The next morning, Cherry was in the kitchen with Mrs. Jennie.
They stood side by side preparing breakfast, with Cherry helping to chop vegetables while Jennie stirred something in a pan.
Cherry seemed unusually quiet.
Jennie glanced at her.
"You've been smiling to yourself all morning. What happened?"
Cherry's cheeks warmed.
"Nothing."
Jennie smiled knowingly.
"Nothing?"
Cherry shook her head, trying to hide her smile.
Then she finally said, "Elian called me last night."
Jennie looked at her.
"He did?"
"Yes. We were talking, and then he switched the call to a video call."
Jennie chuckled.
"So that's why you've been smiling."
Cherry laughed softly.
"He asked what I was doing. I told him nothing."
"And?"
Cherry hesitated, already embarrassed.
"He said he missed my lips."
Jennie immediately laughed.
"Oh, Elian!"
Cherry covered her face with one hand.
"Don't laugh, Mom."
"I'm not laughing at you." Jennie smiled. "I'm just surprised he said that so directly."
"He made me so embarrassed."
"I can imagine."
Cherry lowered her hand, her cheeks still pink.
"He kept teasing me because I was blushing."
Jennie shook her head affectionately.
"That boy really knows how to make you smile."
Cherry smiled.
"He does."
She returned to preparing the vegetables, but her smile remained.
After a moment, Jennie's expression became thoughtful.
"And what else did you two talk about?"
Cherry's hands slowed.
"About leaving Manila."
Jennie looked at her immediately.
"Elian told you?"
Cherry nodded.
"He said Grandma Anna is ready to leave. She doesn't want to stay here anymore, so he wants to move abroad with her."
Jennie became quiet.
"And you?"
"Elian wants me to go with him."
Jennie stared at Cherry for a moment.
"What did you tell him?"
"I told him I'd talk to my family first."
Jennie slowly nodded, but her mind was already racing.
The thought of Elian leaving Manila—and possibly leaving their lives—made something inside her uneasy.
Especially now that she and Nicholas had begun to suspect the truth about him.
Jennie suddenly put down the knife she was holding.
"Cherry, excuse me for a moment."
Cherry looked at her. "Mom?"
"I just need to speak with your father."
Jennie quickly left the kitchen and walked upstairs.
She pushed open the bedroom door.
Nicholas was already getting ready for work, adjusting his tie in front of the mirror.
He looked at her through the reflection.
"Jennie? What happened?"
Jennie closed the door behind her.
"Anna."
Nicholas turned around.
"What about her?"
Jennie's frustration finally spilled over.
"She's trying to take our son away from us again!"
Nicholas frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
"Cherry just told me that Elian is planning to leave Manila with Mrs. Anna. They're going abroad, and Elian wants Cherry to go with him."
Nicholas stared at her.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!" Jennie snapped. "And I won't stand back and watch it happen."
She paced across the room, visibly upset.
"I already lost my child once. I spent years wondering where he was, wondering if he was alive, wondering what happened to him."
Her voice trembled.
"And now that he's finally back in my life, I'm supposed to sit quietly while Anna takes him away again?"
Nicholas walked toward her.
"Jennie, calm down."
"How can I calm down?"
She looked at him, tears beginning to gather in her eyes.
"If Elian really is our son, we can't let him disappear again."
Nicholas became silent.
Jennie wiped quickly at the corner of her eye.
"I don't care how far Anna wants to run. I won't lose my child a second time."
Nicholas took a slow breath.
"We don't know everything yet."
"But we know enough to be suspicious."
Jennie stepped closer.
"We need to find out the truth before Elian leaves this country."
Nicholas looked at her seriously.
"And if he really is our son?"
Jennie's voice softened.
"Then this time, I'm not letting him go."
Later that day, Jennie drove to Mrs. Anna's house herself.
She had spent the entire morning thinking about what Cherry had told her. The possibility of Elian leaving Manila had only made the questions in her mind louder.
When she arrived, she stood outside the door for a moment before knocking.
A few seconds later, Anna opened the door.
The moment she saw Jennie, her expression changed.
"Jennie…"
"Anna."
Jennie forced herself to remain calm.
Anna stepped aside reluctantly.
"Come in."
Jennie entered the house, looking around briefly before turning back to her.
"I came because I need to talk to you."
Anna's hands tightened together.
"About what?"
"Elian."
Anna's heart skipped.
"What about him?"
Jennie took a breath.
"Cherry told me that Elian is planning to leave the country with you."
Anna remained silent.
"He wants to move abroad," Jennie continued. "And he wants Cherry to go with him."
Anna nodded slowly.
"Yes. That's what he told me."
Jennie stared at her.
"And you're really planning to take him away?"
Anna's expression hardened slightly.
"I'm not taking him anywhere against his will. Elian is an adult. He makes his own decisions."
"But you're the one who decided to leave."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Anna looked away.
"I have my reasons."
Jennie stepped closer.
"Then tell me."
Anna said nothing.
Jennie's frustration began to show.
"Anna, I've already told you what happened years ago. I lost my baby because of a situation I couldn't control."
Anna's face became pale.
Jennie continued, her voice trembling.
"And now, after all these years, I finally believe my son may still be alive."
Anna looked at her.
"Jennie…"
"I don't want to fight with you," Jennie said. "I came here because I need answers."
Anna's eyes dropped to the floor.
"What answers?"
"Why are you suddenly so desperate to leave Manila?"
Anna swallowed.
"I simply don't want to stay here anymore."
"Because of me?"
Anna's eyes lifted.
"Because of the Haynes family?"
Anna didn't answer.
Jennie watched her carefully.
"Anna, if Elian is truly just the grandson you've raised all these years, why are you so afraid of him staying around us?"
