"Ava–" Allicia rolled her eyes at her friend. "I urge you to please be quiet and concentrate on driving" she voiced. "Nonsense, I can see the road clearly! Even with my eyes closed" Ava bragged. "Nope, you won't do that here" Allicia laughed. Of course, she knew how reckless her friend can be. Ava may appear quite childish and playful, but that's a mere facade of what she really is. Her playfulness is only a cover-up for her fierceness and the banditry that coursed through her veins. If she really bragged about driving with her eyes closed, Allicia could bet that she would definitely give it a try when no one was watching. Ava had been that way since she knew her from the Orphanage. "Tsk!" Ava clicked her tongue childishly causing Allicia to laugh, she could almost hear the latter mutter, "coward" under her breath. "For the kids, you must be careful" Allicia warned. "Right!" Ava bobbed her head, just like Allicia, she could not afford anything to happen to the children. When it c
"How is it?" Ava asked as Allicia stepped out of the children's room. "Zia got jetlag, she is not used to traveling by air yet. She is sleeping already while Zayn is okay, he is playing games. He does not like to be disturbed" Allicia answered with a smile as she closed the door gently behind her. Ava nodded slightly and the two ladies walked away from the door. "What about you then?" Ava questioned, she knew a side glance at Allicia and cocked her brows. "Huh? Me?" Allicia paused, confusion written over her face as she pointed a finger at herself. "Yeah. I mean, are you not going to rest too? Just look at those hideous dark circles and bags under your eyes!" Ava exclaimed. Allicia was instantly taken aback, her eyes widened and she immediately touched her face here and there subconsciously. "Okay, okay… don't be silly, that was a joke. You don't have dark circles or whatnot. I am just saying that you should also rest. Did you not say you are resuming work as soon as you return
Meanwhile, while the adults were having their discussion, the kids were also engrossed in their own little world and having their own serious deliberations. "Big brother, are you sure that we can do this?" Little Zia popped her head and looked at the scribbling and drawings that was made on the page of a drawing book, although she barely understood the entire point of the drawing, she knew that it was a draft that her brother had made for them to find their daddy. "You have to trust your brother, Zia" Zayn uttered expressionlessly, he stared at the draft he made and could not be anymore satisfied with himself. He knew that he had come up with the best plan ever."Yes, I trust you!" Zia bobbed her head seriously and expressed immediately. Zayn nodded and rubbed her head. "You are a good girl" Zayn did not waste time in praising his sister. The little girl blushed immediately. She knew that her big brother liked her the best! He always reveal a stony expression and spoke very little
Allicia carried little Zia in her arms and brought her to the living room. It was as though Ava shared telepathy with the mother and child as she had already arranged a big bowl of mixed flavor ice-cream on the table. The three sat cross-legged around the table and picked a scooping spoon for the ice-cream. Just like her mother, little Zia had a sweet tooth. They enjoyed anything sweet, especially ice-cream. "It is just the two of you?" Ava asked and before Allicia answered, Zia spoke first. "Big brother Zayn does not like ice-cream" she said and dug into the ice-cream bowl immediately. Ava looked at Allicia and she nodded while wiping the corner of her daughter's mouth that was smeared with Ice-cream. "Zayn is intolerant of anything sweet," she told her friend. Ava's eyes were filled with disbelief, she looked at Allicia and her eyes were practically screaming, what exactly did you give birth to?! In her opinion, she thought all kids like sweet things.Allicia laughed, shook her
"Zayn, it is Uncle" The man's voice came through the speaker and reached the little boy's ear. "Mm, I know" Zayn answered coldly. Without giving the man a chance to react, he questioned. "Why did you call?" "Ha!" A short chuckle rang across the speaker causing the little boy to frown slightly. The man on the other side laughed but, the boy did not thing he had said anything funny. However, he was only cold and did not bother about the man's unusual behaviour. "Zayn, Uncle called because he missed you kids, okay?" The man uttered. His words reached Zayn's ears but he gave no response in return. He simply waited patiently across the phone. His cool expression remained as it was. "When are you kids returning?" The man asked. There was a flicker of change in Zayn's cold facial feature, the little boy's lips pressed to form a thin line before he answered the man. "Zia already told you that we won't be returning, right?" He asked and the man only laughed. It was not so easy to deal wi
Allicia stood up from bed and immediately walked into the bathroom. It was her first day at her new workplace that morning, she did not want to be late. She did not know much about the place she was resuming but she knew that it was one of the listed and established companies in the country and even the company had a place in the international space. Allicia could tell that she was not going to just any place. She had gotten the work on recommendation by her boss at her previous workplace. Although her hard work paid out, she could not also ignore the fact that it was also sheer luck that she got recommended. There were people who were better than her and went to reputable institutions but she was picked out in the end. She would have even suspected that someone opened the backdoor on her before because she lacked most of the qualities that the job required. Whichever way, she was grateful for the job. Allicia had a quick bath before returning to the room. She picked out a black for
