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Authoress' pov 👠

Nicklaus steps into his office and... he's surprised to see Marcus already waiting for him inside.

"Why didn't you tell me you're already in my office when I called you?" He asked Marcus.

Marcus laughs lightly.

"Well, I wanted to give you a surprise!"

Nicklaus sits on his chair, he reaches for his coffee which Claudia has made before his arrival.

He takes a sip and drops it back.

"Did you get the info I sent you?" Nicklaus asked.

"Yeah but wait... I wanna know why you're asking about Nina's family's accident?"

"Remember I told you about Anastasia having Nina's picture?"

Marcus nods anxiously, like he can't wait to hear what Nicklaus wanna say.

"Actually, she's Nina!"

"What?!" Marcus yells.

But he tones his voice down when Nicklaus throws him a glare.

"How did that happen? Are you sure about what you're saying?"

"Yeah, I questioned her, she said is the little girl in the picture.. but she seemed to have amnesia!"

Marcus just stares at Nicklaus with doubtful eyes.

"Are you sure she's Nina.. are you sure she's really.. truly her?"

"Yes! I'm very sure!" Nicklaus replied.

"Then tell me how you find out!"

Nicklaus eyes him but takes a deep breath and begin.

**********

"What?! You asked her to be your contract girlfriend?!" Marcus exclaimed.

Nicklaus had just finished briefing him about Nina's case.

"You just blew up your chance, Nick! You could have just told her the truth!"

Nicklaus leans back on his chair and raised an eyebrow at him.

"You should have told her that she and Nina are one and the same person..."

He stares at Nicklaus unbelievably.

"....You could have told her she's your fiancee instead of making her your contract girlfriend!"

"No!" Nicklaus said.

"What do you mean no? Wasn't sure your fiancee? You've been searching for her...to the extent you became allergic to women...and now that you've found her, you're making her your contract girlfriend?!"

Nicklaus sighs and pushes himself a little off his chair.

"She is indeed my fiancee but I can't tell her that.. she doesn't remember anything!"

"Oh!"

"Besides, I don't think she's the reason I'm allergic to women!"

Marcus rolls his eyes.

"If she's not the reason, then why is she the only one that can touch you?"

Nicklaus doesn't say anything.

"You became allergic to women after that incident...after you lost contact with her!"

At this point Nicklaus knows Marcus is telling the truth..he nods slowly.

"Well...If I tell her about our engagement, she'll think I'm lying... she will think I wanna force her into a relationship with me!"

Marcus nods as he finds Nicklaus's explanation reasonable too.

"So what's your plan by making her your contract girlfriend?"

"To make her fall in love with me again.. slowly.. naturally!" Nicklaus said and smiles.

Marcus gasp and points at him with a surprise expression.

"Did you just smile?"

Nicklaus quickly wipes off his smile and wears a blank expression.

"No!" Nicklaus denies.

"I saw it, you smiled"

"I didn't!"

Just as Marcus is surprised, Nicklaus is also surprised.

He can't remember when was the last time he smiled... he's always keep a blank expression and became cold... since that incident!

The incident that took both Nina and his dad from him.

"Contract girlfriend... seriously?"

Nicklaus rolls his eyeballs, he knows Marcus won't let go of this contract girlfriend stuff....until he's had enough.

"Well...er...I was a little speechless after I found out she's my Nina...I think straight..that was the only thing I could come up with to keep her by my side then!" Nicklaus defends himself.

Marcus laughs lightly.

"I can't imagine you being in love at what...13?!" Marcus whisper yells.

Nicklaus groans and facepalm himself...he begins to question himself how he manage to be friends with someone like Marcus.

"So...was she in love with you then too?"

Nicklaus stays silent for a brief moment.

"That is something I didn't find out then...she was just 8years old then! But she loves playing with me a lot!"

Marcus's eyes grows wide and his mouth hangs open too.

"8 years old?! You were engaged to an 8 years old girl?!"

"Bring your voice down, our families were close and they did it to merge our companies...but Nina's family suddenly disappears after the engagement!" Nicklaus explained.

Marcus nods in understanding...he didn't know about the details because he met Nicklaus when they're both 14...Nicklaus had always talked about Nina to him then.

Nicklaus clears his throat.

"About the accident... What have you find out?" He asked.

Marcus shakes his head and shrugs.

"Nothing for now!"

