บท 9: Facts about Victoria
Two days have passed, feeling so long, and I've missed Victoria and her little girl so much, but unfortunately, I couldn't see them before I had proof that she was just lying to me.
Everything feels strange, sad, worse than before, and I don't even want to talk to my mother anymore. This disappointment feels like it's ingrained, and if it turns out that she's the one who made Victoria leave all this time, I don't know if I can still look at her face without hatred or not.
"Sir..."
A voice from the door diverted my attention, and it turned out to be David. I immediately stood up, adjusting my gray bathrobe, then welcomed him by quickly taking a document from him.
"I'm sorry I'm late. But I finally brought valid data," he said.
I just stayed silent, looking at the document showing the information of male and female students from Portland University who graduated five years ago.
"There's no student named Gabriel, and there was no prom night held five years ago," David explained, while I kept flipping through the pages of the document until I saw the birth data of Victoria's daughter.
It stated that she gave birth by Cesarean section at a Santa Barbara hospital in Wichita, then made payments gradually because the cost was quite high, and it turned out the baby was born prematurely so she had to stay in the hospital for about a month.
The baby's blood type was O-positive, the same as mine. Damn, I clenched my jaw immediately, feeling nervous, more convinced that she is my daughter.
Juliana Clark now works at the Elordy family mansion after several job changes but she only stayed in Portland, while Victoria never went to Portland again after five years.
Sophia goes to Mama Kristen Kindergarten, always accompanied by Victoria but then picked up by a girl named Kimberly. Every morning until the afternoon, Victoria works at a cafe not far from her rental house, then at night she will take turns taking care of her daughter while Kimberly works.
Sophia was once hospitalized at Santa Barbara Hospital when she was 3 years old because she had respiratory problems until the doctor diagnosed her with asthma.
"Enough..." I sighed, closing the book. 'I know she's lying and Sophia is my daughter. She suffered all this time, I'm stupid, I'm so stupid!"
I threw the document on the table and slumped onto the sofa, sitting with a directionless gaze, my mind kept drifting to them. Slowly, my hands squeezed my hair tightly, messy, my breath racing, my eyes burning to imagine how she struggled for five years, and it was because of my mother.
'I'm sure it's because of my mother!'
"Miss Clark has now returned to Wichita. Today she was seen working at the cafe again."
David's words again diverted my attention, staring at him seriously, and instantly thought of meeting her there.
"I'll go there," I said as I stood up.
"But, Sir. It seems you should be careful when meeting her."
"Why?"
"If you're sure that your mother is the reason she stayed away from you, maybe she's also under threat. So, if your mother knows you're starting to meet her, I'm worried she'll ask her to stay away from you again." David's words made sense.
"It's better to meet her in a certain situation... Like when she's going back to her rented house."
I pondered, imagining how to meet her while she always avoids me.
"Meeting her at work and paying the manager a lot to let her be with me is the only way, and I'll do it now!" I said, rushing towards the dressing room.
"Brandon!"
A female's voice called out, I immediately turned and found Aurora coming to me with her sad gaze.
'What's this? Why is she back already? She should be in Hawaii!' I said to myself, looking at her cynically but she hugged me instead.
"I missed you so much!" she said in a coquettish tone.
"Aurora..!" I immediately pushed her away from me.
She looked at me with sadness. "What's wrong with you? Why are you avoiding me?"
"We'll never get married," I frowned, looking at her, beautiful in her dark green knee-length dress with open sleeves and letting her hair beautifully curly, reminding me of Victoria.
"What are you talking about? We have to get married as you promised to win the contest!" She protested immediately.
"I've changed my mind, you're attractive to me, you're beautiful... You meet the criteria. But I don't have feelings for you... So it's better we don't get married but you'll still get other gifts," I said, then quickly went to the changing room but she immediately grabbed my arm.
"Brandon, I don't need those gifts!" She whined, her voice annoying me. "I just want the main prize, which is you!"
I immediately glanced at her hand gripping my arm tightly.
"Marriage is something sacred, it can't be done just because you won the contest. Winning means nothing if I can't have feelings for you... I won't marry a girl I don't love!" I affirmed.
She shook her head immediately.
"No, you have to marry me... You can't break your promise!"
"It's not about promises but it's about feelings!"
"You're stupid!" Suddenly she pushed me. "How could you make yourself have feelings for me when you didn't follow me to Hawaii for vacation even though it's something that could make us get used to being together, then love will arise!"
I distanced myself from her, suddenly feeling disgusted. "And I will never love a girl as impatient as you!" I asserted.
"I can't be patient when I'm being played!" She hissed again, pointing to her chest. "I've admired you for a long time... Then I saw that contest until I finally ended my relationship with my boyfriend so I could enter the contest. I did a lot of things for you... And when you chose me, my family knew and finally they were excited to welcome our relationship, to welcome our marriage... I can't imagine What if they know that you're just playing me... It's so embarrassing, it's like an insult, it hurts me so much!" She was so emotional, that even her eyes started to well up.
I sighed heavily, swallowing, looking at her as a new problem for me until I chose to glance at David.
"I don't have time to discuss this, but we can negotiate... But I can't talk to you directly, but through my assistant," I said, occasionally glancing at her.
"What?" She widened her eyes. "This is a very serious conversation, How can it be done only through an intermediary? I'm your fiancee, not your client!"
"I haven't even proposed to you... You can't claim yourself as my fiancee!" I affirmed, looking at her seriously and pointing to her chest. "A good and honorable girl will never chase after a man... That's my principle. If you feel worthy of me, you should try to improve yourself from now on... Who knows you're lucky enough to make me fall in love without me showing an opportunity!" I affirmed then quickly headed to the dressing room and locked the door before she entered brazenly.
"Brandon... Brandon!"
That annoying girl kept calling me from outside, causing me a new headache.
'She's a new problem... Never mind that I have to see Victoria!'I rushed to open the silver wardrobe and then looked at the rows of clothes from my collection that were hanging neatly until I chose one of them, namely dark blue denim pants, a gray t-shirt, and a blue robe.
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