Chapter 97: It’s Been Five Years ....
*** It’s Been Five Years ***
Wendy Stewart had a dream. In the dream, Michael pushed her into the sea. Surrounded by water, she found herself unable to breathe or call for help. Strangely enough, she could still vividly hear Michael standing on the boat, insulting her.
He said that she was shameless, that she cheated on him with his brother, and that the child she was carrying was a b*stard. Yvonne, on the other hand, smiled dazzlingly as she rested comfortably in his arms.
"No... My child is not a b*stard... No..." Wendy’s forehead was damp from perspiration. She tossed and turned uneasily.
"Mummy, mummy..." A four-year-old boy immediately jumped out of bed and approached her when he heard Wendy’s distressed cries. He clutched Wendy’s hands tightly with his tiny ones, soothing her emotions, "Mummy, don’t be afraid. I’m here with you."
Wendy was startled awake from her dream. The moment she opened her eyes, she saw a familiar face and sighed in relief. When Jake Stewart saw Wendy awake, he immediately went to get her a glass of warm water. Wendy slowly calmed down as she watched her smart and sensible son.
She had often had nightmares over the last five years. They were either about Michael forcing her to undergo an abortion or him pushing her into the sea. Fortunately, she had survived all of it.
Today, she had such an adorable son. The only unfortunate thing was that her daughter was in poor health and often had to go to the hospital.
However, Wendy was still extremely thankful that she was able to deliver her twins safely. When she first found out that she was pregnant with twins, she had been overjoyed.
"Mummy, did you have another nightmare?" Jake’s face was filled with concern. He only mustered the courage to ask her about her nightmare after she had finished the glass of water and was much calmer.
Wendy did not wish to negatively affect her son in any way. She merely nodded, unwilling to dwell on this topic.
Jake took the empty glass from her and placed it on the bedside table. His mother never told him what happened in her nightmares, but he knew that they were always related to a man called "Michael." She often called out his name in her sleep. And even though he had asked her about his father many times, she always told him that his father was dead, and that he did not have one anymore.
However, Jake was a smart boy. He had guessed that his father must still be alive, unlike what his mother had claimed. On top of that, his father must have hurt his mother deeply. Even though he was young, he had already made up his mind a long time ago that if he ever got the chance to meet his father, he would take revenge on him for his mother.
"Caroline, are you awake?" Someone knocked on the door.
When Wendy heard that, she immediately answered, "Yeah, I’m awake. Come in."
A woman in her forties entered the room. Dressed in a maid outfit, she kept her head bowed and said, "The people from MC Enterprise have called. They said that since you are an important business partner of the company, they will send someone to pick you up at the airport. They also wanted to extend their warm welcome to you."
"Did they mention anything about their president, Michael Lucas, coming to the airport to pick me up personally?" Wendy’s voice trembled when she mentioned that name. Her heart filled with hatred.
Oday, she was a famous designer who was renowned worldwide. Countless companies sought to work with her, including MC Enterprise. When she was rescued after being pushed into the sea all those years ago, she had two options. First, she could either deliver her babies smoothly, raise them on her own, and lead a quiet life. Second, she could work even harder on her design skills until she became a top-notch designer, which made it impossible for Michael to ignore her existence and ability.
Now, she had accomplished everything she set out to do. After five years, it was finally time to return to Lake City. She could still vividly remember all the pain that Michael had caused her so many years ago.
The woman shook her head. She said, "They didn’t say anything about Mr. Michael Lucas coming down personally."
"I got it. You can leave now," said Wendy as she looked around for her phone.
Jake saw his mother’s phone on the other side of the bed. He immediately run over to fetch it and then handed it to her, saying, "Mummy, here you go."
"How did you know that I was looking for my phone?" asked Wendy. In all these years, she only ever smiled so gently in front of her children.
"I’m your beloved child, mummy, of course, I know what you want," said Jake, beaming cutely.
Wendy reached out to pat her son’s head, still smiling. Then, she lowered her head and opened her call log. She still remembered Michael’s number by heart. But it had been so many years, and she did not know if he had changed his number. After all, she had never once called.
