Chapter 119: Not Her Daughter

Celine hurried down the hallway at the company, she had an important meeting to attend with the department head of the management team regarding project X. For the past week, that was the only thing she’d been working on at the company, but they suddenly stumbled upon a road block.

Project X was a huge design that spanned an entire island, Grayson Corp’s goal was to build the biggest resort in the world on that island, a place whose popularity was expected to skyrocket immediately it was launched, drawing celebrities and the most important people from all around the world.

The islands where the resort was to be built was the hometown to some ancient tribe that still seemed to be living in the 19th century despite the modernization of the 21st century, they held old beliefs and systems firmly making them a bit difficult to work with.

Celine heard from the research team that the tribe deliberately cut themselves off from the rest of the world creating their own world on that island, a place recorded as the largest island in the whole world.

The tribe leader was said to have disapproved of the contract that would allow Grayson Corp to acquire the islands under their nation, hence Celine had been working hard for the past few days with the project team to find a solution for this problem, the company had expended a lot of expenses to obtain those islands, and if the chance was suddenly lost, it would be such a waste.

The team had suggested they take it to court, after all, even though there hadn’t been any signed agreements yet, there had still been verbal agreement which can be proven in court, with the old fashioned lifestyle those island dwellers lived, it would be extremely easy to win against them in court using the law to snatch what they needed, but Celine had found that suggestion inconsiderate and somewhat cruel.

Forcing them to sign the agreement using the law seemed too much, she had to figure out another way to acquire them, it was her biggest assignment at the company.

Celine pressed the elevator button, she was in a great hurry to get downstairs, but more than the urgency of this project, a feeling of anxiety and unease was slowly creeping up her spine. She couldn’t shake off the strange thought that something bad was about to happen.

Maybe it was because of work, or because of the project, she couldn’t tell, but her mind was suddenly feeling clouded with worry.

The elevator opened and Celine rushed inside without paying attention, she was still trying to figure out why she was suddenly feeling this way when she suddenly collided with someone.

“I’m sorry…” She blurted, still not looking up until a pair of hands came up to hold her shoulders, steadying her from the impact.

“Is something wrong?” She heard the voice, laced with concern and immediately her blue eyes shot up to meet his.

Tristan?

She didn’t move for a moment, this was the first time she’d heard his voice in days or been anywhere around him, she handled project X and he handled bigger matters in the company, whatever needed his attention she gave to Kaleb instead.

The distance between them, she hadn’t realized it was this big until she was here in front of him again, she hadn’t realized it still hurt until she was staring at him again.

It hurt to run away all the time…it hurt to want something, knowing one couldn’t have it.

What exactly did she want?

“Celine?” She returned to her senses when he called her name, his eyes searching her face down to her body as if to check if she was hurt.

She quickly stepped backwards, “I’m fine. I’m sorry, I was in such a hurry I didn’t mean to bump into you.”

He nodded solemnly, all traces of gentleness vanished from his face as he walked past her out of the elevator.

She stood rigid in the same spot for a moment, gazing at his back with a complicated expression and slight sadness, composing herself a second later she pressed the button for the third floor and the elevator doors closed.

Celine curbed her thoughts of him and the inexplicable pain she would feel everytime she met him and he acted indifferent to her. She tried to many times to tell herself that this was the way it should be, she couldn’t let herself have these weird feelings for him, he would be married to someone else soon, but regardless of whatever warnings she gave herself it seemed like something inside her adamantly refused to listen, she wouldn’t be able to stop her heart from aching whenever he walked past her. What was happening to her?

With a deep breath, she opened the door to the meeting room where she was scheduled to meet the team.

“Morning, miss Roberts.” The team already waiting for her echoed.

“Morning everyone, please have a seat.” She sat in her own position before proceeding with the meeting.

“Have we gotten feedback from Rowena islands yet?” She queried.

“Still none yet Miss Roberts, we’re still awaiting word from them. Meanwhile, we thought to continue discussing the model plan for the resort. The designers made a presentation of the mockup model.”

Celine massaged her temple, this project was truly beginning to get stressful. They couldn’t even contact the Rowena islands chief through normal phone calls or emails because of the lifestyle the island’s inhabitants chose to live, they could only send letters and wait for replies whenever it comes.

Celine decided to focus on the current things at hand, “Alright, let’s begin with the model plan and decide any alterations that need to be made.”

The meeting ended a few hours later, Celine had just walked out of the meeting room when she felt her phone vibrating in her bag. When she took it out, she was quite shocked to find several missed calls from Rachel.

What was wrong? Why did Rachel call her so many times, was something wrong with the kids?

Celine immediately called Rachel back, her heart suddenly beating fast for a reason she couldn’t put a finger on.

’It’s probably nothing Celine, maybe she wanted to ask about something.’

Rachel called her often to ask about things regarding the kids or ask permission to take them out somewhere, it wasn’t out of the ordinary, but what brought the fear in Celine’s heart was the strange feeling she had been having all day.

She impatiently waited as the phone rang for a few seconds, when it was picked, her heart descended to her stomach in fright as Rachel’s tearful and shaky voice came through,

“Miss…Miss Celine…” Rachel cried making Celine panic even more.

“Rachel, are you alright? What happened?”

“Miss Celine… I’m so sorry…so sorry…”

“Rachel, calm down, tell me what happened please.” Celine was trying to make the frantic sounding Rachel ease up so she could speak clearly, but the anxiety and dread rushing through her made her tremble.

“Miss Celine…. it’s…. it’s Leah… She was…”

The air itself seemed to come to a standstill, Celine heard nothing more but an unstoppable buzzing in her ears, the whole world seemed to be crumbling down as she took in what Rachel just told her. Her heartbeat stopped and her hands were shaking so much her phone fell out of her hold.

She stood dazed for a few minutes, and the whole world around her seemed to fade into the background.

Suddenly, she jolted, shaking her head in disbelief.

No, not her daughter!

Her bag and a few files she had been holding fell out of her hands as she quickly ran out of the building in a desperate hurry.

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