Ethan stopped.
“I need to decide things without you arranging every step.”
He nodded.
“Then you decide.”
Ella returned home that day.
Her mother noticed immediately that something had changed.
“Are you unhappy?” she asked weakly.
Ella sat beside her and held her hand.
For a while, she considered hiding the truth.
Her mother was ill enough already.
But secrecy had caused enough damage.
So Ella told her.
Not every detail, but enough.
The mask.
Ethan.
The deception.
Her mother’s eyes widened.
“And he is really young?”
Ella almost laughed through her exhaustion.
“That isn’t the important part, Ma.”
Her mother understood from Ella’s face.
“Then what is?”
“Whether I can trust the man underneath it.”
Her mother squeezed her hand.
“Then don’t decide because of us.”
Ella looked at her.
Those words were exactly what she had needed before the wedding and had been too desperate to ask for.
“Your brother and I survived before,” her mother continued.
“If he is helping us, be grateful.
But don’t sell your whole heart because you think our lives depend on it.”
Ella cried again.
This time, the tears did not come from fear.
They came from finally being told she was allowed to choose.
She stayed away from the mansion for several days.
Ethan did not appear at the house.
He did not send romantic gifts.
He did not demand an answer.
The medicine continued arriving exactly as promised.
Her brother’s schooling was arranged without conditions.
That did not earn forgiveness.
But it proved that Ethan had meant one important thing: he would not use her family as leverage.
When Ella finally returned to Tagaytay, she found him in the dining room.
The old Don Armando clothes were gone.
So was the mask.
Ethan stood when she entered.
“I don’t know whether I can forgive you yet,” she said.
“I understand.”
“And I won’t stay here because you’re rich.”
He nodded.
“Good.”
The answer surprised her.
“Good?”
“If you stay, I want it to be because you chose to.
If you leave, I need to accept that too.”
Ella watched him carefully.
“No more tests.”