Now, she was a renowned designer that MC Enterprise wanted to work with. It was only natural to expect Michael to pick her up at the airport personally. After a moment of hesitation, she dialed his number.
Soon, the call went through.
A voice that sounded both familiar and foreign at the same time greeted her. He still sounded as cold and distant as ever as he said, "Hello?"
That one simple word made her heart pound. She gripped the edge of her sheets, forcing herself to calm down.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Michael had almost decided not to answer when he saw the unknown number. However, this was his private phone, and not many people knew his contact number. Hence, he had decided to answer the call after some hesitation. He just never expected the person on the other line to remain silent.
"Is someone there?" Michael grew impatient. "I’m hanging up, then..."
"Mr. Lucas, I am Corrine, the chief designer of HG Enterprise..." Even though Wendy’s heart was in turmoil, her tone sounded completely neutral. "I heard that due to your busy schedule, you won’t have time to come and pick me up at the airport? Well, I feel that since we’re about to work together, you should at least show me some courtesy and show up personally. Otherwise, it’s hard for me to detect any sincerity on your part."
Michael was not even listening to the content of the conversation anymore. The moment he heard Wendy’s voice, he felt dazed. He knew for certain that this was Wendy’s voice! It was a voice that he heard only in his dreams over the last five years.
"What did you call yourself?" Michael tried his best to suppress his emotions. Even though his tone also sounded neutral, he was already standing.
"My name is Corrine. You can just call me that," said Wendy in a carefully measured voice. "Mr. Lucas, don’t tell me that you don’t even know who I am when we’re about to work together. That’s really quite a disappointment."
"Corrine?" Michael’s heart sank. He thought, her name is Corrine? He had heard of this name.
Corrine was a designer who started gaining international fame two years ago. She had several brands that were being sold worldwide.
That was also why MC Enterprise had approached HG Enterprise to work together.
Naturally, the top-designer of the company, Corrine, was the person that they wanted to work with.
To Michael, Corrine could be the world’s top designer, but she still meant nothing to him. He never intended to pick her up at the airport personally. The best he could do was send the director of the design department along with the public relations manager to pick her up. To him, that was already the best courtesy that he could have extended. Of course, Michael had never personally cared much about "Corrine."
Michael gripped his phone tightly. The person on the other end sounded too much like Wendy Stewart. No, it was more than just a similarity.
He was sure that he was speaking to Wendy.
"Mr. Lucas, if you aren’t sincere about working together in the first place, we can just call this off. There are many other talented individuals here in HG Enterprise, I can just talk to the president and have him assign another designer for you to work with," said Wendy in an unhappy tone.
Right now, it did not matter if this person was Wendy Stewart or not. Her voice alone was enough for Michael to want her around.
"I will pick you up at the airport personally," said Michael as his heartbeat accelerated, "What time will your flight be arriving? I’ll arrive punctually."
"Around 10 tomorrow morning," said Wendy, even though that time was four hours earlier than her actual flight. "Well, Mr. Lucas, since you do indeed seem sincere about working with me, I’ll see you tomorrow." With that, she immediately hung up.
It took a long time for Michael to come to his senses after the phone call. When Mr. York entered his office to deliver some documents, Michael suddenly walked over to the man and grabbed his shoulders. Clearly, in a heightened state of emotions, he shook Mr. York and asked, "Do you know whose voice I heard just now?"
Mr. York was dumbfounded.
"I heard Wendy Stewart’s voice. It was Wendy, I swear it was her," said Michael. He had suppressed his emotions when they were on the phone earlier, but he couldn’t hold it together any longer. Laughing out loud, he said, "It was Wendy Stewart, I swear! I don’t know why she called herself Corrine, but I’m sure it was her. That was her voice for sure."
Mr. York swallowed dryly as he observed Michael’s demeanor. He did not know how to react. He waited until his boss had calmed down slightly before asking, "Mr. Lucas, Mrs. Lucas fell into the sea five years ago."
