"What?" Zayn frowned. "Randy saw his mother?"
"No, " Brandy answered firmly. "I blocked his sight. He shouldn't have seen Ms. Lierger."
"Shouldn't have?" Zayn growled.
"I'm sorry for my incompetence." Brandy was frustrated, but he didn't defend himself.
"Calm down, Mr. Giblo, " Benard advised him. "You can't hide it forever. Ms. Lierger is still going to make a public appearance on the South Sea territorial waters project's opening day. Even if the people from Southridge and Northridge aren't seeing one another right now, they'd know she's back on that day."
Zayn frowned after hearing the explanation. "When's the opening?"
"Thirteenth next month, " Benard answered hastily. "It's already twenty-ninth today."
"So we have sixteen days to work with." Zayn tapped the armrest of his leather chair, then he told Brandy, "Call Selena. If she's holding up, tell her to have dinner with me tonight."
"Huh?" Brandy was startled by the request, but he quickly answered, "Right away, Sir. Give me a minute."
Zayn ended the call, but he didn't look relaxed. In fact, he was tense. I have to get Jombo back to M Nation, or I'll get held back.
"Don't worry. There are about two weeks before that. We'll settle this before then, " Benard calmed him down.
At the same time, Benard called back, "Ms. Benday isn't feeling well. She declined your invitation."
Zayn was surprised to hear that. He thought Selena would accept the invitation no matter what, but he never expected her to say no. "I see." Zayn hung up.
"Ms. Benday sustained quite a serious injury. I saw her yesterday, and she couldn't even get out of bed. Going out for a meal seems unrealistic for now, " Benard explained.
"We'll talk about this later. For now, let's settle some business."
"Yes."
…
Zayn worked for the whole day and refused all appointments for that night. He wanted to go home soon and spend some time with his kids, but it was already ten when he came home.
Jombo and Selena were having a game of chess when Zayn came back. Jombo seemed to be in a good mood, and he laughed heartily. "Good form, Selena. Good form. Not many people out there have the patience to play chess with me and win. You're the second."
Selena put her chess piece down and signaled, ‘Is Zayn the first?'
"No." Jombo shook his head and sighed. "It's his mother."
Selena froze up for a moment, then she apologized, ‘I'm sorry. I shouldn't have talked about that."
"It's fine. It's all in the past now." Then Jombo realized Zayn's return, and his gentle attitude was replaced by a stern one. "You're late."
"I tried my best to be early." He went upstairs, then he remembered something and asked, "Are you guys hungry? Wanna get supper together?"
Jombo stopped drinking his tea, surprised that Zayn would ask them out for supper. Zayn was, after all, a cold man.
‘Sure. I'm getting hungry now, ' Selena gestured.
"Make some light supper, Mrs. Bolistin. I'll come back after I change, " Zayn told Mrs. Bolistin.
"Yes, Mr. Zayn." Mrs. Bolistin quickly sent the servants to the kitchen, while Zayn went upstairs.
Jombo looked at him for a while, then he turned to Selena. "Selena, did he talk to you over the last few days?"
‘He asked me out for dinner tonight, but I declined because I'm not in a state to go out yet, ' she gesticulated.
"Is that so?" Jombo was delighted. "That's progress right there!"
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