Chapter2- Encounter

“Happy! Come here.” Sonia, Felicity’s manager, called her after her performance on the stage. Felicity immediately wore her robe and went in the direction where Sonia was happily standing not far from backstage, near Sonia’s office. She suddenly stopped when she saw three uniformed men in suits with Sonia waiting for her to come.

‘What is it this time?’ she wondered, while she kept on frowning at the old lady who never put her hands down from waving at her, signaling to come closer. Felicity took a deep breath before she continued walking.

“What is it, Ma’am? She asked and bowed her head to show respect to her manager and guests.

“You were lucky tonight. Because they chose you to perform at the bachelor’s party tomorrow in Mechelin Hotel,” she happily informed her.

Felicity’s eyes widened in surprise, and her mouth agape. She couldn’t believe what she had heard. From what she remembers, she refuses to perform in that kind of event.

“But, Ma’am… Haven’t we discussed this before? I will not accept events like that anymore. Besides, I have plans for tomorrow.” Sonia glared at her.

“I don’t ask for your permission. It’s part of your job and you have no right to go against it. Besides, the one who asked for you is Mr. Tan. You know him, right? Mr. Tan is planning to throw a bachelor’s party for his son.” Felicity sighed in defeat. What else she could do? It was Mr. Tan.

Mr. Tan is the owner of the Vegas club where she was working at. It was located in Metro Manila.

She owed Mr. Tan a lot. In which she can't refuse, even if it’s against her will.

Mr. Tan is the one who gave her a job when no one wanted to hire her. He is also the reason why her son was still beside her.

“What else I could do? What time is it then?” she asked. A wide smile appeared on Sonia’s face, she even clasped her hands in excitement.

“That’s great! I message you the details. Marie and Grace will come with you too.” After the announcement, Felicity went to her dressing room and quickly changed her clothes to go home.

"Good morning, young man." She greeted when he noticed her son woke up from the bed.

Apollo smiled, “Good morning, mommy. Are you going to sleep now?” He asked. But Felicity shook her head which made Apollo frown.

"Why, mommy?" he asked.

"Because I want to spend time with you," she explained. Apollo's eyes twinkled, as he smiled. Apollo immediately ran toward his mom and gave her a hug.

“Is that true, mommy? Then... Can we go to the mall?” He asked. looking at her with a puppy look eyes.

“Do you want to go there?” Apollo nods. “Alright then, whatever my young man wishes.” Apollo mouthed thanks to his mom and they prepare to eat breakfast.

***

At the mall…

Felicity was busy choosing some clothes for her son and didn’t notice Apollo’s disappearance.

Jeremy Li, 30 years old entrepreneur who owns a few businesses in the country such as malls, real estate property, and restaurants. He’s a domineering guy and ruthless when it comes to business. His employees called him ‘Mr. Cold-Blooded guy’ because they didn’t see him smile. He always wears his poker face.

He was wearing a navy blue suit, followed by his assistant walking along the hallway. They were having a surprise inspection of his own mall when they heard a sound of a crying child near the storage area. He asked his secretary to check where that came from. While Felicity was crying and running all over the place, asking people if they found a child and it happens that she bumped into Jeremy.

Because of the impact, Felicity almost fell down. Fortunately, Jeremy immediately held her waist to stop her from falling down, and their gaze met.

“S-sorry.” Felicity stood up straight and fished out her phone from her bag.

“Sorry, I don't take pictures,” Jeremy informed her, which made her blink her eyes for a second. Jeremy thought that she was one of the people who knew him.

“No. No. No. Don’t worry, I don’t want your picture. I just want to ask if you saw this kid?” she asked, then showed a picture of Apollo to him.

Jeremy frowned for a moment. ‘Maybe it was the kid that we heard who was crying a while ago.’ He thought. It took some time before he shook his head.

"No-" he was interrupt when Joe, his assistant came, holding a crying child in his hand, approaching their direction. “Sir, I saw this child from-” Joe couldn’t finish what he was saying when Felicity immediately ran to them and hugged the kid he was holding.

“Apollo are you alright? Where did you go?” she asked worriedly and checked Apollo’s body if he got injured.

“I’m sorry, mommy.” Apollo bowed his head. He felt guilty about what he did earlier. “I won’t do it again. I just want to see the toys there,” he pointed to the expensive hot wheels toy car set at the toy department, not far from where they were standing.

“It’s okay, son. Mommy is not mad. But I told you that we can’t afford to buy that toys, right?” she explained. “I will buy you that next time. But for now, you can choose only one toy, but not the expensive one.” Apollo’s eyes twinkled, and he smiled, showing his teeth.

Joe let go of the hand of the child. He looked at his boss, and Jeremy signaled him to let them. Besides, they have to go, as they will be late for their next meeting.

When Felicity noticed that they about to leave, she chased them to say thank you. Jeremy just looked at her face and didn't mind answering her. He walk away from the scene.

But when Felicity and Apollo left, he told his assistant to buy the hot wheel set and give the toy to the kid. Joe looked at his boss with amusement in his eyes. He couldn’t believe that a cold-blooded boss could be this warm and soft-hearted to a kid. It was his first time seeing his boss being so thoughtful for a stranger.