(Sebastian’s POV)
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Miss West. Hmm.. I wondered if that woman was somehow related to Akira West.
The surname West was quite common. But I doubt they are related.
The information I read about Akira West in the folder Nigel had provided me was about someone who had outstanding achievement. A beauty with brains, Nigel said. Akira West’s academic background was impressive.
Unlike that woman who trespassed my rented apartment. Annoying tourists.
I did not want to waste any more of my precious time with that woman who had invaded my space at the apartment. Who did she think she was who dared to insult me!
I will deal with her later. Such women would need to learn a lesson to respect me.
I finally then arrived at the entrance of a modern looking multiple-story building in the heart of Amberose City. The driver had dropped me at the front of the lobby surrounded by glass floor to ceiling walls.
“Sebastian Strauss. I have an appointment at Bloom Legal” I could see the receptionist's eyes widen hearing me mentioning my name. For a moment she froze looking at me without blinking her eyes.
I got closer and said with gritted teeth, “Don’t waste my time. Get me a pass to go up or I’ll make sure you won’t have a job here very soon”
“Y-yes.. Yes, sir” with trembling hands she handed me a guest pass for me to go up to the tenth floor of the building called W Tower.
W that stood for William Strauss. My uncle. Of course, they knew who I was and I did not need to have an appointment to go up.
As I entered the lobby of Bloom Legal's branch office, I was impressed by the interior design of the place. It was indeed an eye opener.
Professional looking with modern furnishing. It was refreshing to see the soft color combination that was pleasing to the eyes. I did not expect much for a branch office. I wondered what the main office in Bloom City would look like.
“May I help you? Do you have an appointment with us? If you don’t, do follow me. I will assist you with making an appointment with our specialists. My name is Coco. Please, follow me.” Coco ushered me to follow her to a glass room and gestured for me to sit.
While still standing I asked her, “Miss Akira West. I need to see her. Tell her, Sebastian Strauss is here to see her. Now.”
Coco gasped and looked like she had seen a ghost. I did not realise I still instill fear on the people of Amberose City. I had left the city a long time ago and started a new life with my son in Emerald City. But somehow, I still fell connected to this city that I once called home.
“I apologise, Mr Strauss. Miss West is on leave today. She will be back in a couple of days. Would you like me to schedule a meeting with her?” Coco was tapping on her device to check on Akira West’s time.
“Soonest possible. This is urgent.” The urgency came from me wanting to end this misery and get back to my son. “Very urgent.”
As I waited for Coco to check on Akira West’s time, I walked around the waiting room and saw a stack of magazines neatly placed on the table. One of the magazines got my attention.
I squinted my eyes to see a picture of a woman on its cover. She surely looked familiar.
As I looked closer, I sighed. That lost tourist that invaded my space in the apartment did not lie. She was a lawyer as she claimed. The tagline was, “Blooming West, Your Partner for Success”
“Who is that?” Perhaps, that annoying woman this morning was somehow related to Akira West. I guess I had to be nice to that crazy woman when I saw her later at the apartment. I would buy her the whole rustic apartment if she could get me Akira West to defend our case.
“Oh, you don’t know her? Well, that’s Akira West. She just made it as a partner of the Firm. An inspiration to us all.” Coco then continued talking but I did not hear at all what she said. My mind went on a spiral trying to connect the dots on what happened that morning and at that point I realised what a fool I was.
That tourist was Akira West? No freaking way!
“How about Wednesday morning?” Coco placed a form on the table for me to fill up. I ignored her as my eyes were glued on the magazine. I needed to find a way to clear this mess.
Then, my phone rang,
Looking at the locked screen, I realised I had mistakenly switched my phone with Akira. “F*ck”
A screen appeared to show the name of the caller. I looked closer and whispered to myself, “Strange.”
Why did my retired housekeeper’s name appear on Akira’s phone?
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*****
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(Akira’s POV)
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Wearing a hat covering my hair and large sunglasses covering my eyes, I walked while checking on my phone.
Strange that the password I entered was not correct. I tried again and again.
It was then I realised, I had mistakenly taken that man’s phone. Damn it!
And, I was already a little late to meet the woman who last saw my son.
While walking, his phone rang. I planned to ignore the call but it kept coming and seemed not to stop.
The caller ID was named “Sammy” with a picture of a man’s back holding a smiling boy. It got my attention as the boy had eyes just like mine.
One blue. One green.
‘Is he, his son?’ I wondered. The cute little boy shown on the screen pretty much did look like him.
