Chapter 4 "CONTRACT GIRLFRIENDS"

Before noon they reached Palawan.

They stayed at a beautiful and first-class resort where beautiful and modern cottages immediately grabbed Lana's attention.

"Nice!" Lana heard Rodora exclaim.

One she could say was closest to her at work. Like her, she is also a regional manager and holds the entire region three. She was just older than her at the age of twenty-eight.

"I might be able to meet my Prince Charming here. Can I just stay and live here?" Rodora said then followed her words with a loud laugh.

Lana also laughed softly at what Rodora said.

*****

Lana immediately laid herself down on the soft bed when she was already inside the bedroom of the small cottage assigned for her.

Every regional manager has their own small cottage, for privacy and that is one of the many great privileges of their company.

Moments later Lana got up.

She turned to the veranda and then pushed open the sliding glass door. The view is beautiful.

A few meters from her cottage, there is the cottage next to her which is more elegant and bigger. A white Land Cruiser was parked in front of it.

"Whoever is there, he is definitely very rich," she said then smiled.

Lana stayed there for a while.

Standing and quietly observing the beautiful surroundings.

Light fresh air caresses her skin. It blew deliciously, blowing her waist-length hair.

She was in such a state when she felt that as if someone is watching her. That was when she wandered her sight.

Her chest throbbed loudly when from the veranda of the cottage where a Land Cruiser was parked she saw a face now smiling at her.

And when perhaps he would notice the quick reaction of the thrill in her because of her wide smile and he waved at her.

Lord, if this is just a dream. Please, I don't want to wake up!

The other side of her mind.

*****

Andrew watched with amusement the woman who is beautifully smiling and waved at him as well.

She is so beautiful, her long black and straight hair that it was obviously so soft. The cottage is not that far away from him so he was able to take a good look at the woman's face.

Perfect nose, round eyes that he just can't tell what the colors are. Beautiful, shiny, and fair complexion. Tall and above all a goddess-like figure.

Her waist is small, her breasts are the right size and well-built which is obvious in her simple sleeveless hanging white blouse.

Her legs and thighs are long and beautifully shaped, exposed in her floral shorts in yellow that made a perfect contrast in the woman's glowing complexion.

"I like this girl," he said standing up to talk to the woman but he was surprised when she suddenly entered her cottage. "Typical Filipina. Shy but I find her sweet, also," he whispered again.

Andrew shrugged his shoulders then went back inside his cottage. He then faces the open laptop on his bed.

He decided to go to this resort for a private vacation.

He just finished the last TV series that he starred in that lasted on television for less than a year.

And even before he starts another series where he will be pair up with the new and young actress Amber Sanches, he decided to take a vacation first.

At that resort, is where was one of the more than twenty branches of the coffee shop that he and his sister Samantha owned located. At his last thought, the young man smiled.

Their parents built Scott's Café when they were newlyweds. Their father, William Scott, a British soldier who was on vacation in the Philippines, loved coffee. In the province of Batangas where their mother Zenaida or Zeny was born and raised. Their mother's family has a coffee plantation.

His grandmother was a well-known actress in her youth.

His mother is also beautiful, but instead of following in their grandmother's footsteps in acting, Zeny prefers a normal life and that is to take care of their coffee farm.

Their parents got married here in the Philippines.

He knows why their Dad chose it because there is no divorce in the Philippines. A bitter smile tore from Andrew's lips at the last thought.

He understands his father. Because he also planned to marry in the Philippines a woman who was unexpectedly taken away from him due to the interference of death.

Andrew shook his head quickly and then erased that bitter memory from his mind.

The first branch of Scott's Café is in Batangas.

Their parents only left when they migrated to the United Kingdom where they lived in the city of London for two years after getting married. Because their mother could not bear the absence of their father when he was in the service. So in the meantime, their Uncle Cesar took over the café until it grew and gradually multiplied.

It has been more than five years since Samantha and he decided to return to the Philippines to study how to run their business.

They also want their uncle to retire. And since they really own the business, they decided to follow his advice and just go home to the Philippines so he can teach them how to run it properly.

That way, somehow his attention was also turned to the cafe, and gradually able to move on from all the painful events that he wanted to forget.

Business is the course he completed in London where he grew up and was born two years after their parents migrated there. That is why he had no difficulty studying all that his uncle Caesar had taught him. His uncle is now in Canada with his family.

He is just too busy because of his acting career but he can handle it.

"Don't you have any plans to get married? No one spends years with the women you're related to?"

When he once spoke to his mother Zeny on a video call that was what she was asked. That was after news broke of his separation from Beth Cortez. She was the leading lady in the recent TV series he starred in.

"Ma, it's like you don't know about this kind of work, almost everything has a contract. So once a project is over, the relationship is over too. If you know what I mean," he saw one of his Mama's eyebrows rise when she got the meaning of the last thing he said.

"Do you mean that Beth is also one of the women who became your contract girlfriends?" his mother.

"Ma, I also became her contract boyfriend. Then, as far as I know, I was able to satisfy her so everything is fair," he explained while holding back a mischievous smile.

His mother sighed.

"Anyway, that's part of your job as an artist. You're just lucky and you don't have to choose because you don't have a real-life sweetheart."

At the last thing, his mother said Andrew smiled sadly.

"I would still prefer private than limelight, Ma," he replied confidently.

His mother smiled sweetly at him. "I know, that is why I'm so proud of you," what she said is in her tone of voice.