In her room, Emeli sat facing her laptop, leaning against the bed. Every now and then, she smiled and shook her head, both amused and satisfied by the person on her laptop screen.
"Who told you to mess with Dad? Anyone who makes Dad sad will have to deal with me," Emeli muttered with a sly smile.
"What is it? Why are you talking to yourself?" Kayla asked.
The woman approached with a glass of water and climbed onto the bed. Emeli quickly shut her laptop because she didn't want Kayla to know what she was spying on right now.
"Playing secrets with Aunt, huh? Fine, it's okay. It's time for Emeli to go to sleep, but don't forget to take your medicine first."
Kayla held out a glass of water and some medicine to the little girl.
Emeli nodded and immediately swallowed the medicine along with the glass of water. After that, Kayla helped lay her foster child down.
"Go to sleep. It's already late!" Kayla ordered, then covered Emeli with a blanket. Emeli closed her eyes. It wasn't long before the girl drifted off to sleep.
"Good night," Kayla said before climbing down from the bed. She picked up Emeli's laptop and put it back in its usual place. Only after checking that the girl was truly asleep did she leave Emeli's room.
At Emeli's bedroom door, Kayla ran into Arshaka, who asked about his daughter's condition. Kayla told him that Emeli was fine and was sleeping now. Arshaka nodded, then turned and walked away from Emeli's room. Kayla also went to her own room.
In a building far from Arshaka's home, a man tightly squeezed his hands into fists, rose to his feet, and began pacing around his office.
"Damn it, who dared do this to me! First, he took down my social media account, and now he's gone after the company's computers. What does he want, and why can't my hired IT experts detect him? Just how capable is he? If I ever find that person, I'll teach him a lesson he'll regret for the rest of his life."
The man's eyes were filled with rage. He couldn't sleep all night, thinking about who was trying to mess with him. How dare they? No one had ever dared cause trouble for him before.
The next day, when he returned to the company, an interesting piece of news caught his attention. Several employees were talking about the albino child who had won an Olympiad competition a month earlier.
Yes, the man's name was Delano, and he owned a company that competed with Arshaka's.
"What are you talking about?"
The employees who had been chatting were startled, afraid of provoking his anger after being caught gossiping during work hours.
"I-I mean, Sir, it's... that albino child who won the Mathematics Olympiad last month is going viral now because several companies are asking her to fix their computer systems," one of the employees explained while showing him a news post on his social media account.
"The albino child, Muhammad Arshaka's daughter?"
They all nodded immediately. Delano took the employee's phone and zoomed in on Emeli's picture. His face turned red, making several employees take two steps back in fear at the sight of their fierce-looking boss. Delano handed the phone back and hurried to his office.
Crash!
The man slammed his hand hard against the desk, leaving it visibly red. Delano was furious when he learned the truth. Now he knew that Emeli had helped her father—and had even dared to make his company's computer system malfunction for several days.
His assistant looked startled and stared at Delano in confusion. For a moment, the man nervously looked at his boss as though he were about to become his meal.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Hurry up and find Arshaka and his company's weakness. That man has to be destroyed."
"I know who can help with your ambition, Sir," the assistant said with a tight smile. It turned out that was all the matter was. He had thought he'd made some mistake that caused a client to cancel their partnership with the company.
"Who?"
The man approached Delano and whispered something to him. After hearing his assistant's suggestion, Delano smiled happily.
"That's a great idea. Why didn't I think of it sooner? I know that girl must be devastated because her love is unrequited. Arshaka acts like he doesn't even notice her attention. I'm going to meet with her right now," Delano said before leaving his office.
This time, Delano would approach Elena and sweet-talk her into asking her parents to withdraw their shares from Arshaka's company. Delano was sure that if his plan succeeded, Arshaka's life would be ruined. He smirked. After this, Arshaka would lose to him.
The man walked past the employees, who stared dumbfounded at the sudden change in their boss's expression. Delano didn't care at all that they thought he was acting strangely. The important thing was that he was in a good mood today.
"You won't be able to live peacefully after this," he said before getting into his car.
"Welcome to your downfall, Arshaka!" he shouted enthusiastically before speeding away.
"Hi, how are you, Elena?" Delano greeted Elena, who was hanging out with her friends at a café.
"Elena, someone's here to see you!"
Elena, who had been focused on her phone, finally lifted her head and turned around. She furrowed her brow when she saw Delano walking toward her.
"Um, who is he?" she asked, since she didn't recognize Delano at all.
One of her friends whispered something in Elena's ear, and the woman immediately looked shocked.
"Really?"
"Yep, so stop focusing so much on Arshaka. There are still plenty of handsome, cool guys out there, you know! Arshaka's nothing compared to him. He's rich, and he's never been married. Unlike Arshaka—he's already a widower and even has a kid trailing behind him. Instead of becoming his wife, you're becoming his child's caregiver. Hahaha..."
One of her friends let out a hearty laugh, making Elena glare at the woman.
"Hi! Let me introduce myself. My name is Delano."
Delano held out his hand to Elena, and the woman shook it before introducing herself as well.
"Oh, yes. Is there something I can help you with, Sir?"
Delano nodded.
"Could we talk privately for a moment?"
Elena looked at both of her friends, and they nodded as well.
"Then let's go to the table over there!"
Elena nodded, stood up, and followed Delano until they sat across from each other.
"Oh, yes. It's nice to meet you."
Delano merely nodded with a smile.
"Well, actually, I've had a crush on you for a long time, but—"
Delano deliberately left his sentence hanging to see Elena's reaction.
"Huh? I'm sorry, Sir. What did you say?"
Elena fidgeted awkwardly. She had been caught staring at Delano without blinking.
"What have you been looking at all this time?" Delano repeated.
"Oh, that? It looked like the server behind you was coming over here, but then she turned the other way," she lied, her voice slightly nervous.
"Oh. Ahem."
Delano coughed—or rather, pretended to cough, making a throat-clearing sound instead. He was only trying to ease the slight nervousness in his heart.
"I'll have another server take care of it later."
Delano waved, and a server approached their table. He only ordered a drink because Elena said she had already eaten with her friends earlier.
"Where were we?" Delano asked after the server left.
"The opening line," Elena replied, feeling too awkward to make him repeat what he had said earlier. Just imagining it was enough to make Elena unbearably embarrassed.