Serendipity - A Chance Encounter

Daniel didn"t respond, he continued to read the doc.u.ments in his hands. Liam saw how Daniel"s expression was and he knew he was truly angered.

When they started this project, Daniel a.s.signed it to his brother Liam. So all the biddings and details were mostly handled by him. He trusted his brother so much that he only had to decide some matters that are very important. As to which company joins and wins the bidding, other information and proposals, it was Liam who handled them.

Samantha never mentioned anything about joining the bidding. And Daniel didn"t think about talking business with Samantha. Thus, it was the first time that he has heard about it.

Liam was shocked by this piece of information. Samantha owns the company that is currently in the rocks, what"s more, her company joined the bidding and both he and Daniel didn"t even realize it. He even thought about disqualifying Trident; how could he allow a thief to join their project? Although he wouldn"t decide right away because he planned to have the matter investigated first, the thought about kicking his sister-in-law"s company out of the bidding sent s.h.i.+vers down his spine. He couldn"t imagine what Daniel would do to him if that happened.

Daniel went to his office and asked his a.s.sistant to look into everything regarding Trident, the article and whoever was behind this.

a.s.sistant Ahn was quick this time, he gathered everything in less than an hour. With Samantha"s skills in keeping company matters private, Daniel wasn"t able to get a lot of information that would somehow indicate that Trident was in the wrong. Of course, he also believed that they would never do something like stealing software programs.

When Daniel saw the doc.u.ments, he didn"t truly understand what he was feeling at the moment. He was mad at Quantum Solutions for doing dirty tactics not just to Trident but to the other compet.i.tors who joined the bidding as well. Though there weren"t enough evidence as of the moment that says Quantum was the one behind it, with what Daniel had heard several months ago about Quantum"s underhand dealings, it wasn"t hard to connect the dots. And the fact that Trident had entered the bidding but Samantha didn"t tell him about it, made him feel unsettled.

"Why would she keep it from me?", he wondered.

These things happened under his nose, his girlfriend"s company is attacked because of Cho Corporation"s project. And the worst feeling he thought is probably that Samantha kept it all to herself, enduring this mess. This was a problem that Daniel believed Samantha should"ve told him. She shows herself in front of Daniel as if she didn"t have any problems at all.

"You dare to smile in front of me like that? How deceitful."

Lastly, Daniel hated himself. He felt really upset; he felt useless. And this has been the third time that Samantha kept something from him; he always had to find out when things have already happened. Tch, how would he even know if this was only the third time? What if there were other things that he really has not known about?

Feeling vexed and dejected, Daniel dialed Samantha"s number. She picked up after a few rings.

"Where are you?" He asked without waiting for her to say anything.

"Um... I"m at the office. Why?"

At first, he thought of talking to her on the phone about what he discovered but he didn"t want to give her the opportunity to "lie" and "get away" with it.

"Can I go there?"

Samanthas was confused about why Daniel wanted to come to her office, he hasn"t been there before but she didn"t reject him. "S-sure. You can come through the private elevator, I"ll ask my a.s.sistant to meet you at the underground parking."

Daniel hung up the phone right after, his actions made Samantha worry. She felt like something bad was about to happen.

When Daniel Cho arrived at the company, he had some papers on his hands. a.s.sistant Chen led Daniel straight to Samantha"s office. As soon as they arrived, Chen asked if Daniel wanted something to drink but he just shook his head, Samantha felt something unsettling so she asked her a.s.sistant to leave them and not to be disturbed.

"We just saw each other earlier... Did you want to talk about something?", Samantha stood up from her chair but before she could take a step further, Daniel placed some papers on her desk with a little force.

"Care to explain what all these are?"

Samantha hesitated but picked up all of the doc.u.ments and flipped them. It contained the articles of the recent issue with Trident Company"s software theft, their partic.i.p.ation of the bidding, Police reports from Harry Davis" case and a screenshot of the incident from Liam"s club. While she was checking it, her hands became cold. She felt like she was really guilty although she believed that it wasn"t such a big deal. But why does her heart ache as if she was caught cheating?

"You investigated me?", Samantha asked. Her tone didn"t show any anger but she wanted to hear Daniel"s explanation.

"I didn"t intend to. The day after you went to Liam"s club, he called me and told me the story. I only found out after that. I was worried that right after I turned my back you got into trouble right away and I waited if you were going to mention it to me but you didn"t. And since nothing serious happened, I let it go. When Hannah was kidnapped, I asked you about it but you didn"t tell me the whole story. I didn"t want anything bad to happened to you in the future so I had to make sure that Davis would stay in jail. Though you didn"t tell me everything, did you really think that I was just going to forget about it and not care what happens to you in the future?"

Samantha didn"t say anything. She felt like there was a huge lump blocking her throat causing her not to talk.

"All this time, you joined the bidding for the software project but you didn"t even mention anything to me. You had a lot of chances to do that. And now, your company is currently facing this predicament. You had lunch with me a couple of hours ago with a smile on your face but you still didn"t even care to tell me about it? I had to find out about it by accident. If I hadn"t, how long would you have kept it from me?"

She didn"t know why but tears were forming in her eyes threatening to fall.

"Samantha, am I a stranger to you? Do I not matter at all?"

"What? No! I didn"t want to tell you about my company"s issue because it was my problem, to begin with. Also, I had it all under control. This doesn"t concern you why would I bother you with it? I don"t go around and poke into your company matters, do I? Why are you so mad?"

"Your problem?", he scoffed. "This happened because Quantum wanted to win the company"s project! My company"s project! Of course this f*cking concerns me! Even though you had it under control, was it so hard to tell me? Am I nothing to you?"

"We joined the bidding even before we started dating, the project has nothing to do with us. It"s business!"

Daniel laughed and turned around, he was even more enraged upon hearing Samantha"s retort.

With his hands on his waist, he said, "You know what your problem is, Samantha? You only want to do things on your own. Isn"t that a bit selfish?"

Samantha raised an eyebrow, "Selfish? How is that selfish? I don"t want to burden other people about my problems! I can handle things on my own, why should I let other people make it their problem?"

"You think that by not sharing your problems and carrying the load all on your own, you"re not troubling other people?", Daniel looked at her with eyes full of mixed emotions.

"What you fail to realize Samantha is by doing that, you"re pus.h.i.+ng me away. You didn"t tell me because you"re afraid of bothering me or making me feel bad but guess what? You only ended up hurting me. I feel like I"m a very unreliable person and that I"m not worthy to share your trials with you. I feel so useless."

This is what exactly Samantha failed to realize, she didn"t think that by keeping secrets like these would be bad for her relations.h.i.+p with Daniel. She"s used to solving problems on her own, she"s known to be an independent woman who does things on her own.

"Although you may not acknowledge it, and you think that the world is against you that"s why you"re so used to hiding; I think the truth is, you"re just not letting anyone in."

Daniel has. .h.i.t a lot of her insecurities today. She hasn"t spoken a single word as she listened to Daniel"s scolding. He looked up at the ceiling trying to compose himself as he felt his eyes getting moist.

Samantha could only see his side profile. She fought the urge to run to his side and embrace him, tell him not to be mad anymore, ask him to forgive her. But she was a prideful woman, at least she thinks she is. How could she do that? It would be like going against her principles of being a strong woman. But what she heard next made her heart crumble.

He sighed, feeling very drained, he said, "I"m just gonna go."