"BOSS! NAT!" In his usual hurried nature, Gabe ran into Nat's office.

"What earth-shattering news do you have for me now?" Nat was used to Gabe's overreaction.

"This is big. I mean BIG. Promise not to storm to the legal team after this." Gabe gave Nat a prep talk before handing him the iPad.

"What on earth....How..." Nat's jaw dropped slowly as he read the article. The first paragraph was enough for him to gauge the situation he was in.

Aika Robredo, daughter of Leni Robredo, rumoured to be dating a non-Filipino single father

It has been revealed that Aika, the eldest of the Robredo siblings, is currently seeing a non-Filipino single father. It is rumoured that the other party's nationality is Singaporean and is currently working as a General Manager in a multi-national construction company. Furthermore, he is a single father to a 5-year-old daughter, raising interest in the identity of this soon-to-be son-in-law of the ex-Vice President, Leni Robredo.

"Hey...did you see the news too?" Nat picked up the call. Aika had beat him by a split second.

"I did..." Aika sighed. Nat could hear the slight frustration in her voice.

"Does tita know as well?" Nat wanted to hear what Atty Leni thought.

"I guess it's time for a family meeting tonight..." Aika let out a resigned chuckle.

"Shall I pick you up?" Nat suggested.

"We can go pick Jamie up together." Aika agreed.

"Taking soft-launching to the next level, I see..." Nat laughed.

"It's called softening the blow...although I don't think it's a blow in any aspect anyways." Aika reasoned.

"I'll be there at 6pm sharp, sunshine." Nat loved how unbothered Aika was.

"Yes, my beloved sister? What warrants your call?" Nat teased Karine as he picked up her call.

"We're ready." Karine got straight to the point.

"Ready...for what?" Nat was confused.

"For you and dasao to finally announce your relationship? It's in the news, isn't it?" Karine was low-key horrified at her brother's reaction. Or lack thereof.

"Go for it, Nat. We're all behind you. Don't worry about anything else." Alice encouraged.

"Don't worry about the board or the shareholders. You have the right to choose whoever you want to love." Kevin affirmed.

"Thanks...Aika and I will keep you updated. Or maybe the media will." Nat smiled at his family's support.

"Go crush it, Nat." Karine winked before hanging up.

~

"I missed you, sunshine." Nat confessed the moment Aika opened the car door.

"I missed you too, Mr Mysterious Guy from Singapore and the GM of a multi-national construction company." Aika teased.

"Dad reminded me to say real estate company. Karine asked me to emphasise on my half-Filipino heritage. Talk about great family support." Nat rolled his eyes.

"You do know that we're now private citizens while you're still the son of one of Asia's richest men right?" Aika waved her hand in front of Nat.

"And? I have the most precious treasures by my side already. Nothing can convince me otherwise." Nat held Aika's hand and kissed it.

"Come on, your other treasure is waiting for you at school..." Aika pointed to her watch.

"Daddy! Ninang!" Jamie was surprised to see Aika pick her up on a Tuesday night but was nonetheless excited to see her. She hadn't seen her for a good 4 days.

"Hey sweetheart, I missed you." Aika kissed Jamie on the cheek.

"I missed you too! Are you coming home with us tonight?" Jamie hoped that Aika would say yes.

"We're actually going over to have dinner with your lola Leni tonight...we have something important to discuss with everyone." Nat helped Jamie with her bag.

"Will tita Tricia and tita Jill be there too?" Jamie missed the girls too.

"Your tita Jill told me that she has a surprise for you..." Aika whispered into Jamie's ears.

"Let's go quick!" Jamie was now pulling on Nat and Aika.

"Lola!" Jamie immediately headed for Atty Leni.

"Jamie, shall we greet lola properly?" Nat reminded Jamie. The girl held Atty Leni's hand and brought it to her forehead. After the show of respect, Jamie broke out into her usual dimpled grin.

