My One And Only CEO
Chapter 26: A New Project
Chapter 26
“Your step-uncle’s daughter Vivian will return tomorrow, don’t disappoint me this time, Son,” his father said with a stoic look on his face.
“Son, you and Vivian were so close when you were kids. I’m sure you won’t find any shortcomings in her and she’s a nice girl too. Please listen to your father and settle down, you’re not getting any younger,” his stepmother added softly while patting him on the shoulder.
Vivian was her brother’s daughter who came to live with them once. She had seen how the girl had always followed Carl around and noticed that she liked him even though her ever-stoic stepson didn’t care much about her.
Carl already saw this coming when he was summoned this morning. His eyes dimmed when Vivian was mentioned and he looked at his stepmother who was staring at him expectantly. “Mum,” he said but was immediately cut off by his father
“No room for objection, Carl. Can’t you learn from your little brother?” He huffed angrily and slammed his cane on the floor.
“Henry, calm down. Carl’s not a kid anymore I’m sure he has his reasons,” the woman cajoled softly then turned to Carl. “Son, Vivian might return next week, please treat her well. I’m sure she won’t disappoint you.” Then she stood up slowly and left the living room.
Carl also stood up and turned back before heading towards the mansion door.
“Dad, stop pressuring Big brother to marry. And besides, brother Zach is only fooling around, he doesn’t have any real fiancee,” Lucy said and pouted her lips.
“You, come here. You’re also at the rightful age for marriage, I won’t allow you to follow in your brother’s footsteps. I’ll marry you off as soon as you finish high school.” He pointed his cane angrily at her and Lucy ran after her big brother.
“Big bro, wait wait wait for me. I’m going with you I don’t want to live here please please take me!” Lucy wailed while running after her Big brother.
Carl turned to his little sister and said softly, “Be good. Go back now, you know father is sick.” He patted her hair and Lucy pouted pitifully.
“Okay,” Lucy replied gloomily and held his arm tightly. “Big bro, I don’t like Sis Viv,” she said and whined, “Are you really going to marry her? She’s–”
“Lucy! Where’s that little cat!? Come here.” Zach was running towards them barefoot with one shoe in his hand.
Lucy quickly hid behind her Big brother and snickered.
Zach sprinted to their side and tried to grab her. “Little cat, where did you put my shoe!!!”
Mira was sitting in her cubicle and staring down at her phone gloomily. On the screen was the picture of a little girl just a few months old. ‘Why did you look for me?’ she whispered painfully and tears dropped down her face.
She quickly wiped them and took out a small powder palette to retouch her stained face.
Clara entered Mira’s cubicle and saw her retouching her face with makeup. “Mira, it’s lunchtime. Wanna grab a bite?” she asked cheerfully.
Mira lifted her head and plastered a smile on her face. “Sure, let’s go.” And they both went down to the cafeteria.
While they were eating, Clara noticed that the usually energetic Mira was now quiet. She chewed the beef in her mouth and looked up anxiously. “Mira, is something wrong? You’re so quiet.”
Mira shook her head and said with a sad smile. “Mm.”
Clara didn’t understand what she meant and tried not to probe further as her friend did not seem ready to talk. And they both ate silently.
After a while, Clara looked up again and said softly, “If you’re not ready to talk it’s okay, don’t force yourself okay, I’ll be here anytime you need someone to talk to.”
Mira looked up and smiled at her gratefully. It was true that she wasn’t ready to talk about it. She thought she was already over it but now realized that her heart was still attached to the past.
And they continued eating quietly when three guys suddenly came to their table with food in their hands.
“Hi, ladies. mind if we sit here?” The first guy with glasses asked with a smile.
Clara and Mira were baffled for a second before quickly nodding their heads and they replied concurrently with a smile, “Sure, no problem.”
They recognized the guys because they were from the same department and although they didn’t actually interact much, they were all friendly to each other.
The guys sat down and the first one said, “I’m Derek and these are my friends Ben and Harry.” He gestured to the other two with a smile.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you.”
The other guys said with a smile and Clara and Mira both smiled back and introduced themselves too. Then they continued eating while chatting about work.
“I heard that our company will start a new project soon,” said Derek.
Mira nodded and added while sipping her juice. “They said it’s about an app. Not sure if it’s a game or commercial one though.”
“It is a game app,” Ben said
“Guys, it is a huge project,” Harry said and added. “I think we’re going to work hard on this one.”
“Really?” Mira said perplexedly.
“Yeah,” Harry replied.
Clara sipped her juice slowly and sighed, imagining the kind of hectic days they were going to have.
Jack turned off his laptop and rested his head on his pillow. “Carl,” he muttered with a dark expression.
Although it was many years ago, that day was engraved deeply in his heart. The memory that had always haunted his family up to this day.
He shut his eyes and sighed heavily.
He still couldn’t pinpoint why the guy was with Clara at the amusement park. Did they know each other? Had they met before?
Jack knew that he would eventually bump into him the moment he came to this city. But he didn’t expect that to happen so soon. And not under that circumstances.
Who was he to Clara?