Chapter 5

Chapter 5

GIDEON stared blankly at the closed door after Rona—Lyzza went out. His jaw clenched and he almost pulled his hair because of the woman’s actions toward him; the very same woman who has occupied his mind ever since he woke up from a coma four months ago, right after he purchased her that night.

He came to that auction because of his friend’s influence, telling him to unwind more often. He was sent by that bastard friend of his, named Alejandro Almeradez. He was one of his best friends since they were in military school.

He was on leave at that moment and was processing his divorce papers with his ex-wife. That slut of an ex-wife who wasn’t content in life and had the nerve to find another guy. Gideon used to think she was an angel because they had been in a relationship for one and a half years before they decided to get married. She acted demure in her external actions and through her appearance, but she was wild in bed; the reason why both of them reached two years, adding up the eight months of his marriage with her.

However, unknowingly, someone was making his ex-wife happy in bed while he was busy with his military service. His whore of an ex-wife was a real wolf in sheep’s clothing. She jumped from one bed to the next with several men during those times he was not around, revealing her true color whenever she moaned in pleasure.

Even when they were already married, she was still doing it—cheating. He didn’t know where he lacked to even experience such a thing from her. Whatever she wanted, she would get it. Gideon tolerated all of her caprice and gave her even his time when he was on vacation. But it seemed like she still wasn’t satisfied with him because she found comfort in another guy’s arms.

After six months of being together as husband and wife, he decided to divorce her as soon as he saw her grinding on top of another man inside his own house—right on their own bed.

He was in a rage, but he stopped himself from pulling his gun from his pocket and blowing the guy’s head off. His ex-wife didn’t even respect his house or their master’s bedroom.

He managed to calm himself and filed for a divorce. His ex-wife even protested and even blamed him for his shortcomings. Gideon chose to understand her up until the court approved the divorce he filed in Las Vegas, right where they tied the knot.

Moreover, he made sure that his ex-wife would not get anything from him, not even a dime from his properties and money. She attempted to file a case against him, but he threatened her that if she did that, he’d also file a case against her for committing adultery. The woman knew well how much power he had to acquire solid evidence to prove his claim and make her pay for that crime.

He was in the military, after all.

In the end, his ex-wife chose to leave him alone and left the country.

Exactly a week after the court approved his divorce papers, Alejandro invited him to go to a bar. They also brought Riguel with them, their other friend. The three of them were called the bad-ass trio in military school back in their batch. They always got each other’s backs.

His friends presumed that he was goddamn lonely, or at least that was what Alejandro believed, and so he asked his driver to pick him up and send him to that hotel where that auction took place. He showered his friend with all sorts of curses right at that moment when he realized where he was. His anger tripled when he heard Riguel’s laughter from the other line.

In Alejandro’s defense, Gideon needed to at least unwind. And when they said to unwind, it meant he would go pick a woman and spend his time having a happy hour.

His irritation with his two best friends vanished when his eyes fell on a beautiful young girl. She was nineteen or twenty years old, perhaps. She looked innocent and frightened all at the same time. It was like she was only forced to do it; that she didn’t really like selling her body, but she just had to.

She was quite different from the other women she was with on the make-stage who wanted to attract clients’ attention. Gideon saw how the young girl was scared when she saw the old, foreign man had the highest bid for her.

It was his cue to make his move. Suddenly, he felt a strong urge to save the girl and claim her at the same time. It was a fatal attraction, and he couldn’t do anything to fight it. He was thinking that Alejandro was correct after all; he was lonely and needed to concentrate on the young woman.

But deep inside, it was more than that. If he really wanted to permanently forget about his ex-wife’s betrayal through a woman, he would surely go to a bar, pull some almost naked woman and fuck her inside the comfort room of the establishment.

After all, he didn’t need to approach them since he was the one being approached by women. Alejandro told him that he was the exact replica of his brother, Nexus Almeradez. Too serious, had an expensive smile and had intimidating looks.

But because of the fact that he spent three million for just one night with that young girl, he knew it wasn’t just because he wanted to forget about the divorce he had with his ex-wife.

He was attracted to that girl, named Rona.

‘It was Lyzza. Her name is Lyzza. Damn it!’ He was left dumbfounded when he found out her real name. Of course, she would never tell him her real name that night.

It only confirmed his doubt that night. He already thought that her name was not her real name. And now, the girl pretended that she didn’t know him. It was unacceptable. Even more so because she was the first person who occupied his mind when he woke up from a coma.

That morning, four years ago, he received a call from the camp that he needed to get back to service for another mission. He didn’t have any choice but to go and leave the beautiful young lady sleeping safely and soundly beside him.

However, on his way to the camp, he was ambushed by the notorious international syndicate, which they had been keeping an eye on for so long. He was cornered and, despite him being badly beaten up, he managed to blow off each of the enemies’ heads who attempted to attack him.

It was already too late when he found out that there was a bomb planted inside his car. There were a few seconds that were left before he figured it out. He immediately threw it away, but the impact was so severe that it still harmed him. He just woke up after four months of being in a state of coma.

When he regained his strength, his driver came to visit him and told him what had happened that day. The driver told him that he hadn’t seen the woman he was supposed to fetch after that night. The hotel management confirmed that the girl left thirty minutes after he exited the building. The red envelope wasn’t beside the lampshade either, so he assumed that she had already read what was written there.

However, that girl was a real hard-headed person. She was too stiff and refused to talk to him. Because of that, he chose to return to his military service to finish his remaining years.

He promised his mother that he would leave the military at the age of thirty-two. And he did. Right after that, he spent his time learning about his family business.

