At the Shikongo mansion, the night was still young.
In the grand hall, laughter rolled beneath the chandeliers as the celebration continued. The post-wedding event had reached the game stage, and everyone was gathered around, eager for the next round.
Betty and Adam stood facing each other, smiling with the kind of warmth that only made Kuku Veronica yearn harder for Alexander's future.
Before them, Kuku Veronica collected everyone's rings and dropped Adam's and Betty's into a milk pot filled with red and white roses.
Then, with theatrical pride, she raised her chin and announced, "I give this power into your hands, to rule your family and lead it with love, peace, and happiness. Whoever picks the other's ring first is the owner of the house."
She stepped back toward her seat with a teasing smile, though a part of her heart had already dimmed. She still had not seen Alexander, and by now she had nearly given up on the hope of him accepting the marriage flag.
"Dad, even if you pick Mom's ring first, Mom will still be the boss," Daniels said, making the room erupt in laughter.
Adam laughed too, while Betty shot her son a mock glare before plunging her hand into the pot. Both of them searched desperately, eager to win.
Then Betty suddenly lifted a ring high into the air.
"I did it!" she screamed.
But the excitement on her face vanished the moment she looked properly.
It was her own ring.
"Really, Mom?" Daniels said, already laughing.
"It's hers!" Adam shouted.
"You'll rule yourself," one of Betty's friends joked.
The room filled with claps and teasing while Betty, trying not to look betrayed by fate itself, dropped the ring back into the pot and kept searching.
Elsewhere upstairs, Catherine stood in front of a mirror, admiring herself.
She adjusted the silver silky dress hugging her body, the hem ending just above her knees. She was beautiful, tall, slightly slim, and curved in all the right places. Reaching for a perfume bottle from the dressing table, she sprayed some along her neck and wrist, then leaned toward the mirror one last time.
Just then, she peeped out into the corridor.
And froze.
Alexander was coming her way.
Even in sweatpants, he looked unfairly good. Broad shoulders. Strong frame. That quiet, self-contained confidence that made women notice him even when he was not trying.
Catherine lit up instantly.
"He's coming this way!" she squealed, spinning back toward the video call still active on her iPad.
"Oh, my honeybee, how do I look? Please tell me I look beautiful."
She angled the iPad down so her friends could see the full outfit.
One of them smirked. "Nate has admired your beauty for years and still never confessed. What's the use?"
"Shut up," Catty snapped, though not hard enough to ruin her mood. "One day you'll swallow your words."
Tonight, she intended to make progress. Or at least corner destiny a little.
In the corridor, Alexander walked with Monica close behind him.
Earlier, at the office, he had told Damien he would accept the marriage flag.
That had been a lie. A very strategic lie.
Alexander had no intention of getting trapped in another family ritual. He already had his own plan, just as he had at the last wedding when everyone suddenly decided his life needed "direction." He would slip away, disappear before the flag reached him, and let them deal with their disappointment like adults for once.
"You know what to do, right?" he asked Monica.
She sighed. "I may have been successful at the last wedding, but not this time."
"It's simple," Alexander said. "I pass through the guests, leave the house, and you tell everyone I'm not feeling well and went to get some lemonade."
He said it like military strategy.
Monica, meanwhile, looked like she had already lost faith in the entire mission.
"And Kuku will ask if I forgot about the homemade one," she muttered nervously.
"Then tell her you forgot," Alexander said, irritation creeping into his voice. "I just don't want their stupid ritual pressuring me into marriage."
Monica looked at him carefully.
"What's destined will happen, Alex. You can't control everything."
Alexander frowned at her.
She was his favourite among all his nieces and nephews, the one who usually understood him best, but lately it felt like everyone had quietly joined the pro-marriage cult and forgotten to inform him.
Before he could say anything, Catherine jumped right into their path.
Alexander almost collided with her. He stopped short. And then, suddenly, an idea sparked in his eyes.
"And this," he said, looking at Catherine, "is my destiny."
Monica blinked. "You don't plan to marry Catty, do you?"
Catherine's heart nearly launched into orbit.
"You want to marry?" she asked, hope flooding her voice.