"Tita Jill, where's my present? Ninang said you had a surprise for me!" Jamie wrapped her fingers around Jill's ring finger.

"I'll show it to you after dinner, shall we eat first? Lola cooked all your favourites..." Jill led Jamie to the dining table.

"Lola, are you a politician?" Jamie looked at Atty Leni curiously.

"Well sweetie, I guess you could say that. I was a civil servant...or politician." Atty Leni smiled at the girl.

"Was...Does that mean you aren't one anymore?" Jamie furrowed her eyebrows.

"Yes sweetie, your lola ended her term on the 30th of June." Tricia explained.

"So people won't take pictures of lola, ninang, tita Tricia and tita Jill anymore?" Jamie had been silently observing the amount of attention the Robredos had been receiving throughout the campaign.

"I hope not..." Not even Atty Leni could give Jamie a definite answer.

"If you're done eating, shall we go unbox your present?" Jill figured it was time. Jamie nodded excitedly and followed Jill upstairs.

~

"So...what's the plan? Or is there no plan?" Tricia looked at Nat and Aika.

"If I were to be honest, I'm more worried about the possible negative comments that Aika will receive." Nat confessed. The last thing he wanted was for any harm to befall Jamie and the Robredo family.

"You didn't do anything wrong, neither did we. There's no need to care about what the trolls say." Aika held Nat's hand.

"Aiks' right, Nat. There's no need to worry if there's nothing to hide. I'm no longer holding office so that's not an issue either." Atty Leni was fully supportive.

"What about Jamie? Or Ate Aly?" Tricia brought up a good point.

"We're on good terms so I don't foresee a problem." Nat ticked off the last concern on the list.

"Someone give me a TLDR please?" Jill and Jamie had came downstairs, with a ukulele in Jamie's hands.

"Daddy look! Tita Jill gave me a ukulele!" Jamie showed off her present.

"Wow that's beautiful...did you say thank you?" Nat gave Jill a grateful nod.

"We're going ahead with it. Ate is going to be our sacrificial lamb." Tricia gave Jill the TLDR she asked for.

"We highly appreciate the path you are forging, Mr and Mrs Lee." Jill bowed to Nat and Aika, earning her a side eye.

"Is something happening?" Jamie asked innocently, making all the adults burst into laughter.

Aika Robredo confirms her relationship status with a simple tweet, Congratulations to the new couple!

The eldest Robredo daughter posted a picture of her partner on Twitter last night in response to the rumours about her love life. As seen in the tweet, Aika tagged the account @ nathanieltlee, exposing the name and social accounts of her partner. Based on his Twitter and LinkedIn account, Nathaniel is currently the General Manager of Lee Holdings, a multi-national real estate conglomerate founded by Kevin Lee, one of Asia's richest philanthropist. Nothing has been reported about Lee's daughter, who is rumoured to be born in 2017, as well as the child's mother. Neither sides have replied to further enquiries.

"I feel like the public enemy..." Nat chuckled nervously as he read the news.

"At least people are calling you pogi..." Jill and Tricia were reading through the comments.

"I won't deny that." Nat shrugged.

"Other than the fact that you literally shattered the hearts of Ate's imaginary boyfriends." Jill quipped.

"I think Steph will get it worse. Right, Doc? Someone is now Philippine's #1 daughter-in-law material." Nat raised an eyebrow at Tricia.

"Well, at least we can now go out in public freely. Right, have you called Aly?" Aika turned to Nat.

"Let me call her now." Nat and Aika wanted to respect Aly's position as Jamie's mother.

~

"Hi...I saw the news. Congrats on making it official, I'm so happy for you and Ate!" Aly wished Nat in the happiest voice she could muster.

"Thanks Aly. Sorry that we couldn't tell you ahead." Nat apologised.

"It's okay. Is there anything I can help you with?" Aly wondered why Nat could call.

