What is your request?
Phillip rushed towards Odelia and held her in his arms to steady her swaying body. Odelia's eyes were bulging as if she had just seen a ghost, and her body had gone limp as if she were a statue. Phillip began to panic and carried her onto the bed, gently tapping her cheeks in quick succession to bring her back to her senses.
But he stopped after a while when he realized her iris was moving, but she had just refused to talk. He walked back into the living room to check what she had seen on her laptop screen that had elicited such a reaction. Seeing the account balance displayed on the screen, an unknown rage began to boil up within him.
He had already put two and two together and had come to a realization. The only person who could know all the information about Odelia's business and finances was Adam Gray. The man Odelia had seen as her sun and had not wanted anyone to badmouth. The man who was the pushing force behind all of Odelia's decisions.
If he had not seen it himself, he would never have thought Adam could stoop so low and steal Odelia's money after everything he did. 'But if Adam was atrocious enough to do everything he had previously done, what was so surprising about this?' Philip thought.
He heard a thud sound and rushed back into the bedroom and saw Odelia sprawled on the floor. There was a red bump on the left side of her forehead, but she just lay there unmoving. Tears were running down at the corner of her eyes, and her body was trembling from trying to hold everything in.
"Why?" She cried in despair; her choked voice was full of pain and so heartbreaking that for a moment, Phillip didn't know what to say or do.
"Tell me, what did I do wrong? What crime did I commit for him to hate me so much? I. Loved. Him! I told him everything! My dreams, my aspirations, my secrets. But he said I was trash and that he never loved me." Her thin body shook the more she sobbed, making her look even more frail as she lay there on the floor.
Phillip felt his heart squeezing painfully at the sight of Odelia looking so broken. She had always been the life of the party, the strong and confident one in their circle. When they were young, she was the brightest star, even when she was dressed in rags with messy hair and a soil-stained face. They used to run through the fields with no care in the world.
There were many children in the countryside then, but his, Sarah's, and Odelia's friendship had been the closest. How he wished they could go back to those days when they were young and free. Everything was just so perfect then; they were content and happy with just a simple meal.
Little did Phillip know that he was wrong. Odelia had never liked being poor; all her life, she had tried to battle with poverty so that she could reach the pinnacle of her life. Even right now, as she lay there, she had begun to wonder if she deserved everything that was happening to her.
She never once looked back at the parents who had raised her for 17 years just because she found her biological parents. She had even begun to feel resentful towards them because they had not insisted on taking Anna away from her biological parents' house when they found out the truth.
She had even ignored them when they had come to visit her and had angrily told them she was not their daughter. She was also always so straightforward and kept people at arm's length, not bothering to check if her words would hurt the other person. She had even stopped associating herself with all her poor friends just because she wanted to be recognized as a high-class woman.
Odelia had known that Phillip was in love with her long ago and had seen all the sacrifices and care he had shown to her, but right now, she even began to doubt if she had not intentionally ignored him and had chosen Adam because of his background.
This was what she got for being so vain; maybe she indeed deserved it. The more she analyzed everything, the more she realized just how unfair she had been to Phillip, and she began to feel guilty and didn't even want to be close to him anymore.
"I want to be alone," she said to Phillip in such seriousness that Phillip knew nothing was going to change her mind. He could only nod, and after a long thought, he said to her,
"Please don't do anything stupid; tomorrow is going to be a brighter day."
Hearing the sound of the door closing, Odelia weakly stood up and lay in bed, letting the silence envelop her. It was as if everything had faded, and she was the only one in the big, dark room. She felt that maybe this was how death looked like.
~~~
The next day,
Phillip looked haggard as he stared at his phone for the hundredth time, but there was still nothing. He couldn't help but feel like there was something wrong with Odelia since he left her yesterday; he didn't want to invade her private space, but it was already 10 a.m. and still no news from her.
'Maybe he should just go and see if she's alright and then come back. Yes, he will just check on her and return to the office. He had been neglecting a lot of work because of Odelia's problems; he had to focus on making Smith Company a worthy adversary against Gray Enterprises so that he can take Adam, that scum of the earth, down,' Phillip thought inwardly and left to find Odelia.
~~~
About 30 minutes later, Phillip walked to Odelia's door and found it had been locked. He dropped the fruit basket he had bought on the way there onto the floor and decided to call Odelia. He pulled out his phone from his pocket and realized he had received a voicemail from her about 10 minutes ago.
"Sorry, I knew you would be worried if you didn't hear from me, but I decided to go somewhere to unwind like you suggested. I will call you when I come back. Take care," Odelia's voice sounded from the phone. Phillip sighed and turned to leave, completely forgetting about the fruit basket.
