"Boss... here's the list" a man dressed in a casual business outfit said handing a file to his superior before walking out of the room.
The man seated on the sofa chair gazed around the cabin with his attentive eyes.
The wide space surrounding him appeared familiar to the place, he stayed for a week in the same country five years ago.
"Hope I could hire someone unlike the last time I came here" he mumbled before picking the file on the table before him.
All the papers bundled in the file were filled with information about the participants who registered for the contest he intended to hold a few days later.
He casually flipped through all the papers until his eyes fell on a photo of a participant at the corner of one paper. The person in the picture seemed too familiar to him, his eyes twinkled instantly.
"Bella..." he muttered as he recognised the person in the picture instinctively with his apparent conscious.
He stared at the picture for a few moments as his fingers trailed across the person's face with his senses immediately shifting to that day five years ago, the last day of a week-long battle he conducted.
That contest which he held simply as a part of promoting his business turned into a fierce battle filled with several skilled participants, he hoped to hire the most eligible participant into his company.
But he failed to become the winner's employer as she rejected his proposed deal saying "Sorry, there's no need for me to work under someone when I can create miracles entirely by myself"
He recalled the contest winner's smiling face as he handed her the rewards on the stage. Her eyes glowing, delicate face with a tiny nose and slightly curled lips and her hands trembling both in joy and excitement.
Her entire persona of a goddess attracted him like a heavy magnetic field.
"Thank you...sir" she greeted before leaving the stage with the rewards she received from him. As his eyes trailed over her back blending into the crowd, his mind instantly chose to grab her hand and take her far away from the outside world and his heart wished to cage her within it's boundaries permanently.
But he also failed to become her man as she got engaged to some other businessman within the same week.
He lost her as an employer, missed her every second as a man. Those chaotic emotions he encountered for the first time rendered him so desperate, he desired to meet her again at least for once before she enters her new family. But before he could finally meet her she disappeared from that country, never appearing again.
After five years, he saw her again, the same smiling face just like in the past.
He quickly grabbed his mobile and tapped on the screen a few times searching about Dubois family on the internet.
"Dubois family's tragic accident, two people Spot dead"
"Dubois Company at the top with Romano Corporation partnering again"
"Dubois ruling the business world with their new projects"
"Dubois company crossing boundaries"
He read a bunch of articles on the internet about her family business but found no idea about the woman in the picture.
Hopeless, he shifted his eyes away from the mobile screen just when he noticed a notification popping up.
He tapped the screen to read the words
"I saw that woman yesterday"
"Ohh.." he typed the letters but instead of touching the 'enter' arrow on the screen, his thumb pressed the power button blackening the screen.
He stared at the clear blue sky through the floor to window ceiling as his heart turned gloomy.
'How I wish to see you again, How I wish to hold your hand, How I wish to share my life with you...' his mind swirled with thoughts.
Just as his senses were drifting somewhere his mobile beeped again.
"She's got a daughter but no father by her child's side"
He read the words which made his heartbeat abnormally and his mind jammed with questions.
'she divorced him..'
'Her child...has to be his..'
'Why's she competing now'
A line of thoughts wrapped his head. He was just at the point of breaking down when he received a call.
The man picked the phone to swipe across the screen and settling the call on speaker and threw it to a side carelessly.
"Hey...you know her daughter's too beautiful and smart.. she's already making an effort in pairing up her mother" the man chuckled continuously unknown to him, the man on the other side wasn't listening to him but stared at the set of numbers and lines on the paper beside the picture.
"..."
"Hey..." the man on other end cried.
"Are you listening?" the man said in a worried tone.
"Eric... her child thought I'm good and handsome enough to be her father in future years. You don't mind right?"
Only then did the man who's reading the text on the paper responded curtly "Wanna die?"
"I wouldn't dare...cough.. You need me to find her?" the man queried in a sarcastic tone.
"Thanks for the offer but I've already got her details in my hands" the man replied before ending the call abruptly.
He tapped on the mobile a few times creating a line of numbers to appear on the screen before pressing on the call option.
"Hello...." The tone was soft and the voice so sweet, he thought he heard someone singing instead of speaking.
"Is this Bella..?" the man inquired in an anxious voice.
He wasn't sure how she would receive his unforeseen approach. He's not certain if the person he contacted was really the one he's expecting to be.
Even though he knew it wasn't natural for a company head to call a mere applicant to a simple contest he's organising, he still hoped to hear from the person he constantly yearned. It wasn't until he heard a voice from the other side, he relaxed a little.
"Yes...Who's this..?" the person on the other side muttered.
"I'm Eric..." the man announced but his throat couldn't speak further as his voice trembled out of too much enthusiasm.
"...You mean Eric Lee?" the voice on the other side sounded relatively solid.
"Yes...You're right"
"Mr Lee. If you don't mind, May I propose you something?" the tone now was more audible and merry.
The voice sounded too foreign to him but he still anticipated something favourable to happen.
"Yes..please" the man approved.
"My family picture's incomplete. Can I borrow you as my father?" the girl's childlike voice exploded from the other end.