I'm Guilty, My Beauty[COMPLETED]

"Oh, Beauty, you're here! I'm so glad. Now, I won't be bored. Ah, what was your name again?" She looked at Ronald.

"Ronald, Ma'am."

"Ronald, can you move to the next table, please. Only four people can occupy this table, and my husband is coming."

"No problem, Ma'am." Ronald transferred as he was told.

"Hi, son, Ronald, and of course, Beauty. Glad to see you all here. Beauty, it's a pleasure to hear that you decided to join the investigation team," Clyde spoke, standing near their table while holding his plate full of food.

"Beauty, I sent them a message last night about my job proposal that you took," clarified Clarence.

"Oh, glad to meet you both again, Mister Peres, Ma'am Claire. I'll try my best to help Clarence and Ronald." She was so respectful that Claire frowned.

"Shush, you're so polite. Just call me Mommy Claire and call him Daddy Clyde. I like the sound of it. No arguments, okay? Now, eat for now, and both of us will go shopping together. Leave the boys to do their work." She was so excited as she got up to get her food.

Clyde sat down with his food. "Please, don't mind her. She's always like that. I also like the sound of you calling me Daddy. I miss my four girls. I hardly see them at home. Now, Clarence is the only one left, but I prefer daughters. This boy is rough: he never whines, he never asks me to accompany him, and he never cajoles me to buy him this and that."

"Why would I whine and try to coax you to do my bidding? I can handle them myself," retorted Clarence.

"See? Not cute at all. Well, anyway, I'm proud of him for being self-directed since young. I'm really happy you're together as one team." His words to Beauty had a lot of layers of meaning, but they were dependent on the listener's interpretation.

She surely saw that they approved of her, but Beauty did not give it too much thought for now. She would rather let nature take its course. If Clarence was really for her, then her feelings would respond in its own way. She also enjoyed their temperaments.

Suddenly, she found herself liking them a lot, too. To be part of this family was not bad at all. Thoughts about Your Romeo began to slip off of her mind.

. . . . .

As the ladies finished eating, Claire managed to drag Beauty behind her. "Beauty dear, come, let's have girls-day-out!"

"Mom, return her to me tonight. Make sure not to tire her out. We still have a lot of things to prepare before we start our team operation." The son gently reminded his mother.

"No problem, I'll return her to you perfectly fine and much prettier than she is now. Come, dear, let's go to a beauty salon first."

Beauty could not say a word, but she felt like this mother and son was already branding her as the wife of Clarence.

As the girls left, Clyde waved his hand, making Ronald move back to their table.

"By the way, Ronald, I heard your former editor is trying to send someone else to Camotes again. Don't you worry, we already warned the people involved not to create the same problem.

"Actually, he mentioned a 'sexy' who told him about the juice. I don't know who his girl informant was. Were there a lot of people who knew what happened?" Ronald also had no idea about the details, and so he only tried to give this information to help out.

"Really? There were only so few that I can count them with my fingers." Clyde suddenly remembered a certain woman aside from his wife who was there. She was not supposed to be there, but she went into the mayor's office 'incidentally' when he was confronting the mayor. She then suddenly left after giving an apology. She was one of the guests' guides assigned on the island.

Clyde got wary of realizing this from Ronald's words, so he decided to make a visit to this certain small-time editor.

. . . . .

Days later ...

The editor now was sitting behind his desk. He angrily banged his mobile phone on the table. He heard that his men were warned by the policemen for spreading malicious rumors. Their movements were monitored. In the end, they left the island with nothing.

He was so perplexed, recalling Ronald's last visit.

"You didn't get anything juicy for our newspaper?"

"Yes, I tried, but it was perfectly filtered," replied Ronald.

"Then don't ever come back here, you dimwit!" The editor roared.

"Actually, I only came to tell you that I won't work for you anymore. Goodbye." Ronald gleefully left as if he was relieved for getting rid of his job.

The editor tried to speculate on what did Ronald's cheerful attitude mean in connection with his assignment at that time.

The editor wanted to dig more to spill dirty water on the success in Camotes Island, but his leads were closed. There was only one left, that girl who was willing to tell him everything for a hefty price. He dialed the number of that girl, and the office door opened.

"Sir, someone wants to see you." The editor's secretary was blushing and smiling while telling the man behind the table. He discontinued the call.

"Why are you smiling silly, Jane? Who is it?" answered the editor.

"I'm the one looking for you, Mister Ralph Lapid." Clyde came in after the secretary.

"Oh, I never thought the great Clyde Peres will ever grace my humble office."

The secretary slowly left, with her eyes glued at Clyde. He gave her a wink that made the girl run like a stupid fangirl, giggling as she saw her idol wink at her.

"Oh, even my secretary was taken by you." Ralph tried to lighten the mood with a joke. "Somehow, I didn't get a chance to know this and make an article about you being a playboy."

"Haha, I'm no playboy. I'm true to my wife. Those are just nonsensical rumors, but I admit I'm just a charming man women love," Clyde suavely spoke before continuing with a slight smile ...

"But I'm not here to joke around with you or talk about my charm. I'm here for a business proposition that you can't say no to."