Part 14

14. 

"For the time being, your workspace with Daddy will be the same so that Daddy can check and supervise your work. So, if there are any doubts or questions, you don't need to keep going back and forth just to ask," Chelsea nodded, glancing briefly at Carlos. "So, we'll be working at the same desk like this, Uncle?"

"Yes, for the time being until there's a spare office boy to deliver a desk and chair for you. And by the way, I'd like to mention that you don't need to call me Uncle anymore, but Daddy, okay?" Carlos raised both his eyebrows.

Chelsea smiled and nodded. "Of course, what's not for Daddy," she replied in a soft and seductive voice, making Carlos tempted to just hug Chelsea right now. While waiting for Carlos to discuss what Chelsea could do to help him at the office.

Of course, they were just having a casual conversation, and Chelsea responded as usual. But after receiving a text message from Vano, Chelsea reacted immediately. The man asked Chelsea to get closer to her father, and everything had to be done to make their plan work smoothly.

As a result, Chelsea unbuttoned two buttons on her top shirt, making her bolder at the moment.

"What?" Carlos lowered his glasses slightly to see what she was doing.

"It's quite hot in here. Is there no AC here?" Chelsea looked around.

"There is. Is the AC not cold enough here?"

Chelsea nodded. "Yes, proof is, I'm sweating." She wiped her neck, even though Chelsea felt cold at the moment. Her goosebumps stood up due to the cold AC temperature, but she opened two more buttons on her shirt.

So Carlos raised the AC temperature so Chelsea wouldn't feel too hot. That was Carlos' intention, even though Chelsea was really cold now because the AC temperature was too high.

"Dad, should this data also be inputted into this section? Because I want to create a table so that it doesn't look messy like this." Chelsea turned her laptop towards Carlos, slightly bending over to point to the laptop screen to make sure Carlos understood what she meant.

It wasn't really necessary to pose like that, but if Chelsea wanted to tease Carlos, she had to bend over to make her cleavage more visible.

Carlos held his breath, swallowing hard. He pushed aside the desire to peek beneath Chelsea's white shirt.

"T-this is how it is. So it should be like this."

"What's this, Dad? I don't understand," Chelsea cut in because Carlos was getting off track in explaining what data needed to be inputted.

"It's up to you. Arrange it however you want." Carlos loosened his tie slightly.

"It seems like you're right; it feels hot in here. Papa, just raise the AC temperature. I'm also feeling a bit warm." Chelsea narrowed her eyes.

"Alright, if you think so." Carlos raised the AC temperature again, making the room even colder.

Meanwhile, at the campus, Vano appeared anxious, waiting for someone in a campus room that was undergoing renovation. Since it was lunch break, the workers weren't there. Vano used this opportunity to talk to his beloved, as he didn't want any misunderstandings when Chelsea returned to campus.

Considering that Chelsea had also requested in the agreement for them to come and go together to campus. After waiting for fifteen minutes, Vano's beloved girl finally arrived. She looked neat in her faculty outfit as a lecturer.

"I'm sorry for making you wait," the girl said. Vano immediately smiled and embraced his girlfriend, leading her to a chair in the corner of the room.

"It's okay, as long as I can meet you to ease my longing."

The girl chuckled and lightly hit Vano's arm. "You're the number one when it comes to cheesy lines, but unfortunately, your GPA doesn't reflect that."

"Don't bring up GPA when we're here. To me, you're not a lecturer, but my girlfriend."

"You're quite the charmer. So, what made you rush to ask me to meet when we've already agreed that we'll only meet on specific days at the campus? For example, when you've been out of town for a while, then we schedule a meeting here. What's going on?"

Vano held his girlfriend's hand. "I've found a way to get our relationship approved."

"Really?" Of course, the girl couldn't wait to know what plan Vano had in mind to make their relationship public and possibly take it to the next level – like getting engaged while waiting for Vano to finish his studies.

"Here's the plan: I'm going to matchmake Papa with a girl."

"W-what, a girl?"

The girl, often called Celine, was taken aback. If Vano had wanted to set Carlos up with a woman, she wouldn't be surprised. But saying "a girl" was something she really didn't expect.

