It was already morning time and Vanessa was up from sleep. Her eyes were swollen because she cried for so long last night.
She got out of her bed and weakly went to the bathroom and picked up her toothbrush, plus toothpaste. After putting a little bit of toothpaste on her toothbrush, she began brushing while staring at the large wall mirror. Soon, Vanessa recalled what happened yesterday at her office and wondered, ‘Was that why he said I should buy a lot of tissues? I mean, he had already helped my company, so how come my company was still able to go bankrupt? Just, what's that guy's real identity?’. Vanessa poured out the brushing foam in her mouth and rinsed her mouth with neat water afterwards. “I guess I'll have to start all over again”. Vanessa tried to encourage herself as she came out from the bathroom and headed to the living room, but when she recalled how helpful her company was to her, she couldn't take the pressure and wailed out, “My dear company, why did you have to go bankrupt at such a time like this?! Don't you know the important things I use you for? What am I going to do now? As an elder sister, how am I going to support my two little brothers that are studying overseas? And what about my parents who are currently at the villa? I'm in a complete mess!”. Vanessa soon continued her wailing by laying on the floor. “My trillion dollar company is gone!. Just thinking about this tragedy is completely draining me out!”. Vanessa was still wailing non stop when the knock on the door distracted her. ‘Eh? Who's visiting me at this early time of the day?’. Vanessa thought. She immediately cleaned her tears before going ahead to open the door. “Eric? Derek?”. Vanessa called before cleaning her eyes to check if she was seeing clearly. “What are you brats doing here? Aren't you two supposed to be overseas right now studying law?”. “Forget about that first, big sis. That's not why we are here”. Eric said out before welcoming himself inside Vanessa's apartment. Even Derek did the same by inviting himself inside and dragging the luggages with him. In the meantime, Vanessa was just speechless. She closed her door and came to the living room. When she saw the way Eric and Derek comfortably sat on her sofas, she wrapped her hands on her chest and was just staring at them. “What? Can't we visit our elder sister's place again?”. Derek asked when he felt anxious with the way Vanessa was staring without saying anything. “I'll count to three…. If you twins don't tell me the truth why you're here, then don't blame me for being ruthless”. Vanessa threatened before folding the arms of her blue pyjamas as she really meant what she said. “No wait, we'll talk, big sis!”. Eric and Derek both pleaded at the same time before covering their faces as they didn't want Vanessa to hit them there. “Well, talk before I punch those faces you're hiding!”. “The truth is, we never officially studied law”. Eric admitted. “In fact, we never passed the bar exams”. Derek added. “What did you two just say?”. Vanessa's eyes reddened as she asked. Deep down, she was trying hard to suppress her anger and disappointments. Noticing the changes in Vanessa, Derek quickly hid himself using Eric as his shield. “Aren't you twins going to explain to me what you mean right now?!”. “Em, you see, when me and Derek arrived overseas, we discovered a new passion. And that passion is for us to become businessmen, just like you, big sis”. Vanessa's eyes twitched with rage after hearing what Eric said. “I'm going to ask a simple question, what about the millions of dollars I sent over to you brats?”. Vanessa calmly asked. “They're gone”. Derek simply answered with a smile. “Go- gone? That's it!”. Vanessa lost her cool and charged against both Eric and Derek. She grabbed them by their hairs and refused to let go no matter how much they groaned out in pain. “You stupid twins! You two have great looks, but your brains are empty! What's the use of having a handsome face when you don't have the brain to support it?!”. Eric and Derek both failed when they tried to escape from Vanessa, and since they failed, they pleaded, “Big sis, please, it hurts!”. “Scoundrels! Assuming I knew you two were like this, I wouldn't have wasted my money on you!”. Vanessa announced before she finally let go of their hairs. “Ouch, ouch”. Eric groaned and hissed when he felt a stinging pain in his head. Derek on the other hand was already feeling dizzy, but that didn't prevent him from saying to Vanessa, “But big sis, now that me and Eric are here, can't we get a job at your Diamond V company?”