Chapter 36 - Face The Consequences
"It'll be best for you to head to the company," Lawrence said whilst twirling a pen in between his hand.
His quack of a doctor told him spinning pens should help with his sore joints. Leaning back in his chair, he could feel his secretary's pressing stare to take the medicine later. ??
"And talk to your Uncle yourself," Lawrence finalized. "I am simply here to warn you, Lina, of what's to come."
Lina pressed her lips together. She no longer owed her Uncle a favor, which meant he should be treating her well, right? She met Milo's worried stare and offered him a smile. Her brother was still young and she didn't want to burden him.
"Alright then," Lina said. "Thank you for the warning, Grandfather. I'll handle it from here."
Lina hung up the phone and handed it back to Milo.
"You can tell Mother to stop planning my funeral," Lina told Milo, realizing it must've been her mother screaming.
"Will you be alright?" Milo asked, slipping his mother's phone into his pockets. In the middle of her hysteria, she wouldn't even know.
"Of course," Lina said, ruffling his hair and offering him a grin. She watched his brows slowly tug together.
"You're not going to do anything stupid right?" Milo asked. "Like murdering one of the heirs if they don't plan on talking. Because if so, you have to call me and I'll help you bury Everett's body."
Lina laughed, the sound causing him to roll his eyes. "Why is Everett the one that you're thinking of murdering?"
"Because I don't think you'd be able to murder Kaden," Milo deadpanned. "I heard he's well-trained in combat and every weapon you can think of."
Yeah well, when you've lived for hundreds of years, it's enough time to master every single skill in the world. Lina was wary of the thought, but said nothing. She wasn't too shabby herself.
"It'll be fine," Lina said. "Everything will be okay."
Milo raised a brow. "Usually when someone says something is fine, it'll never be fine."
"Whatever, just give me your hand," Lina said.
Lina let out a soft laugh and grabbed his hand. Her vision grew cloudy and she saw flashes of images again—a computer screen with coding, something loading onto a phone, and… a website?
Lina blinked until her vision finally cleared up. What the hell was with Milo's future? Did he want to be a software engineer or something? Usually, when she activated her ability once a day, it was either in the near future like hours or days. Rarely would it be far in the future.
The farther it was in the future, the worse the reaction, which would explain why she fainted for a while upon touching Kaden. The vision of the crying woman must've been far ahead of them. But how far?
"You've stopped growing nauseous in the mornings now," Milo noticed. "I guess your anemia is slowly going away?"
"Yeah," Lina lied.
How strange… Why was Lina's reaction towards touching Isabelle so severe then? Sometimes, she'd grow dizzy when she saw Isabelle's future.
Was it because Isabelle was seemingly present in Lina's first life? She thought back to the nightmare about the rainy night, where Isabelle was a handmaiden who served Kaden.
What did all of this mean?
- - - - -
Soon, Lina got ready for the day. She used the bathroom, took a shower, styled her hair in a braided bun, wore a white turtleneck tucked into black dress pants, and paired it with gold jewelry. Every Yang had to maintain their image when setting foot in Yang Enterprise.
As Lina headed downstairs, she was finalizing the clip on her necklace. Her stomach grumbled and she realized she hadn't eaten dinner yesterday and anything the whole day. She shrugged. It'll be fine.
"Young Miss, the Young Master has informed us you were heading out," the butler said, instantly approaching her. "A car is already waiting for you outside."
Lina slowly nodded her head. "And my father?"
"Golfing with his peers," the butler responded.
"Noted, thank you," Lina said.
It was golfing disguised as networking. One way to make friends with powerful people was being confident in their favorite sport: golf or polo. She adjusted her necklace and headed for the door.
Lina was grateful that her mother, Evelyn, was nowhere to be seen. Most likely Evelyn was taking an afternoon nap somewhere to cool her head.
"Young Miss," the chauffeur greeted her, opening the door for the lady.
Lina thanked him for the gesture, slid elegantly into the car, and waited anxiously as they began to drive to the company. She found it difficult to sit still, despite being self-assured that she could fix any problem that came her way.
One thing about Lina was that she loved to overthink and overanalyze. Even though her conversation with her grandfather ended a while ago, Lina was beginning to think of all the problems, probabilities, and solutions. Soon enough, she had a backup plan for her backup plans.
"We've arrived, Young Miss," the chauffeur said, as the car slowly pulled up to the grand entrance of Yang Enterprise's second headquarters.
The second headquarters was located in a prime spot in Ritan where rent was astronomical.
The driver opened the car and she gazed at the entrance. The skyscraper was well-designed, and the architecture was modern and innovative, combining greenery with metal and glass.
"Very well," Lina said, thanking the driver again and stepping out.
The chauffeur drove around the water fountain and headed off.
Lina breathed in deeply and then walked through the double-sliding doors. She blended into the background of the regular employees. Except, she naturally gave off the aura of someone important. People curiously glanced at her, wondering if she was a newly hired executive or director.
"Miss Yang?" A voice gently spoke up.
Lina turned to see the female secretary of her Uncle. So he had really flown in from the main branch to the second one… It was something her First Uncle rarely did, since the second branch was in her Second Uncle's jurisdiction.
"The Chairman is waiting for you now," the secretary said with a warm smile.
"Lead the way then, Anna," Lina responded.
Lina noted how flawless Anna was dressed. Her outfit emphasized her beautiful body, but was modest and left a lot to the imagination.
Lina always wondered how Anna managed to maintain such an amicable relationship with her First Uncle when they've spent so much time together.
Then again, her First Uncle was a married man, and Anna didn't dare intervene with the Yang clan's business. Especially not when her Uncle gave her the opportunity of a lifetime when Anna was a struggling college student.
- - - - -
"Isn't that her…?"
"Yeah, it is…"
"Oh wow, she looks a lot more modest than I thought."
Lina could hear whispers as she walked through the top floors leading to the Chairman's office. She seldom visited this place, as her identity was always known by the employees on the highest floor, who worked closely with the second-in-command of Yang Enterprise.
Despite the comments thrown her way, Lina said nothing. She simply gazed in their direction, quirked a brow, and everyone quickly scurried away. No one liked to be caught gossiping.
"We've arrived," Anna said, maintaining a friendly smile that never reached her eyes. She gestured to the door and knocked it for the Young Miss.
"Come in," a cold and solemn voice commanded.
Lina swallowed hard. She took a glance at the large and tall door that loomed over her. Why was this thing so damn huge?
"If you will," Anna softly stated, pushing open the door and stepping aside to let Lina inside.
Lina breathed in to clear her thoughts. Then, she took a step forward. Now, it was time to face the consequences of those photos.