Good Smile

* Raphael’s POV*

"Jack, tell me your thoughts. What do you think about her?" I mumbled while my elbows lay on my desk, fingers clamped together.

"According to Remy, she’s far from a liability. She has an excellent portfolio and works well. I don’t see any problem, sir,"

"I’m not talking about that."

I invited the chief of the marketing department to my office so I could know more about her. Unfortunately, everything he said was already on her resume, so I had to investigate her background secretly. There was nothing particularly interesting about her records; there were

no extracurricular activities or any relationships in the past. But how can that be?

Can someone be single for 26 years?

I pulled out her resume and stared at her innocent-looking picture. "I could tell she’s lying. I’m sure she’s up to something. Can you believe it? For the first time, a woman used me without getting anything in return. That sounds absolutely ridiculous."

"What do you want to do, sir? Should we fire her?"

I grinned. "No."

Though she’s suspicious. I do admit that she entertains me effortlessly. Just like that night at the nightclub, she doesn’t disappoint. My memories may be blurry, but I could still vividly feel her skin against mine, her soft lips, and her addicting cries

that sent me to bliss. After all that, she’s saying she’s no longer interested?

I crumpled the paper and let out an unsatisfied grunt.

"Do you remember the woman I told you to find last week?"

"You mean Ms. Stacy?"

"It’s her."

Jack’s eyes widen in surprise.

I chuckled, "I thought she only had an emergency and that she didn’t know how to contact me. But it turns out, she was running away from me all this time. If fate hadn't brought us together again, I'm sure she'd be living her life while I slowly went insane, i clearly fell into her trap.. She’s cunning, I’d give her that.”

"But sir...Can I ask why you’re looking for

her? Do you like Ms. Brooks? "

"Like her?" I laughed and I felt the rage finally sink in. "That’s far from it. I hate people who deceive me the most. I’ll make sure she regrets that she ever messed with me. And i’ll do it the fun way."

In the middle of our conversation, a phone, out of nowhere, suddenly rang. It played the old ringtone from Nokia. Jack tried to find the source and picked it up from the corner of the sofa. My eyebrows furrowed. It wasn’t even a Nokia, yet the person dared use the ringtone as a joke. The audacity, The phone is one of the models of our company.

Seeing that I had no less than one visitor for this day, I could immediately tell that it was Abby’s phone. She must’ve dropped it when she suddenly kneeled in front of me.

Then, a sudden thought came to mind. ‘Oh, this is going to be fun.’

"Should I answer the phone?"

"Give it to me," I said, reaching my arms. Once he gave the phone to me, I answered the call and placed it in my ear. It was then that I heard her worried voice come through.

["Someone answered! Thank God! Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?"]

"I hear you."

["A... Actually, I am the owner of the phone you’re using right now. and I’d appreciate it if you could hand it to me at this moment!"]

I smirked, "How do I know you’re not a con artist? This phone could be anyone’s."

["No! It’s my phone! I have a log and

pictures on that phone. My name is Abby Brooks. I have a copy of my resume in my files in there!"]

"What’s your passcode?"

["What? No! Why should I tell you? Who even are you?"]

"You don’t have that luxury to question me. I am the one holding the phone at this very moment. If you don’t agree, then I guess our conversation stops here. Have a good day, Abby."

["What! Okay, okay! I agree! My password is *****!"]

Stupid. I let out a chuckle.

"Thank you for that information. Goodbye,"

["Wha-"]

And I dropped the call.

Not that I was not capable of hacking into her phone; it was just fun to tease her and make her feel stupid for giving out the key herself. I’d gotta admit, she indeed makes me laugh in mysterious ways. I placed the phone on my desk and stared at her wallpaper. It was Abby and her mother in a polaroid filter photo.

Right, it’s her mother’s birthday.

"Jack, what’s my schedule for tomorrow?"