. “My Diamond V company?”. Vanessa muttered before laughing out, though her laughter was filled with great stinging pain. Hearing and seeing Vanessa laugh like a psychopath, Derek and Eric stared at themselves as they were too stunned and dumbfounded. “It's gone”. Vanessa suddenly announced with a dark face. “Eh? What is gone, big sis?”. Derek didn't understand and asked. “My Diamond V company. The whole thing is gone. Can't you understand that my company has gone bankrupt?!”. Vanessa announced and fell down crying as she still couldn't believe that this tragic incident had happened to her. Derek and Eric went completely quiet after listening to what Vanessa revealed to them. In fact, the words kept on playing multiple times inside their heads. After a while, Eric stuttered as he asked, “Yo- your Diamond V company went bankrupt? What about your fiance, Nicholas? Didn't he help you out?”. Hearing the name of her ex fiance, Vanessa hissed with contempt and soon, she said out, “Don't bring that jerk into this matter. He betrayed me! In fact, he has been using me and my company's fame and influence the whole time”.Vanessa didn't want to continue having the discussion about her fallen company because it'd make her depressed, so she moved onto making breakfast for herself, Eric and Derek. Actually, since Eric and Derek had nowhere to go except the villa, Vanessa pitied them and suggested that they live with her for the meantime. “Here you go, little scoundrels”. Vanessa said as she served the tea and snacks on the dining table. Later on, she went and sat down on her own chair before she added, “I made breakfast, so to earn your keep in this house, you two are going to wash the dishes”. “Sure”. Eric and Derek easily agreed as they began munching the meals in front of them. “Tsk”. Vanessa slightly shook her head when she saw the way Eric and Derek were eating like fugitives who hadn't eaten for days. “Eat slowly. I'll make more if it's not enough”. Vanessa announced and didn't mind when Eric and Derek continued munching the meals. It took only a few minutes, and Eric and Derek were done eating.
After Vanessa left the hospital, she returned back to her apartment and was in the living room, as she was carefully thinking of ways to get the remaining bill balance. “What am I going to do now? Daddy's surgery for tomorrow is depending on me”. Vanessa announced and was pacing back and forth. She further started biting her fingernails because this was what she always did whenever she was feeling anxious. “Think of something, Vanessa. You have less than 24 hours to act”. Vanessa reminded herself before she finally thought of an idea. “That's right. All the people I helped out when I was still CEO. I'm certain they'd want to help me after learning about my situation”. Vanessa exclaimed and immediately brought out her cell phone. She called the first one, the person answered and by the sound of his voice, Vanessa was certain he wasn't ready to help out at all. This was what Vanessa did throughout the afternoon, by calling and asking for help from all the people she helped, but to
Vanessa collected the contract marriage documents Xavier offered to her. And after reading through the documents’ terms and conditions, she immediately inserted her signature on the documents since the deal was pretty okay to her. According to the marriage contract terms and conditions, Vanessa only has to pretend to be Xavier's wife for a year, plus, she also has to live in his mansion throughout the year, and after that, she'd be free and the marriage contract would become invalid. “All done”. Vanessa announced and gave back the documents to Xavier who collected it from her. After Xavier had collected the marriage contract documents from Vanessa, he reviewed it before a mischievous grin appeared on his lips.“It’s a deal then. Prepare to move into my mansion next week. After that, you'll follow me to my family mansion. It's going to be my father's birthday”. Xavier declared after putting the documents in his suit. ‘Isn’t he going to ask me what I need help with?’. Vanessa though
