Chapter 7| Almost

Overcrowded places, tight roads, and dirty surroundings came across as I was driving towards Angela's place.

The people kept on staring at my car as I made my way. It was visible to their eyes the curiosity and wonder as to who was the driver of the expensive car.

I stopped the car when I reached Angela's house. I found a little house made up of some hollow blocks and woods. It looks unfinished.

It looked like I am already here.

I immediately grab the brown envelope that John handed last yesterday and scanned the papers. After I saw the records of Angela printed on the paper, I was now one hundred percent sure that this is the house where she lives.

I quickly removed my seatbelt and got out of the car.

"Psst!" The drunk neighbors whistled at me.

"Let's get drunk, sir. Give us money!" The drunk man greeted me in not a nice way. I ignored each one of them and just kept on walking. I had no business with them and I didn't like to waste my time.

"Where's the doorbell?" I asked as I stared at the wooden door. It took me almost a minute before I decided to knock on the door.

Tok! Tok! Tok!

Tok! Tok! Tok!

The door didn't open even if I knock many times. Maybe there was no one inside.

I sighed as I glanced at my wristwatch.

It was already eleven-thirty in the morning.

Angela's neighbors kept on peeking and staring at me. They all looked curious. I just ignored all the neighbor's stares and kept on knocking on the door again.

I was about to knock for the nth time when I was stopped by the sudden voice I heard from my back.

"Who are you?" 

I quickly turned my gaze where the voice was coming from.

And there, I found two children in their school uniforms. A girl who was probably eight to ten years old and a boy I think eleven to fourteen years of age.

"I am looking for Angela. Do you know her?" I asked the girl and bowed slightly to make eye contact with her.

"She's my big sister. Why—" The girl stopped what she was going to say when the boy pulled her and hid behind him.

"Who are you, sir? Why are you looking at our big sister?" he asked in a serious tone. He sounded protective.

Oh! They are her siblings!

I smiled sweetly at the two after I found out they are her siblings.

"I'm Clark, the childhood friend of your big sister Angela," I introduced myself and extended my hand to them, asking for a shaking hand.

I could see in the boy's eyes the hesitation to reach my hand but after a minute, he accepted it and shook our hands.

"Kokoy," he introduced too.

Suddenly, their youngest sister came out behind Kokoy and ran in front of me.

"Maymay!" she energetically said and hugged my waist which surprised me and at the same time made me smile.

"Come in, sir," Kokoy invited me to enter their humble home. I nodded to him and mouthed 'thank you' before I entered their house.

After five hours of waiting still, there was no presence of Angela.

"Why our big sister isn’t home yet?" Angela's sister, Maymay, asked out of curiosity.

I, on the other hand, was worried about her.

Where is she?

I am excited to see her again. Once she got here, how am I going to deal with her? What should I tell her first? Should I say hello? Should I say hi and hello? Or shout in surprise like 'hey Angela, I'm back!'?

I mentally facepalm at the thought. I was tense and nervous about how I should act in front of Angela when I face her. My goodness! That woman was driving me crazy! I felt like I'm going insane.

Kriiiiiiing…

I was stopped from what I was thinking and looked at my pouch. I immediately opened it to look at my phone. After I saw the caller id, I sighed. It was my secretary.

I got up from the wooden chair and moved a little away from the siblings.

"Clark speaking," I said.

"Sir, the meeting is about to start after one hour with Mr. Sy and Mr. Cheng," she reminded. I shut my eyes tightly because of what I heard.

"Cancel all my appointments," I immediately commanded.

Here they go again, the family Sy. They were now doing their next move. They would force me to get married. Mr. Sy and my mom would insist I marry Natasha for the sake of the company. 

Darn it!

"But, sir—" she was about to protest when I stopped her from speaking.

"You heard me. I said cancel all my appointments. I have more important things to do than listening to all the talk of the greedy businessman," I firmly said and greeted my teeth. I couldn't help but sigh. I didn't want them to take a control of me in the end. So, I won't allow that marriage to happen.

"But sir, if I do that, many investors will be going to pull out their shares. If that happens, it might hang the company on the cliff and at worst it tends to go bankrupt. Mr. Sy and Mr. Cheng want a clarification about the contract and the other investors want a clarification too in our plans," she explained.

I sighed and closed my eyes tightly after hearing it. I massaged my temple.

I hate this situation. I hate this!

"Okay, fine."

"I'll be there in a minute," I said in defeat and dropped the call. I stretched my neck to relieve the stress I was feeling.

"Hey, little kids! I need to go. I have some important things to do. Just tell your big sister I visited here," I said to the two. They both nodded and hug me tightly. We bid our goodbyes and waved to each other before I got inside the car. I started the engine and finally drove it away from their place.

I didn't even catch a glimpse of you today Angela but I promise, I'll be back soon.