Chapter Eight

Sofia was trying to make a call but didn't have a good reception on her phone. She held her phone in the air but didn't get any reception bars. She opened the door and got a bar on her phone. She quickly dialled the number she wanted to call but lost the connection as soon as she brought her phone inside the car. She turned to her side and looked at Gustavo who was already fast asleep. She tapped him on his arm and woke him up.

"Huh? Is Mrs Patricia back?" Gustavo replied tiredly.

"No,she isn't! I need you to watch over Ivan while I go out for a bit." Sofia said.

"Where to?" Gustavo asked and yawned.

"I need to call someone. I don't have any reception on my phone. I won't go far. I'll be standing right over there." She said and pointed at the pillar in front of the car.

"Okay! Don't take too long though!" He replied.

"I won't! You better not swallow the whole car park before I get back." She said, teasing him about his excessive yawning.

"Nice one,Sofia!" He chuckled.

Sofia got out of the car and walked towards the pillar. She redialled the number and the receiver answered. Gustavo adjusted his seat and crossed his hands on the headrest. He used it to support his head and watched Ivan from the rearview mirror.

"Are you comfortable over there?" Gustavo asked.

"Mhm!" Ivan hummed as he nodded, playing with his toy car.

"Okay!" Gustavo said.

Soon, Gustavo slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep. Ivan saw that he had dozed off and looked at Sofia through the windscreen. He saw that she was still on the phone and didn't look like she was going to end the call anytime soon. 

He waved his hands in front of Gustavo's face and confirmed he was fast asleep. He opened the door quietly and snuck out without anyone noticing. He went to the lift and got in as soon as the door slid open.

<>

The taxi had pulled in front of Prime Picture Enterprises and Alejandra got out. She was in a hurry to go in and accidentally dropped a folder on the pavement close to the building. 

"Excuse me,miss?" A passer-by called and got her attention.

She turned around when she heard his voice.

"You dropped this." He said, returning the blue folder she had dropped.

"Thank you!" She said calmly and collected it from him.

Alejandra heaved calmly and walked into the building. She arrived at the reception. She looked around and saw that the place was a bit crowded. 

The receptionist wasn't at her desk the time she had arrived. She needed to go to the conference room urgently but didn't know where it was. She checked the time on her watch and panicked.

"If I don't get to the conference room on time,Mr Anderson will fire me for sure." She said inwardly.

"Oh God, please show me a way through!"

The doors of the lift opened and the receptionist walked out. She saw Alejandra standing close to her desk and was curious to know why she was there. She walked towards her.

"Excuse me,miss?" The receptionist called and touched her arm.

Alejandra turned to her side as soon as she felt her touch.

"Can I help you,miss?" The receptionist asked politely.

"Do you please know what floor the conference room is?" Alejandra asked.

"It's on the sixth floor." The receptionist replied and sat down on her chair.

"Thank you!" Alejandra said.

She took a step forward and remembered something. 

"Umm, miss?" Alejandra called.

"Yes!" The receptionist replied.

"Sorry if I'm bothering you but do you know if the meeting has started?" Alejandra asked curiously.

"I don't know,miss." The receptionist replied calmly.

"Oh, okay! Thank you!" Alejandra said and left her desk.

She let out a sigh and walked to the lift. She pressed the button on the wall and the doors slid open. She got in and stopped at the sixth floor. As soon as she got out of the lift,she crashed into Ivan. He was running and didn't see her. The files she was holding fell from her hands and the documents in it scattered all over the spot she stood. Ivan hid behind her and clutched on her forearm. 

Alejandra was puzzled about what was going on. She turned and saw scared Ivan. She looked forward and saw that the man who was chasing him had retreated. Alejandra bent down and started picking up the documents and arranged them back into the folders they were before. Ivan bent down as well and helped her. She finished arranging them and carried them. She wanted to go to the conference room but couldn't leave Ivan there.

"Hey! What's...?" Alejandra asked friendly.

Ivan was already scared and started to blub.

"Hey! Don't cry!" 

She crouched down in front of him and kept the folders on the floor. She wiped the tears off his face with her palms.

"Are you lost? Where is your mummy?" She asked.

"My mummy is in heaven." Ivan replied, still blubbing.

