Mysterious Mr.Richard novel Chapter 38

Alex was very considerate and sensitive. However, sometimes, his consideration was a kind of pressure to Pearl.  

For seven years abroad, they were classmates and friends. At the beginning, they performed experiments together in the laboratory, attended the same classes, interned at the same hospital, and even observed surgeries together. They were together almost every single day. 

It was a lie to say that she didn't know Alex's emotions for so many years.

Pearl underatood when it came to love. She knew that Alex had feelings for her, but she did not want to be in a relationship again. Thus, she had been deliberately keeping a distance from him for years. She even used Ethan as a shield to make Alex give up.

It had been so many years. If she had feelings for Alex, it would have happened long time ago. They knew other other's thought, and there was no need to speak frankly. 

The sunset glow in the evening covered the whole sky, like an ink painting.

The white car drove from the suburbs to the city. Alex held the steering wheel with his pale slender hands, and drove smoothly even on the bumpy path.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Pearl called home, but no one answered.

"That's odd."

Alex glanced at her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. No one answered the phone at home. Maybe they went out to play again," frowned Pearl, "I'll try to call Brandon."

She got off work early and planned to buy some snacks for them. She wanted to ask them what they wanted.

"Sorry, the number you have dialed is unavailable now. Please try again later..."

The voice of customer service on the phone is sweet but robotic.

After calling three times, no one picked up at all. Pearl frowned deeper and deeper.

"Do you have the neighbor's number? Or the management's?" Alex stared at Pearl worriedly, and he comforted her. "They should be ok. They are smart, especially Brandon."  

"It's all right," said Pearl with a fake calm smile. "They probably went out to play. I've told them many times that there are a lot of kidnappers, just stay at home, but they never listened. They didn't even answer my calls. I'm going to teach them a lesson later."  

Although Pearl pretended to stay calm, Alex noticed her anxiety. He stepped on the accelerator and sped towards the city. 

Before the car stopped steadily at the apartment, Pearl popped open the door and got out of the car. She rushed into the building.   

She pushed the door and shouted, "Brandon, Bonny!"

She checked all the rooms, it was empty.

She called Brandon again and heard the ring from the living room. Brandon left his phone on the sofa. Once she realized that she lost the only way to contact her children, she started panicking.

It was very late. Even though they were just kids, they should know it was not good like this.

"Don't worry, Pearl, there are cameras in the everywhere. Let's go downstairs and ask the management to check it. It wouldn't be difficult to track the kids in Kityall City."

For fear of anything, Alex followed Pearl back.

Alex reminded Pearl. She said hurriedly, "Bonny likes to run outside to play, and Brandon can't control her. So Ethan asked a friend to set a GPS tracker into their watches."

She checked her mobile phone hurriedly .

On GPS, she spotted two red dots flashing in the center of Kityall City. From the track, they had stayed in a single position for a long time.

"Where is this?" Alex took a glance and frowned. He asked, "Is this place near Pacific South Street?"

She zoomed it on the map and stared at that place. After a long time, her face turned pale suddenly. "It's the Zellweger Group. It's Richard..."

It was night already, and the neon lights lit up the whole city. It was livelier than daytime, and the traffic was bustling.

In the headquarters building of Zellweger group, most of the employees got off work, and the lights on some floors had been turned off.

While, in the conference room on the top floor, a meeting had lasted the whole afternoon.

After the director of the marketing department analyzed the annual plan, someone accidentally yawned and looked up at Richard. At once, his uneasy face turned pale and became anxious.

However, Richard did not blame on him. He checked the time and saw that it was almost seven.

"Let's stop here today. Everyone is tired. Go back and have a rest early."

Richard's calm voice echoed in the conference room.

A few employees came back to their senses, and they could not believe that!

The usual weekly meeting didn't end until 9 or 10 o'clock at night. Were pigs able to fly? And Mr. Zellweger even asked them to go back to rest early instead of urging them to change their plans?

Was this still the same Mr. Zellweger they knew?

Under the stunned eyes of everyone, Richard had got out of his seat, buttoned, and strode away from the conference room. It seems that there ws something important in a hurry.

In the office not far from the conference room, Richard's secretary, Mia, just closed the door to the lounge and came out.

There was a creak, the door of the outside office opened. She saw Richard and Ted.

"Mr. Zellweger." Mia stood stood respectfully by the door.

Richard hummed in response and asked before entering, "How are the kids?" 

"They got tired and fell asleep." Mia replied.

Richard nodded and walked in.

Ted was about to follow, but Mia stopped him. "Who are the kids? Are they the kids he had with his ex-wife?"

"What are you talking about?" Ted frowned at Mia and retorted, "Mr. Zellweger didn't get married, how did he have an ex-wife?"

"Gossips are spreading like wildfire in the office. That boy looks too similar to Mr. Zellweger."

Ted frowned, and he was worried.

The gossip had spread the company. It was only a matter of time before Miss Wood knew it.

The lounge was a place for Richard to rest during lunchtime.

He opened the door and saw that Bonny kicked off the blanket in her sleep. She was holding a bag of colorful candies in her hand, with several colorful jelly beans scattered on the sheet.

Brandon also fell asleep on the sofa, holding a Rubik's cube he just solved. Unlike his sister, he was sleeping calmly.   

Richard sat down by the bed, picked up the jelly beans from the bedsheet. He looked at Bonny in front of him who called him "Daddy" ever since they first met, which made his heart just melted.

She was the spitting image of Pearl. He could imagine what Pearl looked like when she was a child. But, he was unsure if Pearl was a sweet talker like Bonny.  

Bonny suddenly turned to her side and opened her eyes drowsily. "Daddy..."