Days have been peaceful lately without that hindrance. Alina feels relieved knowing that crazy woman leave her alone. She is in a good mood and decided to call her girlfriend, Charlotte Carter. Alina picked up the phone on the table and dialled the number of her girlfriend.
"Alina! Where have you been? You disappeared for a long time! I thought you have an accident. Can't you stop making me worry all this time?"
The angry and sullen voice rang out just after the phone was called. She knew that Charlotte was only saying this because she was worried. And it made her heart feel warmed knowing that there is a person who cares and loves her.
"I am sorry Charlotte. I was very busy lately and you know I haven't even got enough sleep lately. I am really sorry and I miss you a lot."
The low and soft tone full of warmth rung out from the phone which makes Charlotte blush from it. Charlotte knows that she was a sucker for Alina. Charlotte loves Alina very much. However, for her, it was very hard to compliment other people. She does indeed have a soft heart. To protect herself, she surrounds herself with thorns known as sarcastic words.
Although Charlotte feels relieved knowing that Alina was safe and want to say she also misses her and loves her, her mouth couldn't speak it. Her face was red from just thinking about saying she misses and loves her.
Charlotte was always been there for Alina whenever she's in bad shape or in trouble or in good times. They have bypassed so many obstacles together which make their bond tight. But was it really?
Indeed Charlotte was always been there for Alina and she knows what Alina likes and hates. She knows her hobbies, her habits and she can tell what Alina was thinking just by looking at her small behaviour. Indeed she was a sucker for Alina. Alina was her world and her life.
Charlotte might know every single detail of Alina. But Alina didn't know much about how Charlotte fends herself when she was not there for her. Well, actually she was never there for Charlotte as she was busy fighting for resources from the family. The situation was that Alina took Charlotte's love and care for granted and she didn't know how much precious Charlotte was.
She didn't know-how stressful Charlotte was as her mom is in the hospital fighting the terminal disease for a long time. She didn't know that the bastard of the father of Charlotte is always making troubles for Charlotte. She didn't know how much Charlotte needed money for her mom and to pay debts for her father. She didn't know that Charlotte hardly eats meals to do all the work so that she could treat her mom and pay debts for her father. She didn't know anything at all.
Maybe there was also faults in Charlotte as she never told these things to Alina. She didn't want her beloved to be burdened by her difficulties after all. Although it seems their bond is tight, they are actually walking on a thin rope and below is the abyss.
......
As they were talking on the phone, the secretary knocks the door to report Alina. Seeing she has works to do, Alina says goodbye to her girlfriend and allows the secretary to enters. The secretary of hers is a young girl who just finished University and is a newbie in the job. It just that her looks are soft and she looks like a sweet neighbourhood girl and in an interview, the girl subtly shows how much struggles she has and how much she would work hard. Overall, she's the type who sells pity to get what she wants.
She can also be considered a white lotus bitch and she is the heroine of this novel, Sofia Malone. Of course, compared to our Faustina, she is far from it. Sofia was a smart girl and knows when to advance and when to retreat. In the novel, she is the final winner and she lives her life like an overlord. She uses her wits to achieve what she wants, unlike Charlotte who seems to lack emotional intelligence.
So obviously, the final winner between this battle is Sofia. However, now, the unknown variety, Faustina was in a mix and the final outcome is unknown.
Sofia knows that Alina was from the Dawn Family which is big and powerful and complex. She is born from the mistress of the family head and she didn't get that much favour from her father. However, Alina had high IQ and she's a talent in the business. So she was also the qualified candidate for the heir of Dawn family corporations.
She had investigated her prey thoroughly and will soon start the hunt. As she smiled softly, she walks toward the table. She looks bubbly, sweet and innocent. Her almond dark eyes shining brightly and clearly with a small sweet smile. There is a small blush on her cheeks which farther makes her charming. Normally, this would charm anyone easily especially the people like Alina who likes beautiful things and people.
The problem is Alina had already seen this type of character and she's even better than the girl in front of her. So she was immune to the girl's charm. The beauty of the girl she had seen that rainy night exceeds Sofia many times and even now, she would sometimes recall that beautiful doll-like girl.
Sofia had thought that this simple tactic would charm Alina definitely and she thinks highly of herself. But she didn't expect that Alina was harder than she thought. This makes Sofia disgruntled although she didn't show it outwardly. She reports about the affairs of the company softly and sweetly while checking Alina's expressions.
And it seemed that she failed. She had to work harder to take down this prey it seems. She's the type who likes this kind of challenges and she gets excited just by thinking about it. Obviously, the outer expressions and inner thoughts are inconsistent as she was bright outside but her heart was shady.