Till We Meet Again | The Ceo's Absent Lover

7 | You Lost her

Three months have passed since the incident at the hotel. Adane just came back from a business trip. He called his assistant.

Stephan entered his boss' office. Water was dripping from his face. The thought of dying flashed in his mind over and over again. He lost his boss' future woman.

'How am I going to tell him the news? Should I tell him the bad news first, then the good news? No, no, that would be worse...'

"Yes, boss." Stephan's voice was trembling.
"Is there something wrong?" Adane asked, one eyebrow.

"N-No boss. Nothing is wrong. What can I do for you?"

"I didn't get the chance to communicate on the business trip because of the protocols. What is the latest update on Bella?"

Stephan's heart skipped a beat. He felt he was about to die. He took a deep breath and then started speaking.

"Two weeks after you left, she sold her house and moved in with a friend. In that same period, the wedding that was to be hers changed. Her sister was married in her place. She went to the hospital..."

"Is she hurt? Is she okay? Talk!" Stephan became more nervous. How was he going to spill the beans?

"Um, she..."

"Didn't I just say talk!?"

"Yes, boss, she is pregnant." Stephan sighed under his breath. "She..."

"What did you just say? Say it again." One could see the proud arc on Adane's lips while he was asking. He was experiencing the joy of being a father. The only thing was, the babies weren't born as yet.

"Bella is..." Stephan stopped when he saw Adane glaring at him. He realized that he had just called his boss' woman in a very intimate way. "Miss Annabella is..." He changed the way he addressed her, but he was getting another glare. More dangerous than the one he had received before.

'What am I doing wrong?' Stephan thought. The moment he asked himself that question, he knew the answer.

"Madam Cain-Crawford, the future wife of Adane Crawford, is pregnant." Even though Stephan was unable to get the full test results of the pregnancy, he knew that the information he got was sufficient.

Adane was as happy as a lark. He was smiling, showing his shinny white teeth.
Stephan was stunned. This was his first time seeing his boss smiling. Adane was not the smiling type. He was always firm, cold, and aloof. Now, he was smiling like a child receiving candy.

"Boss," Stephan didn't want to ruin the moment, but he knew that the sooner he said what needed to be said, the sooner he could get on with his life. If he'll have any. 

"Yes, go ahead." Adane was still smiling.
"Madam Cain-Crawford... A week after she found out she was pregnant..."

"What happened!?" Adam's expression changed."Spit it out!"

"Madam and her friend left the city, and we are unable to trace them. They are nowhere on the grid in New York. We have tried to use the city's cameras but they didn't record anything."

"What!" Adane was furious. He looked as if he was ready to slaughter an entire planet. "You lost her!"

"We are still searching. I'll send the best team and all our forces out as soon as possible." Stephan knew how important Bella was to his boss. He had to find her, or his life would be at stake. 

"Get out!" Adane bellowed.

Stefan exited the office as soon as Adane's words fell. Adane was left in his office feeling renounced. His future wife and child were missing right under his watch. He felt he was not capable of being a man. 'What man lets his woman and child go missing?' The tough of that made him more aggrieved and frustrated. He could not take the pain.

Adane left his office and drove home in ten minutes. Normally, to travel from his office to his house would take almost an hour. But he couldn't stand the pain. He had to burn off some steam. He flew the door of his gym open and started exercising.
...
Almost six months later, he was still at a loss. He couldn't find Bella. Each day, he would consume himself with work to forget about her, but her sweet smile was always playing in his mind.

He would hold long meetings every day with the shareholders and company executives.

Each day, he would stand by his balcony staring at Bella's sea blue emerald bracelet, hoping that one day, when they met again, he would give it to her.