The universe had been behaving suspiciously well since her return from South Africa. Maybe tonight it had finally decided to behave properly.
"No," Alexander said quickly. Too quickly.
And with just enough disgust in his tone for Catherine to notice.
"You're going to help me escape marriage," he added.
Her expression dropped.
"What?"
Monica stepped in, almost too helpfully.
"My brother doesn't want to marry you. After the ring-finding game, they pass the marriage flag to the next person in line. This time it's him, and he doesn't want that yet. So we're trying to help him escape."
There was satisfaction in Monica's voice. She wanted Alexander to marry someday.
Just not Catherine.
Catty stared at both of them, wounded pride sharpening her face.
"I'm not helping you."
Then she turned and stormed toward the hall.
Monica's lips curled with satisfaction.
"Hey—Catty, come on," Alexander called after her.
Catherine ignored him.
"Leave her," Monica said. "I'll help you myself."
And together, they headed toward the hall.
Outside the mansion gates, a cab stopped.
A lady stepped out wearing a face mask.
The moment the cab drove off, she pulled it down and revealed that same eerie, creeping grin reaching her blue intense eyes. She unfolded a single white paper with an address written on it.
The address matched the Shikongo mansion.
She glanced from the paper to the towering house.
"Now what are you doing here?" she murmured to herself, though no one was around to answer.
The night was late. Quiet. Too quiet.
She tossed the paper aside and walked toward the mansion.
Back inside, Adam and Betty both pulled rings out of the milk pot at the exact same time.
"You're mine!" they shouted together, startling themselves before bursting into laughter.
The room exploded in applause.
They embraced, emotional and intimate, and Kuku Veronica smiled with satisfaction.
"Now you all belong to each other," she said.
At least Adam had found love, family, and peace.
Unlike her grandson.
The family gathered around to hug the couple and congratulate them as the event drew toward its close. Damien embraced Adam. Sofia pulled Betty into a warm hug.
"Welcome to the family, sister-in-law," Sofia said.
"Thank you," Betty whispered, wiping at the tears threatening to fall.
Then the MC raised his voice again.
"And now... who's next?"
At that exact moment, Alexander, disguised in an oversized white hoodie that shadowed most of his face, slipped through the crowd toward the house entrance.
"Where is Alexander?" Kuku Veronica asked again, sadness edging her voice now.
Monica, who had just arrived, forced herself to speak.
"Kuku, Alexander went to buy some lemonade. He has a sore throat."
"Oh," Kuku said, her face softening. "Then we'll wait for him."
Alexander, hearing this from the crowd, immediately sent Monica a message.
Monica felt her phone vibrate and almost panicked.
"No!" she blurted.
Heads turned. She froze.
"I mean..." she stammered, wiping sweat from her forehead. "He's going to the office after that. He wants to finish some work."
Monica was a terrible liar. Everyone could see it. Alexander knew it. But right now she was all he had.
Cinthia folded her arms.
"Alex ran away, Kuku. Did you forget his last excuse? He literally got himself injected so he'd have a cardiac arrest just to escape this ritual."
"How long will he keep running?" Damien said grimly.
"But Cousin James is ready," Monica offered, sticking to the backup plan she and Alexander had prepared.
Kuku Veronica shook her head.
"James is younger than Alexander. He's still in college. How can he marry now? Besides, James still lives with his parents. We follow the Shikongo clan tradition."
Sofia stepped in gently. "Mom, we all know Alexander is stubborn. It won't make much difference whether he accepts the flag or not. Let Adam pass it to James."
Catherine, standing nearby, watched all of this with growing frustration. She had only ever made herself available for Alexander, and still that man behaved like marriage was a contagious disease.
Meanwhile, Alexander had made it outside.
He slipped into the parking garage and hurried to his car.
Then stopped.
No keys. He froze.
Then swore under his breath.
"Damn."
He had fought through too much nonsense to get this far only to be betrayed by his own pockets.
A dull thudding sound echoed somewhere nearby, as though someone had just jumped from a height, but Alexander barely paid attention. He was too busy being furious with himself.
"I got out with so much difficulty. How am I supposed to leave now?"
