Chapter 77 - Prize
"Don't take a car with a mouth full of food like that jerk, I don't want my favorite car to get dirty," scolded Aaron in a rising voice, forbidding Daniel to get into the car.
"I know, don't be noisy," Daniel replied briefly, as he continued to chew the food in his mouth.
"You really are a mess, Daniel," said Aaron irritably while trying to contact Anne, who hadn't been connected as well as last night.
Soon all the food in Daniel's mouth was chewed and went into his stomach, after drinking a little water that was brought by a waiter, who had been following him, Daniel then got into the car and headed for the office while trying to find out Anne's whereabouts. Actually, Aaron could have gone to her campus to meet Anne, but because this morning he had an important meeting, he postponed his intention to come to the UAL campus. So, what he can do now was to ask Daniel to slow down his car while looking for Anne's whereabouts around the housing complex, even though there was little chance of meeting her.
"You're not trying to avoid me, right, Anne?" Aaron said softly, while sending a message to Anne for the umpteenth time.
From the rearview mirror, Daniel could only smile slightly at Aaron's panicking. This was the first time he saw Aaron that nervous because of a girl who had nothing to do with anything, while all this time, he was always being chased by beautiful girls. As Daniel had previously thought, they couldn't find any traces of Anne's whereabouts. Because in addition to it being the daytime and the streets were getting busier, Anne would definitely not be around The Boltons complex.
"Yes, let's just go to the office, Daniel. I can't be late for the meeting this morning," said Aaron coldly, ordering Daniel to go to the office. After circling around The Boltons complex for thirty minutes, Aaron gave up.
"Yes, sir," said Daniel briefly, as he stepped on the gas of his car towards the Connery Corporation office.
Meanwhile, at the fast food restaurant, Jack was still trying to explain to Anne his reason for not telling her his true identity.
"Why are you silent, Anne?" Jack asked curiously, because since earlier Anne had been so silent.
"Then what should I do?" replied Anne quickly.
"You're not mad at me are you?" asked Jack again.
"I don't know. I'm still confused by everything. Well then if you'll excuse me, it's getting late. I have to go to campus, I don't want to be late," said Anne quietly, as she tried to get up from the chair.
Seeing Anne got up and walked away made Jack take a deep breath. He then ran after Anne who was almost at the door.
"At least give me your cell phone number, or tell me where you live," Jack asked quickly, as he took Anne's hand.
"We're still in the adjustment stage and haven't gotten to the level of exchanging cell phone numbers, Jack. I hope you understand that," said Anne quietly. then let go of Jack's hand that was gripping hers.
Hearing what Anne said made Jack speechless. He couldn't say anything else because what Anne said was a fact. They hadn't been able to share cell phone numbers after what happened to them in the last few months. Jack smiled as he saw Anne going away in her car. He was glad that Anne was able to be much more independent. When he was about to step into the car that was parked not far from where Anne had parked her car before, suddenly the cell phone in his shirt pocket vibrated. Jack quickly grabbed it and smiled when he saw Erick's name appear on the screen.
"Yes, Erick," said Jack briefly, when he connected with Erick.
"Everything is ready sir, I have chosen the best building in London which will be our new office. So, soon Muller Finance International can operate in London. Now I'm also on my way to the airport to follow you to London with a team of people. We will prepare everything for the new office in London according to your previous request, sir, "said Erick to the points, on the other end of the line.
"Good job, Erick. Give me the address of the building that will be our new office. I'll come to see it first," Jack asked excitedly with a big smile.
"Yes sir, I'll see you tonight," replied Erick politely, before hanging up the phone.
After the call was disconnected, Jack then hurriedly walked to his car. His smile broke when he got a message from Erick containing the address of the building that would become his new office.
"You won't be able to run away from me again, Anne," Jack said quietly in his car, as he headed to the new address given by Erick. Since he knew that Anne was in London, Jack immediately contacted Erick.