After chatting a little more with Eric, Vanessa went to pay the surgery f*e before finally visiting her father's ward. Mr Williams was laying on the bed when Vanessa arrived. “Vanessa honey, is that you?”. “Yes father”. Vanessa hurriedly replied before rushing to stay by Mr Williams' side. “I heard from the boys, you paid for my surgery?”. “Of course I did, father. Now, all you have to do is to get better and we'll become a big happy family once again”. Vanessa announced with a smile. “I heard from Eric that my surgery bill is super expensive”. “Eric, you big mouth!”. Vanessa said out loudly before she turned and glared at Eric who was behind her. “What were you thinking when you told our father about the bill? What if he had a heart attack in the process?”. Vanessa questioned. “I- I couldn't keep the truth all to myself, so I told Dad, Derek and mom”. Eric explained and immediately stopped talking when he saw the way Vanessa was glaring at him with threatening eyes. Mr
It wasn't a long drive and Cole made it back to Xavier's mansion. As soon as Cole parked the car in a perfect spot, he quickly came down from the driver's seat and walked to the back door. Cole stretched out his hand and was about to open the door for Vanessa, but she beat him to it by opening the door first. “Don't worry about opening the door for me…. As you can see, I also have hands”. Vanessa said to Cole before helping herself out of the car. Soon, she went to the car boot and was about to bring out her luggage.“I'll bring the luggage, ma”. Cole insisted and refused to let Vanessa do anything by herself again. After sighing deeply and massaging her temples, Vanessa said to Cole, “No need for the formality….”. “Cole. My name is Cole”. Cole introduced himself when he noticed that Vanessa was having trouble mentioning his name since she didn't know his name. “Alright, Cole. No need for the formality. Just call me Vanessa, I'm totally okay with that”. “Alright, mada…. I mean,
Vanessa came outside and was still complaining about how Mrs Charlotte was treating her like a baby, when all of a sudden, Cole approached her and offered to drive her to the company. “Don't worry, I don't want to bother you, Cole. I'll just take a taxi”. Vanessa admitted this since she didn't bring her car when she came to the mansion last night. “You're not bothering me at all, Vanessa. Please, enter the car”. Cole pleaded and even opened the car's back door for Vanessa to enter. Staring at Cole for a while and noticing how persistent he was, Vanessa willingly gave up and entered the car. Soon, Cole entered the car too and drove off. It took longer than expected to arrive at Diamond V company because of the traffic, but as they arrived, Vanessa immediately came down from the car. “Should I pick you up later in the day?”. Cole suddenly suggested. “Don't worry about me at all, I'll return to the mansion by myself”. Vanessa announced before she hurriedly left Cole and enter
“Don't worry Vanessa, as long as you do as we say and don't get on our nerves, we won't report to your CEO to fire you”. Nicholas announced with a smile and smiled even more when Vanessa appreciatively smiled back at him. “Although I'm super annoyed because of what you guys did to me, I'm still a little glad”. Vanessa admitted before she curiously asked, “So, what do you guys want me to do?”. “It's easy, Diamond V company is currently stronger, competent and successful compared to before. I bet the new CEO is a genius…. Anyways, I want the new CEO of this company to partner with my father's company. In that way, my father's company would quickly build up all over the world”. Alexa explained. “But, what does that have to do with me?”. Vanessa didn't understand and asked. “I want you to help me and Nicholas, by speaking with your new CEO on our behalf”. Alexa explained before she threatened Vanessa, “If you can't, remember I can get you fired here”. “Sure, sure…. I will do
“Big sis, why aren't you saying anything?”. Eric curiously asked when he didn't hear Vanessa's voice for a while. “Em…. My apartment's passcode is 5790”. Vanessa announced. Eric inserted the numbers on the door passcode lock, and immediately the door unlocked, he announced to Vanessa, “Alright, got it. The door is unlocked already”. “But big sis, where are you right now? Aren't you coming back home already?”. Eric added. “No need to wait for me, I won't be returning anytime soon”. Vanessa massaged her temples as she declared. Soon she raised an eyebrow and added, “Anyways, I should be asking what you and Derek are doing at my apartment. Why didn't you brats stay back at the villa?”. “Bye, big sis”. Eric said and immediately ended the call. “Hello. Hellooo?”. Vanessa said repeatedly before she stared at her cell phone's screen and noticed that Eric had already hung the call. “That brat!. He didn't even reply to my question”. Vanessa gritted her teeth in annoyance as she said