When Michael heard those words, he glared at Mr. York and said, "Wendy did not die. I believe that she’s still alive."
Over the last five years, everyone around Michael told him that Wendy had died after being tossed into the sea. There was no way that she was alive. However, Michael did not believe them. He had always firmly believed that she was still alive. After hearing her voice today, he grew even more certain about his theory.
Mr. York felt heartbroken to see Michael like this. Even though he did not follow Michael onto the boat five years ago, he had pieced the entire story together from Michael’s stories.
When Michael first regained consciousness after getting knocked out, he activated all his subordinates to locate Wendy. However, he only woke up a few hours after Wendy was pushed into the sea, and it was unlikely for a pregnant woman to manage to keep herself alive in those circumstances for that long. Obviously, they did not find Wendy or her body. Hence, they all believed that she had died.
Michael was the only person who was. unconvinced. He had continued asking people to search for her all these years. However, there had never been any news of her. Mr. York did not believe Michael had heard her voice. He suspected that his boss was only hallucinating because he missed her too much.
"Mir. Lucas, let me contact the psychologist for you," said Mr. York tentatively, "Your mental health has been suffering since that incident five years ago, and you shouldn’t continue to avoid medical treatment."
Mr. York had stumbled upon Michael mumbling to himself in his office a few times, and even calling out Wendy’s name.
The moment Michael heard those words, his face darkened. He picked up the document on his desk and whacked Mr. York’s head with it. Mr. York reached out to cover his face. In a small voice, he said, "Er, Mr. Lucas, I have something else to attend to. I’ll leave first." With that, he immediately turned around and ran out of the office.
...
The following day, Michael woke up early in the morning. He was so excited that he had barely slept. Before it was even bright outside, he got out of bed to shower and shave. He picked out a few different suits and held them up against himself in the mirror. After deciding on his preferred suit and changing into it, he immediately called Mr. York and said, "Drive me to the airport."
Mr. York was still deeply asleep when the phone call from Michael came. He looked at the time and realized that it was only 6.30 A.M.
He wanted to protest, but after thinking about it, decided against it. He got out of bed and washed up quickly.
It was only 8 A.M. when Michael arrived at the airport. He was two hours earlier than the flight time that Wendy had given him. He had never felt so anxious in his life and kept glancing at his watch. It was hard to believe that he was about to see Wendy again. He was certain that she was the person that he had spoken to over the phone. It had to be her.
The minutes ticked by, and when it was almost 10 A.M., Michael looked anxiously at the passengers walking out of the arrival hall. He did not even dare to blink as he was afraid that he would miss Wendy.
He would turn to Mr. York from time to time and ask him, "Did you see Wendy?"
Feeling helpless, Mr. York could only raise the greeting board that he had written for Wendy Stewart. He said, "Mr. Lucas, I know that you don’t want to hear this, but I still have to remind you that even though Miss Corrine is a designer, she might not turn out to be Mrs. Lucas. Mrs. Lucas did not know how to swim; it was unlikely that she could have survived after falling into the sea." He figured that Michael might have been reminded of Wendy because Corrine also happened to be a designer.
"Shut up!" Michael commanded him sternly. Mr. York felt that the greeting board he was holding was for naught. He knew that it was not Wendy Stewart that they were expecting. Time passed by slowly, and Michael did not catch sight of who he was anxiously waiting for. Even Corrine did not appear.
However, his beliefs remained firm. He only grew even more anxious, because he wanted to see Wendy sooner. He refused to leave the airport, even during lunchtime. Mr. York persuaded him to go get some food and even offered to stay and look out for Wendy, but Michael rejected him.
Michael and Mr. York were not the only people who were waiting at the airport. All the significant staff members from the design department were also there, along with other employees in leadership positions. In sum, there were over thirty workers from MC Enterprise at the airport. They were all important, high-ranking staff members and a brigade of this caliber had never been seen before.
The staff members could not help but start gossiping softly among themselves as well. They did not understand why Michael would resort to this for a mere designer.