"Uh...Aika and I wanted to ask if you were okay with Jamie's face possibly being caught on camera? I'll make sure she's safe all the time though." Nat figured the attention would die down after a while.

"I have faith in you. Do what you think is best." Aly trusted Nat.

"There may be some people trying to find out about you as well...I'm sorry about that too. I hope nothing happens but if anyone harasses you, let me know." Nat didn't want to implicate Aly.

"Sure...you take care too..." Aly didn't know what to say anymore. Her mind and heart were contradicting each other. Her head was genuinely happy for Nat and Aika but her heart had a gaping hole, wondering why it couldn't be Nat and her.

~

"Good morning tito and tita!" Nat and Aika pushed open the doors to their usual bakery haunt. It had been 2 months since they went on a run together outside and visited the elderly couple running the bakery.

"Nat! Aika!" The tita exclaimed happily upon seeing the duo. She wasn't expecting them in the evening.

"Sorry po, naging busy kami si ang elections...Pero maraming salamat sa pagsuporta kay mama." Aika shook the couple's hand gratefully.

"I missed your coffee and bread so much, tita..." Nat gave the tita a warm hug.

"Give me one minute, I'll prepare it just the way you two like it." The tita rushed into the kitchen.

"Decaf please, po! Aika can't sleep if she drinks coffee past 7pm! Salamat po! " Nat smiled as he turned back to the tito.

"Nasaan ang anak mo? You said you'd bring her here one day..." The tito reminded Nat and Aika.

"Sorry po, how about Saturday? We'll stop by for breakfast." Nat suggested.

"What does your daughter like? I'll make it specially for her." The tita handed Nat and Aika their usual coffee orders.

"She isn't picky with her food, tita. I'm sure she'll enjoy anything you make." Aika assured the tita.

"Can't wait na!" The couple had seen Nat and Aika progress from friends to where they were now.

"How your preparation for school coming, Prof Aika?" Nat teased as they walked back home.

"Great actually. I'm starting alongside the new semester in August." Aika took a sip of her drink.

"Can I send you to school on the first day? Please?" Nat pleaded.

"There's still 1 month till school starts..." Aika chuckled.

"I had to get first dibs...unless someone has already beat me to it?" Nat pouted.

"No one's gonna fight with you, muscles." Aika pinched Nat's cheeks gently. Nat did a little fist pump into the air.

"I'm so proud of you, Prof. It's so cool that I have a university lecturer as my girlfriend." Nat gave Aika a thumbs up.

"On second thought, I'm banning you from the first day of school." Aika ran out of the lift the second the door opened.

"Prof!" Nat called out as he chased Aika to the door.

~

"1, 2,3...Smile!" The restaurant waiter snapped a picture of the Robredo family, Stephen, Nat and Jamie. They were celebrating Tricia's 28th together.

"Happy birthday, tita Tricia!" Jamie handed Tricia a huge gift box.

"Thank you sweetie...Can I open it?" Tricia wondered what was in the box. Jamie nodded.

"Daddy and I got you scrubs! It even has your name!" Jamie pointed out the sleeve. In the box were 3 sets of scrubs, pink, purple and turquoise, with Dr Tricia sewed on each sleeve.

"I love it, sweetie! Thanks, kuya." Tricia smiled.

"Question of the day, everyone." Gaile caught everyone's attention.

"Are we soft-launching the latest additions to the family with these pictures?" Gaile was scrolling through the pictures.

"Don't look at me, girls. It's up to you." Atty Leni wanted to let Aika and Tricia decide.

"Why not?" Aika and Tricia replied at concurrently.

"Good luck, bro." Nat punched Stephen's chest lightly.

"Lonely, I am so lonely...I have nobody..." Jill started singing.

"You have us, tita Jill!" Natalia, Alo and Jamie all ran up to Jill for a hug.

"Winner of the night is Jill..." Gaile chuckled as she uploaded the family pictures.

Planning on finishing in the next 5-8 chapters :)