CHAPTER 6

6 YEARS LATER

Blank but smiling Adan investigated the distance when he woke up. His thought seemed deep, but the expression was just cold. He was exposed to the panoramic view from the top of the five-star hotel where he was. He was only wearing a white bathrobe and his hair was still messy.

Later, the woman's two hands wrapped around his waist from behind him and hugged him tightly. He ignored that, instead he just looked blankly at the woman's hand on his stomach.

"Let's have dinner at the hotel sky lounge. This hotel is famous and their food here is delicious." The woman said while still hugging Adan from behind.

Adan slowly turned to face the woman and smiled at her briefly. He could clearly see how the woman looked at him full of interest, so he smiled even more, especially when the woman suddenly squatted down, and she was ready to kiss him, so he was ready to meet her too. But even before their lips met, the latter spoke.

"Let's stop," he whispered to the woman. He felt the woman stunned and slowly moved away from him. She looked at him in surprise, but before she could speak, he had already left it there.

Adan grabbed his wallet without noticing the woman behind him who had just folded with a blanket on her body. He turned to the woman and handed her a check containing 500 thousand pesos.

"This is all I have," he said coldly to the woman and finally handed over the check.

"What is this?" The woman asked him, so he laughed sarcastically.

"Can't you count?" He said sarcastically to her and went straight back to bed to get dressed.

He violently took that robe off his body. He again put on his black pants and also his black polo and folded it up to the elbow without still worrying about the woman. It doesn’t seem to care about the latter. Later, the woman approached him again and angrily threw the check back at him, but he still ignored it.

"Do you think I was a hooker? Were you treating me like a whore all this time?" The woman asked him angrily, so he smiled.

He looked at it foolishly and shook his head. 

"No," he simply said, and then approached it. "I thought you were a temptress. An infamous temptress in your community for taking even the clothes off a guy’s back,” Adan continued while that silly grin was still on his lips.

The woman's eyes showed shock and embarrassment, but Adan just ignored it and continued to fix his polo shirt. When he finished, he turned again to the woman who was still in front of him and smiled at her.

"You chose the wrong person this time. I don't have as much money as you hoped," he said foolishly and quickly took off his jacket and turned his back on the woman. But even before he could finally get out of that room, the woman quickly chased him and grabbed him by the arm so he stopped.

"How long did you know?" The woman asked him. He shook lazily and seemed disgusted. He didn't know what this woman really wanted from him, so he just gave in to what she wanted to happen, but he didn't think it would do this to him.

"Is that important?" He asked lazily without looking at the woman. Just what the hell does she want from me?

“Why didn’t you say anything if you knew?” Adan quickly turned to her and looked at
her coldly.

"It didn't matter. I don't care whether you were a temptress or not," he said lazily and violently removed the woman's hand from his arm then walked towards the door again.

He no longer cared what the woman would do to him. He knew in his heart that he would not be fooled and that she would eventually fall into his trap.

"It wasn't like that!" The woman shouted before he was finally able to get outside of the room. After a while, the woman chased after him again and grabbed his arm again.

"It wasn't like that with you. I really love you. You're right. At first, I approached you thinking you had money to extort you. But you were different from other guys," the woman explained to him, but he remained staring at the woman without any emotion.

Love? Who else knows that word? To Adan's knowledge, there was no such thing in the world where he is right now. So why would he believe this woman? Everyone has the ability to say they love someone but only a few are able to stand it. And in Adan's case, he was not one of them because only anger now remained in his heart.

Again, he ignored what the woman said and removed her hand from his arm. He was about to come out, but it blocked him again.

"I can't blame you if you don't believe me... but I really liked you...” Bent over, it told him. When she looked up at him, her eyes were already red, and she seemed to cry at any moment.

"I loved you... I mean it. I'm sure you don't believe me. I wouldn't either. It's natural you wouldn't believe me—”

"I believe you," Adan interrupted the woman. He saw how stunned it was and looked up at him again. The tears of the latter kept flowing.

"Babe..." the woman said which made him smile.

“I believe you,” Adan repeated so the woman hugged him completely and cried in his chest while repeatedly apologizing.

