"I missed you, Lily." Daniel embraced her gently. Lily was frozen. Her mind was a mess but she didn't push Daniel away. She missed him but the hug was so sudden. Daniel released his arms around her, "Lily, I'm sorry I pushed you away. It was my fault. I...want to make up with you." Lily looked at him and smiled, "If you completely severe your tie with Elizabeth, I might reconsider." Lily stepped away from Daniel and he looked hurt.
"Daniel, I know Elizabeth and you have a marriage arrangement. You guys are still officially dating despite the scandal. Unless, you break up with her. Can you do that?" Lily asked calmly.
Daniel paused, "Lily, I'll explain. I'm just using her to get what I want. Her company needs to go down. I just need something from her. Nothing else. The scandal was made by me. I didn't do anything with her." Lily was kind of disappointed.
"Daniel, why do you always do things by yourself. Ever since you kicked me out, I questioned myself if I did anything wrong. You never contacted me for the past months and I got worried. I know I'm out of the line but I did have feelings for you. I know I wasn't allowed to date you so I kept everything to myself for the past months. And now, you are already fine on your own. You don't need me. I'm just mad because Elizabeth already did so much damages on you. I know you might have your own reasons for keeping her on your side but... whenever I see you guys I want to rip her head off." Daniel looked her in shock.
"I admit, I like you. But, if you need Elizabeth, I won't say anything. If you don't have anything to say, I'll go now. The driver is still waiting for me." Lily was about to exit but Daniel pulled her against his chest and embraced her, "Lily. Trust me. I'll show you I'm better than Brian." Lily closed her eyes and said, "Daniel, let go. If you want to take down HK Group, I'll help you in secret. Deal with Elizabeth first since she's your first love." Daniel embraced her tighter, "I know she was the one who shot me. But, I will show you that I changed. You need to believe me." Daniel released her slowly.
Before Lily left, she looked at Daniel, "I know H&H Corps worked with HK group before. If you need anything, let me know." Daniel held her hand one last time, "Lily, you will always be the one who makes my heart beat faster." Lily didn't look at him.
"Farewell, Daniel. Once you totally break up with Elizabeth, let me know. I'll wait for you." Lily left the office in tears. Her heart was in pain. She found it hard to breathe. She ran out and bumped into someone. It was Brian who waited for her. Her swollen eyes were full of tears. Brian knew what has happened and quickly held her hand.
"Let's go back." Brian opened the car door and let Lily go in first. As they drove back to H&H Corps, Lily was silent all the way. Brian looked at her but he decided to stay quiet. Brian took Lily into her office when they got back. Lily was greeted by a young boy named Gilbert.
~
"Gilbert, get Miss. Lily a cup of warm green tea." Brian said. Gilbert bowed and immediately went into the kitchen. Gilbert was a young boy who was interning at H&H Corps. His age was a bit younger than Leanna.
"Thank you, Gilbert." Lily thanked him for the warm tea. Gilbert smiled and went back organizing Brian's office.
"Are you feeling better?" Brian asked worriedly.
Lily nodded. She was just disappointed in Daniel and it made her heart hurt. Was she still kind of naive? She shook off the thought. She needed to get stronger and better than Elizabeth.
"That's good. I'll ask Gilbert to get you an office. I actually have a favor to ask you, do you know HK Groups in Hongkong?" Lily nodded, "A friend of mine mentioned it." Brian nodded, "That's good. Easier to explain it to you. Actually, we are currently looking at HK Groups and they've been doing some illegal activities. Our corporation has a huge cybersecurity network that can crack codes and get into the most confidential informations in a business. I want you to look into it and report it back to me. I bet Daniel is working on that too. We are the only two business corporations that knows. Hongkong Groups (HK) cannot go down in this road. Daniel and I used to be close because we both worked for HK Groups before but since HK groups is going downhill... we cannot ignore it. If you ever need to share these informations, you will need to let me know. I'll allow you to share with Daniel. He's a great business partner." Lily stayed quiet while listening to him. She was relieved Brian wasn't a bad guy.
~
Lily went back home when work was over. She called Rachel and they met in a cafe near the park. Rachel was wearing her normal business attire with her blond hair down and Lily wore a simple tshirt and skirt combination with her hair tied up.
