Billionaires with Benefits

71 71. A Mysterious Letter

Paula brought the bouquet home, wondering who sent it for her. She took the bus home, trying to ignore people’s eyes on her. Who wouldn’t? The bouquet was big and beautiful. When the bus was about to reach the destination, she pressed the button to notify the driver that she wanted to get off at the next stop.

This time, she used a bus card to pay instead of coins. When she learned about the card, she immediately bought the card from the driver. It was far more convenient that way.

The cold air of early December immediately struck her flawless bare skin. It was refreshing but also cold at the same time. Paula’s apartment was not so close to the bus stop. It needed five minutes by foot to reach her apartment. When she was about to open the door, her smartphone rang. It was a video call from Monica.

“Hi, Monica!”

“Hi, Paula! How are you?” Monica greeted her in a cheerful voice.

“Great!” Paula lied. She forced a smile to convince Monica that she was okay. “As usual.”

Paula entered her humble apartment, almost forgetting to take off her shoes before stepping on the wood flooring. This was Japan anyway. She wanted to get used to Japanese customs and manners.

“Hi, did you receive the gifts from everyone?” Monica asked enthusiastically.

“Gift? You shipped gifts for me?” Paula asked in confusion, checking her mailbox to see if there was a notification from the shipping company. “I didn’t receive anything.”

.....

Monica wide-eyed, looking at Paula in confusion. “Ah, forget it! How was work?” she quickly changed the topic. “You look so tired, girl!”

“Hmm ... how to say ... we already caught the traitor, but still, something is strange. I don’t think that it was completely solved,” Paula said, hesitantly. “I don’t know how to explain to you. It was just a hunch.”

Monica nodded. “I hope the truth will be revealed as soon as possible. Oh, Paula, you looked so miserable at this condition. Don’t stress out too much! Share your problems with anyone you can trust!”

“Thanks, Monica.” Paula smiled at Monica while taking off her furry white coat and hung it on the coat stand at the corner of the narrow living room.

“Be healthy! Don’t always buy food outside. Make your healthy food at home. I can provide you some recipes if you need,” Monica advised Paula just like a mother said to her daughter.

Paula chuckled lightly. She didn’t like if someone would mother her. But she already got used to it. Monica was just trying to show some affection to her.

“I will!” Paula showed Monica fresh ingredients in her chiller. “This is healthy! Okay?”

Monica giggled at Paula’s annoyed look. She knew that Paula was just kidding. Minutes later, they ended the conversation then Paula quickly took a shower.

After rinsing her body with hot water, Paula cooked chicken salad. It was a little too much. She kept the leftover food in the container.

Paula took a sip of hot chocolate. When feeling quite refreshed, she readied herself to return to work. She opened the laptop on the table to check the time table. That’s when she realized that she still had a lot of unfinished work.

“What stuff do I need to do first?” she talked to herself. “Ah, this one is the most important thing.”

She had to figure out how not to throw away items that weren’t launched so they wouldn’t end up as trash. They were not defective items. They were valuable.

She even considered selling those items at a low price. However, she still wanted the goods that had been produced to be appreciated even a little. She wanted the best price. But, at the same time, she only wanted to do as little effort as possible.

“If we sell them online in retail, it will be time consuming,” Paula muttered. She also considered that she would never sell them at a good price with that method. People ordered things online to find the cheapest item. She would end up giving the items big discounts. It was not her choice.

An hour later, unexpectedly, Paula received a broadcast in the Young Entrepreneurs group, alumni of the university where she studied first. A young entrepreneur from Dubai was looking for a jewelry manufacturer who can provide quality goods at the best possible offer.

Paula’s brows furrowed. Wasn’t that what she was looking for? A potential buyer who had a huge amount of money to buy the items.

Paula then immediately contacted the email listed in the broadcast. She was on behalf of Anderson Jewelry to contact the entrepreneur from Dubai named Salwa Ahmad.

Surprisingly, Salwa was online and they had an immediate online meeting just after exchanging greetings.

Salwa: “I love your product. They are nice and unique. It can be a new trend in Dubai. What price do you offer?”

Paula: “$250,000 for everything. I will send a file for the detailed price list for each item.”

Salwa: “I’m not a rich businesswoman. Can’t you reduce the price?”

Paula: “I’ll be honest. This item is not a defective item. But we were forced to sell them because a competitor stole our design and launched the design first.”

Salwa: “Okay. I’m willing to raise the price to $275,000 but remove the AJ stamp and replace it with Salwa Jewelry. Is it okay?”

Paula: “Hmm .... How about $300,000? We can also improve the design. How does it sound?”

Salwa: “Nice. I will pay $200,000 first and pay off the rest later. Is it okay?”

Paula smiled and agreed to the price. They planned to conduct offline transactions later.

Paula spread her arms as she felt the weight on her shoulders lessen. She then picked up the bouquet that she had received earlier this afternoon. she smiled and was surprised to find a small box containing three strawberry pralines inside.

“Wow!” Paula picked up one and complimented how sweet and delicious the chocolate was. “Is it true, Samuel sent these flowers?” Paula asked, rubbing her stomach.

One problem solved. Paula was able to sleep well that night.

***

The next day, Paula woke up refreshed. She quickly cleaned herself in the bathroom and made her own breakfast. Suddenly she wanted to eat strawberry and cornflakes cereal-something that William used to feed her.

“Adding banana slices seems delicious. The folic acid in bananas is quite high, isn’t it?” Paula muttered as she checked the health articles on her smartphone.

As she finished making it, she heard the sound of someone putting something in the mailbox. Paula was surprised that no one usually delivers letters or flyers this early.

Paula then approached the door and checked the mailbox attached to the steel door. There was a brown envelope tucked in there. Paula took the envelope and rubbed it.

“This is not a letter. What is it? There is no sender as well.”

How surprised Paula was when she opened the suspicious envelope and found its contents: Some photos that made her eyes pop out!

“Impossible!” she screamed in disbelief. She rechecked the photos carefully to confirm her sight.

She opened the envelope one more time and found a flash drive inside. She quickly ran to her desk to turn her laptop on.

With trembling hands, Paula inserted the flash drive into the USB port of her laptop. She didn’t expect to find such a shocking recording there. Video and audio recordings confirmed the shocking sight that took place in a clear way. There was not the slightest doubt about it. Not just photo editing. Not just video editing.

Paula’s heart ached for a moment. She never thought that it would turn out like this. If it was true that the person in the photo was the culprit, it meant that she had been mistrusting someone all this time.

Robert had chosen the wrong confidant. He had made a very big mistake. Too big!

Paula gulped, trying so hard to collect her composure. Her body was shaking miserably when she tried to reach her smartphone. She pressed her father’s contact number, trying to make a call immediately despite the time difference.

“Pick it up, dad! Please .... You need to know about it quickly,” She muttered in a whimper. She paced back and forth hoping that her father would receive a call soon. “Dad! Is that you?”

“Hi, Paula?” Someone picked up the call. Someone that was not Robert. A woman picked up his phone.

“Who is this?” Paula snapped. “I need my dad right now! Give the phone to him!”

The woman chuckled lightly. “Do you forget about me? I am your mom.”

Paula was tongue tied. She was thunderstruck. “Impossible! Don’t say that you are trying to get closer to him again!”

The woman burst into laughter. She loved to make her daughter feel miserable. She loved to make her feel the embarrassment of being defeated.

“I am sorry, Paula! But he is mine.”

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