I stopped my tracks and answered the call from Sammy. While standing at the roadside, I looked around in hope no one was following me.
“Daddy, why did you not answer my calls? Where are you? Are you coming home?” The boy had a cute little voice and seemed concerned about the man that had ruined my morning.
“Umpphh, hello. Are you looking for your father? He is not here right now.” I bit my lips not knowing what to say next. I should not have answered the call in the first place. But my heart felt otherwise when I heard his childish voice.
“Yes. Who are you? Where is my Daddy?” he asked politely. “You don’t sound like Suzanne, or Kimberly, or Rory, or Michelle”
Wow! Did not know that man had many women in his life. And he even kept it not a secret with his son. I wondered who Sebastian’s generous wife was.
“We exchanged phones by mistake. I will return his phone once I see him, Okay. I will tell him you called.” I could hear the boy sighed sadly on the other end. Kind of broke my heart hearing that. That man and his son must have been close with each other.
“You can inform your Mommy that I will get him to call her too.”
“I have no Mommy.” Then I could hear him sobbing a little. “My Mommy doesn't want me.”
His voice was full of sadness, which made my heart clench. “Oh, Umpphh. I’m sorry to hear that. But I’m sure your Mommy loves you.”
Wait! Why the hell did I say that?!
I did not know what got into me to be so emotional all of a sudden. Though I really wanted to say more to comfort this little boy but it had to stop.
I had a mission to fulfill today. I needed to meet Rosie Javier and find my own son.
“I have to go, Sammy. That is your name, right? Everything is going to be fine. You take care now.” I tried to end the call but somehow, I wanted to hear his sweet voice again.
“My name is Samuel. What is your name?” He asked, not sounding like he wanted to end the call. I looked at my watch and decided to continue walking while I continued with our little chat.
“Akira. Where are you right now, Samuel?” I did not know why I bothered asking that. It just came to my mind to ask for no specific reason.
“I’m in Emerald City.” Then, there was a pause. “Uh-Oh”
“Samuel? Are you still there?” I wondered what I said wrong that got him to stop talking to me.
“I need to go. My Daddy said I should not talk to strangers. Bye.” He ended the call before I could say goodbye.
Inexplicably I felt a sense of loss, as if some of my precious time was slipping away from me.
I tried hard to catch that vague clue but pulled myself back from my mind when I raised my head.
The house where Rosie Javier lived was right before my eyes.
After all these years, I'm finally being able to find my boy.
(Akira’s POV).Standing before the yellow door of Rosie Javier’s home, I felt my heart pounding. Somehow, I had a strong feeling that this door would definitely lead me to my son.After all these years, my dream was finally going to come true.Clenching my fist, I knocked on the door. This was a little cottage house with a beautiful blooming small flower garden surrounding its front passage. As I inhaled the calming scent of those fresh flowers, I closed my eyes while I waited for the door to open.“Yes? Can I help you?”I blinked my eyes open slowly and saw a woman probably in her late fifties of age, looking at me from head to toe and wrinkling her nose.That did not look good. I hoped this was not another joke played on me by fate.“Who are you?” she asked and folded her arms over her chest. “Are you a lost tourist? Walk up the hill that way and you’ll find someone to help you in direction. I’m busy.”What? Did I really look like a tourist?“Rosie Javier, I’m Aki-“ I cleared my th
(Akira’s POV).Being stalked was not something new that I encountered in my profession.There were those who wanted to scare me away to drop legal cases that I was in charge with. Some gave me death threats.I knew my risks and I was never afraid of them.But after knowing about how close I was to meeting my son, for the first time, I sensed fear. I couldn't fail here.While still wearing my sunglasses, I took a glance at my stalker. A tall man with muscular physique. His deep eyes were staring at me. Intensely. Not at all bothered to hide his intention to catch me.Who gave him such guts? Was the security in Amberose city already so bad now?I glanced at him again as I passed the corner. And this time he even showed me a bloodthirsty smile with the dagger in his jacket.Damn it! Was he really going to take my life?Then who sent him here? My evil aunt and cousin? The Strauss family? Had they already found out my identity and planned to take Samuel away from me again?I felt my heart
(Akira’s POV).When I saw his face again as I entered the apartment, my heart stopped for a few seconds.For a very short moment, I even thought that he had recognized me. Yet soon I realized that it was only Akira West he recognized.I had mixed feelings. Hate was most of it.I could not forget what he had done to me eight years ago, yet our one-night stand only meant nothing to him. That night had ruined my life. How I wished I could claw his eyeballs out from its socket!It took me a while to calm my anger. All for the only reason that I was grateful that he seemed to have protected my son very well.And I would take over that responsibility soon.“Congratulation for finding out my name.” I removed my sunglasses and handed his phone. “Your phone, here. Can I have my phone back?”If possible, I preferred to keep his phone a bit longer to hear Sammy's voice again. But I knew I had to exchange the phones back as soon as possible when there was a lot of important information. I hoped
