AGAIN MY HEART: Her Alphas Regret

OVERWORKED

LEILANI

“How are you feeling?” Pa asked as I sat upright on the bed and slowly leaned back against the headboard.

“A lot better than I felt yesterday, and perhaps slightly achy from sleeping too much,” I replied.

He scoffed, handing me a cup of the tea he prepared. “You know you need that rest more than anyone in this household. You’ve been working yourself to the bone; you should be happy you didn’t collapse and end up in the hospital.”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head at his statement. “You know you like to exaggerate everything, Pa; it wasn’t that bad. Besides, I wasn’t working myself to the bone. I was doing what I needed to do.”

It’s been two years since the revelation of them being my biological parents. I had left their mansion that night, beyond perplexed. Because what were the odds that I would find my biological parents in the kingdom I finally settled in? Above that, who would’ve thought that I, who was bullied and abused as a common omega in Eitbjorn, was actually the princess heir of another kingdom?

It all still feels like a fairy tale. Like a beautiful dream that I pray never to wake up from because the past two years have been the best of my life so far, and I wouldn’t wish for anything more than everything I have now.

My son is almost three years old. I have a family now that loves and treats me like a princess because I am their princess, and I have biological brothers, too. I had been sceptical about meeting them because I wasn’t sure how receptive they’d be to having a stranger join the family as their long-lost sister. But they were more welcoming than I’d anticipated and immediately took to Avitaj.

“You are overworking yourself, Lani. I know your mother often nags you about this, and you don’t like it, but you and I both know she speaks the truth.”

“Pa, I have a business to run. Do you both expect me to sit around without doing anything?” I asked with a frown.

“You have employees, don’t you? When was the last time you let your managing director do his job? When was the last time you even let your personal assistant do her job? You show up to the office every day, and you spend hours going between your cafes. You stay up late at night prepping and baking some of the pastries, but when you have chefs, you pay for that job. You do all these while keeping up with your online classes. You still make time for Avi, insisting on being the one who drops him off at the day care and picks him up afterwards. You rarely accept help when we offer it. Sooner or later, your body was bound to crash from all the excessive stress, and you’re lucky it was merely a mild fever and nothing that required you to be admitted to the hospital.”

I knew he had a point, and maybe I was truly overworking myself. But this was nothing compared to the way I worked while I was in Eitbjorn. I know I am in a different position now, and I have more money than I know what to do with. The fifty million cheque that bastard alpha gave me, I had only spent about five per cent of it, and most of it went into opening the café when I got to Xenyre and, of course, all the travelling expenses through those months.

After meeting my parents, I ended up putting the rest of the money into a trust for Avitaj because I had no use for it anymore. My business was growing, and my parents were wealthy enough for me to never lack anything in life. Turned out, over the years of my absence, they had kept an account going in my name with investments and trust money with hopes that if they were to ever find me, I'd know that they had never stopped searching, and they never stopped thinking about me.

All that money had been handed over to me after the DNA test had proved that I was truly biologically theirs. In retrospect, I had no reason to work myself into an early grave because I had more than enough. More than I could ever ask for, but I was used to working and never knew how to ask for help. And there’s that nagging feeling at the back of my head. What if it all goes away? Which, I know, is stupid, but I couldn’t help it.

I sighed, facing my dad, because I knew I couldn’t argue his points. “I know you are right. I know I need to take a step back and rest, but it’s a difficult decision, Pa. I am used to doing everything myself, overworking, and this is nothing compared to how much I worked while in Eitbjorn.”

“But you are no longer in that kingdom.” He didn’t let me finish as he cut me off. “You are not in the situation you were then. You are home. You are here with us, your family, and we love you. We both know that you don’t ever need to lift a finger, and you’ll be taken care of for the rest of your life. You are the Princess heir of Xenyre. One day, you will be queen. You do not need to burden yourself with work like you did when you had no one. Your mother and I understand your need for independence, and we are proud to see how ambitious you are. Running a business doesn’t mean you have to do everything by yourself, Lani. That is why you hired that many staff members. Let them do the job they’re paid for. You can supervise them from time to time. You can run the business from home, from anywhere, without having to clock in every day. In the long run, your health is the most important thing, not just for you, but for Avi and us too.”

I sighed, casting my head down as tears welled in my eyes. “Can you please pass me my mobile?” I asked. Pa frowned but handed me the mobile device even though I could tell he wanted to ask if I was about to work.

I opened my message log with my P.A. and typed up a detailed message, telling her to handle things for me as I’ll be absent for a while, and if there’s anything she or my managing director cannot handle, she should give me a call. Once I sent the message, I slumped against the headboard, dropping the device on the bed.

“What did you do?” Pa asked, even though it seemed like he already knew the answer to his own question.

“I put Madie in charge for the time being. I’m taking some time off.” It was what he wanted.

Pa smiled with a hint of sadness. “I know it’s a hard decision, but you did well, okay? You need to spend more time with yourself, for yourself.”

“I will,” I mumbled as he stood up.

“Ah, lest I forget, someone is here to see you.”

“Me? Who could that be?” I asked with a frown. I don’t have friends, so that was a bit of a surprise.

“Well, he was waiting in the central pavilion. I don’t know if he’s still out there.”

I got off the bed and followed Pa out of the room while I tried to think of someone who could be here to see me. Aside from my family, there was no one I could think of. Why wasn’t Pa saying who it was?