It'll Come Naturally

"Pretty soon. Oh, right," Annie said, a bit embarrassed. "Tom told me it'll only be a few more days. Don't worry!" Wearing the bandage to work had been rather inconvenient. Due to her hand being temporarily out of commission, there were also instances where doing day to day activities felt rather tedious.

"That will be great. I was worried that you would have to wear the bandage on your wedding day," Belinda said, heaving a sigh of relief. "Since it's Tom taking care of your wound, I feel more at ease." Glancing at the bandage, she offered a warm smile. Annie shouldn't have to suffer the same pain as she did - the pain of struggling to put on her wedding dress.

"It's actually not as serious as it looks," assured Annie softly, fiddling with her long hair. "I just need to take some medicine, and I'll be fine. But Tom - well, you know how serious he can be. He insisted that I wear the bandage like this." Since one of her hands was injured, she often had a hard time tying up her hair. And as much as she wanted to pull it up in a neat ponytail, she had no choice but to leave it hanging down her back nowadays.

"I guess he thought that since your wedding was coming soon, he should help you recover as quickly as possible," Belinda said, laughing cheerfully. As a former patient of Tom's professional services, she wasn't new to his dedicated spirit. So Belinda fully understood what Annie had to deal with.

"Yeah, maybe!" agreed Annie. Noticing the time, she prepared to leave in haste. "Belinda, I'm so sorry but I need to get back to my work now. I'll see you later!" The shooting wasn't finished yet, and she had to be back before they ever noticed she was gone. Besides, if she stayed longer, Eleanor might decide to create more trouble for her.

"Okay!" said Belinda immediately. "You get back to your work. But I'll see you at lunch!" These past few days at work had been rather dull since she had been having lunch alone, and she had gotten tired of the routine. Hopefully, Annie could accompany her later.

"All right," Annie said earnestly, "It'll be my treat." Considering Belinda had always been helping her out of trouble, the least Annie could do was to buy her lunch to show her gratitude.Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

Smiling, she responded, "I'll gladly accept that," Lunch wouldn't cost a lot, so Belinda agreed to let Annie pay without hesitation. Had it been a different case, she might've refused a bit more adamantly.

"See you at lunch," Annie said hastily, and then began walking away at full speed. If she wanted to keep her promise, she had to finish her job as soon as she could. Worst case scenario was that she'd be pulled back to work on unforeseen circumstances, and it would be embarrassing to bail after making plans with Belinda.

Shrugging, Belinda returned to her own work as well.

Having been busy with the affairs of CY Technology recently, Rain barely had time for food or sleep. Even the wedding affairs couldn't fit into his schedule, and as a result, he hired wedding coordinators to deal with it. So when Leena dropped by to see him, he was utterly surprised.

At a coffee house near CY Technology, Rain and Leena were having a conversation. "Rain," chided Leena, upon seeing him. "You really shouldn't overwork yourself! Look at you," she frowned," You've lost so much weight in such a short time." Pouting her lips, she continued to fuss over Rain out of deep concern. It seemed that he had been putting in a lot of effort on managing CY Technology at the expense of his well-being.

"Losing weight works for me. At least I won't need to exercise anymore," Rain joked with her. Speaking of exercise, he hadn't stepped foot in the gym for a long time. It was one of the many things he had sacrificed for work.

"Losing weight through exercise is a totally different thing from overworking, okay? So will you please get some rest? I can only assume that you wouldn't want to look like a mummy at the wedding!" Leena forewarned, feigning anger as she pinched his cheek. Upon doing that, however, she was more convinced that his drastic weight loss was truly unbecoming, as there was hardly any excess flesh on his face to squeeze. Even more upsetting was that all of them had slimmed down except for her.

"Leena, you're exaggerating," whined Rain, taking her hand off his face. "How did you find the time to see me? Aren't you supposed to accompany Richard today?" Looking at her closely, he asked, "Tell me, what brings you here?" Rain rubbed the delicate cheek that managed to escape her fingers. 'You said I was skinny and yet you still pinched so hard?' he complained to himself.

"Have you forgotten? Richard got picked up by his grandmother for Capital City. Apparently, his grandfather misses him so much, so I was forced to let his grandmother take him away." Leena said, faking helplessness as if the mere thought of being temporarily separated from her son distressed her.

"Come on, you're not sad to see him go," Rain said rolling his eyes at her. "You actually looked forward to that!" She pretended to be shocked at his words, earning a sneer from the irate man. After all those years, he couldn't be more aware of her peculiarity.

"Oops! You got me." Leena said casually, beaming with a bit of embarrassment. It wasn't because she didn't love her son, Richard. But with him around, there wasn't much for her to do anything other than look after him. So when his grandmother took Richard off her hands, she was happy to have her own leisure time. By any means, she had been preparing for a spring dress conference recently, and this extra time was exactly what she needed.

"It's a piece of cake for me to read you, okay? But seriously, could you just tell me why you're here?" Rain asked earnestly. He had a feeling that she didn't come all the way to have coffee with him for a quick chat, and speculated that perhaps something serious was happening.

"Well! Here you go." Leena said, putting a debit card in front of him.

"What's this all about?" Rain asked, frowning. "Why are you giving me a debit card?"

"Rain, don't think too much of it," Leena said, seeing his expression. "I'm giving the money as an investment. Please take it. Otherwise, I'll be upset 'cause you don't want me to earn from your company." She had been knowing Rain all too well. If she gave him the money directly, he would refuse to accept it at once. For that reason, she had no choice but to bring it up as an investment proposal. Even though the money wasn't a lot, it was sufficient for CY Technology to get through its most grueling period.

"Leena, I know you too well," Rain said, unwilling to accept her money. "Your investment is clearly just a ruse. You're just trying to help me out!" Frankly, he was quite moved that she thought of helping him out of his current financial difficulty. But it wasn't like he had fallen into an inescapable financial situation where his company couldn't survive without her help.

"It's not what you think. I really want to invest. You see, Kevin's a military officer, and he's not allowed to do business outside. So, it's my duty as a mother to make a long-term financial plan for our son," Leena explained sincerely. "Just in case we don't have anything to offer him when he's all grown up." On the one hand, I really want to help you out. On the other hand, I also have a selfish motive - that is, a mother's deep financial concerns for the future of my son.' Leena wondered, waiting for him to respond.

"Do you mean it?" asked Rain, still skeptical. Uncertain whether to accept her explanation, Rain folded his arms and looked at her in the eyes.

"Of course, if it's not for my son, do you really think I'd be that generous to you?" she asked in a nonchalant tone. Holding back a sigh of relief, Leena could see that he was starting to get convinced.0000000