The next day, Kenny drove the three friends to bury Rachel's mother.
Rachel stood before her mother's gravestone without saying a word. She reached out and touched the cold surface of the tombstone. Rachel swore to herself that she would take revenge on the people who had hurt her like Antonio and the Gunawan Family.
When they returned from the burial ground, Lilia parted ways with her two best friends. She went to the agency office to meet Harold while Vivi, who was on leave, would accompany Rachel to tour the city for the rest of the day.
*****
When Lilia walked into Harold's room, her steps suddenly stopped. She was surprised to see Harold's appearance that was different from usual. But Lilia immediately covered her surprise by handing Harold a box of cigars as a gift.
"Here, I bought a souvenir as my apology for the incident at the airport yesterday." Lilia said with a big smile.
Harold glared at Lilia, but his hand still accepted the gift.
????You think this gift is enough to make me forgive you?! Did you know that my phone doesn't stop ringing all day?! The journalists keep asking me about you!" Harold grumbled, "What kind of exclusive flight did you catch that no one could see you?! Even though I already bothered to prepare everything... "
Lilia sat in front of Harold while listening to the man's scolding patiently. When the man finally finished, Lilia brought up the thing that had caught her attention all along.
"Your appearance looks different, by the way." Lilia said as she observed Harold, "Is there something important today?"
Harold immediately straightened his back and his collar, "Yes, I have an important meeting later. What do you think about my appearance today?"
Lilia stared at the man closely. Usually Harold dressed casually in the youth style, but today he was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and gray cloth pants. A suit of the same color as his pants wrapped around his body, giving him a neat and elegant appearance.
"Um… pretty good. You look more like a young entrepreneur. " Lilia gave her opinion.
But she didn't say that his appearance reminded him of Jean on purpose. Lilia felt as though Harold was trying to imitate her fiancé, but she immediately rejected the possibility. What's her manager doing that for? Maybe Harold just wanted to be presentable for his important meeting later.
The longer Lilia watched Harold, the more she noticed the differences between him and Jean. Even though they wore similar clothes, Jean had the dignity and charisma of a leader that Harold could not imitate.
Harold's expression turned grim as he noticed the change in Lilia's expression. He realized that he wouldn't be able to match Jean just by imitating that man's dress. Harold felt stupid for doing something ridiculous like this to get Lilia's attention.
Even though Harold's feelings were mixed, his face still looked flat. He hurriedly changed the topic by holding out Lilia's updated schedule, "This is your schedule for this week, please read carefully. If there's work you don't want to do, I'll cancel it."
Harold had never forced Lilia to accept job offers that she didn't like. Lilia's wish was Harold's number one priority. He would rather be scolded by his boss for refusing a lucrative job offer than forcing Lilia to work. That was one of the reasons why Lilia liked Harold as her manager.
Lilia accepted the schedule without noticing Harold's change in mood. She glanced at the schedule, then her gaze was fixed on a sentence.
"Attended the Ricardo Family birthday party as invited guests."
Lilia looked up from the schedule and looked at Harold, "Birthday party? This is my first time hearing about this." She said.
Lilia had never been interested in socializing and establishing good relations with the elite. Even though it would make her career easier, Lilia prefered to hone her skills as a model rather than catering to others' favor. Because of that, she never attended party invitations from high-class folks.
Harold should have known about it too, so why was he still including this invitation on her schedule?
"About that…" Harold's expression turned bitter. He sighed and shook his head, "Sorry, but I can't refuse this invitation."
"You can't? Why?" Lilia was surprised to hear that. This was the first time Harold couldn't turn down a job offer.
Lilia's manager rubbed the back of his head with a frown, "This invitation was conveyed through President Albert, which means you must attend." Harold said in a low voice.
Lilia finally understood the situation. If the owner of the Aphrodite Agency, Albert Ares, had ordered it, Lilia wouldn't be able to refuse.
"But isn't President Albert never involved in determining the jobs taken by his artists?" Lilia asked while taking out her cellphone. She intended to call Albert and ask about this invitation.
But Harold stopped her, "President Albert is currently on overseas affairs and cannot be contacted. I've tried calling him." Harold said dryly, "Actually I've tried everything I can think of, but I still can't cancel it."
Lilia took a deep breath. It seemed she had no other choice in this matter. Plus, Ricardo was Alfred's last name. Lilia wondered if that guy had something to do with the invitation to this birthday party.
"So, what kind of family is the Ricardos?" Asked Lilia. She knew nothing about the family apart from the fact that they were powerful enough to force her to attend.
Harold gave Lilia a look of disbelief, "The Ricardo family is one of the richest families in Indonesia! They are also the oldest family with a long history who ruled Yogyakarta City! How come you never heard of them?" Harold scolded.
Lilia was surprised to hear that, "One of the richest families in Indonesia?!"
No wonder Alfred could take a vacation to Milan so easily! But Lilia became curious about why that man decided to become a lecturer in Surabaya and live a simple life if he came from such a rich family.
"I heard this party is held to celebrate the 80th birthday of the head of the family." Harold continued his explanation, "They invited many famous celebrities to a party at their house in Yogyakarta. Think of it as an opportunity to add to your experience. You're becoming more and more famous now, so there will be many invitations like this in the future. You have to start getting used to yourself."
Lilia sighed, "Okay."
*****
When Lilia left the agency office, she decided to forget about the Ricardo Family party invitation for a moment. She hailed a taxi and went to Vivi's apartment to get her suitcase before heading home.
Lilia's parents had already returned from Jakarta when she was in Milan. Lilia didn't forget to buy souvenirs for them. Although she knew this gift would not change anything, she couldn't stop hoping that her mother's attitude might soften after receiving this gift.
Lilia had just reached the front door when she heard Sylvia's voice from inside the house. It looked like the woman was talking on the phone.
"Lei, girls like you should take good care of your health! You really made us worry half to death this time!"
Lilia's hand that was holding the doorknob stopped moving. In 24 years of her life, she had never heard her mother speak in such a warm and familiar tone. Sylvia treated the person on the other end of the line more like her own daughter than Lilia.
Lilia dug through her memories, but as far as she could tell, she was the only daughter in the Pangestu Family. Nor did she have any female cousins ??from her mother's side of the family.
Then who was Sylvia calling?
"Ah, Miss Lilia!" One of the Pangestu Family servants happened to see her while she was out to take out the trash, "Welcome back!" The maid said with a big smile.
"I am home." Lilia returned the greeting.
When Sylvia heard that, she hastily hung up the phone without saying anything. Lilia's mother opened the front door and glared at her daughter.
"Why didn't you tell me when you arrived?" Sylvia asked in a blaming tone.
'Are you trying to overhear my conversation?' Lilia could hear the question that Sylvia didn't say.
Lilia tried to hide her hurt feelings by taking gifts for her mother. She opened her bag and took out a small, neatly wrapped box, "Mother, this is the perfume I bought from Milan for you." She handed the box to Sylvia.
Sylvia's sharp gaze softened a little as she received the souvenir, "Don't bother, I still have a lot of perfume that I haven't used. Don't waste your money." She placed the perfume box on the table without taking another look.
"Okay." Lilia already knew that the reward wouldn't be enough to please Sylvia, but she still felt a little disappointed, "Is father at home?"
Sylvia sat back down on the sofa, "Not." Her answer was short.
Lilia could feel that her mother didn't want to continue this conversation, "Then I'll go to my room." She said as she walked through the living room.
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