“Good evening.” Daphne greeted Valentina, politely.
Valentina smiled and warmly replied.
“Good evening, my dear.
It’s quite a surprise running into you here.”
Daphne knew Valentina didn’t exactly like her.
Though she always replied her greeting especially if Trevor was around but she never allowed Daphne chit-chat or make any small with her.
When she was still with Trevor, Daphne had tried her best to get closer to the woman and be on happy terms with her “future mother-in-law”
Well, she didn’t need to try anymore.
So she nodded, curtly at Valentina and turned to leave.
“Did you come here to eat alone?” Valentina asked, a mocking edge in her tone.
Daphne might think Valentina didn’t know her well but she did.
She knew Daphne was always around her son 24/7 and barely had any social life so it wasn’t strange to deduct that Daphne could be at a fancy restaurant at this time of the day alone.
Daphne replied.
“I’m with a friend.” With that, she walked away and returned to the table.
By the time she got back to the table, Marco had already settled the bill.
The two walked out together to the parking lot.
As the autumn wind picked up, Daphne wrapped her coat tighter around herself.
Marco almost instinctively offered her his jacket, but managed to restrain himself.
He could feel how guarded she was.
He couldn’t exactly blame her considering the fact that she just had her heart broken not quite long.
He had to thread carefully so as not to scare her away.
The two said goodbye in the parking lot.
Marco waited until Daphne had driven away before getting into his own car.
Meanwhile, Valentina had seen Daphne leaving with a man.
Though she couldn’t see the man’s face but the man suit, especially his knee-length jacket was screaming luxury.
She felt puzzled.
In her memory, Daphne had never been close to other men except Trevor, so Valentina simply assumed that the man might be a client.
Was Daphne still working for her son?
Just yesterday, her son had informed her that the engagement had been called off.
She was so happy that she went out with her friends tonight to celebrate.
But if Daphne was still meeting up with clients?
Does that mean she was still close to Trevor?
Valentina didn’t want that woman anywhere close to her son.
She might try to seduce him again.
He had to fully focus on Mabel now.
After getting into her car, Valentina gave Trevor a call.
He picked up on the second ring.
“Hello, mother.”
“My dear.
I just wanted to confirm if Daphne knows that the engagement is off.
You’re not still leading her on, are you?
You have to tell her so she can move on.”
The thought of Daphne moving on from him made Trevor feel uneasy.
“Yes.
I already told her.
She knows.”
“In that case, you should fire her.
Offer her a generous severance package as compensation for her years of work at TM.
You need to send her away.”
Trevor’s uneasy grew into anger.
“I can’t just send her away!”
“Why?!”
“Daphne and I built this company!
She…she contributed a lot to the success of this company and I can’t ignore that.”
“I’m not telling you to ignore it.
A large severance pay can make up for that.”
Trevor just couldn’t accept completely cutting Daphne out of his life.
“Mom, I know how to handle my company so drop this.”
Valentina reminded in a rush.
“Son, your grandfather still isn’t making things easy for your father.
Though he accepted you as his grandson now, you need to keep showing him how company you are.
I heard he’s planning to hand over MK Group to Emily.
You can let him do that!
If you marry someone like Mabel from quite respectable family, he might be moved to hand MK Group to you instead.”
Trevor’s teeth clenched as he hung up.
Emily was his half-sister.
His Grandfather Kennedy Martin never liked his mother, Valentina.
That was because Valentina was a mistress who ended up becoming his father’s wife.
Emily’s mother was from a great family and Kennedy absolutely adored her.
And marriage between Emily’s mother and his son, Julius had been one of his greatest pride.
But then Julius ended up cheating on Emily’s mother with Valentina and that led to a divorce.
Kennedy had given Julius an ultimatum then, let go of Valentina or be cut off from the family.
Julius had chosen to be cut off from the family.
He went away with Valentina and started his life from scratch but life wasn’t easy for them.
Growing up, no one would even suspect Trevor had a rich Grandfather as Kennedy Martin.
Just few years ago, after Trevor’s company started booming, they finally reunited with Kennedy, who was getting old and just wanted to make peace with his son.
Although the family relationship appeared to be okay but they weren’t as close as they should be and everyone could see that Kennedy greatly favored Emily.
Trevor sighed.
Taking over MK Group would indeed make him more powerful.
Very powerful.
He would have so many companies under his name.
Still, if he could just keep Daphne as his mistress, he’d be okay.
For now, he still thought she was on a break and would return back to the company.
He would fix a new position for her and he was sure she’d understand.
*************
Daphne got back to the hospital, where a nurse was explaining the discharge instructions for the next day to Susan.
Only then did Daphne realize she forgot to ask Marco for some time off.
She quickly brought out her cellphone and sent him a text.
Daphne: Mr King, I’m sorry I didn’t ask this formally at work.
But I just remembered now.
I can’t come into this office tomorrow morning because my mother would be discharged then.
But I can come by once I’ve gotten her home.
So that would be half a day leave.
Marco didn’t take long to reply.
Marco: Take a full day off or more if you need it.
I’ll process the leave when I get to work tomorrow.
This new boss of hers was always so understanding.
Daphne felt a warm glow in her heart.
She sent him another message.
Daphne: Thank you so much, sir.
Marco: You’re welcome.
After the nurse left, she chatted with her mother, asking how she spent her day.
Soon, Daphne laid down on the couch to sleep.
Since she was yet to feel sleepy, she brought out her cellphone and scroll through social media.
She saw a post strongly shipping a couple from an account, featuring a photo of Trevor and Mabel hugging.
Daphne recognized the couple, immediately, it was the same clothes they had on earlier today when she saw them at Ismark.
And the surrounding was also the front of Ismark.
Daphne tried to figure out who posted it.
The account seemed to be one for gossiping.
After ruling out herself, Cade, Trevor, Mabel, and the two engineers, she guessed it was Kayla.
After all, the caption was shady.
So it was only someone who knew all three of them that could have made such a post.
Daphne reviewed Kayla’s past posts on the page and discovered that for a while, Kayla had known about Mabel being Trevor’s first love.
Daphne didn’t need to think hard about how though.
For a while, even after they started dating, Trevor always carried a necklace, whose pendant had Mabel’s face on it.
When they started dating, Daphne couldn’t take it anymore and so to assure her that Mabel no longer meant anything to him, Trevor had disposed the necklace.
Now thinking about it, Daphne was sure he didn’t do that.
Also, one time, during an employee dinner some years ago, Trevor had gotten drunk and started chanting Mabel’s name.
Daphne had felt so embarrassed at that time.
Now thinking about it, she wondered why she had endured so much in the name of love.
Was love meant to be that complicated?
So now, Daphne guessed that Kayla who had always been so nosy must have figured out a long time ago who Mabel was to Trevor.
And she was right.
Because the page contain content of Kayla subtly posting about shipping Trevor and Mabel, while also indirectly disparaging Daphne, making it seem as if Daphne had been the obstacle in their love story.
Daphne’s heart grew cold as she realized human nature was more complex than she had imagined.
This was the same Kayla she had treated like a sister, whom her parents had loved and adored as their own.