a child. My mom loved only one person in her life: that 'man'. Her heart disease was due to him. She suffered a heart attack despite being so young because of him. She never loved me, and I don't need her love either. There are many people who love me, and you are one of them, nana. So don't tell me lies."

"Oh, my dear! Don't talk like that, it hurts my heart. You were her daughter, she loved you in her own way."

"It's the truth. She didn't love me. She didn't love anyone."

Although I said that in a dry manner, I feigned a sob so that my nana wouldn't feel worried about my feelings or think of anything strange.

"Be that as it may, she was your mother, your family, the woman who gave you life. You must feel alone. You're still a child, you're acting this way because you're resentful of her. But my dear, it's better to forgive, to let go of those bad feelings so that in the future they don't become a shadow. This is the reason why I want you to vent now."

Perhaps she was right, but now I refused to accept her words.

"When will mom's ashes be brought?" I whispered in a subdued voice.

"I think you were hasty, at least we should have held a wake for her, invited her friends and family."

I interrupted her as I moved away from her warm embrace, not forgetting to rub my eyes as if I were wiping away my tears.

"Mom had no friends, no one ever visited us. Nor do I know of any relatives. I never met them. She had no one. She only had us, nana."

Just when my nana was about to say something, my eyes were drawn to an imposing-looking man. I was amazed by the aura he emanated. He looked powerful, his eyes were an irresistible dark color, his appearance was no less than that of the sexy blond man I met at the amusement park last time. However, although he looked irresistible, I didn't feel like telling him to become my boyfriend or sugar daddy. I don't know why, but I felt somewhat uncomfortable with his presence, as if he were a superior being to whom I should kneel.

The thought itself felt ridiculous, so I turned my gaze away from that man who could be my father and concentrated on continuing to pretend to be a pitiful girl in front of my nana so that she would continue to take care of me now that my mother died.

After all, I was still in my last year of high school, I didn't know if I could survive on my own, the nana…

I couldn't continue with my thoughts, as that imposing man appeared right before my eyes. My nana looked at him with her mouth agape, she opened and closed her mouth as if she didn't know what to say.

"You are…"

"I am Duke Storm Franklin Saetear."

Wow! A noble, someone of royalty, even his name sounded majestic, now I could understand why I felt that way in his presence. But, this guy, why was he talking to us? Did he need directions?

"I came to take you with me because you are my daughter," he added, looking directly into my eyes. "I am your father."

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