"You still owe me that date."“Am I?” I raised an eyebrow, a playful grin forming on my lips, as I took a sip of my wine.Drawing nearer, his presence enveloped me, his warmth radiating. His grin remained, but mine broadened in response."Did our arrangement slip your mind? I’ve helped you buy shares on his company. Now, your grand plan is set in motion thanks to me, isn't it?" His eyebrows danced mischievously, hinting at something more... daring.A chuckle escaped me before I playfully nudged him. "Come on, Wenzell. Enough with the antics. I'll grant you that date you're so insistent about."A waiter passed by, prompting me to set down my empty glass. I glanced at Wenzell afterwards. I saw him staring at me hungrily. I simply shook my head.“I hope it will be soon.”"Right, right. Where's Venice? We've been here a while, haven't we?" I shifted my gaze to scan the party crowd for Venice.This charity event was Venice's creation, a masquerade soirée I attended. It wasn't my first time
"Are you certain he won't recognize me with this makeup?" I inquired, my curiosity directed at Venice and Yumi, both of whom had been observing the makeup artists at work. My back remained turned to the mirror, leaving me in suspense about my transformed appearance. Undoubtedly, this was a crucial element of my revenge strategy. The second encounter with Karious would determine the success of my initial bait.Arabella chimed in, offering her approval by giving me a thumbs up, "Auntie Kass, you look absolutely fabulous!" I turned to Yumi for her assessment."You look... quite hideous," she remarked and I roll of my eyes with that.Venice to come to my defense. "She looks fine! You appear more mature now, and I'm confident Karious won't recognize you."I had worn the same contact lenses as last time, along with a blonde wig that cascaded down to my back, its curls adding to the disguise. As for my facial features, not much had changed. It was mainly my makeup that had been applied rathe
"The next meeting will be intentional," I murmured while gazing at my reflection in the mirror.Venice, in the midst of applying a facial mask, chimed in, "He's bound to recognize you, no doubt about it."I grinned slyly. "That's the whole point. But who said anything about introducing myself? He will only know me as Empress," I stated with a slow, calculated smile.Yumi, entering the room with a plate of nachos, interjected, "What if he mistakes you for Veronica? He will surely arrest you and lock you up.""That's Venice for you," I said pointing to Venice.Venice nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I'll explain what happened. That Kassandra was brought to the hospital where my parents work, and she was in a coma. When she finally woke up, she had no recollection of anything. This drama deserves an award really.”"So, you're going to pretend to be Veronica," Yumi summarized."Not exactly pretending. We'll make it seem like she was Veronica because with no memory of her past, how can she prov
"What are you doing here?" I asked, feigning innocence.We were now in his office, although I hadn't initially planned to follow him. He'd pulled me along, threatening to have me arrested for impersonation. Of course I'd acted surprised and frightened by his threat, which had ultimately led us here."You should be asking yourself that. What are you doing here?" he retorted sharply.I couldn't help but roll my eyes at his question. "Well, I'm here to look for a job. I heard there's a job fair going on. If I knew you'd be here, I wouldn’t have come here," I added in a hushed tone, which seemed to catch his attention as his eyebrows furrowed."Why? Because you thought I’m going to catch you?”"Excuse me? I think there's been some confusion. I'm just a woman looking for a job, not someone trying to escape something. Who do you think you are, the police?" I countered boldly."I'm not playing games here, Veronica.""Do I look like I'm playing here? And by the way, my name isn't Veronica." I
"Good morning, ma'am!" greeted the guard as I entered the building. He even bowed, which took me by surprise, so I instinctively bowed back."Good morning, but you don't have to bow," I chuckled.I left the puzzled guard behind and continued into the building. I was dressed in a white blouse and a gray skirt, trying to blend in as an employee.As I walked through the corridor, all the employees I passed either greeted me or bowed. If I genuinely didn't remember, I might have found this strange, but since I was just pretending, I had to act as if everything was strange.Inside the elevator, I opted for the employee's lift. It was filled with mostly male employees, and when they saw me, their eyes seemed to light up, and they all offered greetings and bows.“Good morning!” I replied in kind and pressed the button for my floor."Ma'am Kassandra, good to see you again," one of the men on the elevator greeted me.I smiled at the mistake. "Ahm, I'm not Kassandra," I replied shyly.They appe
"Mommy called me. You were right! Karious immediately launched an investigation into your identity," Venice told me when I returned home from work one day.Feeling drained, I crawled into bed and lay down. I was utterly exhausted today. It had been what? Three days, I think. Dealing with Karious had been nothing short of stressful. In these three days, I had to suppress my annoyance and irritation with him. I had more leisure time than actual work because they weren't assigning me tasks! I felt like a mere decoration in the office, something to gaze at when you needed a break from work."I don't want to go to work anymore! I'm losing my mind with Karious! I'm like a ticking time bomb. One of these days, I'm going to explode from being irritated!" I vented."You don't have a choice. This is all part of your plan.""Yeah, anyway, what happened? Did Karious speak to your mom? Did you guys have a conversation?" I asked and propped myself up slightly to glance at Venice, who was sitting on
"She doesn't remember a thing. She's been in a coma for months. When she woke up, she couldn't even speak due to trauma," Venice explained."And you never told me about her?""Why would I? To begin with, I didn't even know you were connected to her, Zackarious. All I knew after all this was that you married Kassandra," Karious remained silent.Venice narrowed her eyes. "I admit, at first, I thought Kassandra was the woman we saved. That's why we were surprised when you suddenly married a certain Kassandra. We also considered the possibility that Veronica might be the woman we rescued, but we didn't know the truth. She was unconscious for months! We heard about all the crimes Veronica committed, but we couldn't just hand our friend over to the authorities without making sure she was okay.""Is that why she applied to work at my company?"Venice nodded. "She wanted to live a normal life despite her condition. I advised her to apply at your company in the hope that you would meet her and
"Sir Karious, the conference was—" I heard a loud gasp followed by the sound of a closing door.Gently pulling my lips away from Karious, I couldn't help but smirk as I noticed the smudge of my lipstick that had transferred to him. "Oops," I muttered playfully, using my fingers to wipe it away.Straightening myself up, I took a moment to fix my hair before walking purposefully towards Karious' desk. Standing in front of him, I adopted a formal demeanor and addressed him respectfully. "If you'll excuse me, sir, I'll take a short break. I'll be back shortly." With a polite bow, I left his office without glancing back.I caught up with Miles, who was engrossed in her computer. Our eyes met, and I winked at her, knowing that I didn't need to explain what she might have seen. I cared little about what others might think, and in fact, I would be even happier if Miles reported the incident to Kassandra, or rather Veronica.Instead of leaving the office, I decided to head to the pantry and g