29 29. Investigation Result
“Lea?” Danica asked. She was confused because she hadn’t gotten used to the name yet.
“Lea is the girl from the charity event,” William explained, hesitantly.
“Oh, that clingy one?” Danica asked again, wanting to know more about Lea. “Who is she? She seemed so close to you?”
“She was my girl-”
William couldn’t finish his sentence. Suddenly he couldn’t resist the urge to throw up and went to the toilet, emptying his stomach again. This is the third time since morning.
“William, are you okay?” Danica shouted from the outside, worrying about her boss’ condition.
“Do I look okay to you?” William answered irritatingly. How could Danica think he was okay when he almost had nothing left in his stomach?
“Shall I call the doctor?” Danica asked again. “Look at you! You seemed awful!”
“It doesn’t work, Dan. I went to the doctor but the symptom doesn’t go away,” William explained, wiping his mouth with a clean towel. His face indeed looked pale, that was why Danica was worried about him.
.....
Hearing William’s words, Danica could only stare at her boss in awe. She looked at William as if he was something amusing.
“Why do you give me that look?” He asked.
Danica was startled and said, “No, Y-you remind me of my sister’s husband. He was like that when my sister was pregnant with their first son.”
William was pensive, his eyes fixed on Danica without blinking at all. The corners of Danica’s lips trembled because she was afraid of saying the wrong thing.
“Is your wife-”
“Impossible!” cut William. He couldn’t believe that Paula was pregnant because he always wore protection when having sex. How could Paula suddenly become pregnant?
If anyone was pregnant, it was Lea, and the baby wasn’t his child. So, it was certain that everything he had suffered had nothing to do with someone’s pregnancy.
“Yeah, no way,” said Danica resignedly.
“Go back to work and don’t think anything weird.” William then immediately returned to the table and continued doing his job. Likewise, Danica nervously returned to her room. She stole glances many times at William, refusing to give up her idea about William’s sympathetic pregnancy.
However, William couldn’t just forget Danica’s words. Finally, that afternoon, he decided to visit Paula at the bakery. Who knew, something did happen to Paula.
“Danica, can you take me to the bakery?” William asked his assistant. “I’m in the mood for some sweet and light cakes.”
Danica, who knew what was in her boss’s head, smiled and happily took William there. Even though she knew that she would only be the third wheel between Paula and William when they met later, of course, she was willing to help because in her heart Danica rooted for the couple.
***
In her office, Paula was discussing some matters with her team. Lately, her business has experienced a lower monthly income.
“We have a new competitor, offering lower prices,” Monica explained with a tense face. She knew Paula wouldn’t like this.
Paula listened to Monica’s further explanation about a competing bakery that opened its business right across from their shop. The same thing happened in the three branches they had.
“It’s too blatant to fly the war flag,” added Monica again.
“If you were them, wouldn’t you do something similar?” Paula, who now wore an unhappy face, put herself in the competitor’s shoes. “That will make it easier for them to get customers. They can save on promotional costs and allocate the money to give big discounts for the potential customers.”
Monica and the other staff nodded. They were amazed by Paula’s fairly relaxed reaction to this kind of problem.
“Albert, can you buy all their products? All kinds. I, Miya, and Hokuto will do some product evaluation and comparison,” Paula ordered. “We’ll close this meeting for now and schedule the next one after the patisseries learn about the products.”
Paula asked Monica to do some other things, including studying a competitor’s best product. She wanted the complete report on the rival bakery.
“Paula, someone is waiting for you outside. Because of him, the crowds of customers don’t want to queue up. Instead of making a line, they want to take a picture with him.” One of the waiters entered Paula’s room, looking exhausted and panicked. “Hurry up and bring him out!”
Paula who was still discussing with Monica finally stopped and checked the situation outside. That’s when she found out that Samuel was surrounded by many female fans who wanted to take selfies with him.
“Who is he? He is so hot,” Monica asked. “Why is his face quite familiar?”
“He’s a famous pianist. William’s cousin,” Paula replied with an amused smile. “Don’t tell me you don’t know Samuel! I’ve seen you watch his video on YouTube.”
