Losing Control

Epilogue

Stephanie came out of the lower deck of the yacht Ashton had rented. They had just come from Paris and went straight to Nice to have a holiday under the sun in the Cote d'Azur, or the French Riviera. They planned on spending some time on the yacht, then Monaco, Nice, then back to Paris because Stephanie had enrolled in a two year long course in the Culinary Arts at a prestigious culinary school in the city. She found that she loved cooking so much and wanted to start up a restaurant inside the very first Asuncion Hotel in Makati and see if it takes off before putting restaurants inside the other branches. They had been married for a year and still very much in their honeymoon phase. With the help of Ashton and his brilliant business mind, Stephanie had managed their boutique hotels successfully and slowly brought back the prestige and popularity their hotels had lost over the years. She brought in fresh ideas to better advertise and market their hotels, and soon it was popular with the 21-35 crowd.

Because they had been so busy the past year, Ashton decided they needed this much needed vacation before temporarily living in Paris while Stephanie chased her dreams. Like he told her, as long as he had his laptop, he can work from anywhere, and he intended to stay with her and support her while she figured out her life plan. She had been so happy when he agreed to let her go to culinary school; it was as if she made the best decision of her life without anyone thinking it was stupid or worthless. She loved her husband for always being behind her every decision, keeping true to his vows. Ashton said he would just go home every few months to check on their businesses personally.

She found her husband leaning over the railing of the yacht, enjoying the sunset and drinking the best chardonnay the south of France had to offer. She walked up behind him and hugged him from behind, her arms wrapping around his waist and her cheek leaning on his back.

"Why are you drinking without me?"

He twisted his torso around so she could be at his side instead of behind him. "This is for you, Love."

He handed her the goblet and she took a small sip. "Look at that beautiful sunset," she noted as the orange sun sank below the horizon. "Thank you for this holiday, Love. I feel so relaxed."

"I know you need this. You know culinary school is no joke, right? You won't have assistants and you have to clean up after yourself, carry heavy pots and machinery, give up your manicures forever..." he ticked off one after the other.

"I know. Pero, Love naman, hindi na ko as maarte as I used to be, di ba?"

"Hindi na nga. Ibang iba na ang baby ko."

"Pero pray for me pa rin, Love, ha," she said softly. "Alam mo naman, baka minsan di ko na kayanin ang hirap and I'll just give up, and I don't want that to happen."

"I'll always be around to give you a pep talk."

"I love you, hubby."

"I love you, wifey."

"Pero, hubby, okay pa rin ba sa yo na madedelay nanaman ang ating plans to have kids? Syempre, I have school, tapos after that pagbalik natin ng Manila, I'll be busy with the restaurant planning..."

"Love, don't think about it too much. It's okay, we can start a family when we're both ready. We don't need to rush," he kissed her on the forehead.

"Okay. Ayoko lang kasi na mainip ka na at maghanap ka ng iba para lang magka Abo Jr.," she pinched his side.

"Pwede ba naman yun?" he chuckled. "Di ba ikaw na rin ang nagsabi na puputulin mo ang kaligayahan ko if I ever do that?" he kissed her on the lips. "Besides, I have the only woman I want right here," he kissed her deeply, leaning her back on teh railing carefully as their kiss became more urgent. "Tignan mo, ikaw lang ang nagpapagising nyan," he winked at her.