Allicia arrived in front of company, it was unsurprisingly situated in the business district of the country. Every well known company in the entire country had its headquarters in that area. One look at the solid structure before her eyes, Allicia could tell that the company was at the centre of other business in the country. It occupied the best space in the district. The forlorn construction attracted ones attention easily. Allicia paid her fare and stepped out of the car.A small smile lit up her face as she walked into the company. She stopped at the front desk and showed her identification. The lady at the front desk input her information into the system, after a while, she glanced at Allicia and opened her mouth. "Please, wait a moment" The front desk lady expressed politely. She picked up the telephone on the table and made a call. After dropping the call, the lady looked back at Allicia and spoke to her. "Please take the elevator to the third floor, someone will receive you
In an office at the top floor of the company, the office would have appeared to be cold and spaciously boring, if it were not for the ray of sunlight that poured into the office through the glass french window that showed the overview of the bustling city from a single glance. The furniture in the room was wood-paneled and exquisite, it has a deep artistic touch and rimmed with pure gold. A glass shelf at one corner of the room was cluttered with the detritus of awards and books.Behind a properly spaced desk made out of mahogany wood sat a man. He was dressed in a six piece black suit, his head was crowned with sleek fine black hair that was perfectly styled to fit his stoic demeanor. He slowly flipped through the document before him. The office was eeringly silent aside for the notice of the document he flipped. One glance at him and it would be noticed that the man lacked social instinct clues. Another man stood in front of the desk of the man, the young man with his black rimmed
"Leader, it's good that you are here already. They had just announced the presence of the big boss. He should be going on stage now" Julie voiced as she made way for Allicia to stand with them.Alicia gave a slight nod and she stood beside the members of the team. In that instant, Allicia felt Annie moving slightly closer to her and her flustered whispering voice soon reached her ear."Leader, quickly, look! The boss is on the stage already!" Annie expressed in awe.Allicia lifted her head and subconsciously, her gaze fell on the stage. To her astonishment, her eyes fell on the familiar figure and face that was already perfectly etched in her memory. It was a face with peculiar and distinct features that she can tell even with her eyes closed. That face had haunted her dreams many times already.Her breath ceased for a few seconds and her eyes widened. She had yet recovered from the unexpected encounter she had with him and seeing him again, her body trembled involuntarily. Unknowingl
A while ago, a man dressed in an exquisite suit stepped out of an elevator, his secretary followed closely behind him while maintaining a reasonable distance from him at the same time. The secretary did not dare to walk on the same level as his boss. Just then, when they were about to enter the venue of the company's dinner, the man suddenly halted, he looked in a certain direction with a cold glare before he made a sharp twist and began hurrying in that direction. The secretary was dumbfounded and confused for a moment before he got back to himself and rushed after his boss. Who would have thought that the man's pace was so fast that he did not catch up with him immediately? The man who was hurrying in that direction was certain that what he saw this time was not a mere fraction of his imagination but a real person. He had to catch up with that person and see who it was at all costs. Whether his head was only imagining that person who played on his dreams every night or the person
Allicia got into the taxi and waved at her baby as the taxi zoomed off. She glanced at the time and she saw that there was still about an hour to the dinner. There was also about twenty minutes drive from the apartment to the venue where the dinner was going to hold. She looked at her phone and screened through the pictures of her that Ava took before she left the house. She saw a few pretty ones and decided to upload them on her social media account. She did not have many friends in her social circle but after she uploaded her pictures, it garner likes from her friends and a few comments. She quickly responded to some of the comments and closed the app. Before she knew it, the car stopped in front of the venue for the dinner. Allicia mouthed a word of thanks, paid her fare and stepped out of the car. She pinched her dress and walked walked on the stairs that led into the event hall. When she stepped inside, she found that the hall was already filled with people, both familiar and u