After all, Carlos was no longer young; he was in his forties.

"Do you mean you're going to set Papa up with a girl who hasn't been married for a long time? Or someone who has had trouble finding a partner?"

Celine quickly corrected herself, fearing that Vano might be offended because she initially thought Carlos would be paired with a teenager.

"Not exactly. She's around 21 or 22 years old. Two years younger than me."

This time, Celine was truly speechless, especially after hearing the age of the girl Vano was talking about.

"Don't you think she's too young? I mean, at that age, she'd be more suitable as a daughter-in-law, not a wife. You shouldn't do anything strange, Van. Just for the sake of approval, you're leading your dad down the wrong path."

Vano shook his head. "It's not as simple as that. We have different missions but the same goal."

"What goal?"

"The goal to separate my dad from his current girlfriend."

"But didn't you agree that your dad getting married again was a good thing? All this time, you objected only because he didn't give his approval to us, and you obviously demanded reciprocity from all of this. So, why suddenly do you want to matchmake him with a girl who will make our relationship even more complicated?"

"That's exactly why I chose a special girl."

"What do you mean?" Celine was truly puzzled because Vano hadn't gotten to the main point of the conversation since the beginning.

"Here's the thing: this girl is the daughter of my dad's current girlfriend."

"So..." Celine raised both her eyebrows.

"So, she doesn't approve of her mother marrying my dad because when they started their relationship, her mother hadn't divorced at all. She even badmouths her own father to my dad, saying that her dad likes to fool around, even though it's her mother who's been changing partners since her father went bankrupt. And her mother's bankruptcy was caused by her own foolishness."

"So..." Celine was still trying to understand.

"So, I asked her to get close to my dad and make him want to marry her. Automatically, if my dad becomes infatuated with her, he'll do anything his wife wants, right? That's where I'll ask her to persuade my dad to approve of us."

"I see, but are you sure this will all go smoothly?"

"I'm very sure because I've seen my dad quite comfortable around her. Just look, my dad even invited her to live with him." 

"So, does her mother live there too?"

"Of course, they're mother and daughter. So, my goal in inviting you here is to ask for permission to come and go with her to campus every day, to prove to Papa that we are truly in a relationship."

"W-wait a minute, something seems off... You said you wanted to matchmake her with Papa, but why do you have to escort her to campus? So that your dad doesn't suspect that you..."

"Calm down, don't jump to conclusions."

Vano tightened his grip on her hand. He knew his girlfriend had misunderstood his words.

"So... coincidentally, this girl is the one Papa asked to be my wife so that I could forget about you."

"What did you say? So, all the time we've spent together isn't enough evidence for your dad that I love you deeply," Celine sighed, leaning back in her chair. If only she could turn back time, she would have prevented Vano's father from attending his cousin's wedding in Surabaya.

If only that day, Vano's father hadn't gone, then the man wouldn't have caused Vano's mother to pass away. It was indeed an accident, but in Carlos's eyes, it was premeditated murder because Celine's father was a business rival.

"Is your father so resentful of me that he went through all this trouble to find a girl to be his daughter-in-law, and I'm sure she's younger and prettier than me."

"Don't think like that. To me, you are everything, and never bring up the age difference between us. I've never cared about it. As you can see, I'm even willing to let Daddy marry a girl younger than me so that we can get his approval. I don't care whether he's happy or not; I just want him to marry a girl I can manipulate and make her fulfill my wishes.

So, I hope you'll support my plan so that we can get married. It may take quite a while, but at least there's a glimmer of hope for us to find happiness."

Celine shrugged. "Well, if that's what you want. I can only go along with it because I've already accepted all the rules set by your father."

"Don't be like that, my love." Vano hugged her and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

"You must not give up like this. Don't you see that I'm trying to fight for our relationship? If you give up like this, it would all be in vain. I'm even willing to let Daddy marry a girl much younger than him."

"Can you imagine how people will react when they find out that I have a younger stepmother than me?" Celine thought realistically that this was her last effort to gain approval after this.

Vano hoped that Carlos would give him his blessing even though their journey was still far from over.