Chapter 96 - The Garden

In the morning, Angeline received an e-mail from John. She read the email as if she could see John's face. "Ellie, I've sent you the materials you need for our collaboration. You may be a famous artist to others, but to me you're still Mrs. - the ex-wife of the CEO. Contact me if you need anything. No, even if you don't need anything, you still have to contact me. From your eternal John, who always misses you. Angeline laughed at John's funny e-mail. "Why doesn't he ever change?" she thought and smiled happily as she started to read the documents John had sent. "Good morning, Angeline," Alex greeted her suddenly. "Why are you here so early in the morning?" Angeline asked as she started to get up. "Stay where you are. I know you were working all night, that's why you ignored my calls. But now I want to ask you, when was the last time you ate? How many hours did you sleep last night?" Alex asked and approached her. Angeline couldn't answer right away, trying to remember to answer Alex's questions. Alex immediately put his hand on Angeline's forehead to see if her body temperature was the same as his. "If you keep working nonstop, you'll get sick and have blood shortages." "Don't scare me like that." "I don't care, I'm asking you not to go near your work desk this afternoon. Let's have breakfast!" Alex invited, holding out his hand. Angeline smiled and accepted. Now they were having breakfast together in a park with a wide variety of food on the menu. "Wow, how did you manage to find so much time to prepare all this food?" Angeline asked in amazement. "Eat it all," Alex said with a smile. "But can I go back to work after I eat?" "No! Today you're just resting," Alex insisted. "Angeline, to be honest, I don't like your collaboration with Bryan's company," Alex revealed his true feelings. "Hmm, if you want me to stop, I'll stop right now, so just tell me. I won't argue." "No, I actually want you to do your best for this cooperation. You should make them admire your work, Angeline." Angeline nodded and smiled happily. Bryan visited one of his places, a garden where he usually got materials for his products. Bryan enjoyed the fresh air and walked around by himself. Suddenly, Bryan saw someone who was also there, and that person was Angeline. Angeline seemed to be enjoying the beautiful scenery in this spacious garden and taking pictures of things she found attractive. In fact, Angeline had been asking about the location of the flower pictures that John had e-mailed as material for her project. That's how she ended up in this beautiful and spacious garden. Angeline was so engrossed in her activities that she didn't notice that Bryan was spying on her and following her. From a distance, Bryan pretended to take pictures of Angeline with his hands. He even made the sound of a camera clicking after a successful shot. For some reason, Angeline managed to hear the click of Bryan's imaginary camera. She turned to the side but saw no one there. Angeline didn't suspect anything and continued her work. Suddenly, Angeline felt dizzy and from a distance, Bryan panicked. However, Angeline regained her composure and moved to another location. Now she was capturing beautiful lotus flowers in a pond. Bryan continued to watch Angeline from a distance, deeply absorbed in her observations. After Angeline finished photographing, she began sketching the beautiful flowers that she could use for their joint project. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew away one of Angeline's sketches. She didn't notice because she was moving around, leaving her sketch behind. Bryan, knowing this, secretly retrieved Angeline's sketch and tried to return it to her without making any noise. Bryan tried to return the sketch quietly while Angeline was still concentrating on her drawing. However, he accidentally made a noise, causing Angeline to mutter loudly, "What was that noise?" Angeline looked back to where she had been, but didn't see anyone. Bryan quickly hid behind a tree. Bryan imitated the sound of an owl, and Angeline seemed pleased, thinking she might find an owl in the area. "Ah, is there an owl here? That's strange, because it's not night, so how could there be an owl?" Angeline mused, perplexed. Hearing this, Bryan immediately imitated the call of another bird, and Angeline looked pleased, believing it to be the call of a cuckoo bird. "I have to take a picture of this bird. Hmm... it sounds like a male cuckoo bird. Maybe I should imitate the call of a female cuckoo." Much like Bryan, Angeline began imitating the call of a female cuckoo bird while trying to chase the male cuckoo bird to capture his image. Hiding in his spot, Bryan muttered to himself, "Oh God...why am I turning into a bird?" Bryan then imitated the call of another bird, not a cuckoo, and the sound was strange, making Angeline suspicious. She knew it wasn't a bird. She pretended to continue looking for the bird while secretly moving to the other side to catch the person who was playfully imitating bird calls. When Bryan suddenly stood up and turned around, he was surprised to see Angeline standing right in front of him. "Why is Bryan here?" Angeline asked with a flat expression. "I'm working; this is my company's garden. So it's no problem for me to be in my own garden," Bryan replied. "Then why are you hiding from me?" "I'm not hiding, why would I hide?" Bryan replied. "Then why do you sound like a bird?" "I sound like a bird so I can blend in with nature." "Then why is Angeline here?" "I wanted to see the company's garden, where there are many famous materials used by the company. This is for our collaboration," Angeline replied. Bryan clapped his hands when he heard that. "As a contractor, I'm quite pleased with Angeline's enthusiastic performance. But isn't it pretty daring for Angeline to come to a place like this by herself? It could be dangerous." "I don't care, and why hasn't Bryan apologized to me for embarrassing me and treating me like that? It turns out you're still the same as before." "It makes more sense that I'm still the same than that I've completely changed," Bryan replied. "I'm asking you not to meet me outside the office, intentionally or unintentionally," Angeline said firmly. As Angeline walked away from Bryan, the rain began to drizzle. In a panic, Bryan took off his jacket and followed Angeline. He put his jacket over Angeline's head, but Angeline resisted. "I don't need it!" Angeline protested and walked away. "Angeline, this is not the time to argue. Do you still have feelings for me?" "No," Angeline replied quickly. "If you don't have feelings, then something like this shouldn't be a problem." Finally, as the heavy rain poured down, Bryan and Angeline were very close. It was as if nature itself wanted them to be together.