Jack assigned Erick to find a new building for Muller Finance International's new office so that he could work in London without having to go back and forth to Switzerland. Jack didn't want to lose track of Anne again.
Anne, who had arrived at campus, was seen sitting in her classroom, sitting quietly alone, waiting for Linda and the others to come. Anne remembered Jack's previous words at the fast food restaurant, where Jack said the reason behind his keeping his identity while working as a barista at her coffee shop.
Jack said he was forced to do so, because he didn't want anyone to find out that he was in England to calm himself after the painful incident that had happened to him. One week before Jack came to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, he had just been betrayed by his fiancé, who chose to run away with another man, when they're getting married. Remembering the bad luck that befell Jack had made Anne feel concerned. She knew how Jack must have felt, being in the position of being betrayed by his partner, because she herself had also experienced the same thing, which was even more painful because she had seen Leon and Steffi made love in front of her eyes.
Thump! Anne's heart beat fast as she remembered Leon and Steffi.
Anne's face immediately turned red when she remembered their first meeting, two years after his betrayal.
"It seems that Steffi has achieved her desire to become Leon's wife," said Anne softly, when she remembered how intimate Steffi took Leon yesterday.
"Heeeyy!!!"
Linda's voice was very loud which instantly woke Anne up from her reverie.
"Linda!!!!! Don't ever do that! I could die of a heart attack!" Anne shrieked no less loudly as she glared at Linda who had just startled her.
"Hahahaha so don't daydream so early in the morning, I've come and called you many times but you didn't respond. So don't blame me for screaming like that," Linda replied without guilt as she took out two small milk boxes for her and Anne from the bag she carried.
"Did you really come earlier?" asked Anne in disbelief.
"For God's sake, Anne, I even went to the cafeteria to buy milk and sandwiched after putting my bag beside you," Linda replied irritably, showing the paper bag she got from the cafeteria.
Without feeling guilty, Anne then opened the box of milk from Linda and immediately drank it quickly. She even took out the sandwich that was in the bag and immediately ate it without guilt.
"Is it good, Anne?" Linda asked irritably.
"I love you, Linda, you are the best friend ever," Anne replied with a mouth full of food. Even though she had just eaten fries and hamburger at the fast food restaurant with Jack, she was still hungry.
"You sweet mouth, very clever at seducing. What were you thinking to daydream like that which made you oblivious of my arrival, Anne?" Linda asked, while eating her sandwich.
"I was thinking hard and felt strange, why are we still being gathered again like this even though yesterday we just finished the show. Shouldn't we have a day off?" said Anne in confusion.
"Now I also think the same as you. I feel annoyed too, that we have to go to campus when yesterday we just did a performance. As far as I know, after we finished doing a performance like that, we should take a day off for a break," Linda said irritatingly. "I was shocked to read the message from Professor Gilbert this morning asking all the students who had joined the performance to come to class again."
"There must be something else going on, I'm sure it is, Linda," said Anne softly when she saw the other students who joined the performance yesterday begin to enter the fashion designer class. Apparently, Anne's class was still combined with other classes, so that all students from music and graphic design majors were joined again.
"I think so too, Anne," said Linda softly, as she wiped her lips with a tissue.
After all the students who took part in yesterday's performance entered the classroom, Professor Gilbert was seen walking in and standing in the middle of the classroom with a big smile.
"I'm sure all of you must be surprised why I had asked you all to come back to campus after the performance yesterday. Actually, this is not without reason. You were all gathered because you got a vacation ticket to Ireland for three days from one of our guests of honor yesterday," said Professor Gilbert loudly. .
Hearing Professor Gilbert's words, the class suddenly cheered. The applause and screams from all the students sounded very loud. Even Isabella and Gabriella seemed very excited to hear Professor Gilbert's news.
"Calm children. Let's welcome our guest of honor who has given this pleasant gift. Please come in, sir ..."
To be continued.
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