She was unpleasant to the sight; Annie’s fingerprints were visible on her cheeks. It made her look like she had Nigerian tribal marks on her face.
Emily shuffled down the pedestrian, sobbing miserably; mindless of the peering gazes around her.
Without waiting for the streetlights to turn red, she wandered across the road, only to almost get hit by an oncoming car. The car let out a screeching sound and stopped a few inches from her.
Vincent hastily stepped out of the car to check if she was okay.
He was driving to his office when he noticed the familiar figure wandering across the road, in front of his moving car. He had hastily pressed on the brake to avoid hitting her, and the car had let out a screeching sound as it came to a halt in front of the girl
“Are you okay?” He asked wearily, looking all over Emily’s body.
Without waiting for the response he didn’t get, he tilted Emily’s face with his right hand, and what he saw gave him the shock of his life.
He swallowed the lump in his throat and led Emily Io to the car. He opened the passenger’s side door for her and helped her get in.
He also walked around the car and got in the driver’s seat.
Vincent didn’t know what was wrong with him, but he kept giving the steering wheel a rough squeeze at intervals as he drove.
The prints on the girl’s face were just too…
He stole a glance at her-she was already asleep. She had cried herself to sleep.
He drove into his mansion and quickly stepped out of the car. He carried Emily in his arms and headed into the living room.
Becky ran towards her brother as soon as she set her eyes on him, “Oppa!”
But there was a girl in his arms, so she stopped running midway.
Vincent ignored his sister and climbed up the stairs.
“Oppa who is she?”
“What is wrong with her?”
“Wow, she’s so pretty.”
Becky bombarded her brother as she trailed after him, into one of the guest rooms.
Vincent signaled to one of the maids, “You, get the bathtub ready with warm water and bathe her.”
He placed his palm on Emily’s forehead-she was already burning up with fever.
“Do quick.” He yelled at the maids.
He walked out of the room and paced around the corridor in annoyance as he waited Impatiently for the maids to be done with the girl.
The person that did that to that girl was going to pay-he would make sure of it.
Becky pouted from where she stood as she watched her brother.
‘Did he hit that Unnie with his car?… Aishh! He won’t even say a word,’ She stomped her foot on the floor and folded her hands on her chest.
Vincent took out his phone from his pocket and dialed Gabe’s number.
“Something happened to that girl, find out for me.” He spoke in the mouthpiece of the phone and dropped the call without waiting for a reply.
A few minutes later, the maids walked out of the guest room and told him they were done bathing Emily.
He let out a sigh before walking back into the room. He sat down on a side of the bed and touched Emily’s forehead again, her body temperature was fair-just a little.
He snapped his finger at one of the maids, “get me a bowl of hot water, and a towel.”
The maid bobbed her head and rushed out. In a short while, she was back with those things.
She placed the bowl of water on the bedside table and made to dip the towel in it when Vincent stopped her with a wave of his hand.
He collected the towel from her and dipped it in the water, squeezed the towel, and placed it on Emily’s forehead.
He twitched his lips, “tell the cook to prepare a chicken soup for me.”
The maids in the room bobbed their heads and walked out.
Woods?️?️?️
“Boss, here’s the document,” Noah quickly dropped the document on the table and took two steps back.
Joel fluttered his eyelashes and picked a pen on the table. He signed the document and handed it back to his PA.
“… Anything new or odd in the corporation?”
His cold voice made Noah swallow the lump in his throat, “No, sir.”
“But, Boss, how many days are you going to spend here in Woods?”
Joel bought Woods a few years before he became the CEO of EWC. The cabin was situated in the woods, so he decided to name it Woods.
Noah was the only one who knew he owned the cabin, he didn’t allow anyone else to know. It was his secret haven.
“Why? You didn’t tell anyone I’m here, did you?” Joel arched up his brow as he stood up from the chair.
“Not at all,” Noah replied.
“Good.” He nodded his head and headed for the stairs.
“But boss…” Noah called hesitantly.
He wasn’t sure whether to tell his boss about Miss Emily.
“I need to sleep, get out.” Joel dismissed him and strolled into his room.
