Serendipity - A Chance Encounter

He grabbed his phone and dialed Lucas" number. His call was picked up the on the first ring.

"It"s Yanovich," Daniel said right away furiously, his voice was cold and it sounded dangerous.

"What?!" Lucas had actually heard him but he was too surprised to be hearing that name from Daniel after all these years.

"The poison. It was that old b.a.s.t.a.r.d. That man"s father. It"s him and he"s doing this for revenge." Daniel seethed. He huffed and was still really angry that he wanted to break something.

"What revenge is he talking about? His son was the one who-" Lucas started to become agitated and the next thing Daniel heard was the sound of a gla.s.s breaking from the other end of the phone — Lucas just threw the gla.s.s in his hand to the floor, shattering it into pieces.

"I"m will find him and I"m going to kill him! How dare he harm my wife?!"

Lucas breathed in and out rather hoa.r.s.ely, his body was trembling in anger when he thought about that incident a long time ago. "We"ve been looking for him all these years and there was not a single thing that led us to him. How the h.e.l.l are we going to find him this time?"

"Even if I have to search for him at the ends of the earth, I will do it!"

"You and me both, brother. I will send more men." Lucas agreed. The two of them talked for a few minutes more before their call ended.

Daniel went back to their bedroom with a heavy heart and took a shower. The cold shower seemed to have helped him cool down a bit but no matter how long he stayed inside, his blood was still boiling in rage.

After what seemed like a very long time, he finally decided to get out of the shower and quickly change into his work clothes. It took him a little longer than usual as his knuckles had started to swell and bruises had already formed, making it slightly uncomfortable for him to move his hand.

After successfully wearing a crisp white s.h.i.+rt, he walked up to the bed and saw his wife still sound asleep. "She must have been really tired after all that crying."

Looking at her sleeping so peacefully, Daniel"s heart ached when he recalled what Yanovich had told him just earlier.

"You deserve all of these."

Was that really true? Did Samantha have to suffer because of what he did years ago? He would never forgive himself if something were to happen to her because of him. He would rather lose everything.

Moving closer, Daniel sat on the bed next to Samantha and gently caressed her hair. There were no traces of anger in his eyes, everything died down the moment that he laid his soft gaze on his sleeping wife and all that was left was pure affection. He looked at her very tenderly like she was everything to him. "I"m sorry," he whispered. "I"m so sorry."

"...nNgh…" Samantha groaned while she stirred in bed. She slowly opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was her husband who was looking down at her. "Daniel…" she muttered sleepily, her voice was quite rough from all the crying that she did yesterday.

"How are you?" He asked with a voice that sounded very caring.

She swallowed dryly, "Thirsty."

Reaching for the bottled water at the nightstand, Daniel twisted the cap and then handed it to Samantha quickly while simultaneously helping her sit up on the bed. "Here, drink carefully."

After quenching her thirst, Samantha was now more awake and that"s when she noticed both backs of Daniel"s hands.

Her eyes grew wide as she grabbed them, "What happened to you?" She looked up, meeting his gaze that was unreadable.

Daniel chuckled, "It"s nothing, I got carried away at the gym earlier." He casually shrugged like it was not a big deal.

Her heart raced, thinking that he had done something terrible. Was he so angry? About what?

"This is "not" nothing, honey! Look at that, they"re all bruised up! Why weren"t you being careful? Tsk… Your pretty hands…" She pouted, her brows were all scrunched up, looking very worried about her husband"s injury.

"Are they that pretty to be upset about?" Daniel chuckled some more, he was amused by her reaction. A moment ago, he was both scared and mad but just with her interaction, he had already calmed down.

"Well... they"re your hands! Of course, they"re pretty!" She answered, clicking her tongue again. "Tsk. This won"t do! We have to put ice on it." Samantha scrambled out of bed quickly and she was already on her feet when Daniel called her. "Honey, where are you going?" He followed her out of the room.

"To the kitchen," she responded whilst walking hastily.

"Slow down or you"re going to trip!" He scolded. His voice was a little louder than usual when Samantha dashed towards the refrigerator.

"Oh, I"m not that weak," she protested. Opening the freezer, she frowned when she saw that there was no ice left. She forgot to refill the container again. Breathing out and scanning the freezer drawer, she asked when she noticed Daniel"s presence getting near. "Peas or Corn?"

"What?"

"We ran out of ice. So… peas or corn?"

"Peas? Does it matter?" He asked hesitantly.

"Not really," Samantha grabbed two packs of frozen peas from the freezer and turned to him. "Sit," she ordered and Daniel happily obliged being treated like so. "Hands."

Daniel placed both of his hands on the kitchen counter then Samantha placed the bags of peas on top. "You have to be careful next time. Don"t do this again." She said as she rocked the bags back in forth to mold around the affected area.

The whole time, Daniel did not take his eyes off of her. She seemed like she was in a better mood than yesterday... so maybe she won"t be feeling very depressed for long.

Without saying anything, Daniel retracted his hands from the counter and pulled Samantha to an embrace and kissed her.

"Wh-"

He kissed her very gently and sweetly for a good minute, his heart was yearning for the woman in front of him. The thought of losing her scared him the most. What was he going to do if she"s gone?
Pulling away, he breathed, "I"m sorry I couldn"t protect you."

"What are you saying?" She worried.

He hugged her again and this time, Samantha hugged him back. "You"ll be okay, Samantha. I promise. I will do whatever it takes."

…

Later, Daniel dropped Samantha off at The Busy Bean Cafe before he left.

She had this nagging feeling inside her that something was off for a few days now and that Daniel looked like he was hiding something from her.

After talking to Hannah about what happened the day before, Samantha could no longer take it. Her gut was telling her that whatever Daniel was hiding had something to do with her especially when she unintentionally saw Nathan"s text to Daniel yesterday in the car.

"Why did they meet without telling me?" She wondered. She had thought that Daniel will let her know that morning but he did not hear anything from him.

"Han, can you help me?" She asked, interrupting Hannah"s neverending questions.

Confused, Hannah responded, "Uh- sure, what is it?"

"Take me to the hospital. I need to see Nathan." She said with a clear voice. And although Hannah did not know why Samantha had to see her ex-boyfriend, she could only nod and agree. "Okay, let"s go."

Twenty minutes later, Samantha and Hannah arrived at the underground parking lot of Spring Grove General Hospital. And before they got to the elevator, they pa.s.sed by Daniel"s Maybach which was parked just a few meters away from the entrance.

Samantha"s brows furrowed and her heart began to beat rapidly but she did not slow down.

The two of them hurried towards Nathan"s office but when they were almost there, Daniel had just come out of it. He was on the phone and his expression looked really dark. His aura startled them that they immediately hid behind a wall until he was no longer in sight. "Why are we hiding?" Hannah asked.

"I don"t know, okay?! I panicked!" Samantha exclaimed before they headed towards Nathan"s door.

They barged into the room while simultaneously closing the door behind them. Nathan Yun snapped his head towards them and was shocked, "Samantha? Han? What are you doing here?" He asked as his eyes darted at the papers on his table.

Samantha caught on his expression and her stare became fierce. She slowly walked up to him and looked into his eyes, "Nathan Yun. I need you to tell me. What the h.e.l.l is going on?!"