A knock came, followed by the door of the office being pushed open, making Grace raise her head to see Leyna come in, and watch her arrive before her desk.
"Chairman, director Marten has left, and he did not leave any instruction. As for director Sigurd, he has returned to his office, and there is no reaction from him either."
A fleeting frown marred Grace's face, as she narrowed her eyes briefly:
"Sigurd, huh?"
Leyna paused at Grace's reaction, then continued as if she heard and saw nothing, even as the casual smile of Alex's second uncle flashed through her mind. She asked after Grace returned snapped out of her thoughts:
"Should we take action for the negotiations?"
Grace raised an eyebrow at Leyna, and waved her hand dismissively:
"There is no need. If those who caused the situation cannot redress it, then let us all endure the consequences."
Leyna looked at her calm superior, practically her godmother, and suppressed a twitch at the corner of her mouth. The latter did not look like someone ready to endure suffering at all. If anything, she looked like someone who was full enough that she did not care for a period or two of famine.
Grace's green eyes seemed to see through the black-haired woman's thoughts. She gave her a look, then stood:
"Bring the car forward. I–"
"!!!"
Grace froze mid-sentence, suddenly needing to support herself with a hand on her desk while her other hand went to rest on her lower abdomen.
Leyna was taken aback at first, then her heart skipped a beat, and she hurried around the desk:
"Chairman, are you alright!?!"
Before she could hold onto Grace, however, the latter raised her hand to stop her. She straightened her back, as if nothing happened, leaving Leyna nervous.
Fortunately, the words she said next allowed her assistant's heart to fall back to its place:
"We are going to the hospital."
"Understood, madam!"
With a mix of nervousness and relief, Leyna took Grace's handbag, and followed behind her.
_ _ _
_ _ _
Alex's fingers drummed against the wheel of the Alfa Romeo he was driving for the day. His face was placid, devoid of his trademark casual smile.
The sun was up, shining fiercely, but all he could think about was the moon that would reach its peak of the month in a few hours, as well as the red string bearing white piece of paper in the box he had deliberately ignored since the last time.
He absentmindedly slowed down the car as the traffic light changed, blinking yellow, before turning red.
He was trying to ignore the shenanigans his grandfather had left behind, as well as his cryptic words, but one look at his restless appearance was all it took to see that he was failing.
After a fruitless minute and a half, he let out a sigh, then suddenly choked. He could not care about his troubles anymore, nor could he care about the light that had yet to turn green.
He looked at the van barreling down the road on the right as if it was racing against the red light, and reflexively shifted gears before pushing the million dollars car and launching it in a race of his own.
*Vroomm– Whoosh*
"EMMIE, COME BACK!!!"
The panicked cry that rang out was filled with the distress of a mother about to lose the most important piece of her flesh.
Those who noticed the scene let out nervous exclamations, while the rest were surprised, then filled with fear, looking totally powerless.
The Alfa Romeo sports car traced a red line to arrive at the almost empty intersection, yes, almost empty.
From zero to fifty miles per hour, then back to zero. The door on the driver side wide open, the sports car's tires screeched against the pavement, carving black tracks over the white of the zebra marks on the ground as they declared the existence of the luxury car louder than even its powerful engine.
*Screech– BANG!!!*
The little girl who had been running through the intersection remained frozen as the red sports car stopped before her, then took the impact with the van in her place. It felt like a slow motion scene, as the impact energy pushed the light car toward her, to male it flatten her.
Alex ignored the earthquake-like impact, and held the wheel of the car secure with his right hand, while with his left hand, he swept the frozen little girl inside the car, before they were thrown away, and the car spun until the rest of the momentum was swallowed by impact attenuators a dozen meters away.
*Boom!*
For a moment, stillness took over the intersection, and even with the light turning green, none of the cars that had stopped dared to move.
The first person to react was the same woman who had shouted in distress from the same direction the little girl, Emmie, had run out from. She let the bag in her hand fall to the ground, and with another heartwarming cry, ran:
"EMMIE!!!"
She ran, without a care for her image, past the van that belatedly lost its driving momentum in the middle of the road. All her attention was focused on the tragic red sports car, a haze of despair and hope on her face, amidst other feelings like guilt, remorse, self-blame.
Her already misty eyes were not shedding tears yet only because her instincts as a mother had recognized the need to reach her destination faster, and because of the strand of hope she was clinging onto.
With her actions as a signal, other passers-by also reacted, some taking out their phones to call for help, others running into the intersection to check the state of those involved in the accident. And while some indifferently hurried on their way, there were others who took out their phones to record the situation.
By then, the harrowed mother had crossed the two dozen meters and arrived beside the dented, almost totalled red sports car, and she could only cover her mouth, and let her tears fall, as the scale of hope in her heart tilted under the weight of despair.