Alejandra didn't expect his response and felt bad for asking.

"I didn't know that your mummy..." She said awkwardly and changed the question.

"And your daddy? Where is he? Does he work here?" 

Ivan nodded and sniffed.

Alejandra was puzzled. She didn't know what to do. She was already late for the presentation but she couldn't leave Ivan alone. He looked scared and might even get lost and become difficult to find. She thought for a minute and decided to help him look for his father.

"What is your name?" Alejandra asked calmly.

"I-van!" He replied. 

He had stopped crying minutes ago. He used his palms and wiped the tears off his face.

"Well Ivan,I'm going to help you find your daddy. Do you know where his office is?" She asked and he shook his head.

His response didn't help Alejandra one bit. She was still back to square one and had no clue of what his father looked like. 

"Come," She said and stood up.

She picked up the folders and took his hand.

"Let's go and find your daddy."

Ivan quickly removed his hand from hers. She noticed she wasn't holding his hand anymore and looked at him.

"What's wrong? Don't you want to meet your daddy?" Alejandra asked curiously.

"My daddy told me not to go with strangers. He said they are bad and cunning." Ivan replied frankly in a nervous voice.

Alejandra didn't see that coming. She was stunned by what he said. If she wants to find his father,she needs to think of something. Fast!

"Your daddy is right. You should never follow strangers. But I'm not a stranger. I'm actually your dad's friend." She lied.

"Really? You know who my daddy is?" Ivan said excitedly with a smile on his face.

"Umm,yes!" Alejandra said cowardly,

"Your daddy and I...grew up together. We were best friends in primary school."

"Really?" He said.

"Uh-huh!" Alejandra said convincingly,

"You can call me Aunt Alejandra if you want."

The smile on her face made her lies believable.

"Oh Lord, please forgive me! I didn't mean to lie to him. It was the one I could get him to trust me. Please help me to reunite him with his father." She said inwardly, maintaining the smile on her face.

"Shall we?" 

Ivan nodded and they clasped hands.

<>

Sofia was done with the call and returned to the car. She found Gustavo with his mouth wide open. She pulled the passenger door open and sat down. She turned around to check if Ivan was sleeping as well but was flabbergasted. 

Ivan wasn't in the car. She came out of the car immediately and checked if he was anywhere close to the car but he wasn't. She panicked and woke Gustavo up.

"Gustavo!" Sofia called, tapping him on his arm,

"Gustavo!"

"Huh? Is ma'am back?" He said with a yawn and stretched his hands in the air. 

"No! We have a problem!" She said worriedly.

"What problem?" He asked confusingly.

"Ivan is gone!" She announced.

"Gone?" He said and quickly checked the backseat,

"That can't be. He was here when you left."

"He must have left while you were sleeping. I specifically told you to watch over him while I make a phone call. How hard was that?" Sofia said anxiously, worried about Ivan's safety.

"He wouldn't have gone far. We have to find him or else Mr Nicolas will have us thrown in prison." He said and got out of the car.

"We?" She said, furrowed her brows at him.

"We'll deal with the blames later. Right now,we need to find Ivan or it will be off with our heads." Gustavo replied as he closed the door. 

They both went to look for Ivan and combed through the car park. They even went outside to know if they would find him but they didn't. Sofia brought out her phone from her pocket and dialled Patricia. 

"Who are you calling?" Gustavo asked eagerly.

"Mrs Patricia!" Sofia replied and waited for the call to connect.

"Have you gone nuts?" He said and collected the phone from her. 

Gustavo ended the call immediately. 

"Do you want us to lose our jobs? If Mr Nicolas finds out his son is missing,it will be the end of the road for us."

"What other choice do we have? Ivan is gone thanks to you. We can find him quicker if we tell her to cover more grounds. Who knows? He could be in the building with her." Sofia explained,

"Now,give me back my phone."

Gustavo gave in and gave her the phone back. He crossed his fingers and she redialled the number.

"Hello!" Patricia said from the other end.

"Hello,Mrs Patricia!." Sofia replied cowardly,

"We have a problem."

"Problem? What do you mean 

'problem'?" Patricia asked curiously.

"The thing is...Ivan...is... missing." Sofia said nervously.

