The Guilt

Daniel went to the office and Ava stayed home helping Nina practice Piano. Ava could tell from the posture that the girl was born to play the piano. Maybe she inherited it from her mother who used to be a brilliant pianist. In fact, it was because of her music Ava and Nina's mother become so close.

Ava was completely lost in the music when her phone started to ring. Ava frowned and checked the phone only to find it was Molly.

"Hey, Molly, what's up?"

"Ava, where are you? Have you forgotten that you have a meeting at the foundation today about yesterday's event?" Molly almost shouted out.

"Oh my god! How did I forget that? I am so sorry Molly, I'll be there in 20 minutes." Ava said and quickly hung up the phone.

"Sweetie, I know I told you we will go shopping today but Mommy got some work at the office, can we please go another day for the shopping and ice crème?" Ava said in a guilty tone. If she hadn't forgotten about the meeting she wouldn't have promised, Nina.

"It's ok mommy, I can understand. You can go to work, we will go another day." Nina said with a soft smile. She was so understanding and never made any unreasonable requests to Ava and Daniel.

"Thank you, sweetie! Sister Li, please take good care of Nina. I need to go to the office. Please call me if there is anything important." Ava quickly went upstairs to change her clothes.

It didn't take much time for Ava to get ready. When she was ready to leave she came to Nina to say goodbye. She gently kissed her cheek and asked, "Honey, do you want to eat anything from outside? I'll bring it for you?"

Nina thought for a while then said with a shy smile, "Mommy, I don't want to eat anything but can you and dad take me to the zoo this weekend please?"

Ava smiled and agreed immediately. "Of course sweetie, we will go to the zoo this Sunday. Now go back to your practice."

Ava got into her black Ferrari. She bought this car with her own money that she earned from her concerts. Although Daniel doted on her and was willing to give her anything she wanted but Ava wasn't comfortable accepting anything from him. After all, they were just nominal husband and wife, besides when she can afford it then why should she ask anything from someone else?

When Ava and Daniel were abroad, they acted as a couple in front of outsiders to avoid some complications. As Ava was also the partner in the A&D group, being married saved them a lot of trouble. However Ava never regarded Daniel as her husband, in fact, she made it very clear to him that they could only be friends. She knew she wouldn't be able to love anyone else in this life even though she knew Daniel loved her and regarded her as his real wife.

Sometimes Ava feels bad for Daniel, she knew it was not fair to him to keep committing to a fake relationship. At that time it may have seemed convenient but now Ava started to regret her decision because she can never give him the happiness he deserved. He had already done so much for her and Nina but she couldn't give him anything in return. Ava felt guilty because of that. Especially after last night, seeing Oliver again Ava realized, no matter how much she tried to hate Oliver she couldn't stop loving him. It's a kind of love and hate relationship between them but Ava can't help it. So in all that Daniel was the one who was suffering for no reason.

Hope charity foundation head office.

The charity foundation's head office was located in a commercial street in the city Centre. Coincidently it was two blocks away from Knight International. It was a very small office only holding a single floor of 1000 sqft. There are only eight employees working at the foundation along with their legal advisor Molly Michele, who also assisted Ava when she needed help with her concert or the foundation work.

Ava entered the office and Molly came running to her with Ava's assistant Jane at her toe.

"Ava thank god you are here, the people are waiting for you in the board room. Here take the final report of the charity event last night." Molly handed Ava a thick file and walked with her toward the boardroom.

Ava glanced at the figure on the file and walked into the board room. "Hello everyone, I am sorry to keep you waiting. Let's start the meeting, please. "

Ava and Molly both took their seats and the meeting started. Ava mostly listened to the suggestion about how and where they were going to use the money. Then made some decisions and finished the meeting. The meeting didn't go that long as Ava was a cardiologist she could tell easily which child needed the fund immediately so it was easy to finalize the cases.

After meeting Ava and Molly both came into Ava's office room. Her office room was very simple in design, all painted in white with grey furniture. Ava sat down in her chair and opened the case file again that has been approved.

"Ava, this time the charity event was quite a success. In the previous event, we didn't get so many donations; a lot of children will be saved by this money." Molly looked at the statement again and said to Ava.

"You are right Molly, I am really happy that we will be able to help those children."

Suddenly Ava and Molly heard a commotion outside. Both of them looked at each other confused thinking what was that all about. Molly walked toward the door and when she opened it, she stood there frozen seeing the man in front of her.

There were loud gasps, sighs, and a lot of whispering going around the people at the office.

"My God, how could someone be so handsome?"

"Isn't that the CEO of the Knight International?"

"Yes he is, who else could it be?"

"Why is he here?"

Oliver walked confidently in his dark grey fitted suit with a white dress shirt and Brown polished shoes. Wearing his dark sunglass he was giving out a dignified and sophisticated aura. He completely ignored the whisper around him and straight came to Ava's door and stood there for a second seeing a woman at the door.

Molly was in a daze but when Oliver stood at the door, she sighed and moved from the door to let him in. Molly never saw Oliver face to face before. But now seeing him, she could understand why Ava couldn't let him go and accept Daniel. She looked at Ava, excused herself, and left Oliver alone with Ava.