CHAPTER 19

Hope was sitting in the garden of her old villa where she used to live with her friends during her school days.

Two cute and adorable kids of about 2 or 3 years old are laughing heartily and playing around her.

The place is completely filled with their laughter. When she thought that life cannot be more perfect than this, she heard someone's voice and walked towards the direction of the voice.

A tall man was standing near the barbecue grill set up in the garden grilling meat with his back towards her. When he felt her presence, "Honey... don't you think you are ignoring this husband of yours and spending more time with those two little rascals?" he said in a complaining tone turning around to face her with a pout.

Because of the sunlight, she couldn't clearly see his face. She moved a little further towards him to have a clear view of his face.

Suddenly, the phone started ringing waking her up from her dream. She opened her eyes and tried to rub off the sleepiness from her eyes. The phone keeps ringing. She was so annoyed by the call that disturbed her before she could see the face of the man in her dream.

She has been having this dream for a very long time but has never seen the face of that man. All she has wanted was a family of her own, a lovely husband and have children, so that she would never have to come to an empty house.

She has been living separately from her family for a decade. She has always been alone and never spent any quality time with her parents or other relatives except her maternal grandmother. Even though her grandmother treasures her more than her other grandchildren, her grandmother was always busy with her company and couldn't spend more time with Hope.

Thus, Hope thought that if she can find someone who loves her genuinely without any other intentions, she would go to any extreme to never let go of him and start a happy life with him. But because of the past she experienced, she had built a wall in her heart and never let anyone in to avoid getting hurt again.

When she was in university, she had a lot of admirers following behind but she doesn't even spare a second glance to them. But strangely when she met Adrian she very much interested in him and she wanted to get to know more about him.

The kept ringing repeatedly and by hearing specifically set ringtone she knows that it was Liam and that he would never stop calling until he answers him. So, without any other choice she picked up the call.

Liam was saying something in a lengthy speech as usual in an exasperated way, she doesn't even try to hear him and said, "I will be in the office in 40 minutes" and hung up the call.

In the office Liam was staring at the phone dumbfounded, he was already surrounded by the executives of the company who was gathered in the conference hall to discuss the problem they have faced in the company and he was finally able contact his boss, she just hung up on him and didn't even hear him out.

The executives in the conference hall were very displeased with the way she was acting and has already started to gossip among themselves saying that Hope was not the perfect candidate for the president post and that she was acting like a spoiled teenager in an unprofessional way.

Some of them were even suggesting to start the meeting without their boss as they were sure that she could never solve the problem even if she was here. They thought what would a 23-year woman know about business refusing to see the fact that the same 23-year woman was one who started and made this company a success through her hard word and brilliance.

After 30 minutes, Hope arrived at the company and entered the conference room. On her arrival, everyone stood up and greeted her which in return she nodded her head and went straight to her seat and sat down.

She turned her head towards Liam who was seated next to her left, "why were you calling me repeatedly early in the morning?"

"Boss, we have a situation…" Liam started to report.

Robert is a A-list actor, who has been working in Starlight entertainment since his debut. He has been the face of the branch in Y-city but suddenly their competitor company showbees entertainment is trying to scout him. And a rumor of Robert accepting their offer has started to circulate the company. If the rumors were proved to be true then their company would face a severe loss as they have invested a lot of resources on him and that is the reason for their emergency meeting.

Liam explained the situation clearly to Hope who was very calm the whole time despite the problem they were facing.

She listened to the reports and was silent for a few seconds. Then, "is there any evidence to the rumors" she asked without any hint of anxiousness to which Liam submitted the photos of Robert meeting with the representative of Start entertainment a number of times.

"is he doing this on his will or is he being threatened with something against him" she asked to which everyone kept silent not knowing the answer.

She continued after a brief pause, "If he is being threatened with something against him then help him. If not just let him go to any company he wants. I don't want anyone here who is not loyal to the company."

There was complete silence in the room for a while. Then someone said, "But president how can we let him go if that happens, we would be facing a severe loss and we have already signed several contracts on his behalf which we need to compensate if he changes company."

She was already irritated for being wake up early in the morning and now they are just talking nonsense wasting her time. There is no way she is going to leave this room early if she doesn't involve in the matter.

She stood up from her seat, "take a 15 minutes break and get Robert to the meeting and have Leo on stand by" said those words and left the room.

Everyone there was confused about what she plans and thought that maybe she would negotiate with Robert to offer him more benefits than Start entertainment which they thought is a not a bad decision.