(Akira’s POV).I could feel my blood flowing backwards and the veins in my hand were about to burst as I clenched my hand into a tight fist.Why, hell why!After ruining my life, was my nasty aunt and cousin going to ruin my son again?I had thought that my son was at least out of their clutches, so I was a bit relieved before. But now I finally realized that the devil had been at his side all along.God, I absolutely cannot stand this. I can't let this go on!I was more afraid of Samuel living with those two demons than I was of the threat of the Red King.No one in the world could understand better than I did how cruel and heartless these two can be. As my old past appeared to the surface, those old scars in my body seemed to itch again.The physical scars can be removed, but the scars on your heart will haunt you for the rest of your life.I had to stop this!“Sebastian, I’m staying with Sammy for a few days. He needs another blood transfusion. He needs more than usual. You need t
(Sebastian’s POV).I arrived back home at Emerald City. I could not wait to see my son again. I missed his little voice and laughter.Several calls were made to my phone requesting my presence at the office. I had ignored them all.I had made a promise to my son that I would take him to his best friend’s birthday party. One promise that I had tried to keep after many other promises were broken.“Daddy!” I heard his voice shouting to call me. He ran towards me with a smile that could light up my heart.“Hey, buddy” I bent down and embraced his little thin body while placing a kiss on his head, “You waited for me?”“I know you’ll come. Did you get it?” he asked excitedly, waiting for me to show the present I had bought for him from Amberose City. A new violin.“That would depend on whether you have been listening to the doctor. Did you take your medicine and obey the doctor for the transfusion?” I squatted down to his level and pinched his nose lightly.His smile turned into a sad face
(Akira’s POV).I never thought a random dinner party could lead me to meet Sebastian so soon.To be honest, I was not that ready to face him with any kind of mentality.Every time we met, that memory of that night 8 years ago came back to me again. But I was the only person who remembers it. It was not fair. So I just ignored him and walked towards a table.“Don’t look. Henry, what are you doing? Stop it.” I whispered to Henry who was seated in front of me.He took a glance at Sebastian and moved to look at me, trying hard not to smile. “Akira, when you say don’t look, the more I want to look. Is that his fiancée, Suzanne?”I shook my head and slapped Henry’s hand gently, “Stop laughing. It is not funny. And no, that’s not Suzanne. I don’t know who that is. Seems like he is cheating with Suzanne.""Not that I care. In fact, I personally think he deserves better than that evil cousin of mine. Anyone is better than her.”I drank my water with my eyes staring at Henry who was trying har
(Akira’s POV).Monday came.It was two days since I last saw Sebastian, and two days since I last saw my son. I missed my boy so much already. Not a day gone by that I did not dream of holding my son in my arms. At least now, I could see his face in my dreams rather than an imaginary face.In forgetting that sad phase of my life, I had drowned myself with work at my temporary apartment to study the case that I was leading. Molly, my private investigator was a big help in getting information, not just for the company but also information on Suzanne and my evil aunt.It seemed that my Cage family business was not doing well. My uncle had gambled most of his money away and he had used the Company’s money for personal purposes.I found out one news that had broke my heart. My dear grandfather went into a coma and it had been years since he had not woken up. They had kept it a secret from the public about his condition.That gave my uncle the authority on managing the Company. I doubt it
(Sebastian’s POV).I did not expect Suzanne would come to my office building that morning. I had made it clear for her not to come to see me for personal matters at the office. She broke the rules. And I was furious about it.She wanted more money to invest in a project that I knew was not going to be successful. For years I have been supporting her family’s business and invested money that had no return.All was for one reason. Saving my son.After I had refused to give her the money, she threatened to stop giving her blood for my son. And I was given a month to prepare for the wedding that she had planned for us, if I ever needed her blood transfusion again.What a morning!Her presence had spoilt my mood to carry on my day in the office. How I wish I could cut that invisible rope Suzanne had tied around my neck. I could not believe that I had to marry her.Taking my phone out from my pocket, I made a call to the doctor that was in charge to find a cure for my son. One of it involv