You have to go to Mr. Brooks and his wife’s anniversary celebration. It will be held in the Green Palace tomorrow afternoon. "

Interestingly, when I jogged up Abby’s records, It turns out that her dad is one of the companies that I invested in. The Brooks’ company was a small entertainment company. Despite the competition, they produced some famous artists that we know today. The company

has potential, so I invested in them, but who would’ve thought that Abby was one of his daughters? Or should I say, a hidden daughter?

Abby’s step-sister, also known as Mary Brooks, is a supermodel that is quite well known. She‘s the ultimate product of their dad’s company as she was able to flourish her talents internationally. On the other hand, our Abby turns out to be neglected. She moved out of their house at the age of 20. Since then, she lived with her mom and survived alone without the help of her father.

Quite tragic, I’d say.

"Tell Mr. Brooks to invite Abby and her mother to the event. If he can’t, I’ll pull out my investment. "

"Got it."

After Jack leaves my office, I scanned through her phone’s photos and found it hilarious how this woman acts so childish in front of a camera. There were about a thousand of them, and most of them were random shots of her in low-dimmed lighting. Oddly enough, even if they were random shots, she looked photogenic in every picture.

As if it pulls me to say that she’s beautiful.

Unsatisfied, I flipped the phone down to avoid thinking about it. beautiful? That woman is a seductress. I should be careful with these thoughts, or else I’d eventually give in again to her schemes. It was already time to leave the office, so I got up and put on my coat. When all of a sudden, her phone rang, and it seemed that she had sent a message.

I picked it up and opened the messages app.

|Sender: Unknown|

*//You son of a b*tch! Give me back my phone! I’ll call the police and sue your ass for this!//*

~*~

*Abby’s POV*

After I had lost my phone. I have been using my backup phone to contact my other phone. I have tried everything to track it down. But it turns out, I didn’t even set up the GPS feature of my phone. If I wasn’t so lazy, then I wouldn't be suffering so much right now!

I screamed as I buried myself in my pillow.

It also didn’t help that the bastard who picked up my phone found it amusing to irritate me like this. I had sent several messages already and even tried to call my phone again, but he was no longer

answering back! Gosh, why am I so unlucky on this day?! What the hell did I do so wrong for me to experience things like this?

I was so preoccupied with my misery that I didn’t notice my mom entering the room.

"Abby, baby, what’s wrong?"

"Mom? It’s nothing. Just... trivial stuff."

"Really?" She sighed and sat on the edge of my bed. "I have to tell you something."

"What? What is it? Did I forget to pay my internet bill again? "

"No."

"What about the water bill? Electric bill?"

She shook her head. "It’s about your Dad."

I groaned in frustration. I stood up from the bed and walked up to my window in

irritation. "You know, I hate talking about Dad. Let’s not do this today, Mom. I’m not in the mood."

"He... he asked us to go to their anniversary tomorrow."

I snapped. "What the f*ck did he just say?"

"Abby..."

"No! What the hell, Mom! Why are you even considering going there? "

Was the humiliation we suffered not enough? Where does Gilbert even get the audacity to ask the family he left to attend the yearly date where he cheated on my mom? It was so sickening that I almost gagged. I still can’t believe that people like him exist, and to our bad luck, we just had to be the family involved with him.

My mom unexpectedly kneeled, and she pleaded. "Please Abby, this might be the

chance... Your father might have changed his mind after all! He still loves us! I know you hate your father now, but I still love Gilbert!"

"Mom, wake up! He doesn’t love us!"

"Don’t talk like that!" She cries, "Don’t talk like that, Abby, please. It’s my birthday tomorrow, honey. Can you please do me this favor?"

I couldn’t stop it. The tears just started to fall. I despise Gilbert more than anything else. But more than that, I have always despised seeing my mom like this. Drunken into the belief that love is unpredictable and true, when it is not. It is filled with lies and deception, and so-called "love" is truly the worst thing in this world. The sickening part is that I have to be the product of that love.

And there’s nothing I could do about it.

I chuckled bitterly, "Fine. Whatever makes you happy, mom. "