"Nothing?" Nicklaus frowns. "I wanna know what happened... How did Nina end up becoming broke?"

There's a short silence.

"Keep digging, until you find something!"

"Yes, Mr Statham!" Marcus said.

Nicklaus stands up with his hands in his pocket.

"You keep digging... while I think of ways to make my Nina.. no, my Anastasia fall in love with me.. again!"

Marcus starts hooting and wagging his brows at Nicklaus teasingly..

Nicklaus bites his inner cheek to stop him from blushing, he doesn't understand why he's suddenly feeling the need to blush.

"Carry on with your work, I'm leaving!"

"Are you leaving me alone in your office?" Marcus asked.

"I'm going for a meeting... See yourself out!"

Marcus gets up quickly and rushes to the door before Nicklaus.

"Ungrateful brat! Rude imp!" And he runs off.

Nicklaus shakes his head and head out.

******

Just outside the meeting room, Nicklaus phone rings.. it's a Graham.

"Graham!" Nicklaus receives the call.

"Mr Statham, the private guards you arranged for Miss Lopez just called!"

Nicklaus withdraws his hand that was going for the door's knob.

"What happened?"

"Miss Lopez left the shop in a hurry and..."

"Where did she go?" Nicklaus asked... A deep frown appears on his forehead.

"LA city hospital"

Nicklaus hangs up and turns to hurry off but Claudia stops him.

"Mr Statham.. every of the board members are here.. they are all waiting for you!"

Nicklaus closes his eyes and grits his teeth.

"Tell them the meeting is cancelled!"

"But Mr...." Nicklaus rushes off before she could find.

¢^¢^¢^¢^¢

Anastasia's pov 👠

I hurriedly paid the taxi driver without caring about the change... and breathlessly rush into the hospital.

My feet moving in a flashing speed as I approach doctor Hemsworth's office.

I'm silently praying I shouldn't hear any bad news.. Denzel should be alright... nothing should happen to him now that I've find solution!

"... don't do it again, speaking ill of others is bad!"

I met doctor Hemsworth scolding a fat boy when I entered his office... the boy seems to be the same age as Denzel.

My eyes glance around until they find aunt bandaging Denzel's knuckles.

I frown! What the heck happened?! I rushed towards them.

"Aunt!"

She stops and raise her head, she smiles when she sees me.

"Anna, what are you doing here? Who called you?" She asked in a whisper.

I guess she doesn't wanna disturb doctor Hemsworth scolding the fat boy.

"Doctor Hemsworth did!" I whisper back.

She glares playfully at doctor Hemsworth and shakes her head.

"I told him not to disturb you, this man!"

I look back to the fat boy, a woman is standing behind him with her head bowed down.. in shame?

".... it's not good to teach your child such nonsense, if he continues like this.. you wouldn't like what he'll grow up to become!" Doctor Hemsworth scolds her.

Maybe she's the fat boy's mother.

"Thank you, doctor, I'll caution him!" She said.

My gaze moves to the fat boy's face, it's has different colors.. blue.. black.. red...yellow.

I frown, then I turn back to Denzel's wrapped knuckles.. and Denzel's busy frowning and scowling.

"Aunt, did Denzel do that to him?" I asked aunt.

"Yes, Hemsworth called you because of the fight!"

Oh! I breath in relief, I thought something bad has happened to Denzel.

"Miss Lopez?" Doctor Hemsworth called me.

I step forward and give him my undivided attention.

"Miss Lopez, your Denzel is really stubborn.. look at what he did to Felix!" He gestures at the fat boy.

Felix's nose looks broken which makes his face look funny, I almost laugh at his expression.

I really wanna know what happened that made Denzel have a fight with him.

As if Denzel read my mind, he speaks!

"Anna, he said you're poor and I'll soon die!"

He said what now?! How dare he wish my brother death?!

I turn to Felix with a soul draining glare.. and he flinches back.. hiding behind his mother.

"I'm sorry about my son's behavior, Miss Lopez!" His mother apologise.

Doctor Hemsworth clears his throat.

"Why what Felix said was wrong but Denzel shouldn't have fought him!"

Denzel didn't fight him, Denzel beat him up! I said

Feeling proud of my brother inwardly.... Nobody should look down on him because he's sick.

But I pretend to be mad at him outwardly, I send him a scolding glare and he looks down quickly.

To Be Continued...

So Denzel can fight... Lol 😂