CHAPTER 42

"Yes, Mr. De Silva. I would like to apologize for the delay but I will make sure to send it to you now. All right, thank you very much. Have a nice day!” I said and the call ended.

“I thought you were released? Are you still coming back?” Yerim asked me and looked at me intently from her cubicle.

I finally click the ‘save’ button of the file before I look at her.

"Ria wants to stay here for good but I'm still not sure," I replied to her and went back to the computer screen.

"And why is that? If your daughter wants it, why don't you give it to her? ” I heard her ask again, but I didn't pay attention to that.

I opened the file sent to me by Sir Thompson which contained details about the movie adaptation of the book I had written. I scanned it and suddenly noticed something that made me frown.

“What the hell,” I whispered to myself as I read the name of the cast.

Why is our real name here? I just did this yesterday and I made sure I didn’t name it in the details. Who changed this?!

"Rae!"

"W-what!" I shouted when I heard Yerim shout.

I looked at her frowning at me. She raised an eyebrow at me and seemed to be waiting for something. I sighed violently then stood up.

"She can't see..." I paused and looked away from her.

“... his daughter, yes, so what?" Yerim continued and walked over to me.

I can’t even utter his name or my daughter’s name beside his. I can’t even imagine that they will meet one day because I really don’t want that to happen. I know he’s married. Jaxon told me everything when we were still in New York. That they are engaged! I'm not sure they're married yet but I have a strong feeling. I don’t want to ruin someone else’s marriage just because we have a child. My conscience can't handle that.

"The man is married. They haven’t seen each other for five years and Ria doesn’t even think of asking me where her father is. I don't want to have any more connection with him,” I stated and left her there.

I even noticed her following so I went straight to the pantry.

"And how can you be so sure that they haven't met yet?" she asked which made me stop walking for a second.

I suddenly remembered what my daughter had told me the night before. Someone named Emmanuel gave her a hairpin. I want to convince myself that he’s not the one Ria saw but I’m losing every time I remember the other thing she said — that they have the same eye color. Damn it.

"Listen, Rae. What if one day, Ria asks where her daddy is? What would you answer? Don’t tell me, Jaxon will be introduced—"

"MS. Kim and Mrs...” Someone interrupted our conversation.

Yerim and I looked at whoever it was and my eyes almost popped out when I saw him with Ma’am Rochelle and Sir Benedict. He's wearing a white long-sleeve polo that's folded up to the elbow and its two buttons are open again. He also wore black slacks and black leather formal shoes. His haircut is as clean as ever, unlike when I first saw him at the bar. As if I’m staring at the old him but a lot has changed. His body became more and more stone and I felt he was even more handsome. What are you saying, Rae?

What the hell is he doing here?

“Laxamana? I bet not anymore, right?” he continued and looks at me intently as if every look he sees penetrates my entire body.

What is he saying?

"Your baby daddy is so... fine, Rae," I heard Yerim whisper so I quickly kicked her.

I averted my eyes from him when I noticed that I had been staring at him for so long.

"U-uhm... a, what..." I almost whispered while stuttering.

I bit my lower lip when I felt like I couldn’t calm my system down.

“It's good that you two are here. Where’s Rafa?” Ma’am Rochelle asked us but I still kept my eyes on the coffee I was holding.

I could still notice the trembling of my hand so I just stared at the emptiness. What is there?

“She’s still on leave, Ma’am. Do you need anything?” I heard Yerim ask.

"Nothing. I just thought she needs to be here before I make an announcement about the movie adaptation of Astraea’s book,” she stated.

"We'll see you two at the conference room, especially you Astraea," Sir Benedict said to us so I couldn't help but look at them.

I deliberately avoided looking at him but I could still see his stare at me in the corner of my eyes.

After that, they no longer waited for us to answer. When they left, I noticed my violent sigh because I had been suppressing it before. I almost sat on the couch there and sipped my coffee which was a bit cold.

Damn it. What is going on?

“As time goes on, Levi gets more handsome, right? Why is he here?” Yerim whispered to me then turned to me.

I could feel her slapping me before she pulled me upright. I could no longer yawn when she pulled me into the conference room as our two bosses had said.

Whatever the announcement referred to by Ms. Rochelle, I used to have a bad feeling, especially when it came to my project. It’s also not good because ‘that man’ is here. Why is he here? What has he got to do with this project? He can't figure out what story I'm going to make into a movie!

Right after we entered the conference room, I immediately heard their loud laughter. I was even surprised when I saw Mrs. Lim who immediately stood up when she saw me.

“Rae! Nice to see you again at last. Looks like Bernard took care of you in New York, right?” she greeted me, pertaining to Mr. De Silva, my boss at their branch in New York.

I smiled broadly and accepted her offer of a hug. When we parted, for a moment I focused my gaze on the man beside her. I was even surprised when he smiled at me so I quickly avoided looking at him. His gaze is making me nervous.

“I’m his favorite editor-in-chief, Ma’am,” I told her as we both laugh.

After we got along, they started talking about the project while Yerim and I just listened. Sometime later, I almost stiffened in my seat because of that question from Mrs. Lim.

“What’s the story title again, Rae? Why didn’t you release your book ‘this’ on the market?” she asked me a serious question.

I focused my gaze on her but the man on her side was hit. He's staring at me intently as if he wanted to melt me. He barely adjusted his seat and he suddenly bit his lower lip while still staring at me. What’s the problem with this idiot’? Is he trying to distract me?

“I can't take care of it anymore, Mrs. Lim, for some personal reasons. I didn’t know that Ma’am Rochelle sent it to the entry for movie adaptation and still won, ”I explained to her shyly.

“And we’re glad because of that. The concept of the story is almost perfect, Rae if you just made a happy ending,” Miss Rochelle uttered which made me look at her.

I winced when I remembered the ending I made to that story. It was tragic. Both heroes died for personal reasons.

“I guess, it’s fine since—”

“Not really. I guess, you can still change it. Right, Mr. Acuzar?” Sir Benedict suddenly asked him.

I dropped my jaw looking at him because I had no plans to look at that man. I kept my gaze on Sir Benedict until I heard Yerim's laughter by my side.

"A lot of people will be annoyed with you, Rae, if that's the ending. At least, give them a satisfying ending that they both deserve,” Yerim stated so I also looked at her, unable to believe what she was saying.

I was about to utter a word when he stated something that made my heart beat faster than ever.

“I think, everyone’s right. You can still change it, Astraea. It’s not too late, is it?”

I could almost feel the blood on my lower lip because I kept biting there when I heard his voice. Even his voice has changed! Do I feel like it's become more whole and sexy to listen to or does he just mean it?

My forehead furrowed while still looking away from him. “And what’s your connection to this project, sir? The last time I checked, you’re not a part of this company.” I couldn’t help but say to him, emphasizing the word ‘sir’.

Eventually, I focused my gaze on him. I could feel the growing irritation in my head because of what he was up to now. He’s acting like a cool boss here. What has he got to do with it? Why is he interfering?

“Besides, have you read the story yet? I’m sure not yet because I only released limited copies— ”

“Didn’t I tell you that you’re my favorite author? As your number one fan, I do everything so that I can have everything you wrote,” he said to me coldly and it was still a little hard to lose.

“What? No way,” I uttered and even looked at him sharply.

“Yes way, Astraea,” he declared which made me so furious.