"What!" Patricia screamed.

Her voice alarmed Nicolas and distracted him from what he was doing.

"What is wrong?" Nicolas asked flatly.

"Ivan is missing." Patricia blurted.

Nicolas took the phone from her hand.

"What do you mean my son is missing?" He said angrily and stood up from his chair,

"Shouldn't he be with you?"

"M-Mr-Nic-Mr Nicolas."Sofia stuttered when she heard his voice,

"He was with me but-."

"Look Sofia,I'm not in the mood for games. Make sure you find Ivan and pray nothing happens to him. Or else, you'll regret the day I hired you as his nanny." Nicolas snapped.

He ended the call and threw the phone across the room. The screen scattered into pieces and other parts of the phone were ruined.

"Calm down,Nick! Everything will be fine." Patricia said, trying to cool down his temper.

"Fine? Did you say fine?" He replied rhetorically in a harsh voice,

"This is all your fault. If you had gone like I told you to,none of this would have happened."

"Don't raise your voice at me,mister. I'm still your mother and you should show me some respect." She scolded.

He picked up his phone and dialled a number on the telephone.

"Hello, Camilo!" Nicolas said as soon as he answered,

"I need you to alert the security guards to be at all exits. Ivan is missing. They shouldn't let anyone in or out of the building. I also need the surveillance footage from the underground car park urgently."

Nicolas hung up immediately. He paced up and down his desk, thinking of what to do. Patricia didn't say anything. She blamed herself for what was happening.

<>

Alejandra and Ivan walked closer to the conference room. She saw Maurice at the door who seemed to be busy on his phone. Maurice caught a glimpse of her and kept his phone in his pocket. 

"Ale," Maurice called,

"Where have you been? I have been calling you but didn't answer."

He noticed Ivan who stood beside her. 

"Who is he?" He acknowledged Ivan's presence.

Alejandra let go of Ivan's hand and drew Maurice aside. She glanced at Ivan and smiled at him.

"I bumped into him at the lift. He is lost and is looking for his father. He claims his father works here." Alejandra said softly.

"And why did you bring him with you? Do you know who his father is?" Maurice asked.

"No! Besides," Alejandra said and glanced at Ivan who seemed to be staring at the conference room through the glass walls,

"I couldn't leave him there all alone. His father might be looking for him. The least I could do is to help him reunite with his father."

Maurice felt pity for Ivan.

"Fine! But we'll look for his father after the presentation, okay?" Maurice suggested and Alejandra nodded.

They were still standing there when Camilo approached them.

"I'm sorry but the presentation won't hold. Mr Gonzalez is dealing with an urgent matter right now and won't be able to see you. Maybe you can-." Camilo said but was interrupted.

"Uncle Camilo!" Ivan said cheerily when he saw him.

"Ivan?" Camilo said, surprised to see him.

"Uncle Camilo!" Ivan said, running to him.

Camilo crouched down and hugged him.

"Where have you been? Your dad has been looking all over for you." Camilo said.

"I wanted to meet Dad but I got lost. But Aunt Alejandra found me and promised to take me to Dad. Isn't that right Aunt?" Ivan said and looked at her.

"A..ah Ivan! I promise to take you to your dad." Alejandra said sheepishly.

"Aunt Alejandra?" Camilo muttered and raised his brow. 

Camilo had known Nicolas since they were both in secondary school. They even attended the same university. It was Nicolas who hired him after he was appointed the CEO of Prime Picture Enterprises. 

"She says she is Dad's old friend. They have known each other since primary school. Aren't I right,Aunt?" Ivan explained.

"Yes, you're absolutely right!" Alejandra said nervously.

"Come,I'll take you to your dad myself." Camilo said and took his hand.

"Um, Camilo?" Alejandra called.

She walked to him and explained how she found Ivan and why she lied to him. 

"Oh,I understand! Thank you!" Camilo said softly.

"Uncle Camilo,can Aunt Alejandra come with us?" Ivan asked.

"You see,Aunt Alejandra-." Camilo said, thinking of what to tell him.

"I would love to but I'm kind of busy." Alejandra said friendly with a warm smile,

"Maybe next time." 

"Okay! Goodbye!" Ivan replied and waved at her.