"Eduardo, I know what I am doing." Emilia said with a sigh. "You people just don't understand anything at all."

"But mom..."

"Eduardo, he will be happy, I promise you."

"But don't you think this is a little too much?" Eduardo complained, staring at his mother. "He is probably hurt right now. Maybe you should go and talk to him."

"Not now." Emilia sighed. "I will talk to him later. I know that he feels that I am blackmailing him but I am not. I am doing this because it's the right thing to do. It's not like I am forcing him into it."

Hearing what his mother had just said, Eduardo just looked at her without even blinking.

"What?" Emilia shrugged, raising her shoulders. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Mom, we all saw what you did last night." He added. "I think that's what made him agree to marry this mysterious boy of yours. He wouldn't have agreed to it if you hadn't done what you did. All of us were scared of losing you. Even I would have agreed to anything with the way I was feeling. He did that because..." He paused and took a deep breath. "...he loves you a lot."

"And so do I." Emilia said softly. "You are still young and don't understand certain things but you will understand when you have a child. Besides, Praveen is the sweetest, kindest and well-mannered boy I know."

"He might be but you know maybe Antonio likes someone who's crazy, wild and just down to earth." Eduardo was trying to make his mother understand but she wasn't.

"He will be happy with Praveen." She smiled faintly, rubbing on her son's cheeks. "All I want is to see my son in the hands of someone I know will make him happy, someone that can do anything for him. That boy is Praveen. If anything ever happened to me then I want to leave my children in the best hands. You have Celine and he will have Praveen. I will be happy and I promise he will be happy."

Eduardo knew that his mother was doing everything for his brother and she was probably doing it for his benefit.

"You are probably right." He was speaking softly. He took her hands and kissed them. "But I need you to talk to him. He is probably hurt because of what had happened yesterday. He didn't come for breakfast but please..." He warned. "...I don't want you two to argue."

"Yes!" She smiled brightly. "I will talk to him later."

"Thanks."

Eduardo kissed his mother's cheeks and left the room.

Emilia remained on the bed just thinking about her son. She just hoped she was gonna find him calm and cool. She didn't want to hurt him or find him crying or something worse. She wasn't gonna back down because it was all for him.

She took a deep breath before she finally left her room for her son's. When she reached his room, she found him with Andrea and the two were busy talking. But when he saw her, he moved his eyes away and remained quiet. He just didn't want to see her.

"Hey!" She greeted. "How are you this morning?"

Antonio shook his head and looked at her with anger in his eyes. "What do you think, mom?" He said hoarsely.

"Hmm," She moaned. "I can see that you are still mad at me and I am sorry. I shouldn't have done what I did and..."

"Why are you apologizing?" He chuckled bitterly. "Didn't you get what you wanted? I agreed to marry the boy. I hope you are happy now."

Hmm, he was madder than she had actually thought? He'd never spoken to her like that.

"Anyway," She cleared her throat. "I will be sending a message to them. We will go and see them in three days so that you can get to meet him." She started getting closer. "I am sure you are gonna love him. He is a nice boy and I promise you won't have any problem with him."

Just hearing his mother talking about the boy made him really pissed. He was already clenching his fists, ready to tell his mother to get out. He wasn't interested in what she had come to say to him. He furiously tried to stand up but Andrea held his hand tightly, signaling him to sit down.

Antonio got the message and he didn't even stand up. He was just staring at his mother, trying to hate her. But deep down inside, he still loved her so much and just the thought of losing her was making him scared.

"I will be calling his aunt today." She smiled brightly. "I just..."

"I get you mom." He said hoarsely. "Why are you telling me all this?" He wasn't interested. "After all, you are the one handling all this."

She could still feel the anger in his voice. Emilia just sighed and slowly turned to leave. But she didn't even take a step. She slowly moved her head and looked at her son.

"You will like him and you will thank me for this one day."

She turned and started leaving. But she didn't even get far before she heard someone call her.

"Mom..."

Emilia stopped in her steps and turned to find her son up and staring back at her. She didn't even know what to say to him anymore. She didn't know if he wanted to tell her something bad or reject the marriage or even threaten to leave the country. She knew that her son was stubborn and he could do whatever he wanted.

"Please..." Antonio put his hands together, staring into her eyes. "Don't ever do what you tried to do yesterday." He said with tears in his eyes. "You really scared me and up to now, I am still thinking of how I almost lost you. I swear if you choose to end your life, I will follow you."

Emilia's eyes watered and she got emotional at that moment. But she couldn't cry. She was definitely happy.

"My son..."

"Please, promise me you won't ever try to take your life." He started getting closer to her. "I have lost my dad. I can't afford to lose you too. You are the one of the most important people in my life right now."

"Son!" Emilia sobbed, opening her arms. "Please, come and hug your mother. I really want to hug you."

A tear went down Antonio's cheeks as he rushed to his mother. He ran straight into her arms and hugged her tightly. Oh! Her hug felt really warm, cozy and breathtakingly beautiful. He had missed her hug and the giggles she was making were somehow taking some of the anger he felt.

There was something about the hug she gave him, something that he couldn't explain. It was just amazing. He didn't want to see his mother sad. After all, she wasn't to be blamed. All this was because of one person.

"Thank you so much." Emilia pulled away from the hug. But she cupped her son's cheeks and placed kisses all over his handsome face. "You have no idea how long I have been longing for your hug today."

"Thank you too, mom." He gave her a fake smile. "Just be smiling always and I will be happy."

"Okay." She kissed him. "I will leave you with Andrea, okay? I have to talk to your granny."

Emilia laughed before she gave her son one more hug. She kissed her daughter and then left the room. As soon as she left, Antonio lost the smile on his face and angrily sat back on the bed, breathing like a terrible killer.

"What the fuck?" He furiously gripped his hair.

"Calm down!" Andrea rubbed on his neck. "Being angry won't solve anything. But at least you were able to talk to her and she has no idea what we’re planning."

"It was hurting me." When he raised his face to stare at his sister, his face was wet with tears. "I just couldn't watch her being sad. You know how close I am to mom. Seeing her sad was just making things worse for me."

"And I am proud of you." Andrea said with a smile. "She doesn't deserve to suffer after all," She shrugged. "This isn't her fault. We all know who is to be blamed for this."

"Yes!" He clenched his fists.

"But promise me you'll take things easy." She sounded really serious. She even lost the smile on her face. "We shouldn't mess things up. Promise me that you'll get back all the wealth that boy has stolen."

"I promise." He held her hands. "I won't let that boy take what is ours."

"Yes!" Andrea smiled brightly. "And I promise that we will deal with him. It's his fault that this is happening."