As their eldest and only son, it was his responsibility to take the company and manage it as soon as his father, the chairman of the company, retired. It was also not an option to not take care of his younger sister.

His little sister was a spoiled brat, and he knew that she didn’t want to be caged in the four corners of the office he was currently in. She would surely get bored to death—at least those were her words.

And now that he had become the CEO of Vesarius Airlines, he immediately hired a private investigator to find that woman. But it looked like he didn’t have to bother spending his money because he had already seen her again.

“Sir, what should we do to the remaining students outside the office?” Cleo, his secretary, asked while peeking inside his office.

Gideon turned his back on him and slammed his ass against the swivel chair. He leaned against the headrest and picked up his sign pen.

“Transfer them to HR. I’m done with what I needed to do.”

He didn’t care if the Head of HR spent her entire day until midnight just interviewing the students that wanted to get on-the-job training at their company.

“Yes, Sir,” his secretary answered, and he carefully closed the door behind him. Cleo was used to his behavior. He didn’t need to say a ton of words just for him to understand his order.

Cleo wouldn’t have stayed as his secretary for a year if he didn’t know that. He chose his employees very well. He didn’t need an incompetent one.

Gideon looked at Lyzza’s resume once again. The woman was smiling in the picture. That smile was only a little, but was enough to capture his attention.

He detached her passport-sized photo from her CV and kept it in his drawer. He then put her resume along with the three other resumes of the students he had already interviewed.

“WHAT happened to you, Lyz? You look like you’ve been showered by jinx all day!” Quincy asked Lyzza when she saw her at the cafeteria inside Vesarius Airlines.

It was already lunchtime, so she decided to go there. The truth was, Lyzza spent her time there right after leaving Gideon’s office, and that was three hours ago.

She suddenly felt so small and regretful. And yes, her chest was full of negativity.

It was like a big slap landed on her face when Gideon didn’t even give her a chance to showcase her abilities to be able to enter the airline that he owned. Vesarius Airlines was a big opportunity for each and every fourth-year tourism student like her.

It seemed like fate was playing tricks on her. Out of all the people who could be the boss, it had to be that guy who knew her darkest secret, aside from her family and two best friends.

“Nothing. I just don’t feel well today,” she answered, biting the straw of an empty glass. It was her third glass of juice. Lyzza felt a bit ashamed if she continued to just spend her time inside the cafeteria without buying anything.

“Not feeling well? Why? You’re even lucky to have seen a glimpse of Vesarius’ CEO,” Quincy uttered, and put her tray on top of the table with the food she ordered.

Lyzza just sighed but didn’t speak. If only she could tell Quincy that the man she was swooning over was the reason she was like this. If she attempted to tell her that, Quincy would probably start to ask her questions. She didn’t want her classmate to find out her secret—about Summer’s real father, and so she chose to shut her mouth.

“And you know what, Lyz?” Quincy asked while she took a spoonful of food. Even though her mouth was full, there was no way to stop her from chattering. “Those students that were assigned to the CEO were deliberately transferred to HR,” she informed her with a grin. “Have you been interviewed?”

She nodded and snatched some strands of fries from Quincy’s plate.

“Ah, you’re so lucky!” her friend exclaimed while focusing on her, not minding that she was already taking a lot of fries from her plate. “Well, the nerve-wracking witch at the other block, she didn’t get her chance. She thought she would hit the jackpot this day. We’re all out of the ship.”

Quincy Mae laughed like she was really happy that all of the students she disliked were transferred to HR including the other woman from the other section.

Lyzza sometimes thought that Quincy was a brat.

Moreso, she knew that she was kind. She befriended almost all of the students at their university. But she was the only one she chose to spend her time with ever since Lyzza came back to finish her studies.

Lyzza heard that Quincy’s family was well-off, but because she was a real-time rebel in the family, her politician father threw her into a public university. Because she was always the center of attention, she was overjoyed to attend a public university. In Quincy’s defense, she felt suffocated by the pressure and standards of her father when she enrolled in a private school.

“Would juice be your lunch?” Quincy asked when she noticed that she didn’t have any food with her.

“I’m still full. Full with juice intake,” she answered and looked at her friend.

Quincy Mae was staring at her—no, she was staring at her back as if she was seeing a ghost… more on something she really liked. That shocked expression that eventually gave out a creepy smile, or more like a grin. Her eyes almost turned into two beating hearts.

That only meant one thing. She already saw one of the reasons for her day becoming brilliant and complete. Lyzza followed her gaze and almost lost her grip on the fries that she was supposed to eat when she saw Gideon standing a few meters away from her.

He was standing in the middle of the cafeteria, crossing his arms arrogantly while looking at them—at her. His eyes traveled toward their table, taking a longer look at her empty glass. After that, he returned his gaze to her and down to her lips.

She absentmindedly covered her lips upon remembering how he “ravished” her with his kisses earlier.

From his blank expression, he then furrowed his eyebrows and raised his hand. He was signaling someone, and then a little later, his secretary approached him.

Gideon said something inaudible. She just heard the words ‘food’ and ‘service’. Another meaningful and deep gaze was given in her direction right before he decided to turn away and exited the cafeteria.

“Shit!” Quincy Mae squeaked, which made Lyzza look at her in confusion. After that, she crouched on the table and reached for both of her arms. “Tell me the truth, Lyz. Why is he giving you that kind of look?” Quincy asked her curiously like she was some kind of criminal that was being interrogated.

“W-what kind of look?” she asked, playing innocent as if she really didn’t know what kind of look he just gave her. She suddenly shuddered in her seat.

“That kind of deep, dark, yet entrancing look! That was the look he just gave you!”