8:30 AM.
Some minutes later, Eric Wang appeared at the Ang Residence with the police.
After permission to enter was granted, Eric stepped out of the car while adjusting his shades. "Still looking as impressive as I remembered," he muttered under his breath just before a man hurriedly made it out of the building in front of him.
"Master Wang, why have you come to visit at this early hour?" the Ang family's butler asked while sneaking a peak at the policemen gathering behind him.
"Michelle. We are here to have a tiny word with her." Eric emphasized the word 'tiny' with his thumb and index fingers while squeezing the corner of his eyes.
The butler cleared his throat and straightened his back. Looking him in the eye, he revealed, "Miss Michelle is not at home at the moment."
A smirk tugged down at the corner of Eric's lips as his gaze trailed him. "I know," he insinuated just before walking past him and heading into the house with two detectives following after him.
Seeing this turnout, the butler quickly followed them while trying to hide the panic in his heart.
"Master Wang, Miss Michelle is really not at home. At the moment, she…"
---
About ten minutes later, Eric and the detectives that had gone into the house with him, walked out empty-handed.
"Brother, we couldn't get her," he said into the phone as he made his way straight to one of the police cars.
"Why?" Mark's heavy tone sounded from the other end.
"She flew out of the country in the early hours of the morning." Tilting his head to look at the house behind him for a moment, Eric continued in his steps. "The Angs claim to not know which country she left for and when she would be back."
Mark's heavy breathing was let into the phone after a few seconds of silence to show just how furious he was.
At last, he spoke again, "I need you to focus on getting my benefactor's profile and her contact details. She is the most important at the moment."
As for Michelle Ang, there were a thousand ways to deal with her when she finally returns. For now, he wouldn't waste any more breath on her.
***
~Mark's Secret Penthouse~
6:15 PM.
In the gym room, Mark lay flat on a padded brown bench and used the barbell above him to do push-ups.
Sweat dripped down his naked upper torso, as his toned chest muscles expanded and contrasted with each push he gave the barbell in his hands.
He handled the strong steel like a pro, lifting it effortlessly. Years of training had taught him well the ins and outs of weightlifting so as to prevent injury.
Mark busied himself with building his upper muscles regardless of the approaching footsteps he heard coming from outside the door.
He seemed not to mind that someone had invaded his privacy without seeking his permission first.
Two seconds later, Eric slid the door open and welcomed with open arms the sound of heavy breathing coming from the room as his gaze fell on his shirtless brother. "Look at you working out so late in the evening…"
A smirk hung at the corner of his lips as his eyes brimmed with excitement.
"Look at you walking into my private space without a call. Maybe I should change the password," Mark breathed heavily and turned his gaze away.
"I called," Eric waved the phone in his hand. "But don't you want this?" he asked as he showed off the brown envelope in his hand.
Instantly, Mark's attention was piqued. "You got it?" he asked. Without waiting for his response, he dropped the barbell and sat up.
Stretching his right hand while breathing heavily, he demanded for it, "Bring it here."
"Gosh! Look at all those chest muscles… Who are you trying to impress?" Eric shook his head with a smug look. "Now I know the reason all those female species keep flocking around you."
"Eric?" Mark spread his arms while gazing at him intently.
"Oh sorry!" Eric quickly came back to his senses while offering an apologetic smile. Walking over, he took out the contents from the envelope and passed them to him.
"Her name is Elena Huang, daughter of the late CEO of BC Steel," he revealed.
As that piece of valuable information reached Mark's ears, he raised a brow. So that's whom he had spent a passionate night with 5 years ago?
To confirm the rest of the information spewing from his brother's lips, he took a look at the information on the papers.
After a good quality time had passed, Eric raised an inquisitive brow. "So, how did you come to know Elena Huang?"
"We had one nightstand at the vacation resort house in Florida," Mark revealed without batting an eye.
Eric took a step back as he drew in a sharp breath with his mouth open, his eyes widening in their sockets.
He literally exhibited all manner of reactions to shock within two seconds. But after what seemed like forever, he recollected himself.
"How come she didn't remember you? Did you not make her scream your name hard till it was embedded in her heart?" he teased.
"I did," Mark admitted. "In fact, I gave her a memorable experience just as she had requested." He sighed and trailed off, "I think she is just pretending to not know me."
"Well, we can only find out when you give her a call," Eric said in amusement while presenting his phone to him.
Mark had been lost in thought concerning Elena that he didn't even see when his brother picked up his phone from the stool at the corner.
Even in his gym room, there were two black leather sofas and a glass stool that served as a centre table. He could as well host a small meeting in the gym room.
Mark took his phone from Eric and proceeded to dial the strings of numbers under Elena's information.
'Ring-ring, ring-ring!' The sound of the call connecting, mixed with the two brother's heavy breathing, resonated across the room.
The phone rang for a long time before it finally connected.
"Hello. Elena speaking, who am I speaking with?" Elena's calm tone rang from the other end.
Instantly, a smile lit up on Mark and Eric's faces. They were very much delighted to hear her voice.
"Hello Miss Huang, this is Mark."
One. Two. Three.
Three seconds passed and Elena didn't say anything.
Sensing that something was wrong, Eric spread out his hand and mouthed, "What happened?"
"I don't know," Mark mouthed back.
"Say something," Eric urged without a sound.
With that, Mark continued with the conversation. Already, he knew that Elena Huang was impatient based on the CCTV footage he watched at the hotel earlier that day.
Who knew if she wouldn't end the call the next second if he continued to wait for her?
"Elena, this is Mark, the man you saved at the party last night."
Silence.
"Hello? Elena, are you still there?" Mark inquired as his brows furrowed in confusion.
"How did you get my number and why are you calling?" Elena asked after thinking through how Mark managed to get her contact.
He was probably at the bottom of the list of people she should be speaking to right now, so she wasn't pleased.
'Wow! So cold and distant,' Eric thought. Mark thought so as well and that made him wonder the reason she changed as that was not how he remembered her.
The first and the last time they met before now, he had remembered her as the sad Elena but at the moment, he seemed to be speaking with a version of the same woman that was filled with fury.
"I'm sorry I had to contact you because I wanted to thank you for what you did last night and apologise for acting like an ass," he explained.
"You're welcome. Good…"
"Hold on!"
Mark sensed that Elena was going to end the call and immediately stopped her. "I want to buy you lunch to thank..."
"There is no need," Elena said, cutting him off as she knew what he was going to say next.
"I insist. Please," Mark pleaded.
Since his existence, Mark didn't think he has ever begged a woman to dine with him. But the woman he was speaking with was very difficult and interesting, so he was willing to keep trying.
"Unless you are Mark Wang, I don't want anything from you," Elena spoke without thinking it twice. She could care less about what he would think of her thereafter. It's not like his opinion was welcomed by her.
To keep it simple, he was not important. So, she thought.
As those words reached Eric's ears, his eyes grew wide. He was dumbstruck at the nerve of Elena Huang to say such words.
Eric was still yet to recover from the shock when he heard his brother chuckle amusedly.
"You want to see Mark Wang? I will bring him to you."