Who Is Laurie Crisostomo?

"Stop playing with your food!" She snapped at Andrei. Since the taxi ride, he has been unnaturally quiet.

She sighed and poured herself another glass of wine. She is not a fan of sake, hence, she asked for a bottle of white wine.

She watched Andrei play with the edamame in front of him.

"I want to adopt a child," he blurted out.

She spat the wine she was drinking when she heard what Andrei said.

"A child? You have the audacity to think of adopting a child when you can't even own up to your mistakes? What do you think of adopting a child?"

"Shut up! I thought long and hard about it. Eric and I wanted to —"

"Just get a dog!" she sneered, pouring herself another glass of wine.

Her anger that she thought had already subsided due to Andrei's sincere apology is now back! What a fool he is for thinking about raising a child when he can't even man up or woman up.

'He is incapable of admitting his mistake and now he is thinking of taking care of a little human being?'

"I know the responsibility I am going to face if I decide to adopt a child. Eric and I had a sit down with our marriage counselor and we are thinking of adopting," he said softly, avoiding her mocking gaze.

She smirked, downing her glass, "I wonder why you need to have a marriage counselor…"

"It is normal to have a marriage counselor, Laurie."

"Yea! When couples ask themselves why a stranger needs to meditate, that's what they say to themselves. You are living together, you are partners. How difficult is it to discuss the important matter in your relationship? An outsider shouldn't tell you what to do with your life."

"There are things that are easier to talk when a professional help you through —"

"Yeah, yeah," she nodded, snorting to contain her laughter. "Can you hear yourself, Andrei?"

"Why did I even think of telling you about it? Stupid of me to even think that you would understand."

"You told me not because you thought I would understand. You told me because you thought I would agree with you...or you wanted me to agree with you."

"Forget I said anything. Why would you even consider having a child when you can't decide if you want to get married or not."

He grabbed the bottle of white wine next to Laurie's plate and poured himself a glass.

"Pathetic!" She clicked her tongue at him while rolling her eyes.

"What's pathetic about adoption?"

"Well, nothing. Adopting a human being that isn't your blood is a noble thing. There are a lot of children who need a loving home."

"So what is your problem?" he scoffed.

"Well, I don't have a problem with it."

"You are infuriating!" he exclaimed. He took a frustrated sigh. Laurie truly pushes all his patience. He couldn't understand her at all!

"Do you agree or not?"

"Why are you asking me? I am not the one who would raise a child. I am not your marriage counselor that would help you process whatever bullshit you can't face."

She has a vague idea of what could be the real reason why Andrei wanted to adopt a child. However, she doesn't want to be the one to tell it to his face.

"You are a friend."

She chuckled and slowly shook her head in amusement. "Do you want me to real talk you as your friend?" She emphasized the word 'friend' for him.

When Andrei just looked at her and said nothing, she smirked.

"How's Anthony nowadays?"

Andrei creased his eyebrows. They were talking about him and his plan of adopting a child, he was taken aback that Laurie suddenly asked about Anthony.

"Well, my brother is now the one who handles most of the family businesses. My mother spends more time at home because she is crazy with her grandchildren."

"Wh-what?"

He gawked at her stunned, then laughed, "I know what you are trying to point out, bitch!" he spat, drinking his wine in one gulp.

"Do you?"

"I am not going to fall for your traps, Laurie!"

"Traps? What traps are you talking about? I merely asked about your older brother. Why are you being pissy about it? — unless your brother's children are the reason why you wanted to adopt a child."

She smirked at him mockingly. She giggled when Andrei wasn't able to answer back.

"Did I just hit a bullseye?" her tone was dripping with sarcasm. "If your counselor didn't lead you to that realization, or call you out with your bullshit, you are simply wasting your money with that quack! Donate the money you are paying to your marriage counselor. There are tons of orphanages who need funding."

"I want a child." He said quietly.

Her mouth formed into an 'O' when she realized that apart from being jealous of his older brother's children, Andrei truly wanted a child.

"Well, you can talk about it with Eric if you truly want a child. Sorry, I misjudged you. I was thinking that you wanted to have your child because you wanted to compete with your mother's attention that is now all focused on Anthony's offspring."

Andrei popped some edamame in his mouth, avoiding Laurie's eyes.

"Oh! I got a double bullseye! What are the odds?" she snorted.

"Shut up! You have no idea of raising children."

"That is where you are wrong," she said, shaking her fingers at him.

She grabbed her bag and pulled out her wallet. And then took out three photos.

"Here are my children. She waved the three photos proudly in the air. "They are not my blood, but I help to raise them," she said.

Andrei was shocked seeing photos of three girls in the photo that Laurie was so smugly shaking in his face. The girls in the pictures look like eight years old kids.

He truly didn't know this Laurie. She has a lot of surprises under her sleeve. First, he found out she is filthy rich, a CEO of her secret companies. Now a mother?

'Who is Laurie Crisostomo?' he wondered, watching her face.