Behind the main building, the blue-eyed woman moved carefully, keeping low and silent. She avoided the bodyguards circling the mansion and crept along the rear side of the house.
Then she spotted a suspicious figure.
Alexander, still in the oversized hoodie.
She narrowed her eyes and made sure he did not notice her. She was here for something else—something quick, something clean.
No detours.
Inside, Kuku Veronica reluctantly agreed to have the flag passed to James.
As she stepped away from the crowd, a silent prayer formed in her heart.
Alexander disappoints me over and over. Please, God of destiny, soften his heart.
She had truly hoped this night would be different. That he would accept the flag, be nudged toward marriage, and begin building a family of his own.
Instead, once again, he had run from her.
Damien watched her go, troubled.
"Mom worries so much about Alexander's future. She desperately wants him to find his better half. I just hope her prayers are answered soon."
Sofia sighed. "Alexander doesn't understand how deeply she loves him. Just because of one failed relationship two years ago, he gave up on love completely."
Cinthia perked up. "Mom, you know about that too?"
Sofia turned and frowned at her.
Then Cinthia remembered she was the one who had told her.
She shrugged shamelessly. "Well... he doesn't want the fire to burn him twice."
Across the room, one of the groomsmen took down the marriage flag hanging near Adam's room and handed it to the groom.
The MC raised his voice dramatically.
"The time has come to pass the responsibility to the next generation. James Johannes, are you ready?"
James looked like a man being called to war against his will.
He was sweating.
He was still in college. He had three girlfriends.
One of them had just caught him cheating.
Marriage was not even on page one of his life problems right now.
He looked desperately toward his parents, hoping they would rescue him.
They did not.
If anything, they looked ready to shove him toward destiny with both hands.
"Are you ready to start a family?" the MC boomed. "To have a wife—a nagging wife?"
The crowd laughed.
James did not.
The MC continued, now imitating a nagging wife. "Why are you late today? Why are you eating so much today? Why is your perfume different today? So many whys!"
The hall roared with laughter again.
James stood there praying silently.
Please, Alex.
Appear from nowhere.
Take this flag and save my foolish life.
At the back of the mansion, Alexander had given up on the car and started sneaking around the rear of the house, hoping to find another way out and avoid the drama gathering at the main entrance.
Then he stopped.
A group of men dressed in black stood nearby, laughing among themselves.
Something about them was wrong. They looked suspicious. Predatory.
Alexander froze.
Too many thoughts hit him at once, and before he could stop himself, he let out a breath that was just loud enough.
The men turned. All of them.
Alexander could not make out their faces clearly beneath the shadows.
Then one of them pulled out a gun.
Before Alexander could react, someone slammed into him from the side and forced him down.
A bullet sliced through the air above him.
His heart kicked hard.
The person who had saved him did not stop there. They leapt over him with frightening speed and charged toward the men.
The gang froze.
For one sharp second, real fear flashed through them.
Then they fled.
They bolted toward the wall, jumped over it, and disappeared into the night, with the mysterious rescuer chasing after them.
Alexander stayed crouched where he was, stunned.
The whole thing had happened too fast.
Too strangely.
But after a moment, he shook it off.
It was not even the first time something odd had happened around him, and frankly, he already had enough chaos on his plate. He pushed the incident aside and slipped back into the house through the rear entrance.
He made it to his room unnoticed.
From the washroom next door, he heard Catherine muttering angrily.
"I'm so mad at Alex. He doesn't want to marry. Is he planning to stay a bachelor forever? He's so childish. He doesn't even realise every girl is dying to have him."
Alexander stood still for a second.
Then, quietly, almost to himself, he said, "I don't want a lonely life, Catty. I just don't want love, romance, or marriage. I've gone through enough because of it. But why do any of you care? You don't understand my story."
He slipped out of his room again, planning to leave the same way he had come in—
And nearly cursed out loud.
Damien was standing in front of the exit, busy on a phone call.
Alexander ducked back into hiding.
"Damn. Of all places he could take a call, he chose my exit." He rubbed a hand down his face. "How do I get out now?"
He looked around desperately. There was only one option left.
The main entrance.
Wonderful. A spectacular disaster corridor.
