'Pickley, stop sulking. I need you to check if Dorota is still outside,' Isabella gave an order to Pickley via telepathy. Pickley harrumphed but still, she sang a melody to make herself invisible. Isabella closed her eyes, enjoying the familiar melody. Pickley was a song fairy, her beautiful voice was the source of her mana and she was basically her all-rounder subordinate when she was still the fairy queen of the fairies in the forests.
'My queen, this annoying woman is still here!' Isabella heard a shock exclamation inside her head followed by a series of badmouthing. Pickley must've been itchy to do something to Dorota. Even Isabella found her attitude unbearable.
'I'm sending her a message. Tell me if she is still there once she read it,' Isabella instructed as she looked for her phone in the living room. She found it lying on the floor alongside her handbag. She took it and wrote a short message to Dorota.
Outside, Pickley saw Dorota pulled out her phone from her pants' pocket. Curious, she flew near her and read the message her queen had sent.
[Dorota, if you want to help me, do your job as a doctor. I believe you have an appointment at 3 o'clock this evening. Go and find me some money! Or else I'll throw you to the street.]
Savage. Pickley couldn't help but laughed her heart out loud especially when she witnessed Dorota tapped the alphabets to compose a long apologetic reply. After that, she saw her running to her apartment and came out with a look of professionalism. Pickley was almost fooled by her look.
'Aye, she's, after all, a doctor. A famous one at that,' she made a quick judgment before reporting the situation to her queen.
'We're leaving too,' Isabella declared and soon she was seen walking out of her apartment looking fresh with a new set of formal attire. She preferred meeting her client without Dorota because that woman only knew how to complicate things. Plus, she was annoying to deal with.
'Queen, are you going to drive your car? It's already half-past two,' Pickley who still in her invisible form flew to Isabella's right shoulder.
Isabella shook her head, saying, "We're going to the forest," she told her and Pickley's eyes widened in excitement.
'Queen, are you going to ask the trees for help?' she asked. All fairies of the forests could talk with the trees, but only the queen could request their help.
Isabella said nothing in return, instead, she gave Pickley a meaningful smile. She pushed the door that led to a stair towards the rooftop terrace which also belonged to her. That was one of the perks of buying the most expensive floor in Naturenest Complex for it came with an option to buy the rooftop terrace as well.
'Pickley, bring me to the forest,' she said. Pickley understood what she meant so she flew around her while singing a beautiful symphony. A green mist with a tinge of gold color was seen on her trail as she went around her. Gradually, Isabella's tall body became small, enough for Pickley to carry her on her back.
Pickley flew as fast as the lighting towards the thick, ancient forest behind their apartment. Five minutes and she was already in the most pristine part of the temperate forest. She dropped her latitude before making a landing at the area which her queen had pointed at.
Isabella hopped down from Pickley comfy back and the moment her feet touched the earth, she returned to her original body.
'Guard me. I'm going to establish a link with the heart of the forest to communicate with the trees,' Isabella stared at Pickley, talking to her telepathically. Pickley nodded and clasped her fingers into a prayer stance and began to sing. Isabella nodded approvingly at how fast Pickley's reacted. She crouched down with her right palm touching the soils. She closed her eyes as she linked her consciousness to the heart of the forest.
***
Serenity Valley Manor
A woman wearing a teal blue dress stared at her son who sat across her with a look of disapproval on her face.
"Son, this woman, how could she help your little sister, Belle?" she asked in direct displeasure. "This is her first day and she's already late? I don't like her!" she protested. She waited for her son to retaliate but he obviously was acting deaf.
Rafael D Ian glanced at the documents scattered on the coffee table in front of him. He took a piece of those papers and read its content.
'Isabella Tan. Female. 22 years old. Masters in Child Educational Psychology and Foresty Management. Currently taking Ph.D. in Forestry.' his brows knitted as he read the profile of her little sister's future tutor. Her educational records were astounding in reference to her young age. It was these achievements that attracted him to this woman as he instantly approved of her application to become Belleza D Ina's new tutor.
A week ago, he instructed some of his men to investigate her, however, there was nothing extra that could be added to her resume. This was the first time his men failed to acquire the information that he wanted. He wondered how she managed to skip his massive network for his influences in the country were incomparable even to the president himself.
"Rafael!" the woman who was ignored by her son, shouted furiously. Rafael's thought which wandered towards the mysterious woman was cut off by the sharp voice of his mother. He yawned before saying something that could pacify her anger.
"Mom, give her a chance. Maybe, she took the wrong route and is rerouting as we speak," he made a nonchalant excused. No matter how stupid it sounded, his serious face made people thought that it could really happen.
"What nonsense! If she doesn't reach here in ten minutes, cancel her!" the woman said while standing abruptly, leaving the massive living room of the manor.
Rafael combed his hair with his fingers as he stared at the contact information written on Isabella's resume. He began to think that she did it on purpose, leaving the section with only her email address and not her phone number. If she tried to act mysteriously even during the meeting, he would really cancel her as suggested by his mother. He understood well the risk of putting Belle's life into someone he didn't know anything about.
Sighing, Rafael took his tablet and sent her an email reminding her that she was already late to the appointed meeting. He also put a warning that if she didn't show up in ten minutes, the deal would be canceled.
"Bernard," he called for his assistant who had just finished talking with someone through a phone call. A robust man in all black approached him. "Check with the security team if there is an unknown car in their radar," he instructed. He didn't trust the email he sent earlier.
"Yes, sir!" Bernard addressed before leaving the room. As soon as he left the room, Rafael's tablet made a subtle sharp sound that attracted the attention of its owner. Rafael checked the notification and was surprised to read a reply from Isabella.
[Mr. Rafael D Ian, your sister's ailment is curable. I'll be there in five minutes.]
The reply made the man clenched his fingers to fists. He remembered clearly saying nothing about Belle's strange ailment to her. So, how did she knew about it?
Who was she? Rafael could feel his anger that was eager to be unleashed. His little sister was someone he wanted to protect from the eyes of the public because she was fragile to their ridicules; making the symptoms of her illness to worsen.
He was careless once but not anymore.
'Isabella Tan, if you try to pull a string, I'll make sure to end your life!' He swore. Gone was the attraction he had towards her.