CHAPTER 06

Later that evening.

I was checking Vivian’s profile on my mobile.

She was a well-known fashion designer and made millions every year. But her father was a big real estate dealer with a net worth over 900 million dollars.

“She’s a big deal. No wonder Ryan chose her over me…”

I wasn’t even that hurt, not because I found some logic in what Ryan did, but because I couldn’t care about Ryan’s choices anymore.

My phone snapped me out of my slumbering thoughts.

The peaceful ringtone made me want to hear it until the end.

But it was Lucia calling, so I answered it in ten seconds.

“E-Elena, an excavator came to my cafe and completely razed it to the ground,” Lucia was crying hard, panic filling her voice. “I don’t know what to do.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Lucia had bought the cafe over four years ago. Why would someone suddenly destroy her cafe?

“W-Who did it?” I quickly asked. “Did they tell you the reason?”

“There were police officers, and they said the property legally belongs to the Bosch Group.”

My heart skipped a beat.

“Did you say Bosch Group?”

“Yeah. Why? Do you know them?”

My eyes widened without restraint. “T-That’s the same company Ryan works in.”

I heard Lucia’s breath hitch. “That motherfucker Ryan… Did he wreck my cafe because I took your side? How could he do this to me?”

“I don’t think he’s the one who did it. He’s not that powerful,” I told her. “It’s his ‘real’ girlfriend, his company’s CEO, Vivian Bosch.”

Lucia paused.

She didn’t say anything, or rather she probably couldn’t think of anything right now.

I would feel the same if I knew that a billion dollar company just destroyed my cafe and wanted to take over the land.

“I’m still paying EMIs for the cafe,” she said. “I still have one year of installments left. How am I supposed to pay EMIs for a cafe that’s been destroyed? All the money I invested in the cafe went down the drain now.” Her voice cracked. “How can I come back from this? How can they be so cruel?”

“Please don’t cry. I will not just sit back and watch as they bully my friend,” I said.

“W-What can you do? You yourself said that Ryan isn’t the one behind it,” Lucia stated. “It’s his company’s chairman. What can we do to a person of such high stature? Even the court and the police will take her side.”

“Just give me some time,” I urged. “And don’t think of doing anything stupid. If you need anything, just call me, okay? You can come and live in my apartment if you want.”

“I feel so empty right now. All the hard work I put in the past four years… what was all that for?” Lucia continued to cry and ended the phone call.

I sucked in a deep breath.

I wanted to help Lucia, but I knew very well that I wouldn’t be able to do anything on my own.

I had two options.

The first option was to call my dad. He would probably help me if I were to listen to him and return home.

The second option was to seek Adrian’s help.

But the problem with the second option was whether Adrian would be willing to fight Bosch Group when it wasn’t even my problem but my friend Lucia’s?

With hesitation and doubt in my heart, I made the call.

To my disappointment, Adrian did not answer the call. He must be busy, so I left a voice message for him because this was urgent.

“I hope he’ll do something about it. If he doesn’t at least try, I don’t think dating him is worth it.”

With the cafe gone, I am forced to find work elsewhere.

With a heart full of uncertainty about my own future, I found it difficult to sleep that night.

The next morning.

I woke up and checked the time.

It was ten in the morning.

“Damn, I slept hard.” I called Lucia immediately, but her mobile was switched off.

I grew nervous.

“She didn’t do anything stupid, did she?”

I quickly dressed up and rushed to her flat, but she wasn’t there. I rode the bicycle and headed to the cafe.

When I got there, I was slack jawed from what I saw.

Lucia and a few others were waiting outside the cafe which looked completely new.

This wasn’t the same cafe, but a brand new one built over a destroyed cafe.

How did a new building get built overnight?

Just what the hell happened?

Lucia saw me and came running to me. “I’m waiting for you,” she grabbed my arm. “C’mon, let’s cut the ribbon together.”

“U-Uh, yeah… hey, can you tell me what happened?” I asked.

Lucia smiled at me. “Don’t act like you don’t know. A friend of yours talked with the officers and built the cafe from scratch with the help of 1200 construction workers, designers, plumbers and electricians. I won’t be surprised if we get a Guinness record for this.”

“My friend?” I was left speechless.

Don’t tell me.. It was Adrian?

I only asked for him to support Lucia, but he went this hard for a request I made out of the blue?

My eyes looked around, trying to spot Adrian, and then I saw the sleek black sedan, Rolls Royce Ghost, in the distance.

I couldn’t see him, but I remembered that it was the same car I saw yesterday.

Something fragile inside me loosened, then trembled with gratitude.

What Adrian did… he didn’t just build a cafe. He rebuilt Lucia’s dream, which I thought was utterly crushed.

Moreover, I felt like I found someone who truly heard my voice.

Or rather, it was him who found me.