Chapter Eighteen: This Is The Moment

"Hmm, sounds like a sweet deal. Okay, then. I'll go to the company trip this time." Lara nodded in return. She's already making a mental plan on how to spend her one week of paid holiday leave once the company retreat is over, and she's pretty excited about it...

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Few days flew by quickly.

The day of Etoile Annual Company retreat finally arrives. Lara is currently standing at the building's rooftop with Lara, where her very own personal helicopter will make a landing. 

She is feeling so nervous because she never experienced travelling in the air. She has never been inside an airplane, and of course, never been in an helicopter as well.

"Why are you so quiet, Lara? Are you feeling okay?" Amanda suddenly asked her, while she's standing beside her.

"No, I'm not okay. This my first time riding a helicopter, and I'm a nervous wreck right now." Lara finally admitted.

"Oh, you don't have to be nervous. It's totally safe since I just bought a new helicopter so it's all brand new. And besides, I have the best pilot in the country, so you don't have to worry about a thing!" Amanda tries to reassure her.

"Well, that sounds really reassuring." Lara sarcastically stated.

Amanda was about to say something but she wasn't able to do so because a flying helicopter is now making its way towards them. Lara is frozen in shock while she's watching the helicopter descend and finally landed.

"Alright, let's get moving, Lara." Amanda persuades her.

Lara wanted to run away, but Amanda is firmly holding her hand. She feels like being dragged away. The pilot gave them some instruction and gave them a headgear. Lara's aware that Amanda and the pilot is talking about something but it's not clear for her what it was because her head is spinning.

She then held her head in suspense when she felt the helicopter moving into the air. She closed her eyes tightly, while preparing for the worst thing to happen.

"Girl, you should open your eyes and look at the wonderful sights!" Amanda encouraged her.

Lara doesn't want to be called as a coward by Amanda, so she mustered all her courage to open her eyes, and she almost forgot how to breathe when she saw the scenic view from above in the early morning. The tall buildings seems to be very small from up above! She also saw the mountains, and the clouds that looked like vanilla cotton candies up in the sky! The sky is also blue and clear, and it was such a wonderful sight!

"Oh, my gosh! This is so wonderful!" Lara gasped in return.

"I told you! I'm so happy for you, my friend! You've finally experienced flying in the air and you should put this on your bucket list!" Amanda happily told.

Lara nodded as an answer, as she puts her attention back to the view. Finally, she was able to do something exciting for once, and she will never, ever forget this moment in her life...

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The next day.

It was already the second day of their company retreat at an exclusive beach resort reserved by CEO Amanda Montserrat. Everyone's having a grand time swimming at the beach, while the others chose to swim at the pool. Some of her colleagues chose to take advantage of having a massage at the spa, while the other chose to spend their time eating at the all you can eat restaurant buffet...

But Lara is not in the mood to do all of those things. She doesn't know why, but she currently experiencing the most intense case of migraine right now, and she feels a bit weak and her head is throbbing because of pain. It has been so long since she had her last migraine, and now it's back, but she needs to by a painkiller for her migraine since she doesn't have on hand. She forces herself to stand up and walk.She quietly slips away from the crowd to go to the nearest drugstore. She needs to buy her usual medication for her migraine, and she will sleep throughout the day, hoping that the pain will go away once she wakes up...

She is now walking on the streets which is crowded by many people, which are all tourists. Her head just keeps on throbbing as she squeezes herself out from the crowd of people, and all the noise is too much for her. But she still continued on walking, as she pushes herself to find a pharmacy to buy herself a bottle of painkiller...

She feels like she's not her usual self, but she knows she's getting desperate to buy a medicine.

"Hey, you should be careful! It's dangerous to stay here at the construction site!" one construction worker shouted at Lara. She didn't realized that she's walking at a construction site.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I---!" Lara stops at mid-sentence when she heard another man shouting again.

"Look out! There are falling debris!" the other construction worker gave them a warning.

Before Lara could react and run away to save herself from danger, she suddenly felt a sharp pain on the back o her head. 

Lara cried out because of pain.

Then everything went really fast. The next thing she knew, there was a searing pain on her head,and after that, everything went pitch black.

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OLIVER DOE

"There's another woman who got hit by a fallen debris!" 

Oliver heard someone shouting. He curiously frowned while he's trying to observe the frantic crowd.

He glances at his clock. He's supposed to meet Amanda at the park, but thirty minutes have already passed since their promised time but her girlfriend is still nowhere to be found.

"Oh my heavens! I know that woman who got into an accident!"

Oliver said heard a woman standing near him.

"Huh? How did you know? And who is she?" the woman's friend asked in return.

Oliver can't help himself but to eavesdrop at their conversation.

"----I saw her being carried away by the ambulance staff and I saw her face. I know for sure that it's Amanda Montserrat because I worked for her before!" the woman responded, in a worried tone.

Oliver feels like a bomb exploded infront of him when he heard Amanda's name.

"No, it can't be true!" he said to himself in utter shock.

He pushed the bystanders away as he tries to go to an ambulance vehicle which was parked not far away from where he was standing...