They both got hot cafe latte because it's their favorite. Rachel looked at Lily and waved at her, "Earth to Lily!" Lily looked at Rachel and apologized.
"What's wrong? Were you crying?" Lily shook her head.
"It's just dust. Nothing to worry about." Lily wiped away her tears.
"Lies. You were totally going to cry. Tell me, what happened?" Rachel sat in front of Lily and waited for her to speak up.
"I fought with Daniel today. I told him that he didn't need me because he already got Elozabeth. He told me he will change. It's hard because another woman is beside him." Rachel got the gist of it.
"You were jealous." Rachel sipped her cafe latte.
"Lily, the past is past. Don't relive in the past. We all know what kind of personality or tricks Elizabeth had on her sleeves. She's a trickster. It will be hard to remove her from Daniel. Let's focus on taking down HK Groups. We cannot control Daniel and Elizabeth but if he told you to believe in him. You need to try. He will do more if he actually likes you." Rachel held Lily's hand, "I've looked up Brian for you. He used to work with Daniel. He has great qualifications. Thank goodness I work in the cybersecurity unit. I can dig up lots of stuff. H&H has the largest cybersecurity network and HS has the second largest. Not too bad right?" Rachel smiled at Lily and reassured her, "Brian won't hurt you. He understands Daniel's personality. But, his reappearance was unusual. What I heard from my colleague was that, Brian returned to Shanghai to take over his father's business. But... how did he know you? Did you guys know each other?" Lily stirred her cafe latte, "We knew each other from high school. He was my first crush." Rachel's eyes went big, "Whoa! No wonder. Maybe he already has an eye on you. Did he confess?" Lily shook her head, "I confessed to him first in high school." Lily giggled.
"You did? You were brave then!" Rachel clapped, "I think this time, he likes you if he chases you. I bet he heard a lot about you if he found you in the hospital." Lily nodded and frankly, she was quite surprised when Brian first grabbed her hand.
Rachel smiled and nodded, "You have two great guys fighting over you. You're so lucky."
As they finished up drinking their cafe latte, Rachel offered to drive Lily home. When Lily was about to go in, Brian greeted them. Rachel said her goodbye first and left Lily with Brian.
"Why did you come here?" Lily asked.
"I was buying bakeries and decided to visit you. Who knew I'd bump into you here. Here, do you like egg tarts and sweet buns? I bought lots." Brian gave her two bags and it was huge. Lily was surprised he bought that much.
"That's so nice of you. It reminded me during high school when you teased me for eating too much sweet buns." Brian laughed, "Sorry. But you were cute then." Brian stopped and looked at Lily, "Sorry Lily, I wasn't able to reply to your confession during high school. I didn't know because I was still quite immature and I didn't know too much about dating. All I liked was teasing you and telling you funny stories. But now, I came back for you. After going abroad, I learned lots and I've also gained lots of experiences. Lily, even though it sounds kind of rushed, I'm willing to wait for you to come to me. I know you like Daniel. If you give me a chance, I will show you that I like you." Lily stood there and was unable to answer him. Rachel was right. Both guys liked her.
Lily was going to reply when suddenly a motorcyclist almost collided with her. Brian immediately protected her and moved her to the side.
Brian collapsed on the ground unconscious with blood spilling everywhere and the motorcyclist flew onto the ground. Both were in serious condition.
"Call the ambulance! Quickly!" Lily immediately went to Brian's aide and tried to not move his head. Brian slowly opened his eyes and reached for Lily.
"Brian, don't move. You're injured." Lily tried to stop the bleeding on his right side of the abdomen with her hands. Brian groaned in pain and Lily reassured him, "Brian, you will be fine. Ambulance is coming." Brian started to lose consciousness and passed out. The ambulance came right on time and took them to the nearest hospital.
Lily went inside the ambulance and held onto Brian's hand.
"Stay strong, Brian." Lily closed her eyes and prayed.
Even though they just met not too long ago, Lily wanted to make sure if Brian was genuine about liking her. Ever since high school, they lost contact. Then, he suddenly appeared in front of her in the hospital. Lily was just hoping this wasn't planned by someone. Lily will keep on watching out for Brian's true intention. She doesn't want to fall into somekind of trap.
"Brian, give me some more time." She whispered softly.