Chapter 109: Why Don’t You Head Over To My Company?
"Did you lose your memories?" asked Michael.
He always thought that the reason why Wendy refused to come clean with her identity was that she hated him and wanted revenge.
He had never thought about this alternate possibility. But then again, amnesia sounded a little fishy. He could not ascertain if she was telling the truth about that.
Wendy walked to the couch and sat down. She was evidently more relaxed than before when she said, "I fell into the sea five years ago, and someone rescued me. When I woke up, I couldn’t remember most things from my past."
"Then, why did you tell Jake that his father drowned in the sea?" said Michael.
"I was pregnant when I was rescued from the sea. Jake kept asking me who his father was, and I didn’t know what else I could say. I don’t even know who impregnated me, so the only thing that I could tell him was that his father drowned in the sea."
Wendy snorted, "Even though I don’t know who Jake’s father is, I’m clear about one thing. I was pregnant when I fell into the sea, and my child’s father was not around to help us. No matter what reason he might have had, it’s obvious that he was a scumbag. So, I decided to just tell Jake that he doesn’t have a father. In any case, we’ve been doing great all these years, and we don’t need a man in our lives. He doesn’t need a father."
Michael still felt suspicious about Wendy’s explanation. However, regardless of whether she was telling the truth or not, it was true that he was at fault for everything that had happened.
His broken heart was filled with guilt. He wanted to hug her, to comfort her and give her some warmth. However, he had just stretched out his arms when Wendy wiped away her tears and stared at him unhappily. She said, "Mr. Lucas, what are you trying to do?"
"Wendy, if your story about your amnesia is true, I’ll tell you the truth right now. I am your husband. I did not die, and I promise to take good care of you and Jake from today onward," said Michael solemnly.
However, his promise was nothing but a joke to Wendy.
"That’s not necessary. Mr. Lucas," she rejected him mercilessly. "I don’t need a husband, and Jake doesn’t need a father. No matter what kind of relationship we might have had in the past, hope that we can just remain as business partners and nothing more in the future. Otherwise, Jake and I will go back to Rheinsville City."
After hearing those words, Michael lost the courage to continue pushing her. He quickly retreated, saying, "Fine, we will stay as business partners." He figured that there would be plenty of opportunities for him to do something as long as Wendy stayed in Lake City with Jake.
Moreover, something good had come out of today’s confrontation. At least now he knew that he had a son, and Wendy had indirectly admitted to her real identity. Right now, it did not matter if she was faking her amnesia. He was confident that he would eventually be able to convince Wendy to become Mrs. Lucas again.
"I’ve said too much. Mr. Lucas, can you please leave now?" said Wendy.
This time, Michael did not have any other reason to stay. In any case, he now knew where Wendy stayed. He would just come back again next time. With that mindset, he started walking out of the apartment. However, he halted when he reached the door.
Wendy frowned when she saw him stop. She said, "What do you want now, Mr. Lucas?"
"I know that you re worried about Zen Tanner," said Michael, taking the initiative to update her, "After you left, Zen left MC Enterprise and joined Christian’s company. Today, she runs the design department there."
"Zen is working at Christian’s company?" Wendy blurted in shock.
Observing Wendy’s reaction, Michael chuckled softly. He said, "Wendy, did you really lose all your memories?" It did not make sense for her to still remember Zen Tanner if she had amnesia.
Wendy coughed softly. Glaring at Michael, she said, "I said that I lost most of my memories from the past, not all of it." With that, she reached out and pushed Michael out of the door.
Right before she closed the door, she added, "Also, my name is Corrine!"
After Wendy kicked Michael out of the house, Jake ran out of his bedroom. Gazing at her with a curious look on his face, he said, "Mummy, was that strange man telling the truth?"
"No, he wasn’t. Don’t believe anything that he says no matter what," said Wendy. She did not want Jake to see Michael as his father in the first place.
"Okay, Mummy," said Jake as he nodded/obediently.
Wendy suddenly realized that Jake was exceptionally easy to convince when it came to this topic. He neither showed curiosity nor asked her follow-up questions. This was suspicious because he would usually refuse to relent until he knew the truth. Narrowing her eyes, she looked her son up and down. She asked suspiciously, "Jake, what do you know about this?"
She had never talked to him about anything related to Michael. Even Timothy Woods, who saved her life back then, did not know anything about her past. Fortunately, Timothy rarely pried.
He mostly focused on her potential for design and worked hard on nurturing her talent. Wendy was also competitive, and in the past five years, she had designed several lines of clothing for HG Enterprise. The company’s profits had increased a lot because of her.
"I don’t know anything," said Jake, with the most innocent look on his face. "All I know is that the strange man seems like a bad guy."
"Is that so?" said Wendy. Gazing at the serious look on Jake’s face, she wondered if she was overthinking this. After all, he was just a child. How would he possibly know anything about Michael?
"It’s true," said Jake, nodding. "Is there something that you want me to know?"
"No, nothing at all," said Wendy, who did not want to continue talking about this.
After she went to work the following day, she hesitated for a long time about whether she should approach Michael. He had told her about Zen joining Christian’s company the previous day, but she wanted to know how she could get in touch with her friend. She tried calling Zen’s old number, but it was no longer in use. Of course, Wendy wanted to know how she was doing. After all, Zen was her best friend from college.