Carefully, he pulled the hoodie low over his face and moved toward the hall.
At that exact moment, Adam was stepping toward James with the flag.
Alexander tried to slip past the guests unnoticed.
Then his foot caught an electrical cable.
He stumbled forward, bumped into one guest, then another, and the momentum sent him straight onto the stage.
Before anyone could react, the flag landed around his neck instead of James's.
The hall went silent.
James looked like the happiest man alive.
"Alexander..." several voices gasped as the hoodie slipped off his head.
Alexander stood there in full embarrassment, wearing the flag like fate had personally mocked him.
Adam did not look pleased. At all.
Alexander forced a crooked smile.
"Hi, everyone... what a weird coincidence."
Monica's eyes sparkled.
"Alex, you can ditch all of us, but not destiny."
Later that night, once the ceremony was over, Alexander locked himself inside his room.
He grabbed the flag and tried to tear it apart out of pure anger.
It did not budge.
He glared at it as if it had insulted his ancestry.
Elsewhere, Adam cornered the waiter who had helped him earlier.
"I gave you a simple task, and you failed."
The waiter looked terrified. "Sir, I locked him in his room. I don't know how he got out."
"You're good for nothing," Adam snapped. "Do you even know what it means if he marries?"
The waiter did not know. He did not care. He had only wanted money.
Adam stormed away, and the waiter exhaled in relief—too soon.
Because when he turned, Ruben was standing right there.
The waiter nearly swallowed his soul.
Ruben looked at him coldly.
"Do you know I have the power to fire you?" He tilted his head. "Well, from your company, of course."
That was enough.
The waiter immediately spilled everything. Every detail.
Every foolish little betrayal.
Adam later found Monica and Daniels with Betty in their room.
"Are you planning to cause trouble for me too?" Adam asked, mood already rotten.
Betty looked up. "What happened?"
Adam forced his face to relax. He did not want his frustration poisoning the room.
"Oh. Nothing. Just some worker spilled juice on me."
Monica crossed her arms. "Alex is going to marry, and I don't want him marrying Catty. She's too greedy and selfish."
"Alex won't get married," Daniels said. "He probably already tore the flag apart."
Adam privately hoped that was true.
"Baby," Betty said gently, "just because Alexander got the flag doesn't mean he's getting married tomorrow. He still has time. Remember, your father got the flag from Sofia four years ago, and we only got married now. Alexander has room to breathe. He doesn't even have a girlfriend."
Adam glanced at her sharply, then quickly forced a smile.
"Oh good," Monica said. "Then I still have time to find a good match for my brother."
Adam let out a dry laugh. "You sound just like Veronica. Go ahead then. Good luck with that. The day Alexander marries, I'll go to Aunt's place too."
"Dad," Daniels said excitedly, "you never finished your aunt's story. When will you finish it? Story time!"
"Grow up, Daniels. Story times are over," Monica said.
"He's still my baby," Betty replied, fluffing Daniels' hair.
"Do you remember you gave birth to two babies back then, not just one?" Monica said, irritated, before walking out of the room.
Betty pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Monica thinks we love Daniels more than her."
Daniels kissed the air dramatically. "Goodnight, Mom. Goodnight, Dad. Goodnight, Aunt's boy. Love you."
Adam threw a pillow at him as he left, and the room broke into laughter.
Once they were alone, Betty turned serious.
"Now tell me why you really came in angry."
Adam's face shifted.
"You know why."
Betty watched him. "Babe... do you really think Alex will marry?"
"I know how stubborn he is," Adam said. "He is unpredictable—just like Nathan. He might marry out of pure rebellion, just to shut Veronica up."
"You're overthinking it," Betty said softly.
Adam gave a thin smile.
"You're right," he said.
But his eyes said something else entirely.
"Before he makes his move, I have to make mine first."
Outside the mansion grounds, Blue finally caught up with the gang that had fled over the wall.
There were five of them.
She took them down one after another.
Fast. Efficient. Precise.
By the time the alley fell silent, all five were dead.
Blue stood among the bodies, breathing evenly, studying her work as if she had just completed a difficult but satisfying task.
"Now that," she said softly, "was quick and clean."