Danish leaned back in his desk chair, his palms cupped around his backhead, his gaze fixed on the ceiling. Dipped in his own thoughts, the content of Luna's letter left him with questions to which he was adamant about finding answers on his own.
If she had a boyfriend, why did she agree to the marriage? Was it done on purpose to discredit his family? Is she doing this to exact revenge on him for what he has done to her?
Danish sighed and yanked himself away from the chair's back. His elbows were stuck to the table, his interlocked fingers glued to his brow, his eyes closed, diving back into his own mind.
"I have to find her," he said, his eyes widening and a murmur escaping his lips. His seat returned to its original position. "But why? Who is she, and why should I be concerned?"
In an instant, he was in a battle with his own ego, debating whether or not to look for Luna to clear everything up. If he didn't do anything, he'd never find out why Luna had dumped him and embarrassed his family. On the other hand, revealing the truth could hurt his grandmother and him, even though he had no idea why he would be in pain. Was he madly in love with her?
He rose to his feet, grabbed his suit, and dashed to the door. The door was pushed open before his hand could reach for the handle. Ana unexpectedly appeared at the doorway, smiling at him as she always did.
"Babe….You appear to be in a hurry. What are you up to at this hour? "Inquiring minds want to know. Whoever spoke to her would be enchanted by her beautiful countenance. With her beautiful smile, this girl had the ability to captivate everyone.
"It's time for lunch." Danish lied to her because he didn't have anything else to say; however, it was lunchtime.
"It seems that I arrived at the right time. I haven't eaten anything yet. So let's have lunch together."
"Yes... sure." He didn't have a choice but to accept her invitation.
"Why do I get the impression that you've changed a lot since that accident, babe? You're not the same person you used to be."
"Don't overthink things, honey."
"We don't see each other very often."
"However, my love for you never dies." Danish wrapped his arm around her waist, as if to demonstrate that nothing had changed between them.
The lift took them to the first floor. Danish sight landed on the reception bar as he moved past the receptionist, reminding him of the food Luna made and gave him through the receptionist. If only he had eaten the food, he would have felt better. Danish pushed that thought aside.
Danish's gaze was drawn to one of the office boys who had once abducted Luna as he walked silently through the corridors with Ana on his arm. That young man had been with his company for a few months. After running into this young man, he realized he had a connection with Luna. He could know something about her.
"Can you please wait a moment?" Danish let go of Ana's arm. "I need to speak with one of my employees." Ana let him go with perplexed eyes.
The man doing the cleaning was startled by his sudden appearance. The lower employee in this company would not have the opportunity to speak with the CEO, unless she or he was fired.
"Do you happen to be Xiou Feng?"
"Y-yes, Sir," he said. That man stammered, not daring to raise his chin.
"You're very close to my wife... I mean...my future wife. I'm here to inquire if you've recently communicated with her." Danish stated his intention after scanning the room to ensure no one was listening in on their private conversation.
"N-no, sir." Receiving that question, he looked perplexed. "Is something going on with Ms. Yang, sir?" He covered his mouth, regretting having asked such a question.
"No. Please return to your work."
Danish had been with Ana, who had now begun questioning him about having a serious conversation with one of his employees.
"What is his name? Why did you talk to that young man seriously?"
"All I did was criticize his work."
"Why don't you just fire him if his work doesn't satisfy you?" Danish didn't respond to her suggestion. But he made a mistake the next second. At the very least, mentioning her name in front of his girlfriend was a blunder.
"Let's not talk about him, Luna."
****
"What exactly did you say? Do you want to return to work here? Do you think you own the restaurant? You've been out of work for several weeks. And now you return, hoping that we'll accept you. No way!" Hwanrang was enraged and hurled her tantrum at Luna, who sat quietly in front of her with a downturned face. She stood up in her seat.
"I've explained everything that has happened to me in my life. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to avoid responsibility."
"I'm not sure whether to believe your words, but after what you've done, we can't accept you. We did, after all, hire a new waiter."
"I'm willing to work as a delivery girl." Standing her ground, Luna offered to do the job that had almost put her in danger. "Are you sure there's no way I could..."
"How many times do I have to tell you that we don't want you?" Luna, like a defeated soldier in a war, rose to her feet in surrender.
Luna slipped out of the restaurant, a sad expression on her face. Her only remaining hope had vanished. Her gut instinct told her to go wherever his feet led her.
Pacing along the curb with no destination exhausted her, but her steps wouldn't let her stop and surrender to the adversities she was facing, even if all she could see here and there was hopelessness.
What did she do next? She was too embarrassed to return to Felix and beg his forgiveness this time, having decided to leave his apartment.
Rain watered the earth in her confusion, and its drops soaked her cloth, forcing her to seek shelter. She stood beneath the store's roof, arms around her own body. Nothing but the tiles beneath her feet held her attention until that voice jolted her out of her reverie.
"Luna…." Danish straightened up in front of her eyes, a readable expression on his face, an umbrella in his hand.