Anna's expression faltered.
"I am not afraid."
"Then look me in the eyes and tell me that."
Anna slowly looked at her.
For a moment, neither woman spoke.
Jennie's voice became quieter.
"Do you know something about Elian that you're not telling me?"
Anna's heart pounded.
She wanted to tell her.
She wanted to finally end the years of lies and let Jennie know that the child she had lost had grown into the man standing just a few rooms away.
But fear stopped her.
Instead, Anna shook her head.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Jennie stared at her, unconvinced.
"Anna…"
"I have nothing to say."
Jennie took a step back.
Her eyes were filled with disappointment.
"If Elian leaves, I need to know where he's going."
Anna remained silent.
"And if he really is my son," Jennie continued, "I won't let him disappear from my life again."
Anna's eyes filled with tears.
But she quickly turned away so Jennie wouldn't see them.
"Please leave, Jennie."
Jennie looked at her for several seconds.
Then she quietly walked toward the door.
Before leaving, she stopped.
"I hope you're not making the same mistake twice."
Anna's lips trembled.
Jennie walked out.
The door slowly closed behind her.
Anna leaned against it, covering her mouth as tears finally rolled down her cheeks.
"Elian…" she whispered.
Her voice broke.
"I only wanted to protect you."
Jennie walked back to her car, but she didn't immediately start the engine.
She sat behind the wheel, staring blankly through the windshield.
Anna's reaction had only made her more suspicious.
She had expected denial.
But there had been something in Anna's eyes—fear, guilt, and pain.
Jennie picked up her phone and called Nicholas.
He answered after a few rings.
"Jennie?"
"I went to see Anna."
There was a pause.
"What happened?"
"She confirmed that Elian is planning to leave the country with her."
Nicholas tightened his grip on his phone.
"And?"
"She wouldn't tell me why she's suddenly so determined to leave."
Jennie's voice trembled.
"But Nicholas… the way she reacted when I asked her about Elian…"
"What did she say?"
"Nothing."
Jennie took a deep breath.
"She kept avoiding my questions. She looked terrified."
Nicholas became silent.
Jennie continued.
"I asked her directly if she knew something about Elian."
"And?"
"She denied it."
Nicholas slowly sat down at his desk.
"I knew she was hiding something."
"I think so too."
Jennie's eyes filled with tears.
"I don't want to accuse her without proof, but I can't ignore this anymore."
"We need proof," Nicholas said firmly.
"Yes."
Jennie wiped her eyes.
"Before Elian leaves."
Nicholas thought for a moment.
"Jennie, don't confront Anna again for now."
"Why?"
"Because if she's hiding something, confronting her will only make her more careful."
Jennie fell silent.
"You're right."
"We'll find out the truth another way."
Jennie nodded even though he couldn't see her.
"I just want my son back."
Nicholas's expression softened.
"We will."
After ending the call, Jennie remained inside the car.
She looked toward Anna's house one last time.
"If Elian really is our son…" she whispered.
Her voice broke.
"I won't lose him again."
Meanwhile, inside the house, Anna was sitting alone in the living room.
She held an old photograph tightly against her chest.
It was a picture of Elian when he was still a little boy.
Anna gently ran her fingers across his face in the photograph.
"You're my grandson in every way that matters to me," she whispered through her tears.
She closed her eyes.
"But your parents have been looking for you all these years…"
Her hands trembled.
"And now they've finally found you."
Anna lowered the photograph.
She knew she couldn't keep the truth hidden forever.
But she also knew that once Elian learned the truth, everything between them could change.
Anna remained alone in the living room, the old photograph of Elian still in her hands.
Her tears continued to fall as memories from many years ago came rushing back.
Before Elian came into her life, Anna had spent years praying for a child.
She remembered sitting beside her husband at night, quietly praying that one day they would have a baby of their own.
But Anna had been unable to have children when she was young.
It had been one of the deepest pains of her life.
Her husband had always comforted her.
"Don't blame yourself," he would tell her. "You're enough for me."
But as the years passed, their home remained quiet.
Then her husband died.
And suddenly, Anna was completely alone.
She had no child.
No one waiting for her at home.
Nothing to fill the emptiness that had followed her for years.
Anna remembered how lonely those days had been.
She had prayed again.
Not for wealth.
Not for anything extraordinary.
She had only asked the heavens to give her someone to love.
Someone who would call her family.
Then Elian came into her life.
A helpless little baby who needed someone.
Anna had looked at him and felt something she had never experienced before.
She believed her prayers had finally been answered.
To her, Elian wasn't simply a child she had taken in.
He was the family she had spent her entire life wishing for.
He became the reason she woke up every morning.
The reason she smiled again.
The reason her house no longer felt empty.
Now, years later, the thought of losing him terrified her.
Anna pressed the photograph against her chest.
"I can't be alone again…"
Her voice trembled.
"I can't go back to that empty house."
She wiped her tears, but more followed.
She knew Elian had a biological family somewhere in this world.
She knew Jennie was his mother.
She knew Nicholas was his father.
But Anna had spent years loving him, raising him, protecting him.
She couldn't imagine waking up one morning and finding that Elian was no longer there.
"What will I have left if you leave me?" she whispered.
Anna looked down at the photograph again.
"You're all I have."
Her fingers gently traced Elian's childhood face.
"I know I shouldn't keep you from your parents…"
She closed her eyes.
"But I'm scared."
A quiet sob escaped her.
"I'm scared that once they take you back, there won't be a place for me in your life anymore."
Anna held the photograph tighter.
For the first time, she realized that her desire to protect Elian wasn't only about protecting him from the Haynes family.
Part of it was selfish.
She was terrified of losing the only family she had ever known.