But despite what Adan said, its expression remained blank. There was nothing else on his mind now but his true plan with the woman. He knew in himself that this was not true of him. He was no longer the former Adan who would let himself drown in love because that was just stupidity for him. He was no longer the old Adan who could easily learn and be persuaded by words. He is no longer the former Adan who can give up and trade everything just for love. During his nearly six years in prison, anger gradually engulfed his heart, and completely lost all love within. Now, there is nothing in his heart but anger and revenge. And he would never stop until he could make Amelia suffer from what he had experienced in that hell. That was his only dream now and he would not stop until it came true.

-

Leona frowned when she felt someone caress her face. She quickly opened her eyes and was exposed to Stephen, her secretary.

"What time is it?" She asked the man sleepily.

"It's almost 8:30 AM. Do you feel okay?" He answers her with concern on his face.

She raised her head on the bed.
"8:30 AM?" She whispered. Moments later, she got up quickly and angrily faced Stephen.

“Didn’t you say that Chairman Alcaraz was taking the 9:00 AM flight?” She asked but Stephen averted his eyes and nodded.

"He already left for the airport,” he simply said to her, so her eyes widened.

"Why didn't you wake me? Why didn't that bastard Hari wake me up?" Leona shouted angrily at the man because that's exactly what they should be doing, especially when she has an important meeting.

"I told him not to," Stephen answered her directly so she couldn't believe she looked at it.

"What?"

“You slept less than seven hours this week. Work is good and all but think about your condition. This could kill you—”

"You constantly overestimated your authority," Leona interrupted what Stephen had to say and repeatedly cursed in the air.

"Can't you distinguish what you have the authority to decide and what you don't?" The
girl added that she was trying to calm herself, but she really couldn't. Especially when she just woke up.

Stephen's expression is still firm, so Leona was even more annoyed with the way he looked at her.

"I'm sorry but I have no choice. Dr. Real warned you several times about your health condition,” its bold answers to her so she laughed sarcastically.

"I think you should be more concerned about keeping your job," she said emphatically and was about to leave the bed, but before she could finally get out, she faced the man again.

"If this deal falls through, the first thing I'll do is fire you," she threatened the man and finally left it there.

Leona slammed the bathroom door shut but later she came out again and looked at Stephen.

“What happened with the complaint about the face cream?” She asked her secretary with a frown that referred to the email that came to them regarding the face cream that is one of their products.

"Other hotels around the country would like to return the amenity products that we had delivered," Stephen replied to her so she finally shouted.

"Fucking absurd! Damn it!" She shouted and punched the wooden wall in that bathroom, so Stephen was surprised at what the woman did.

"Ms. Aragon!" He shouted but the latter ignored him and re-entered the bathroom.

Leona violently and quickly undressed to take a bath while still thinking about the series of problems coming to the company. In the middle of her shower, she remembered to ask Stephen something. She quickly took the towel and wrapped it around her body then came out.

"Other than the products that the woman used, none of the products had heavy metals, right?" She asked the man without worrying about how she looked in front of it.

Stephen quickly averted his eyes from her and nodded.
"That's right," he replied evasively to her.

"Contact her right now," Leona said to Stephen, still soaking wet in front of him.

"Who?" Stephen asked, still looking away from her.

"The customer who claims she broke out due to our cream. Let's apologize first," she said as if there was still a threat in her voice.

Stephen just nodded. The man became even more confused when Leona stood in front of him while holding his waist. But Leona didn't seem to see that and just kept talking.

"Get me a copy of the transactions of that customer's and family's bank accounts. Use all means necessary," Leona continued as if she had a plan in mind. She knows that their product is not for nothing and only now have they received such a complaint for many years, which she wonders.

She finally turned her gaze to Stephen who was still looking in the other direction. Stephen just nodded at her again which surprised her. Then she remembered that she was just wrapped in a towel and her wet hair was still dripping on the floor, so she smiled.

Leona walked back to the bathroom but before she could finally enter, she spoke again.

"You like men, right?" She asked Stephen because that was how she knew about it.
"You didn't change your sexual preference to women, did you?” She sneered even more.

Stephen turned to face her and smiled.
"Not really," he simply replied to Leona who laughed at the latter.

"I'll take that secret to my grave. Don't worry, darling," she teased and went straight into the bathroom, without knowing what the young man really felt for her.