Beach Roses (Camren) *Sequel

Chapter Five- Still Holding On

Camila's POV

"Where have you been, mommy?" Martina asked as soon as we break away from the bone-crashing hug she just gave me. I just came home from the hotel and I was really tired for the whole day, especially that it was far from ordinary one. I met Lauren once again and her hypnotizing green eyes are making my head spin.

"I met with my friends honey. Why are you still up?" I asked, brushing my thumb on her cheek soothingly.

"I have been waiting for you." she answered with a pout, making me chuckle.

"Come on, let's go to bed?" I held her hand as she gave me a warm smile.

"Okay." she said. I brought her to bed and it wasn't long when she fell asleep after I read her favorite fairytales. I watched Martina's face and remembered the way she talked to Lauren earlier, she literally looked like Martina's mother and it was so fascinating. But fear crept in my chest again, the fear of failing to pretend that I already forget about my feelings for Lauren. It's just dam hard when all I see is her eyes and all I could think of is the way she kissed me, the way she held me in her arms and how we spend our nights together, owning the darkness of the night as if our own and get lost in our conversations about politics, inequality and the names of the demons inside of us that we used to be friends with.

Just few months after the wedding, I asked grandpa if I could handle our resorts and recreational businesses across Florida and Texas. They were all hesitant to give me the job but I insisted and soon enough, I convinced them and gave me the project. Truth is, I just wanted to spend most of my time doing something than being stucked in my bedroom and think about the memories of Lauren whenever my husband is away. It's just freaking hard when everytime I close my eyes, I can see her beautiful face and her wonderful soul shining down on me and I can't do anything but stare and cry from the fact that I can't hold her anymore. I was hopeless and generally just exhausted of life. But not until I had Martina. She's three years old now and she's very smart and talented. She said she wants to be a painter someday and she would paint my face and put it on her walls. And she definitely reminds me of only one person, Lauren. She literally looks like the small version of her, her spontaneous laugh, the way her eyebrows shoot up when she's pleading, she also even have a smoky voice and she loves puppies and the beach. I sometimes wonder if Martina's my daughter or Lauren's. Maybe because of the fact that I have been thinking about Lauren while Martina was still in my womb, maybe that's the reason why she acts like mini Lauren and I'm nothing but happy to have her.

Making sure Martina's safe enough to be left behind, I started making my way to our room and Gray was already in bed with his laptop on.

"Hey," he greeted, looking up and meeting my tired eyes. "Where have you been?"

"I met my friends." I answered as I sat on the arm chair and take off my 5-inch heels that have been torturing my feet for hours.

"Did you meet Lauren?" he innocently asked without any idea that she was in fact my ex girlfriend, the reason why I was forced to marry him. I clenched my jaw, trying to come up with a convincing lie but he started talking again. "You never told me you have a pop star friend. Honestly, I didn't have any idea who she was until one of my friends tweeted me, saying Lauren Jauregui is such a big deal in music industry right now." He said as he watched me awkwardly taking a pajama and an oversized shirt out of my closet. I didn't say anything, I just looked at him uninterestingly. "Are you watching her concert tomorrow?" he finally asked, looking at me expectantly.

"No, I'm busy." I said bluntly. "It's my family's visit."

"Oh have papi just came back from Madrid?" he asked.