Footsteps on the pile of brown leaves sounded in the quiet cemetery, the weather was different than usual, no wind nor clouds, making the ambiance around gloomy.
It made Selena's skin to shiver as she walked next to Daniella and sniffed the fresh air, her breathing rose in visible puffs trying to remember the last time she visited her mother's grave but all the memories she had was when they threw the soil on her coffin.
Their feet halted as they reached their destination, next to the grave with a name Nathan Su was where Kierry had her tombstone.
With the pain in her lower abdomen, Selena sat on the grass, her eyes were glooming with sadness, she felt an indescribable emptiness inside.
Her mother had never been on her side, she rarely stayed at home and when she did, she's always busy with something. This was the reason why she acted like a spoiled brat, she did all she could to get her mother's attention but even in her last breath, her mother requested for her uncle Evan and not her.
Does she hate her mother? Selena was unsure, don't all children hate their parents when they didn't get something they wanted especially if its attention?
Selena blew in a sigh, started to wonder if she missed her mother or not, it's been two years since she died and honestly, she didn't feel strange in the villa, it might be because her mother was not always around.
"Do you miss her?" Selena asked Daniella.
Daniella turned to the girl, she could read the confusion in her eyes but as she looked deeper, she found the answer, the girl yearned to see her mother.
With Selena unconsciously staring at her mother's name carved on the tombstone, Daniella dug deeper into her memory.
And with all the memories she saw, there's one thing she realized.
Motherhood is not for everyone, especially for her.
Daniella blinked and opened the basket Anders prepared for them. She took out then two wine glasses inside and the unopened wine bottle.
She opened it and filled each glass, then she stretched a hand and gave it to Selena.
Perplexed, Selena switched her eyes between Daniella and the glass, "I am only thirteen," she said and gulped hard.
Daniella gave her a half shrug, "You're a teenager now Selena, drink up."
Even though Selena was skeptical, she still accepted the glass and drunk it. It's not new to her, she's a spoiled girl who's curious about everything including the taste of the wine.
"whoa! You're good for a beginner," Daniella teased Selena and drunk the wine from her glass.
With the alcohol in Selena's body, poisoning her mind, the girl lashed out all the words she wished she said to her mom while she was still alive.
--
Evan's eyes narrowed as he waited for Anders to give the answer to his question 'where is Daniella?'
He couldn't reach her or Selena and he started to get worried.
Scratching a hand on his hair, Anders who was looking down to the floor looked up to meet his boss's frowning face.
He gulped hard, "Ms. Chen had me prepared some food and drinks, she didn't tell me where they were going," beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he watched his boss face screwed up with anger.
He's unsure what's happening but his boss was always in a foul mood whenever Daniella was not around especially when he doesn't know where she went.
Evan jammed a hand in his pocket to get his phone, then he dialed Robert's number.
"Have you see Daniella?" he asked without greeting him.
"No, do you want me to track her?"
"Yes please," he sighed in relief, good thing that Daniella's friend had a way to find her.
He waited and waited until Robert rang his phone.
"So?"
"Ahm…" hearing Robert stuttering has made his heart pulverized.
"I don't know why but I can't track her."
Hearing that, a sudden fear swept over his face, "what do you mean you can't track her?"
"Don't worry Evan, for sure she's just around. But it really strange that I can't track her."
And those words have made his eyes swelled in shock, "what?"
"I will go there," Robert said and hung up the phone.
Evan's lips pursed together as his heart pounded uncontrollably, immediately he dialed a number to his phone once again.
"Bing, come to the villa now, bring some of your men."
The other line answered, "what's wrong?"
"Daniella is missing! And her friends couldn't find her!" he said in am almost yell.
"How long has she been gone?"
Evan squeezed his eyes shut with irritation, "just come here!"
"I am coming there."
Evan loosened his tie after feeling suffocated, he kept swallowing as if his throat has been dried for a year.
--
Meanwhile, back at the cemetery.
Selena's sweet giggles disturbed the quietness of the cemetery, causing for the crows to fly away from them.
With the empty wine bottle on the ground and food around the grave, Daniella and Selena continued with their chat.
"Your mom once told me that her daughter looked so much like me," Daniella started, "then I saw you and realized that she must have had bad eyesight to say that," and then she let out a laugh louder than Selena.
The girl pouted by Daniella's words, "yeah because I am prettier than you," she said and threw a piece of ch.i.p.s at Daniella.
Reading her action, Daniella swiftly caught the chip with her mouth.
"Whoa!" Selena's eyes widened, "again! Again!" she squeaked and threw a chip at Daniella one after another.
Unknown to them, a woman was hiding behind the tree a few meters from her own grave, a device was on her hand interrupting the signal waves emitting from Daniella's chip, in this way, no one would be able to track her.
Tears streamed down from her eyes as she listened to her daughter's cry and laugh.
"Kierry, Roman Lee has found her," a voice of a man sounded from behind her in an almost a whisper.
Kierry turned around and smiled, "yes, let's see how Daniella will handle Roman Lee."
"I think we should get Daniella now. Roman Lee is moving faster than we anticipated, and she's not even aware of it."
"You are right Arthur. She's so occupied with Evan that she didn't pay attention to her surroundings." Kierry blew out a sigh as she said that.
"Isn't that what we have planned?" Arthur whispered back.
"It is indeed, but we are not expecting for Roman Lee to find her this early" Kierry agreed, "what if something goes wrong," a slight concern shook her voice.
Artur blew a sigh, "I guess its time for your brother to step in Kierry."