Fully awake now, she propped herself up on one elbow and observed Cristofer’s face in the dim wall lamp’s light. It was then that she noticed the dark circles beneath his eyes.
Cristofer used to have a tan from exercising, but since his injury restricted his movement, he rarely went outside, causing his skin to become fair and the dark circles more noticeable.
Looking at him, Estelle remembered how late Cristofer would stay in his study, with the light on, no matter how late she returned from putting the children to bed. She had assumed he was avoiding her, but now she realized he had been working diligently in his study room.
‘You can’t keep pushing yourself like this, Cristofer, or your health will deteriorate before your legs heal,’ Estelle thought. Unable to sleep, she slipped out of bed, put on her coat and slippers, and turned off the wall lamp. She then left the room quietly and headed to the study.
When Estelle entered Cristofer’s study, she found a stack of documents related to the company’s recent projects on his desk. Over the past few months, she had been assisting in managing Hans International Corporation but felt she needed to learn more about running a company.
As she glanced at Cristofer’s phone on the desk, the screen lit up with a message from Vincent, stating that they needed to present a design drawing to a customer the following day.
Considering that Cristofer was resting, Estelle decided to handle the work for him. She powered up Cristofer’s computer and was prompted to enter a password. Unsure if Cristofer had changed it, she entered the password that they had set when they were together and hesitantly pressed Enter. To her relief, the familiar desktop wallpaper appeared, displaying a bright starry sky, a wallpaper they had chosen together.
Gazing at the screen, Estelle felt a pang in her heart. She pulled out the chair, sat down, and opened the drawing software.
Estelle had thoroughly reviewed the project plan and knew that Cristofer was dealing with a regular customer, and the design drawing remained unfinished. Observing the incomplete design on the screen, she made the decision to complete it for Cristofer. Carefully, she considered every stroke she made, worried about hindering more than helping.
The customer sought a series of new badges for an upcoming season. The design requirements were not particularly complex, but the customer also aimed for lower production costs to gain more market share.
Midway through her work, Estelle suddenly paused, putting down the electronic brush, and grabbed Cristofer’s phone to send a text message to Vincent: “Call me when you see this message.”
Half a minute later, a phone call from Vincent came. As soon as Estelle answered the phone, Vincent’s voice came from the other end of the line.
“Mr. Hans, considering the substantial order and the fact that these badges will serve as prizes for an international competition, the customer wishes to meet with you in person. Can you visit the company tomorrow?”
Hearing this, Estelle thought, ‘Cristofer wants to go to the company but he can’t.’ Estelle then replied, “It’s still inconvenient for him to come to the company. I’ll handle it in his stead. Also, the documents here are incomplete. Could you take pictures of the previous sketches and raw material samples and send them to me?”
Vincent sounded surprised when he heard Estelle’s voice. “Is Mr. Hans…”
“He’s asleep. He underwent a bone reduction today and can’t come to the company,” Estelle explained.
Vincent proceeded to inform her that he had previously sent the sketches and raw material samples to the Hans’ Residence. After a brief conversation, Estelle ended the call.
Since Cristofer was sleeping, she didn’t want to disturb him with questions about the whereabouts of the sketches and samples. So, she decided to search for them herself. Estelle began to explore the study.
She started by opening the desk drawer, a common place for storage. To her surprise, besides finding the sketches and samples she needed, she also came across something familiar – her diary with its slightly worn cover.
Although curious about why Cristofer had kept her diary, she set aside those thoughts for later. Gently stroking the diary’s cover, she retrieved the sketches. With the task of completing the design drawing for tomorrow morning, she had no time for further contemplation.
Using the flower outlines from the sketches as a reference, Estelle created three versions of the flowers typical for the upcoming season. After carefully examining the designs, she decided to incorporate a vine beneath one of the flowers.
By the time she had finished the design drawings, it was well past midnight. Yawning from fatigue, she glanced out the window at the dark night sky. She ensured she had saved her work, turned off the computer, and exited the study.
Upon returning to Cristofer’s bedroom, she saw that he was still sleeping in the same position. Silently wishing him a good night, Estelle slipped into bed and lay beside him. It wasn’t long before she drifted into a deep sleep.
****
The following morning, Estelle’s cell phone alarm jolted her awake. In her groggy state, she fumbled under her pillow to turn it off. However, as she thought that Cristofer was still asleep, she suddenly became fully alert. She switched off the alarm and quickly sat up, concerned about whether the noise had woken Cristofer. But to her surprise, Cristofer was nowhere to be seen in the room.
Somehow, she felt a sense of loss. Shaking her head, she drove her drowsiness away. Then she washed up, put on light makeup, and changed clothes as fast as she could. After that, she went to the study to fetch the computer and drove to Hans International Corporation.
By the time Estelle arrived at the company, Eva had been waiting for her outside the meeting room for a long time. As soon as she saw Estelle, she said anxiously. “Mrs. Hans, you’re finally here. The customer has been waiting for you for a long time and has become impatient.”
Hearing this, Estelle looked into the meeting room and asked, “There’s no hurry. Did the customer demand anything else?”
“No, the situation hasn’t changed. This customer has been loyal to us, but he’s unhappy with our team’s recent design proposals. He finds them too flashy, and the high production costs make them impractical for mass production,” Eva explained in a hushed tone, glancing at the coffee cup in front of the client in the meeting room. “I managed to buy some time by assuring him that you would handle the design, but he’s still a bit impatient. He’s had two cups of coffee already.”