"Please, don't…" a gasp slipped past her parted lips and she let out a nervous murmur that was barely audible. A solemn whimper incessantly slipped through her lips at the same time. Her eyes were shut tightly and her brows furrowed, beads of perspiration rolled down her forehead down to her cheeks while her body also thrashed violently around the bed. Her fingers were balled to form a tight fist. She clenched her fingers so tightly that blood ceased to flow in her hands, her veins and blood vessels popped and her hands became pale. A teardrop leaked out of the corner of her eyes and it mixed with the beads of sweat rolling down to her cheek. The strands of her messy hair stuck against the skin of her face and neck, and her breathing was shallow, it was as though something pressed heavily against her chest. The torturous moment came and passed after a while, her laboured breathing slowly eased and after a few minutes had passed, she slowly opened her eyes again. She inhaled deeply a
"That is all for now. Try to arrange a meeting with the other company's representatives the week after this so that we can talk about their proposal" Allicia instructed her secretary. "Yes, Leader. I will do that immediately" Annie voiced. "Alright," Allicia said with a slight nod. "If there is nothing else, you can take your leave" she added and looked down at the documents before her. As soon as she completed the investment proposal of Microm Tech corporation, her group already had another proposal to deal with the following week. Although she was trying to work at a quick pace and complete the new proposal, the event that was coming up in the company was also taking up her time. The employees were all occupied with the preparations for the event the entire week. Everyone had their minds on the event. This made Allicia to be slightly irritated. Even her teammates were all distracted, the ladies would rather talk about the dress they would wear than come up with ideas for their ne
"How can I help you like this, little girl? The mall has its policies, if I stand in for you today, other people will want someone to stand in for them too when they don't have money to pay" Olivia said in the softest voice ever. "But, I really promise–" "Enough, young girl! This is a place for serious business not a place to make promises! You have heard me, if you don't have money, just leave and let me attend to other important people!" The cashier uttered sharply. Allicia could no longer take it, she looked at the young girl whose eyes were already filled with years and reluctance to drop the box. She grabbed the girl's wrist and pushed the girl behind her. "Who said there is no money to pay?" Allicia glared at the cashier. "The girl clearly has no money to pay!" The cashier voiced, she really did not like how Allicia was being so nosy. Just when Allicia was about to speak, Olivia interrupted her. "Miss, I understand that you are concerned with the young girl but–" Before Ol
"Thank you," Allicia muttered to the taxi driver as she paid the fare. She turned around and walked into the mall. The Centre Mall was the largest in the entire city and it served both ordinary customers and others with premium membership in the city. The moment Allicia stepped into the mall, she knew that it lived up to its name as the biggest mall. Customers who came into the mall were well received by the workers. "Welcome to Centre Mall, Miss, how may I be of help to you?" A young lady walked up to her and asked with a pleasant smile. "Ah, thanks," Allicia said as she lifted her gaze to look at the lady. "Can you please bring me to the kid's section?" Allicia asked politely. "Of course, please come with me," the lady said and led the way to another section of the mall. After a few turns, they came to a section that only had kids' clothes, toys, and other things that related to children. "Is there any other thing that I can help you with?" The lady asked politely after they ha
"The contract has been successfully signed, Leader!" One of the members of group A said with a smile. It was a bearded man who looked slightly older than the twenty-something-year-old Allicia. "You have done a great job, leader! Congratulations on your first success!" Another one echoed and Allicia blushed. She smiled and faced every member of the group. "I did nothing on my own, everyone played a great role that worked towards the success of the proposal" she uttered. The members of the group applauded her, she was not just smart but also humble, they could not help but genuinely find her pleasing to the eyes. While the group was jubilating for their success, a cold snort suddenly reached their ears."It seems that since group A got a new leader, they have become so free. While other groups are working hard on the proposal, you all are idling around" Allicia frowned and turned around only to see Marie standing by the entrance of her group with a disdainful scowl on her face. Seein
Allicia laid in her bed after she was treated a whole dinner by Ava, she felt bloated and a little bit too full. She reached out her hand and carried her laptop. She switched it one and looked into her emails. She quickly responded to a few mails that she received in the past two days. When she was done, she closed the laptop and put it aside. She then picked her phone and began surfing through the internet. She had few friends over the time that she was abroad and she replied to their messages. Most were just questions asking how she was, nothing that was really important there. Just when she was about to close her phone and fall asleep, she received a notification in her private message and she clicked it open. It was a message from someone named 'big boss'. "Are you awake?" The message rang and Allicia sat up instant. Her hands shook and her phone nearly fell off due to her abruptness. "Yes, hello" she politely replied. "Hm, you resumed work already?" The person messaged again