71 71. A Mysterious Letter


    Pa 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 wless bare skin. It was refreshing but also cold at the same time. Pa’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, Pa! How are you?” Monica greeted her in a cheerful voice.


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


    Pa 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?” Pa asked in confusion, checking her mailbox to see if there was a notification from the shippingpany. “I didn’t receive anything.”


    .....


    Monica wide-eyed, looking at Pa 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 waspletely solved,” Pa said, hesitantly. “I don’t know how to exin to you. It was just a hunch.”


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


    “Thanks, Monica.” Pa 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 Pa just like a mother said to her daughter.


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


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


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


    Pa took a sip of hot chocte. When feeling quite refreshed, she readied herself to return to work. She opened theptop 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’tunched 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,” Pa 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 hourter, unexpectedly, Pa 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.


    Pa’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.


    Pa 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?”


    Pa: “$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?”


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


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


    Pa: “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 restter. Is it okay?”


    Pa smiled and agreed to the price. They nned to conduct offline transactionster.


    Pa 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!” Pa picked up one andplimented how sweet and delicious the chocte was. “Is it true, Samuel sent these flowers?” Pa asked, rubbing her stomach.


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


    ***


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


    “Adding banana slices seems delicious. The folic acid in bananas is quite high, isn’t it?” Pa 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. Pa was surprised that no one usually delivers letters or flyers this early.


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


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


    How surprised Pa 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 sh drive inside. She quickly ran to her desk to turn herptop on.


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


    Pa’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!


    Pa gulped, trying so hard to collect herposure. 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, Pa?” Someone picked up the call. Someone that was not Robert. A woman picked up his phone.


    “Who is this?” Pa 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.”


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


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


    “I am sorry, Pa! But he is mine.”