Aya sighed when she passed by Charmaine's room. This morning, Chairman Ji came and talked to them about Leo and Charmaine's wedding. Then an hour later, Chairman Ji returned to talk about the dissolution of their engagement. A while later, Charmaine came home looking drained and lifeless. She has since then locked herself inside her room and even skipped lunch. She didn't understand anymore why all these things are happening in a single day!
"Grandma, even if you stare all day, that door is not gonna open on it's own. Let's just knock, alright?" Luke said when he went out of his room and found his grandma standing in front of the room next to his. He then proceeded to knock on the door.
A couple of second later, the door opened and Luke quickly dashed inside and climbed the bed. Aya and Charmaine who were still standing near the door watched as the kid began jumping up and down on the bouncy bed.
"He's still very energetic, huh?" Aya remarked. "How about you? You look exhausted." she said after both her and Charmaine were already seated on the sofa.
"It's just because of a hangover. I got really drank last night and my head still hurts." she replied.
Aya stared at her daughter's face. Just who was she kidding? It was obvious that she had been crying! "Are you sure it's not because of Chanel Aikens?"she asked.
Charmaine turned to her mom with questioning eyes. "How did you know?"
"Chairman Ji came here this morning to tell us that the Prime Minister's daughter was seeking an engagement with the Jis. It turned out, Chanel Aikens took a liking to Leo Ji. Then later, he came back to talk about the cancellation of your engagement. He was really anxious when he came here. I guess he was left with no other choice." Aya explained.
Charmaine sighed. "I guess it can't be helped. Chanel Aikens is a good catch. She has both good looks and background. She's much better than me." she commented.
With furrowed brows, Luke jumped down from the bed and ran towards his mom. "How can you say that about dad?" he blurted. "It was you who dumped him last night and told him you didn't want your engagement. And my daddy wouldn't like that woman!" he defended him.
Both women looked at the child at the same time and then looked at one another. "Did you really quarrelled with him?" Aya asked her.
Charmaine just held her forehead and looked away. "I don't know. I told you I was drunk." she replied. Did she really say those words to him? She couldn't remember.
"Oh my! You must have said something horrible to him. You're such a lousy drinker! You turn into a different person when you're drunk." her mother attested.
Charmaine Song ignored her mother's comment. Whatever it is that she said, the point was that Leo Ji abandoned their engagement and turned to Chanel Aikens. Now, she's back to square one. What was it again that she did when she first decided to let go of Leo Ji? She needs to recount those days and get over this depression soon.
***
Wednesday: February seventeen...
Charmaine was busily helping in the kitchen when Luke came looking for her. With a sad face, he sat on one of the chairs and put his head down the table. "Mommy.... dad won't answer my call. I have been calling him for the past two days." Luke complained.
Charmaine turned to Luke and her heart went out to him. He looked so gloomy and dejected; so unlike him at all. She whispered something to their Cook and then left the preparation of the food to her before approached the sulking child. She too feels lonely and that's why she's trying to keep herself pre-occupied.
"What's wrong? Are you bored? Don't worry about your dad too much. You know that he's a busy person." she said after sitting beside Luke, trying to comfort him.
The boy raised his head at once and looked straight to her eyes. "Busy? How can he be when he doesn't even have a job?",he asked.
"What do you mean he doesn't have a job? Of course he has one." she told him as she held his hand.
"Well, not anymore. I just made a phonecall to his office and the assistant to the President answered as usual but he said dad isn't working there anymore. He said he was relieved from his position on monday. Doesn't that mean he was fired?"
Charmaine was startled by the news. That's just unbelievable! Why would the Ji Group remove the future successor from his position? That might be just gossip, perhaps?
"There must be some misunderstanding." she replied. Maybe Leo was just avoiding them. After all, it's not appropriate for him to have rumors circulating around about him having an illegitimate child.
"It's true! Mr. Klein told me dad was fired because of.... what was that again?"he thought for a while before looking at his mom again. "Oh! I know! He said it was absence without leave!"
Charmaine helplessly shook her head. That's absolutely ridiculous! Who would buy that? Leo Ji was a President of a company! Unless it was Grandpa Ji Chen who fired him then...
Charmaine looked at the child and then paused. Could it be that Grandpa got so mad at Leo for terminating their engagement that he removed him from his position to teach him a lesson? But then why would he do that since Leo has Chanel Aikens to back him up?
"Mommy... let's call Grandpa and asked him about dad... please... I'm worried." the child begged holding her hand.
That's not easy. She has no right to look for them anymore. Her connection to the Jis is non-existent now. It would be too embarrassing for her to make that phonecall, but looking at the child's pitiful face, she could help but give in.
Charmaine sighed and took out her phone. She dialled Laura's phone number and after a while she finally answered. "Laura, are you home? You see, Luke said he's been calling Leo but he wasn't taking up his calls. Can you get him to the phone for a minute?" she requested.
For a few seconds, there was no answer from the other end. Charmaine even thought the call already ended, but then Laura's voice suddenly resounded. "I'm sorry Xiaomin but brother isn't home. I don't know what happened but.... Grandpa went home furious on Monday morning and stripped Leo off of his position..... not only in the company but also in the family. He.... disowned him. He already left the house and I don't know where he went." the woman explained.
Charmaine lost her voice. Leo was not only terminated from the company but disowned? So many things happened that day? What's going on? Leo was the most favored grandchild of Ji Chen. What exactly did he do to deserve such drastic measures?