Meanwhile, Samantha didn"t go to Trident that morning because when she reached the area, the front of her building had a lot of reporters waiting to get a chance to interview her. She called her best friend Hannah and told her that she was coming over to the Busy Bean Café.When she arrived, they went to their usual hang out place which is the rooftop garden. The two of them sat on the outdoor sofa with their feet up on the table as they sipped hot cocoa from their huge mugs. Winter was already nearing and the weather had started to become chilly.
"S, your life has turned around like crazy this year." Hannah blew on her mug and took a sip. "How do you feel about it?"
"Honestly, I"m not sure. I feel like I"m still living in a dream. How did I get here?"
"Well, firstly… you met Daniel Cho. Secondly, you changed after you recovered your memories and lastly," Hannah paused and thought about it before she continued. "I think it"s just fate, I guess?"
"Fate." Samantha scoffed. "Is it my fate to be ridiculed by the media or people on the internet? Haven"t I had enough from back then on Mia"s Death?"
.
.
Early that morning, Samantha couldn"t resist the urge to search for those articles online. While she had already expected what she would see according to Hannah"s detailed explanation, it was still different when she saw it with her own eyes. The hurtful comments by strangers had made her question why they were so judgemental, they don"t even know each other personally.
Daniel caught her looking at the news when he got out of the shower. When he came to her side, he covered the screen and said with a gentle voice, "I told you not to look at it."
"I can"t help it. They"re talking about how dirty I am, how could I not want to see that." Her voice was sarcastic. She turned around and lay down on the bed, her head facing down.
"Don"t worry about it, I have someone working on taking down everything already. It will take a while as-"
"No, honey... stop. Don"t do that, tell whoever your guy is to stop removing the articles. Just let it be."
"But why? Everything is ridiculous! They"re all not true but they"re targeting us. They"re saying spiteful things about you. How could I just let it be?"
"It"s fine, I don"t like it either but if you take everything down, they"re just going to spout some more nonsense saying that we had it done because it"s true and we don"t want to let people know about it that"s why we had them removed. Either way, no matter what we do… we will still be called guilty and they will still have some foul things to say."
He walked closer to the bed and sat down next to her. He stroked her head and gave out a sigh, "You"re right."
"Do you at least know who is behind this?"
He nodded his head, "This is his third time, I shouldn"t have let it drag on for so long."
Samantha sat up and turned to face him. With curious eyes, she asked, "What do you plan to do with that person?"
"Don"t you want to know who he is first before knowing what I"m going to do?"
"Do I know that person? I mean… he did make it seem like I was a third party. Who is it?"
Daniel told her about Mr. Qin who was the uncle of Melissa Qin. He explained to her how The Qin and Cho"s companies had been compet.i.tors ever since and how he was also the one responsible for the previous scandals.
"If he"s Melissa"s uncle, why would he include his niece? He"s just creating trouble for her, isn"t he?"
"I don"t know why he did that, Samantha. That old man"s brain is non-existent for even trying to break us apart and have the whole country turn against us."
"Sometimes, you can"t really understand people. For selfish reasons, they"re willing to do that to their family. What an a*shole."
Daniel smiled slightly as he pulled Samantha closer to him, "Don"t worry, I have planned something today. He"ll get what he deserves."
.
Samantha s.p.a.ced out as she recalled what happened that morning with her talk with Daniel.
"S? Hey, S! h.e.l.lo?" Hannah patted her best friends" shoulder to get her attention.
She snapped out of her trance and looked at her friend, "What did you say?"
"I lost you for a while. I was asking you how you guys are going to handle Daniel"s grandfather?" Hannah leaned back on the sofa.
Samantha chuckled as she thought about Grandfather Cho. "I think I have an idea but I"m not sure if I can do it. That old man... I"m sure he isn"t that bad. He"s just bitter." She remembered how they met back in the Cho Corporation"s anniversary when the two of them were talking about his life"s adventures. He was very excited when he shared about some activities that he did back then.
After thinking things thoroughly, she suddenly found the determination to try and fix things. She can"t just wait there and let Daniel do all the work, she has to try and solve things herself too!
"Whatever it is that you"re planning, I"ll give you my full support! Just tell me if you need anything and I will make sure to do my duties as your bestest friend!" Hannah smiled brightly at her.
Samantha smiled back, her expression resolute as she started, "You know what? I do need your help on this one!" She placed their mugs on the table in front of them before she stood up from the sofa. "Come on, let"s go!" She said while pulling Hannah with her.
"We"re doing this right now?!"
With a sly smile, Samantha clicked her tongue, "Are you backing down? I thought I have your full support?"