When she opened the message, she found eleven digits, a phone number.Fia felt a surge of excitement and immediately stepped out of her office to call Quincey."Hello, is this Ms. Black?""It's me." Quincey’s voice sounded somewhat heavy. "I didn't go to work today.""Yeah," Fia replied, momentarily unsure of what to say.Quincey stayed silent for a couple of seconds. "I'm sorry about this morning. I was in a bad mood."Fia replied, "It's okay. Everyone has their bad days.""Are you curious about my situation?" Quincey chuckled self-deprecatingly. "There's nothing much to be curious about. I'm sure you've heard at least some of it."Fia was momentarily speechless.Quincey said faintly, "I stand at the kindergarten gate every morning, say 'good morning' to everyone, and bid them 'goodbye' in the evening. In everyone's eyes, I'm like an alien, here for their amusement, here to be discussed.""You can’t control what people say. Living your own life well is good enough." Fia coul
Her gaze turned to them, and for a moment, it felt as though she didn't know Fia at all. Her face maintained its polite smile, neither more nor less than before. At that moment, Fia felt like she was a stranger. Quincey had an unusual personality, and she had a cool demeanor.If she were a boy, she would probably attract many girls."Adrian Guthrie, Irene Guthrie." She announced into the microphone.Fia approached her. "Ms. Black, you...""Who's that?" Quincey interrupted her, her gaze landing on Conrad and Mrs. Taylor, who were not far away.Fia turned to look, and she heard Quincey say, "Your mother-in-law and husband, right?""No." Fia began to explain.Quincey turned off the microphone and whispered, "I just remembered. You mentioned that the children don't have a father, and you don't have a husband, right?""Right." Fia confirmed without hesitation.Quincey smiled, then quickly walked over to where her colleagues were holding Adrian and Irene’s hand, and brought th
She remained distant and aloof while allowing the great Conrad Maxwell to escort her into the venue. She did not seem to be interested in getting to know nor warming up to anyone.As the guests invited him to have a drink together, Conrad refused with a firm yet polite tone. “I’m terribly sorry, gentlemen. I’m still feeling under the weather so it’s best for me to refrain from drinking for now.”The guests were curious hearing this, “Mr. Maxwell, you can walk fairly well now. Have you found an expert surgeon to have it fixed?”“Yes, I did.” Conrad lightly tapped on Fia’s hand with a smile.In an instant, everyone’s eyes were on Fia.“Could it be that… It was this young lady who healed you?”“No, I’ve got nothing to do with it!” Fia retorted while pinching Conrad’s waist as hard as she could. She was upset that he dragged her into this conversation, making her the center of everyone’s attention.“Well, yes. It’s just my luck that my leg recovered fully after just a night’s slee
A frown spread across Fia’s face when she realized what she had done. She should not have retorted like that.Felicity grimaced. “Ms. Sia, how could you talk to my father like that?!”Feeling uneasy, Fia retorted, “I can’t help it. This is just the way I talk. What’re you going to do about it, huh? Bite me?”“Look at her, Conrad! Look at this vile woman! She has no manners at all!”Yet, Conrad defended Fia in a heartbeat. “Well, this is just how she talks. She can’t help it.”Conall, on the other hand, wheeled closer to Fia and took a good look at her.“My dear... You’re… You’re…”Fia frowned, “My name is Sia Stewart!”The spark of hope that was in Conall’s eyes faded. “I see… My apologies.”Then, the man lowered his head, looking utterly saddened.“Dad, let’s pick a spot close to the stage.” Felicity took her uncle’s place and wheeled her father away, fearing that he might mistake Sia as her dead half-sister.However, it was not just Conall who noticed something. Finn also
Ever since the death of his daughter five years ago, Conall had lost interest in anything in life.Then, the auction began.Many people kept bidding in hopes to secure the land. Yet by the end of the auction, only Conrad and Felicity were the ones left.Finally, Conrad acquired the land by bidding 10,000,000 dollars more than Felicity, making the land priced over hundreds of millions of dollars. When they were about to leave, Felicity approached Conrad for a handshake. “Congratulations.”Ignoring her hand, Conrad said coldly, “I wish that you’d live your life properly.”Felicity frowned and asked, “What do you mean by that?”“Don't do anything I won’t do, Felicity.”Finishing his words, Conrad escorted Fia out of the building. When they got into the car, Fia asked, “What was that about? Could it be that you’re worried for dear Miss Parker?”“Worried for what?”“You’re worried that you’d be blinded by greed and become a despicable person.” Fia sighed. “I’ll be frank with you.
Fia was happy that her twins were growing up.Irene’s interest was piqued. “Just eat the fish mint tomorrow, Mommy. I promise I won’t nag you again.”Fia said, “It’s just to fill up your tummy. Eating anything is fine.”Irene shook her head. “No. Mommy, if you don’t eat it because of me, won’t that show me as selfish?”“Fine, fine,” Fia said as she kissed her. “If I want to eat it, I’ll eat it while hiding in the corner and won’t show you, okay?”“Sure!” Irene was happy.Fia looked at the kids in front of her and couldn’t help but be reminded of Conall sitting in the wheelchair.She asked about it earlier and found out that Conall couldn’t walk five years ago after her passing. It was because of his anger and sorrow.His condition was different from Conrad’s and he had already missed the best time for treatment. He could never stand ever again.At night, after the twins were asleep, Fia slowly got up as she couldn’t sleep, and drank wine.When it was approaching midnight, she
Conrad came back from the office after the meeting and looked at Fia.“Please make a cup of coffee for me.”“Sure,” Fia said as she got up and made him a cup of coffee. She put it on his desk and was about to go back to hers.Conrad stopped her. “You were there during the land auction. Do you have any opinion on it?”“Nothing in particular,” Fia said as she raised her head with a faint expression. “I’m just here to do odd jobs for you. I don’t know anything about your work.”Conrad then took out the proposal. “Why don’t you take a look then?”Fia’s heart skipped a beat as she stared at him.Did he realize something?“This is the first draft of the proposal and it’s not perfect yet. As my secretary, you can give it a look. You can tell me if anything comes to mind,” Conrad said to her as he looked at her sincerely.Fia took it and nodded. “Sure. I’ll give it a look, but you better not expect me to say anything specific.”Once back at her desk, she then flipped the proposal.A
The other parents left once they picked up their kids. Only Fia was left as she didn’t manage to pick up Adrian and Irene.She pushed the teacher who was stopping her from entering the kindergarten and yelled.Just then, the principal and his wife arrived.“What’s happening?”“How can two children just disappear without a sign?”The teachers then explained to them what happened.“It’s Quincey. She said that the children’s mother gave them a call and asked her to send the children to her car.“I don’t know what happened but, she said she didn’t pick up her children.”“Mr. Principal, why would Quincey lie?”They had worked with Quincey for three years. She was diligent and was the principal’s daughter. She was also the assistant principal. She wouldn’t do anything so ridiculous.The wife then glared at her husband. “Look what your daughter did!”“There... must be a misunderstanding!”The principal walked over to Fia. “Didn’t you give Quincey a call? Do you know where she is r