“Oh my! Sammy!” screamed Monica. She was on the verge of running, scrambling with the girls at the outlet for a photo if Paula hadn’t held her back.
“Paula, why don’t you ask your handsome cousin for help?” Monica suggested.
Paula’s eyes widened. “Oh, great idea! Samuel is going to be a lifesaver.”
After Samuel finished dealing with his fans one by one, Paula then approached him and asked him to endorse her products. Of course, the man was happy to help her.
“Is that true? Thank you, Sam! How much should I pay you later? I will prepare the money,” Paula said happily. As it turned out, meeting Samuel was quite profitable.
“Payment?” Samuel’s face suddenly turned playful and flirtatious. “How about if you spend the night in my bed?”
“What did you say?” Paula asked, startled.
“Kidding! Hmm, I’m just asking you to accompany me to dinner. What do you think?” Samuel chuckled, raising his hand.
Of course, this time Paula immediately agreed. There was no way she would waste the chance. She would make a good promotion without having to pay for the model. The two of them then discussed the best time and place for having dinner.
Paula then invited Samuel to sit down for a moment and serve several kinds of pastries. She asked him which pastry he liked the most. Of course, for him, whose mother often bakes several kinds of cakes, his tongue was quite good at judging sweets.
“I think the souffle cheesecake is too light. You can make it richer in cheese so Americans will like it more,” said Samuel in a serious tone. “Of course, that doesn’t mean this cake isn’t delicious. It’s just a matter of taste. You know what I mean, don’t you?” added Samuel so that Paula wouldn’t be offended.
“Of course. I will consider this and take a deeper survey of our customers later,” Paula said without feeling the least bit offended. She just wanted Samuel’s honest opinion about her bakery products.
Paula jotted down all of Samuel’s thoughts on the pastries and kept a log. “Ah, I hope this will all be over soon before I leave.”
“You?” asked Samuel. “Go?”
Paula nodded, her lips forming a thin line. “I’m going to the Tokyo branch office to handle my family’s business there. The condition wasn’t good, so I had to go there by myself on my father’s behalf.”
Samuel gulped. If it had to be like this, he wouldn’t be able to get close to Paula. He planned to take Paula with him on a Southeast Asia tour after her divorce.
Paula, who saw Samuel’s change in attitude then punched him lightly. “Do not be like that! We still get to see each other at least once every few years.”
Samuel smiled bitterly. To cheer him up, Paula took a piece of mini cheese pie and fed it to Samuel. Unfortunately, that’s when William and Danica arrived in front of the bakery and saw the scene.
William’s hands clenched into fists. His eyes were bloodshot, his teeth gritted. “Let’s go, Dani! I’m not in the mood to eat sweets at all.”
***
The next day, Danica came back to William with the investigation result. Her face looked gloomy and dark. Perhaps, the tasks William asked her to handle made her overwork. She hoped that William would give her a handsome reward as compensation.
“Nobody that Lea knew was staying at Dynasty Hotel on that date,” Danica explained everything she had gotten to William. “But, David Johnson ... her former employer. Shall we hire a private investigator, Sir?”
“Dave? He was the one with her at that time?” William’s brows furrowed as he tried to recall Dave’s personality.
“Yes. There was no doubt about it.” Danica was sure of what she said. She provided several pieces of evidence and showed them to William.
William took the pictures and studied them carefully. Indeed, all day long, that day, Lea was with Dave.
William’s biggest suspicion was directed at Dave. However, when considering Dave’s appearance, could he possibly do it with Lea? Dave was an entrepreneur famous for treating his employees like logs that support the brain. No matter how beautiful or handsome his subordinates were, all would be treated equally.
“Dani! What were Dave and Lea doing at the Hotel?” William asked again.
“They both attended the engagement of Dave’s younger sister who just graduated from high school. Don’t you know about it? They wanted more privacy for the event. Only family and close friends attended.” Danica searched for the information on her phone and showed it to William. “This one.”
“I see,” William muttered, reading the news quickly.
Something buzzed in William’s head. He seemed to have gotten a little enlightenment about Lea’s matter. He had to act quickly before it was too late.
“Dani! Make an appointment with Dave. This is urgent. Make sure he emptied his schedule for me as soon as possible or he will regret it!”
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