Chapter 24: Chapter 24
“As you are aware, everyone allocated to the various provinces has departed. Because I was still taking care of stuff, we were the only ones remaining. There was a problem with my company, so I informed you late about the meeting that was held,” Cole remarked solemnly, and I was excited to know what his problem was with his company. I could sense his trepidation as we board the plane. Back then, he had only praised me. We could almost run out of time every time we meet because he kept saying lovely things to me, so I’m wondering why he’s so silent now.
“Is your problem too bad?” I said, but he didn’t appear to hear me since the area was too large and the powerful wind was eroding our words. His look remained unchanged, so I sped up the walk so we could go inside. When I got inside, I asked him the same thing again. “Is there a problem with your company?”
He is now staring at me. Nothing had changed in his expression, but it still appeared tense and confusing. He doesn’t say anything about the situation, and I don’t make any predictions. I would have just let him go because I don’t appear to be in the mood to bully him right now when he grabbed my hands. I kept staring at it while he played it.
When my phone rang, I hurriedly pulled his hand from mine. Someone had sent an email there, and when I opened it, it was Cole. He wasn’t looking at me, and I saw a link he had emailed me. He couldn’t have done it if he wasn’t holding his phone. I clicked on the link when he looked at me. He instantly took my phone after seeing what I clicked. I was about to grab it from him when my phone went blank. What happened?
Cole smacked the phone in his palm and attempted to open it, but it remained closed. When he handed it back to me, I attempted to open it, but it never fully opened. When I glanced at him, his demeanor was remorseful, and I was taken aback. What is going on with him? It irritated me to see his face like away, so I tried to approach him.
The acting mode is on.
“Is there a problem? It’s okay if you don’t want to open to me, I understand.” I pretended to be worried even though I wasn’t. If only he could have died of overthinking, that would be fantastic. He pushed me into the seat and then spoke. The plane we were on was still not moving.
“First and foremost, I apologize for the damage to your phone. That was one of the firm’s concerns, so the meeting was unexpected because of a problem that occurred in the company.” He massaged his side head, then closed his eyes and sat back in his chair. I stood there watching him until he finished. I just stared at him intently. “The link you clicked wasn’t the one I sent. That’s the virus that’s now spreading to all the businessmen and women I’ve interacted with. But others even though I haven’t talked to email. I don’t know how that happened, just It’s happening. We do everything but we don’t know where the source is.”
I suddenly thought of what Adonis and Mark were talking about. “What day did you say it happened?” I think about the day we went to the meeting and what they talked about that I didn’t understand. I didn’t ask what their plan was. I just followed Adonis’ instructions.
“That was the day of our meeting with the business executives. After everybody had departed and we were the only ones remaining, my secretary called and informed me of the problem.” He drew a big breath and stacked up to breathe deeply. “The first person to complain was my business partner, who stated that his phone had suddenly shut down and that I had no idea how to restart it because the codes were locked. There have been several complaints, as well as numerous critical contacts and other information on their phones. ”
I stared at my dead phone, unsure what to say to him. I’m delighted with what happened to him. I want to scream with joy because I’m so happy with what’s going on. The only problem is that I don’t know how to contact Adonis because I didn’t allow Mark to come to us and my phone died. Since Wendy Whitlock came, he has been unable to articulate his next strategy. My joyous heart became melancholy all of a sudden. Even if I try to pretend that it doesn’t hurt, I can’t deny that it does.
“Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be resolving that?” I honestly don’t want to do these things right now, and I don’t believe I could have done it without Adonis’ support or his guidance, even if I opted to stand on my own two feet. I leaned back while he held my hand. I cringe.
“Because you’re my rest and I want to relax.” He raised my palm and kissed the back of it. I just watched him what he would do next. As time passes, I just want to confront him and ask why he did that to my parents. Is it because of Adonis? Just because Wendy came, I felt I was set aside.
I placed the dead phone back in my bag and told Cole I was going to relax. I don’t have the self-confidence to accompany him to his desired destination. I closed my eyes and pondered what Adonis is doing right now.
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“Luna! Luna!”
I opened my eyes awake to bright surroundings. I could see nothing but light smoke that I had never seen in my entire life. It’s different from the smoke I usually see. It’s not the thing that’s cold, it’s not the smoke I saw when my parents died. That smoke is comfortable on the body and seems to hug you. I can also smell the strange fragrance of the flower. When I run my eyes, I could see nothing but a space in the cloud. I feel like I’m floating while walking because I can’t feel my feet.
