Selena was just done unpacking her clothes in the room her grandmother assigned her when the door was opened, she looked back and saw her grandmother Elise.
She smiled brightly at her, her appearance had changed since the last time she saw her and that was two years ago at her mother's funeral.
Wrinkles on each side of Elise's narrow eyes and thin lips , the freckles on her cheeks and the tiny moles on her neck made her look older than the last time Selena saw her. She had a smile on her lips that reached her eyes but behind that smile was a dark past and guilt was lurking around like a ghost hiding in the shadows.
Selena widened her arms in excitement, she was only six when her grandparents divorced and later she found out that their divorce had caused a huge impact on the family business after her grandmother sold her 30% shares to an unknown person.
"grandma!" her warm smile heated the cold room, she took big steps towards her and jumped into her grandmother's embrace .
She longed for her grandmother, she loved how frank she usually was and all her stories about her travels because all those stories made her feel excited to grow up and roam around the world.
This would be their last day of vacation but her uncle told her she could skip school for a week and she knew better that not having her around would benefit him the most.
"How's my favorite grandchild?" Elise spoke in the same energy as Selena, she dragged her granddaughter towards the bed and they sat opposite each other.
"What favorite?" Selena pouted "I am your only grandchild!" she continued.
Elise laughed and stroke a hand on Selena's hair "yeah right, but I heard from Matthew that Evan seems to be attracted to your babysitter " her eyes shone in happiness with the thought, she seized the girl's hand and gripped it with excitement "tell me about her!"
Selena wrinkled her nose "Aish! Seriously! Why do people keep asking about her?" she rolled her eyes with her lips pouting like a duck "what's so interesting about her?"
Elise slapped a hand on Selena's arm lightly "she must be special if Evan let her stay in his room."
"What do you mean special?" Selena asked in confusion "she's uncle Matthew's ex and they lived in London together for three years," she sighed "and probably 90 percent of our male employees are crushing on her."
"Really?" Elise responded in confusion "what's her name again?"
Selena blinked "Daniella Chen and oh!" she paused and took her phone out, showing the stolen picture she took "this is Daniella."
Elise lowered her eyes to the phone but a strange feeling started to rise in her chest after hearing a familiar name.
Her face became pale when she recognized the familiar face. The face of the woman in the photo looking at the television had an innocent look painted over her face, even the dimples on her cheeks were so deep and round that they made her look like a pure Goddess.
She had seen this face 'no' she yelled in her mind, this was not the woman she remembered they just looked the same.
That face , the face that had been hunting her for the last seven years, the woman in the photo had the same face as the woman she despised since she got married to Alvin.
She's in shocked when she felt something vibrating in her bag. She blinked to compose herself and plastered on a smile to ease the confusion evident on Selena's face.
She answered the phone with her slightly trembling hand and the voice she heard and the words that followed broke her heart into pieces.
--
Selena didn't know what happened to her grandmother but before she could even spend a night at her grandmother's house she was picked up by one of her uncle's guards.
She wanted to say goodbye to her grandma but she suddenly disappeared.
With sadness and a gloomy expression Selena entered the car which was where her uncle Evan was waiting.
She gave him a piercing look "I don't want to go home!" she said as she crossed her arm over her stomach angrily.
"Kirby will drive you to your school until I come back."
Slowly Selena's eyebrow rose she turned to her uncle who was looking on the tablet in his hand "really?" she asked partially doubting his words.
Evan nodded, turned and plastered a smile which rose suspicion in her mind.
With narrowed eyes she looked at the tablet and saw that he was looking for a hotel to stay.
"Are you going somewhere?" she asked.
"Yes " he replied.
"Can I come?"
Evan bored his eyes at her, his cold stares had given his answer.
Selena clicked her tongue irritably, "is Daniella coming too?"
She got her answer by watching her uncle lip's curve into a smile, she took a deep sigh and decided to just let him enjoy his life after all he was old enough .
" Fine but bring something back for me ."
Her uncle did not respond just like before "UNCLE EVAN!" she yelled at him after he disregarded her intentionally.
Her uncle finally turned to her and his eyes threw a chilly glare "ok " he replied eventually after staring at her for a while.
"What do you want?" he asked vividly.
Selena fell deep into her thought, scrubbing her tongue around her teeth.
"Hm " she struggled to think of what he could have given her.
"What about a cousin?"
As soon as his words registered in her mind, Selena turned to her uncle with a flat face.
"Uncle evan how about you get a girlfriend so my babysitter can finally focus on me?"