Feeling touched, Estelle agreed and made her way to her room. She sat down at her computer and began working on the tasks she hadn’t completed during the day. While Estelle had delegated some decisions to Eva and asked for Cristofer’s help, there were certain responsibilities that she had to handle herself because this was her family’s company.
Additionally, she wasn’t certain how much Cristofer would be willing to help after their recent conversation. Perhaps he would only make some decisions and then leave the company soon. A few moments later, she logged into the website and noticed a new message requesting, “Please sync your file with the updated version.”
“Wow, they’ve made changes to the plans,” Estelle exclaimed in surprise and clicked the Sync button. The screen revealed a project plan with detailed annotations, along with versions 2. 0 and 3. 0, which left her impressed.
Estelle knew that Eva wouldn’t be so meticulous when crafting a plan, so she was fairly certain that Cristofer was the one who had put it together. After checking the plan for a while, she marked the task as completed on her to-do list and proceeded to her email inbox, which was filled with numerous messages awaiting her attention.
Estelle hadn’t delegated the task of managing her emails to Eva, so she assumed it was her responsibility now. However, she was taken aback when she saw the impeccably organized homepage of her email inbox. Even a brand-new account wouldn’t have a neater inbox.
As she was about to check her sent emails, her phone vibrated with a new message notification. She expected it to be from another executive or a customer, but her expression shifted to one of surprise when she saw the sender’s name.
Cristofer’s message was short and sweet. ‘I’ve handled everything. Take a break. Don’t overwork yourself.’
This message brought back memories of the past in Rose Garden.
Meanwhile, at the Hans’ house, Cristofer leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh of relief. He had been feeling anxious ever since he finished Estelle’s work. He worried that she might be upset when she found out he had accessed her account, and at the same time, he was concerned she might not be happy with his work.
The last time he felt this uneasy was when Estelle wouldn’t give him a clear answer about being his girlfriend back when they were still students. Surprisingly, after all these years, even with Yohan growing up and heading to primary school, he found himself experiencing the same kind of teenage worries.
Before long, Estelle responded to his message with a question, ‘How did you access my email?’
Cristofer didn’t reply right away. Instead, he waited for a few minutes and sent her eight numbers: 08261231.
Those numbers represented their birthdays. Estelle had used this combination as her password for many years. She had considered changing it at some point, but the mysterious Mr. Mysterious also had a birthday on December 31st, so she kept using those numbers.
Beep, beep, beep.
Cristofer sent another message. ‘Don’t worry. I haven’t shared your password with anyone, not even Eva knows it. But if you’re uncomfortable with it, you can change it.’
Upon reading the message, Estelle’s mind conjured the image of a young, domineering, and somewhat unreasonable Cristofer from years ago. Back then, a younger Cristofer would delete messages from other guys and express jealousy, saying, “You’re too young to have a boyfriend.”
Feeling a bit guilty for getting caught, Estelle shrugged her shoulders and begged Cristofer, who was already in high school at the time, “Cristofer, please don’t tell my mom and dad. None of those guys were my boyfriends. I didn’t encourage them to text me. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Cristofer, dressed in a white shirt, had already loosened his tie due to anger. He glanced at her and noticed that the fifteen-year-old girl had slimmed down since he first met her. She had shed her baby fat and looked stunning. Naturally, many boys, driven by their teenage hormones, couldn’t help but admire her. However, they only dared to send her text messages secretly, likely because everyone knew that Cristofer regarded Estelle as his little sister, and no one wanted to provoke him.
Cristofer’s brows furrowed, and he asked, “How did they get your phone number?”
“I don’t know. I really didn’t give it to anyone,” Estelle replied, looking confused.
Observing the frustration on her face, Cristofer concluded that she had no romantic interest in those ordinary guys. This realization sparked a devious plan in his mind. After reviewing each message and ensuring that he had deleted them all, he finally returned the phone to her, showing some mercy. “I’ll cover for you this time. I won’t tell your mom and dad. But you have to stay away from them in the future.”
Estelle sighed in relief, saying, “Thank you, Cristofer. I’ll focus on my studies from now on.”
“Okay. You can ask me for help anytime.”
“Sounds good!”
Then he typed something on her phone and handed it back to her. “I’ve changed your password. Don’t lend your phone to anyone else.”
“What’s the new password?”
“08261231.”
“I know that 0826 is my birthday, but what does 1231 stand for?”
Cristofer snapped, “Figure it out on your own!” ‘You really don’t pay any attention to me. How can you not know my birthday?’
Later, he confessed his feelings to her in a dominant manner and finally won the heart of the innocent girl. She didn’t realize that the four numbers were his birthdate until she entered high school.
Once they became a couple, Estelle playfully pouted one day, “I can’t believe you spent so much time trying to make me your girlfriend.”
Now that she had become his girlfriend, Cristofer didn’t bother to act like an innocent brother anymore. He hugged her, kissed her, and joked, “Once we get married, we can use it as the password for our bank account. It would be romantic for each of us to have half of it.”
As time passed and circumstances changed, Estelle could now smile when thinking about their past. She went into the settings and stared at the “Change the password” option, deep in thought.
‘Cristofer is right. I’m the CEO of the company now. If I want the Hudson family to succeed once more, we might face various challenges. It would be a foolish mistake if a competitor hacks into the company website because my password is weak. But what should the new password be? I could use the children’s birthdates, but there are three of them. And I can only use eight numbers. I can’t favor any two of the three.’