After a few minutes of walking, I heard people laughing. I can’t remember the last time I heard such a loud laugh. I smiled as I approached, and the voice got louder and louder. It also became clear who the owners of the voice were.
When I saw who they were, I felt like I wanted to jump for joy, but I felt like I had become a statue. I want to run and hug them for a long time, I just want to be here.
“Luna!”
When someone called me, I quickly turned around when I looked at who it was. There was no one. I tried to walk again to find my mommy and daddy, who I had seen laughing before, but I never saw them again. I tried to walk, but they were gone. When discouraged, a child ran to a side full of clouds. When I got there, I quickly closed my eyes because I was once again exposed to the look of the burning house.
The large beads of tears no longer hold back and they fall one after another. I just got on my knees in excruciating pain while looking at that. I tried to reach out my hand in emptiness, but I could hear only the shouts of the people. I was fainting because of too much sobbing. I’m slowly losing consciousness ...
“Luna!”
I jumped in a panic because of the loud voice that called to me and at the same time shook my body. I could feel the wetness of my whole body, even the sweat. When I finally opened my eyes, I saw Cole’s worried face. For the first time, it wasn’t the scary and bad Cole I saw. I saw the other side of him; I saw his real worried face, not fake.
The stewards quickly ran towards us as they handed me the water. Even the female steward I could see her worried face. My forehead was still full of sweat even though the aircon was on. When I looked outside, it was already dark. How many hours did I sleep? The steward left, and Cole took the glass the steward had given me. I breathed to calm my strong heartbeat because of the dreams.
Cole touched my forehead, then wiped it with his hand because I was still weak. I didn’t argue anymore. “Are you sure you can do it? Look, you have a fever. You must have said so for us to cancel. Even your skin and lips are pale.” His two eyebrows are still meeting, but there is a trace of concern. “Did you have a bad dream? You are crying.”
Though hoarse, I smiled and tried to answer. “I’m just fine. I’m just tired.” I feel my headache then the hot feeling. It looks like I have a fever.
He didn’t ask again while I fell asleep again without telling Cole because my body felt so bad. I hope when I wake up this fever is gone. There was a pain that went through my heart as I thought Adonis didn’t even remember calling me. He didn’t even know I was sick now. I coughed. Not minding the bitterness.
I woke up when someone put a wet towel on my forehead and wiped my hands. When I first looked at it, Adonis was the first one I saw. When I missed him so much, he was the one I saw. That doesn’t look like a good scenario. It would be better to devote my time to how our plan will move forward.
“Did you sleep?” That was my question to Cole. Even though my eyes were dizzy, I tried to open them. I didn’t even feel better. It just seemed like it got worse. The truth is, I appreciate Cole at this moment. I saw his eyes deepen a bit. It looked like he didn’t sleep watching over me.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. You need to eat. We are close, you must eat porridge when we arrive in Zhejiang province. And you also need to take medicine for your cough. You haven’t finished coughing until now.” After he said that, I coughed again.
“Thank you.” I sincerely said.
I stared out the window for a few minutes until we landed. He was supporting me on the descent, and I didn’t think anyone from Zhejiang province would pick us up. It’s probably true what I saw in my research that no vehicle can enter there because of the mud. They approached us as they took our belongings. Cole introduced me to them because I couldn’t speak. Soon we were going where we were supposed to go.
The taxi dropped us off at a rocky outcrop. Only four followed us. They were two young men and two adults. Even though it was difficult, I still tried to walk and stand properly. Cole just supported me until we got to the muddiest part. Someone lifted our suitcase and placed it in their arms to keep it from getting dirty.
“I’m sorry in our area. This is also one of our areas why no one volunteered to come here, so we are very grateful that someone helped us and the children. I’m Dong.” That young man was a little overweight, and he was the one carrying my suitcase.
No one spoke to us while the old man with white hair spoke. He’s probably 60 years old because he’s having a hard time walking. Why else would he come here?
“Are you going to help us build a hospital and a school?” His voice was a little sad, so I looked at him. “No one graduated from us so I hope we don’t get disappointed.”
“In the next few days, volunteers will come here so you don’t have to worry. You can count on us to do all we can to provide you with enough for your needs.” I watched Cole as he said that. I never thought he had this side. Gradually, I began to doubt whether he had killed my parents.
I dismissed what I was thinking, and I completely forgot that when children approached us. They ran towards us while the size of their population stunned me. I never thought there were so many people here.