Rain's face changed on hearing Aaron's words. He might be right. Who would wait for someone forever? It was expected for Annie to fall in love with someone else. As the saying goes, 'Time will tell'.
"She can love whoever she wants. It's her own choice, isn't it?" Rain pretended that he didn't care, but it was painful for him.
"Hey, there they are." Aaron stopped talking as he saw employees of C Financial Group approaching them. He felt strange to discover that Annie was missing. 'Has she really met someone and decided to dump Rain?' Aaron couldn't help but wonder.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Aaron Qiao, special assistant to the CEO of FX International Group. Welcome to S City." Observing Rain was distracted, Aaron stepped up and introduced himself. His boss was wise to anticipate this, that's probably why he had asked Aaron to accompany Rain.
"Nice to meet you, too. I'm Ferk, CFO of C Financial Group. This is my personal assistant, Bev."
"Where is Annie? Won't she be joining us today?" Rain asked broodingly. He had mixed feelings. He was nervous to see her, but when she didn't show up, he was scared. The turmoil within him had driven him to such a strong sense of loss that he forgot his manners.
"Mr. Rain, glad to see you again. Miss Annie came here to see you yesterday. Haven't you met her yet?" As a senior employee of C Financial Group, Ferk knew Rain well. He wasn't upset about Rain's unseemliness.
"What? She was here yesterday? How come I didn't see her?" A figure suddenly flashed through Rain's mind. Was Annie the woman he had seen in the bar last night? He shook his head. Impossible. Annie was too lively; she couldn't be that quiet and urbane beauty. He was sure that woman wasn't her, though he had just caught a glimpse of her.
"Yes. She was planning to come with us, but then she changed her mind and came here before us." Ferk looked at Rain bemusedly. He wondered, 'didn't Annie contact Rain? She asked for Mr. Rain's address. Then why didn't they get in touch? If she couldn't find his address, she could have visited FX International Group.'
Rain rubbed his forehead anxiously. 'She is new in this city. Where could she go? Was she kidnapped? Who would know that she's the daughter of C Financial Group's CEO in such a short time?'
"Was the bodyguard with her?" That was the last hope. In the past few years, she liked Rain so much that she would have contacted him if nothing was wrong. But she hadn't. What did that mean?
"No. Miss Annie said she wanted to be alone. She also said she would contact you as soon as she arrived. We thought everything would be fine, so we didn't send the bodyguard with her." Ferk also began to worry about her. Everybody knew that Annie was the heir of C Financial Group. If something happened to her in S City, her father would burn the city to the ground. "How could you let her go alone?" Rain ruefully punched the post beside him. His frustration was perceptible.
"That's what Miss Annie is. There was nothing we could do about it, " Ferk explained in a low voice. Knowing Annie fancied this man, he respected Rain and didn't mind his yelling.
"Mr. Rain, let's go to the office first, we'll talk about this later." Aaron was careful about ranks in clients' presence, so he called him Mr. Rain instead of Rain.
Rain frowned at the clients. At the same time, he also blamed Annie for her naivety, and swore to punish her when he found her. "It seems we have to do so. You go with them. I'll ask Luke to help me find her." Without even looking at Ferk and the others, he hastened into a trot and left the hall of the airport, with an arrogant expression on his face.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Ferk. Mr. Rain isn't usually like this. He is worried about Miss Annie, " Aaron apologized. 'Moments ago he pretended that he didn't care for her at all, but now that Annie is missing, he is really worried. Who will believe that he doesn't like her?'
"That's OK, Mr. Aaron. We understand that he is worried." Actually, Ferk was not as worried as Rain. He had noticed that Annie had changed a lot in recent years. She was not as innocent and sweet as before. She had become a totally different person. He thought it had something to do with the fact that Mr. Rain had left her without saying goodbye years ago.
Rain's posh sports car kept shifting lanes in the traffic. There was stiffness on his handsome face. The charming, tender eyes examined the road. The sensuous lips were tightly closed. The ear studs sparkled and shadowed as if to harmonize with his current state of mind, which was anxious and fretful.
To him, Annie was still an innocent little girl, beautiful and always smiling. Perhaps he had forgotten that time changed many things.
The car drew a sharp curve and parked in front of FX International Group's building. Rain walked in grimly. The female employees were accustomed to Rain's cheeky grins and flirtation; they had never seen him so disconcerted. They suspected something awful must have happened.