Chapter 155
His hand came to her hair, yanking hard. “If this is going to work between us, Sylvie, you’ll learn to obey me. Do you understand!?”
Shocked beyond words, Sylvie simply stared at him, tears pooling in her eyes. She couldn’t believe Machai was the one before her.
Releasing her hair, he stepped back and straightened his suit, watching as tears spilled from her eyes.
She was too shocked to form any words. Her whole life, she’s never been hit by a man before.
“Keep your phone closer.” He said before walking out.
*****
After Machai left, Sylvie cried some more in the room.
As soon as she was home, she headed straight for Galen’s room. It didn’t matter that the man had been giving her the silent treatment. She simply couldn’t keep what had happened to herself.
Fortunately, Natalie wasn’t in when she knocked and Galen permitted her to come in. The man was on the bed, reading the papers when ahe entered.
“I’m truly sorry for what happened yesterday, grandpa,” she started after greeting him..“I think someone might have spiked the coffee I had before leaving the house, because I suddenly felt dizzy in the car which was the reason I couldn’t make it to the meeting.”
Galen’s expression was the same as she spoke.
“I know you’re disappointed, and I do hope that soon, you get to forgive me. But for now, I have something more pressing to talk about.”
Galen seemed more interested now.
“I can’t continue any form of relationship with Machai.” Her voice wavered. “I’m sure you have your reasons for pairing me with him, but I’m out, sir. I can’t do it.”
The old man’s face molded into a frown. Then, he looked worried. “Did something happen?”
A tear rolled down her cheek as she nodded. “This morning, he came over to the office and…and hit me–simply because I didn’t take his calls yesterday when I was in a bad mood. He assaulted me in my office!”
Galen’s brows lifted in surprise. A moment stretched between them before the man stared down at the floor, shaking his head.
“Why did he have to do that?” He mumbled. “He was wrong, Sylvie. I’ll… I’ll talk to Harry about that.”
Huh? Sylvie wanted to believe she hadn’t heard clearly.
“Talk to… I’m talking about ending the relationship, grandpa.”
“It’s an engagement, and I’m afraid you can’t end it.”
He stood up, reached over and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Please, Sylvie.”
She was stunned. Galen Cheng was begging her!?
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Chapter 155
“I can’t
go
into details right now, but you cannot leave Machai for any reason. Things will get a lot worse if you do.”
“What do you mean?” It wasn’t making any sense.
“You must stay with him. I’ll try to talk to him about the assault, but you can’t break it off.”
Realization dawned on Sylvie. The fear in her grandfather’s eyes. This was bad.
“What does he have over you?” She asked softly. “What is he threatening you with?”
Galen’s eyes dropped before he stepped away from her. The man was worried.
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“I’m so sorry I had to bring you into this, but you’re all I have, Sylvie. I can do anything you want. Just please, don’t leave Machai.”
Sylvie confronted June about the coffee. June snapped and denied vehemently. She was so defensive that Sylvie considered she might actually have been wrong.
For two days, she was worried sick, thinking of the best way to get out of Machai’s shackles.
The only thing keeping her sane was the fact that things had been going well in the company. Other than the clients she had lost–they wouldn’t even hear her out, blaming her for being unreliable–every other thing was working fine.
That morning, Machai reached out to her again, telling her to get ready for a house party in the evening. The idea of a house party made Sylvie’s stomach churn, but unfortunately, until she found a way to break free from him, she was obliged to go.
During the day, she dropped by the kids‘ school to check on them. She’d stopped by a mall to get food, drinks and snacks for them, and it filled her with so much satisfaction, watching them eat. She suddenly wished she could watch her own kids eat like this.
“Asher drew something, Ms Sylvie! Asher show her your drawing” Aura urged, biting from a sausage.
Sylvie looked at the boy with amusement. “You draw?”
He smiled as he nodded shyly.
“Well, that’s so cute, baby. Please show me what you have.”
He hesitated a little before reaching for his bag and pulled a book out of it. Sylvie was excited as she flipped through the pages.
“How long have you been drawing now, honey?” She asked.
“A year ago.”
“Woah. And you never mentioned it. Aren’t you a little sly?” She tousled his hair while he laughed.
Though, the drawings looked childish, they were pretty good for someone his age. If he kept up with it, there was no doubt he’d be making something big out of it.
She paused when she came across a particular page. It was the last page he drew on.
Her brows furrowed, and her heart seemed to jump into her throat.
“Wh–What’s this? Why did you draw this?” She asked, showing to him.
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Chapter 155
In the book was a picture of a room on fire, and on the floor of the room were two babies.
Sylvie had never been that paralyzed around the kids before.
Asher observed the drawing and shrugged. Oh, she really needed him to talk.
“Come on, Ash. Why would you draw this?”
Q
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Aura leaned in for a look. “Oh, I asked him that. He’d written down to explain that he only saw it in his dream and felt like drawing it.”
More shock. How could he draw something that related so much to her? Sylvie pondered fearfully.
Tears pooled in her eyes as she stared at the drawing. What a painful coincidence. It was just like her kids being trapped in the fire where she couldn’t save them.
Sniffling, she turned to a fresh page, got a pen and handed them to him. “If you can’t talk, could you write down your answers, then? Did you really dream of this?”
He nodded.
“Why do you think you dreamed of it?”
He scribbled down his response. “I don’t know. I’ve never dreamt of something similar.”
“Do you think something similar might have happened to you and Aura when you were babies?”
He wrote “I don’t know.”
Sylvie wiped the lone tear that had began making it’s way down her cheek. He probably dreamt of it because he met her. But
it still didn’t make sense. He definitely wasn’t psychic. How could he have such a dream just by meeting her?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of their mother.
She glared at Sylvie before clicking her fingers toward the kids. “You two–come on, let’s go.”
Their countenance dropped as they left Sylvie’s side and went over to meet their mother.
Sylvie wondered how long it’d take them to walk before seeing a cab.
“Can I give you a ride home?” She stood up and asked behind them.
“No. Just stay away!” The lady glared daggers at her before turning away.
How could someone be so hostile? Sylvie couldn’t understand it.
Her phone beeped, distracting her. She checked it out and discovered it was a text from Machai, reminding her of the house party tonight.
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