~~~
On the other side of town, Odelia was about to board a train bound for Callicoon; she planned to visit her parents in the countryside and try to forget everything that had happened for the past few days. She had just walked into the washroom when she saw a girl about 15 years old who seemed to be having difficulty breathing.
Odelia got closer and realized she was having an asthma attack. She rushed towards her to help her, made her lean against a sink, and talked to her with a gentle tone.
"Try to be as calm as possible, think happy thoughts, and calm down." When Odelia saw she was trying to calm down, she praised her.
"Good, now try to take slow and steady breaths... Good, that's it; you are doing well." Odelia continued to talk to the girl in a soothing and gentle voice. When she saw the girl's breathing had become much more stable, she asked,
"Do you have an inhaler with you?" The girl pointed at the door. "It's outside," she said with difficulty. Odelia made her lean on her shoulder, and with careful and slow steps, they made their way to the waiting area, where the girl pointed out a bag.
Odelia made her sit up straight, fished out the inhaler, and brought it close to her mouth so that she would take a puff of it every 30 seconds until she realized the girl was now breathing normally.
At the same time, a few meters from the train station in the upscale Hopkins Restaurant, there was a heavy and tense atmosphere. The manager of the restaurant, all related staff, and bodyguards were all standing in a row with fear in their eyes. They looked like their heads were about to be placed on the execution board as they looked at the emotionless iceberg with great trepidation.
The young Miss of the Gardner family had gone missing in this restaurant.
Don Gardner sat on a couch; his face was cold with no emotion on his face. He was exuding such an intimidating aura that each of the people present felt like their bodies were under immense pressure, especially the staff of the restaurant, who were not used to such an overbearing presence, felt their legs tremble and their sweat beginning to gush out like a waterfall.
"Sir, please spare me; it's all my fault. I shouldn't have brought the young Miss out to play. If anything happens to her, I'll pay with my"
Isaac, the personal bodyguard of the young Miss, was kicked in the chest before he finished speaking. The sound of the kick against his chest made the people present even more scared. Isaac had been kneeling in front of Don Gardner, and his face was full of regret. He knew that if anything happened to the little princess of the Gardner family, he was doomed. He just prayed Daniella would be found before Mr. and Mrs. Gardner found out.
Isaac clutched his chest and coughed fiercely for a while before crawling back to kneel at Don Gardner's feet.
He was about to be kicked again when Don Gardner's right-hand man Julian rushed into the restaurant.
"Boss, the young Miss has been found," Julian said respectfully and bowed. Everyone present released a sigh of relief; it looked as if they had just escaped death. Don Gardner walked to the door with Julian leading the way.
About 5 minutes later, a group of people invaded the train station. Don Gardner, with his large number of guards, walked towards the waiting area and saw the young Miss leaning on the bench, with a woman hovering over her.
Don Gardner's instincts kicked in, and he walked with huge steps towards his sister and wanted to push the woman away from his sister. He was just about to put his plan into action when his sister saw him and smiled gently at the woman and turned to pout at him.
"Brother, don't scare her; she just saved my life," Daniella said, her voice still sounding weak. Don Gardner saw the relieving inhaler and knew what had just happened. But he stood there in a daze looking at the woman who still had her back towards him; when he had gotten close to the woman, he had smelled a fragrance. Her scent was like a flower grown in the mountains, so cool and refreshing, not like those strong scents of perfume that usually irritated his nose. And he couldn't explain it, but it stirred up something familiar within him.
But when the woman turned to look at him, he felt that he hadn't seen her before; her hair that was in a fringe and covered half of her face looked messy, and she was wearing huge round glasses, making her look like a science nerd who was going to a science museum for research.
Odelia looked at the man in front of her and blinks. She couldn't believe that upon all the high-class events she had attended with Don Gardner being the guest of honor and had still not even bothered to grace them with his presence, she had met him in the waiting area of the train station.
He had the bearing of a king wearing a fitted tailored suit that seemed to have been custom made just for him, and it couldn't hide his muscular build but perfectly outlined his broad shoulders, slender waist, and bulgy biceps.
His scrutinizing gaze however gave her the chills. His pair of forest green eyes were so cold and piercing that she felt as if he was an aggressive predator who had found its prey. 'Shouldn't he look at her gratitude?' Odelia wondered, instinctively wanting to take a step back, but she stubbornly stood her ground and refused to be intimidated.
"What is your request?" He asked coldly.
Odelia: "Huh????"