After getting off the plane, Wendy held Jake’s hand tightly. She was afraid that he would get lost, even though she knew how clever he was and how unlikely that was to happen. He was still a young boy, but his intelligence far surpassed his peers. Wendy joined the crowd and walked down the arrival hall. When she saw Michael and his group of employees, her she halted.
Turning around, she told the person standing behind her, "Jill, just stick to the plan that we talked about yesterday and bring our staff to meet the people from MC Enterprise."
Jill Lynn nodded. Smiling, she replied, "Got it. I love doing this the most."
Jake watched as Jill led the group of designers from HG Enterprise away from them. Then, tugging at Wendy’s hand, he said, "Mummy, aren’t we going with them?"
Wendy had never told Jake anything about Michael, but he had already figured that the man waiting for them at the airport today was his father. It was the same man who was responsible for his mother’s frequent nightmares
"There are too many people here, well just take another exit," said Wendy. With her suitcase in one hand and her son’s hand in the other, she headed in another direction.
Jake looked back indignantly at the exit that they had initially been headed towards. He was so close to seeing what Michael looked like, but his mother refused to let that happen. What could he do? He really wanted to see Michael’s face.
He started to rack his brain. Suddenly, he clutched his abdomen, "Mummy, my stomach hurts. I want to go to the toilet."
When Wendy heard those words and saw the look of pain on his face, she asked in a concerned tone, "Did you eat something bad?"
"I don’t know, maybe it was too cold on the plane," said Jake as he flung Wendy’s hand away and started jogging away, "Mummy, let me go to the toilet. I’ll be right back."
"I’ll go with you," said Wendy, chasing after him. "it’s okay, mummy. I’m going to the men’s bathroom, you can’t go in anyway. Just wait here for me, I’ll be right back, mummy."
Despite Jake’s short legs, he ran at an astonishing speed. He was completely out of sight in no time at all. Wendy was not afraid that Jake might get lost. When they were abroad, he could even walk around the mall by himself.
Hence, she trusted him to be able to go to the bathroom alone.
However, Jake ended up running toward Michael instead. Jill and the other designers had already met the employees from MC Enterprise. When Michael failed to see Wendy among them, he looked in the direction of the arrival hall again, anxiously waiting for her.
Feeling anxious, he left his group of employees and started walking into the arrival hall, looking around for Wendy. As there were many people there, Michael soon lost sight of the rest. At this moment, Jake ran over to him and grabbed his leg. Looking up at the man who was much taller than him, he blinked and said pitifully, "Can you please bring me to the bathroom? I can’t find my mummy, and I can’t hold it in anymore."
Michael never expected to be stopped by a little boy in this manner. He was waiting for Wendy, and this sudden interruption was irritating to him. However, since the boy was extremely adorable, he could not bring himself to be mean.
Bending over, Michael said, "I’m waiting for a very important person so I can’t leave this place right now."
Jake got to see Michael’s face up close after he bent over. He had seen photos of the president of MC Enterprise in the past. Since Michael was such an influential figure, it was not difficult to find out how he looked. However, Jake’s anger toward him grew only when they came face to face. This was the man that had hurt his mother so deeply.
Clenching his fists, Jake figured out that he still had to be polite since they were meeting for the first time. He continued to blink pitifully before tears filled his eyes, "Please, I can’t hold it in any longer." As he rubbed his eyes, he sneakily took out a banana peel from his backpack that he had prepared a long time ago. He placed it right behind Michael after mentally measuring how wide his steps were likely to be.
Seeing Jake wail pitifully, Michael stood up. He looked behind him, saying, "l get my assistant to bring you to the bathroom, okay?" With that, he took Jake’s hand and turned around to go get Mr. York. However, in the following second, he slipped on something slippery and fell backward onto the ground.
Jake quickly released and freed his hand from Michael’s grip right before he fell to avoid implicating himself. Since there were many people at the airport, Michael’s fall attracted a lot of attention. Stepping forward, Jake offered his hand to Michael, "Are you okay?"