Zen probably also believed that she had died five years ago since Wendy never tried to contact her. She must have felt sad about it. However, Wendy believed that Michael had deliberately withheld Zen’s contact information from her because he wanted her to have to approach him for it. She wondered if she would be falling right into his trap by doing that. After deliberating for a long time, she decided to go to his office.
"Mr. Lucas, is it possible for you to give me Zen’s contact information?" said Wendy as she coughed softly. "Since you mentioned that she runs the design department in Christian Lucas’s company, I assume that she must have many accomplishments in this industry. I would love to get a chance to meet her so that I can learn from her."
Michael had already prepared Zen’s business card for Wendy in advance. Smiling, he took it out of his drawer. He said, "Come and get it."
Wendy did not believe that things would be so simple. However, the business card was hovering right before her face. After a moment of hesitation, she reached out for it... only for Michael to grab her wrist immediately.
He pulled her forward and she landed right in his arms. The suddenness of his actions caught her off guard. She instantly started struggling. In the meantime, Zen’s business card had landed on the ground. Michael picked it up and waved it in front of Wendy’s face again. He said, "You can’t even hold a business card properly."
Wendy’s face was flushed red. She sneered, "I don’t want it anymore!" Since she already knew that Zen ran the design department at Christian’s company, she figured she would just ask around for her friend’s contact information.
She did not expect Michael to be so shameless and take advantage of her momentary distraction to pull her into his arms. Angered, she started lecturing Michael with a self- righteous attitude, "Mr. Lucas, I hope that you can pay attention to your image in the future. This is a professional workplace. If anything like this happens again, I’ll call the cops!" With that, she turned around and left without further hesitation.
Michael’s smile grew deeper as he watched Wendy’s back.
When Wendy returned to the office, she buzzed for Jill Lynn via the internal landline and requested, "Could you look for Zen Tanner’s name card or contact details?"
After hanging up the call with Jill, Wendy’s cellphone began to ring. It was a call from an unfamiliar number. Wendy suddenly wondered if Zen was the one who was calling her. Holding on to the hope that her guess was right, Wendy answered the call.
"Wendy?" the caller called out with a hint of uncertainty. However, Wendy could clearly pick up on the anticipation in his voice.
"This voice... " Wendy thought. "Zen? Is that you?" Wendy asked when she heard Zen’s voice, and she jumped to her feet in agitation as she tightened her grip on her phone."
"It’s me, Wendy," she assured. Zen heaved a huge sigh of relief upon hearing her words of assurance and replied in a more relaxed tone of voice, "I was so afraid that you wouldn’t be the one to answer the phone when I called. Back then, everyone said that you were dead, and even Michael seemed as if he had gone mad. I couldn’t help but believe that you were dead. I never would have expected to hear your voice five years later."
"I’m not dead. I was saved," Wendy explained simply and concisely.
"Recently, I saw a photo of someone in the news who resembled you, but I didn’t have your contact details, so I couldn’t reach out to you. Luckily I managed to find your information. What a relief that you’re alive," Zen replied and felt genuinely happy from the bottom of her heart.
"How have you been?" Wendy asked. She had heard from Michael that Zen was currently Working in Christian Lucas’s company. Wendy frowned slightly and eventually, she couldn’t resist prying, "I heard that you’re currently working for Christian Lucas."
"Yes," Zen replied in a deeper tone of voice and sighed before she continued, saying "Back then, I thought you were dead and so... "She sighed. "Perhaps we should meet up to talk about this?"
"Sure, you can set the time and place," Wendy agreed, as she had always trusted Zen.
Zen took one glance at Christian, who was beside her, and bit her lip briefly. Staring down at the ground, she suggested, "Why don’t you head over to my company? You should come and take a look now that I am one of the leaders."
"To go over to your office?" Wendy repeated, and Wendy felt slightly puzzled by her response.
Shouldn’t we meet in person? Why did Zen ask to meet me in her office? she wondered. Most importantly, Zen is currently working in Christian Lucas’s office. Wendy didn’t want to ever have anything to do with Christian.
"Ever since l left MC, I have never thought of going back, so you’ll have to come to meet me."
Nonetheless, Wendy never suspected Zen’s explanation. Michael was certainly capable of doing such a thing, keeping Zen away. Besides, Zen was working in Christian’s company. This would mean that Zen was on the opposing team from Michael.
"You’ve just returned to the country, so you can think of it as a trip down to check out Christian’s company. You could also see what my current office looks like," Zen persuaded.
After a moment of pause, she resumed, "I know that we’re now competitors, so it’s fine if you really don’t want to come over. We can fix a time to meet after working hours or over the weekends. I’m fine with either."
Wendy pursed her lips and pondered for a moment before she eventually agreed, "Sure, I’ll head over."
Wendy was concerned about how Zen had been acting and why she would end up at Christian’s company.
"Things should probably be fine since I’m visiting Christian’s company during working hours and Zen was the one who called me over," Wendy thought.
Aside from the fact that this was Christian’s company that she was visiting, there wasn’t
anything wrong with visiting someone else’s company to check in on how a friend is doing.
Knowing that her decision shouldn’t be affected by the fact that Christian was involved, Wendy decided to meet up with Zen to talk through things. At the very least, Wendy knew that she should first get to the bottom of everything first before she considered anything else.
