Chapter Five: Hope
1120 Words
Lucas was in his office, working as usual when Aiden barged in.
“Hey, how could you bear to abandon me last night knowing I have no way of going back home.” He complained.
Lucas didn't even spare him a glance angering him more.
“You are so heartless, I wonder how we even became friends.” Aiden sulked finally attracting Lucas’s attention.
“How did you get home yesterday??!” He asked indifferently. Aiden immediately became excited and moved closer to Lucas.
“Don’t touch me,” Lucas warned.
Aiden gave him a dirty look “Who wants to touch you? After you left, the ladies from last night came back.”
Seeing that Lucas said nothing, he continued “They got a taxi and I rode with them.”
Lucas looked at him with disdain. “Are you that broke that you can’t even afford money for a taxi ?!!”
Aiden felt nothing as he was already used to Lucas's way of speaking.
“I was about to call one when they arrived. They offered to give me a ride so I took the offer.” he shrugged “ By the way, Adrianna was looking for you.”
“Who is Adrianna??!” Lucas asked in an indifferent tone.
Aiden clicked his tongue and replied.
“The woman from last night.”
Sensing Lucas's confusion, he continued “The other one with a scarf.”
“Oooh” Lucas seemed uninterested and went back to work.
Aiden stopped disturbing him and started playing games on his phone.
After a while, Ryan came in and gave Lucas some documents.
When he was about to leave, Lucas called him back and asked how the search for a new secretary was going.
“After careful selection, we have four candidates left.”
“Are there any male among them??!” Lucas asked.
“Yes sir, there are two men.”
“I'll interview them personally tomorrow.”
“Noted Sir,” Ryan answered and left the office.
“No wonder no one came to serve me anything since I arrived. You chased your secretary away again.” Aiden started teasing Lucas “That was the tenth secretary this month??! Your mental health is already getting out of hand.”
Lucas was completely uninterested in what Aiden was saying until he got to the last part.
“I don’t know Aiden, I don't know. If only I could find her.” he rubbed his forehead.
Lucas was kidnapped when he was 7 years old and he came back after three years.
Before he got kidnapped, he was a bubbly and fun-loving child but after he came back, he became withdrawn and wouldn’t let any woman come close to him.
He drew some images of a girl that was somehow blurry and her only distinct feature was her red hair.
Immediately he took over the company, he started looking for her worldwide.
Women with red hair are quite rare but the ones he found did not match the age range of the girl he was looking for.
He went for therapy a lot of times but couldn’t get treated because he had to grow past the memories of those years that were causing him trauma.
Unfortunately, he already buried the memories so deep that he could not even recall anything that happened then.
His family spared no effort and money on getting him treated but all to no avail.
“How is the search going?!” Aiden asked in one of his rare serious tones.
“She still hasn't been found.” Lucas showed a downcast face which was a drastic change to his always emotionless face.
“Don't worry, we'll find her soon. She might even be waiting for you to come put a ring on her finger.” Aiden joked in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere.
“I hope so,” Lucas replied in a heartbreaking voice.
“Hey, I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. It was insensitive of me.” Mia said as soon as Adrianna sat down in front of her at the coffee shop.
“It's fine. I should be the one apologizing for snapping at you like that.” Adrianna replied sounding a bit guilty.
“Nah, we are best friends. How can that little incident cause a rift between us.” Mia laughed it off.
Adrianna looked at her for a while and joined her.
After a while, they calmed down and started talking.
“What are your plans now??!” Mia asked out of the blue.
Adrianna groaned and answered, “I just want to get a job so I can leave that house every day.”
“Sorry if I seem insensitive” Mia started cautiously “but you didn't even go to college and barely made it through high school. How will you get a high-paying job??!”
Adrianna looked at her for a long while before replying.
“And who said it has to be high paying.”
Mia sighed and looked at Adrianna pitifully, knowing she would be looked down upon and could never get a good job without a degree.
“Hey, instead of looking at me like that how about we go to the amusement park.”
Adrianna squealed with excitement written all over her face in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere.
“What do you think we are, children??!” Mia questioned with a tinge of disgust and playfulness in her voice playing along.
Adrianna tilted her head and squinted a bit. “Grandma, I'm sorry to bring up that kind of suggestion without considering your old age. If you don't mind, we can go do things people your age do.”
Mia was choked with anger.
“You, how can you call me a grandma!!!!!” she stood up attracting the attention of the other people in the shop for a second. “I am this young and energetic, how could you even bear to call me a grandma!!!”
Adrianna stifled her laughter and said quite innocently. “Only old people don't go to the amusement park. By the way, you seem to have some wrinkles on your face.”
Mia immediately became horrified. She took out her phone and started checking her face.
Adrianna could no longer hold her laughter and burst out laughing making Mia look at her in confusion. Adrianna laughed even harder at her confused face.
Instantly, Mia understood that she had been tricked. Her face flushed in anger and embarrassment.
“Adrianna” she gritted her teeth.
“Bye grandma, I'm out of here.” Adrianna took her bag and ran out of the cafe laughing.
- Writer