Noah bit his lip as he stood hesitantly on the staircase. After a while, he slowly turned around, walked down the stairs, and walked out of the cabin.
???
After Vincent finished feeding Emily with the chicken soup, while she was still asleep, she started to sweat and her temperature gradually returned to normal.
He tucked the few strands of her hair that fell over her face behind her ear and walked out of the room silently.
Becky pouted as soon as her brother stepped out of the guest room, “Oppa!” She had been standing there all this while.
He let out a smile, “what?”
“You completely ignored me because of that Unnie right?” She sulked.
He chuckled, “I didn’t ignore you, your questions were just too much, and I didn’t know which one to answer first.”
“Hmph.”
“Mianhae.”
(A/N: mianhae is an informal way of saying sorry)
He ruffled her hair playfully and carried her on his shoulder.
“Ahhhhhh, drop me.” Becky giggled uncontrollably as her brother climbed down the stairs.
“Nope.” He replied, tickling her.
“Ahhh! Oppa!!!” She squeaked.
?️?️?️
Joel sat on his bed, eating grilled octopus. Since sleep didn’t come, and all he was doing was rolling from side to side, he decided to eat.
He took his laptop from the table by his bedside, booted it, and logged in to his Weibo account since he was so bored and it had been long since he last logged in.
As he scrolled down his newsfeed, he noticed there was a video that had gone viral.
Without reading the caption, he clicked on it, chewing on his grilled octopus.
The further he watched the video, the more his face darkened. Instantly, he dropped the octopus in his hand and replayed the video.
He backed the video and read the headline:
?EWEI’S NEWBIE DOUBLE SLAPPED FOR SHAMING ANNIE BELLA?
The CEO balled up his fists-Annie was sure going to pay dearly for those slaps.
He stepped down from the bed, wore his slippers, took his car key from the table, and climbed up the stairs.
He walked out of the cabin, stepped into his car, and drove speedily in the direction of the villa. As he drove, he dialed his assistant’s number.
“Boss,” Noah’s voice came in almost immediately.
“Why didn’t you tell me about that news, you are tired of your job, right!?” He flushed angrily.
“Boss, I tried to…” The poor man tried to explain but he was cut short.
“I don’t want to see any traces of that video online,” He blurted coldly.
“And the owner of the account, find him.”
He hung up before Noah could say another word.
He tightened his grip on the steering wheel- Annie was sure gonna pay.
???
“Ntin!” Emily sneezed as soon as she regained consciousness.
She opened her eyes slowly, blinking, as she gazed around the room-she wasn’t in the villa.
She placed her hand on her forehead and removed the wet towel. She stared at it for a while before she stood up from the bed.
She touched her hair, it was wet…
‘Did someone bathe me?…’ She huffed, walking out of the room.
She sighted a staircase, down the corridor, and decided to descend the stairs.
When she arrived at the foot of the staircase, She heard some clattering and walked towards the direction the clattering came from.
“Huh,” she furrowed her brows.
She found her knight in shining armor and a younger lady, eating at the dining table.
Vincent laughed at something his sister said and looked up. He dropped his chopsticks when he caught sight of Emily.
He stood up on his feet walked to where she was standing, “Emily,”
“Are you okay? Does your body hurt anywhere? How are you feeling?” He bombarded her with questions.
Emily scratched her hair and grimaced in bewilderment, “Huh…”
He sneered, “Yah, you should be careful, you know? I almost hit you today. How could you have been so careless…”
“…” Emily gulped and licked a corner of her mouth as she stared absentmindedly at the chicken on the dining table.
Vincent raised one of his brows at the lady who wasn’t replying to any of his questions and traced her eyes in the direction she was looking at-the chicken. Really? His questions had no answers?
He chuckled and pulled her to one of the dining chairs. He helped her down and placed a whole chicken before her.
He patted her shoulder and sat down beside her, “Since you just woke up and you’ve lost some of your strength, you should eat.”
“Really? I can eat everything?” The hungry girl stared widely at her knight.
“Uhn.” Vincent nodded his head.