C5 BSW

"Mom, Samuel is leaving now. Once again, happy birthday."

After finishing conversations and mingling with all the important guests present at the party, Samuel decided to head home promptly. After all, she was aware that tonight she was bringing Arianna along, and it didn't feel right to keep a girl out late, even though she had every right to do so since she had paid the woman so handsomely.

Besides being tired, Samuel was also not in the mood to deal with all the questions from her mother and extended family. That's why as soon as the event ended, she quickly took Arianna to say goodbye.

"Thank you so much for coming and keeping your promise to introduce Arianna to Mama. Just so you know, Mama is very happy tonight," Arabella expressed. She gave Samuel a hug before letting her son leave the party.

"Samuel is also happy if Mama had a good time tonight."

"Oh, definitely," Arabella replied. "Especially Arianna's presence made Mama's party even livelier. I hope we can meet her again sometime in the future."

After hugging Samuel, Arabella turned to Arianna. With a friendly smile, the still spry woman of not-so-young age gave Arianna a hug and planted kisses on both of her cheeks.

"Thank you so much for being here, Arianna. See you at the next gathering."

Arianna smiled back and, after breaking the hug, responded to Arabella's friendly words.

"You're welcome, Aunt. Uh, I mean, Mama." Arianna quickly corrected herself. "I'm also happy to celebrate your birthday today. I pray that Mama stays healthy, and whatever your dreams are, I hope they come true soon."

After bidding farewell, still putting on an affectionate act, Samuel took Arianna and headed straight to the car. She instructed her private driver to take them away from the venue.

Throughout the ride home with Arianna, Samuel couldn't stop complaining. She was annoyed that the woman she had paid so handsomely had only made her situation more complicated.

Intending not to disappoint her mother regarding the promise of bringing a partner, Arianna's presence had only added to the list of Samuel's problems. Little did she expect that Arabella, unexpectedly, would announce an engagement, even mentioning her son's wedding to all the important guests at the birthday party.

Samuel knew her mother's nature all too well. Once she spoke, she was adamant about not retracting her words, let alone canceling what she had announced.

"This is all because of you, Arianna!"

"Why is it my fault?"

Arianna turned to Samuel, her boss, and sighed. She felt that the man next to her was ungrateful. Despite her almost perfect performance that night.

"Yes, it's your fault! Arianna Maya can't be blamed for this. If only you hadn't talked so much at the party, maybe Mama wouldn't have brought up the engagement, let alone announcing a wedding." Samuel still appeared very angry, venting all her frustration on her new secretary. "Besides, why did you keep talking and pretending to be close to the clients at the party? Why didn't you just stay quiet?"

"I have a mouth, too, Sir," Arianna retorted. "Besides, you're the one who asked me to improvise. So, I did it to appear friendly to Mrs. Arabella's business associates. You should be happy, right? Look, they were all enthusiastic about my presence. Some even asked for advice and such."

Samuel's face looked even angrier and irritated. He also just realized that besides being articulate, his secretary had high self-confidence.

"Yeah! Because of your fake friendliness and pretentious knowledge, now the problem has become longer and more complicated."

"If you think it's complicated, that's not my concern. From the beginning, I warned you that lying to your parents was dangerous. It could backfire. But you insisted, right?"

Samuel stared sharply at Arianna. Why did his secretary seem more annoying the longer this conversation went on? Every time Samuel said something, she always had a response.

"So now you're blaming me?"

"Well, from the beginning, it was your idea," Arianna replied nonchalantly. She didn't care about Samuel's angry expression at all.

"So why did you agree to go with Mama to Surabaya?" Samuel asked next.

Arianna took a deep breath. Trying not to get provoked, she responded to Samuel's complaints as calmly as possible. She didn't want to clutter her brilliant mind with the pointless conversation Samuel had been engaging in.

"As for the business trip to Surabaya, if you have a problem with it, I can just cancel it with the excuse of being sick. What's the big deal? Don't make something simple complicated, Sir."

"Arghh!"

Instead of responding, Samuel chose to turn away. He deliberately looked out the car window while observing the passing vehicles. With controlled breaths, he continued to try to hold back his emotions to avoid crossing any boundaries.

Meanwhile, Arianna did the same. She chose to keep her mouth shut until Samuel's car stopped not far from the mini-market where he had picked her up earlier.

"Thank you for picking me up and dropping me off, Sir. I hope this is the last cooperation we do outside of office hours," she said after getting out and before closing the car door.

"Do you think I'd want to work with you again?" Samuel retorted cynically.

"Well, who knows? Besides, no one knows what will happen in the future, right?"

"The problem is, I don't want to work with you anymore. Expensive and just adding to my problems."

Arianna didn't respond further. After closing the door, she watched as her boss's car drove away, leaving her on the side of the road feeling extremely frustrated.

"Next time if you ask for help again, I won't agree. Such an annoying boss!"

***

Samuel entered his home with mixed feelings. He took off the black suit he was wearing and tossed it in any direction. A few moments later, he walked over to the mini-bar not far from the pantry.

For a moment, the tall and sturdy man chose to sit in silence. After a few minutes had passed, he slowly reached out and grabbed a glass along with a neatly arranged bottle of wine. He poured a glass and sipped it slowly.

"Why does it have to be so complicated, Lord," Samuel muttered with frustration. He briefly closed his eyes, brought his hand to his forehead, and gave it a quick massage as if trying to alleviate a sudden throbbing ache. "If only Valerie had come to Mama's party, it might not have turned out like this."

As he remembered Valerie, Samuel quickly took out his phone from his trouser pocket, intending to contact his beloved girlfriend. He was sure Valerie had been looking for him all day because he had been too busy with work and hadn't had a chance to reach out to her.

Hoping for her to answer his call, Samuel patiently waited. It didn't take long before Valerie finally answered the call he had been making.

"Hello, Valerie."

"Yes, Honey. Are you still awake?" the woman on the other end asked. Hearing the lively background noise in their conversation, Samuel was sure Valerie was either at a photoshoot or attending a fashion show.

"Not yet, dear," Samuel replied gently. "I just got back from Mama's birthday party."

"Oh my God."

Valerie exclaimed, perhaps just realizing that today was Samuel's mother's birthday celebration, an event she had missed for the umpteenth time due to her busy modeling schedule. Feeling guilty, she tried to convey her apologies to her boyfriend.

"I'm sorry if I can't be with you tonight, love. I feel really bad about it."

"It's okay. What can we do? I understand that your work schedule is quite hectic," Samuel responded casually.

"But please give my regards to your mom, okay?" she asked.

"I've already done that. So, you don't need to worry," Samuel replied. Of course, he didn't take Valerie's request seriously.

Before leaving, Valerie had reminded Samuel to convey her regards and apologize once again for not being able to attend the birthday celebration, as she had to leave the country for work. One day before the birthday event began, Valerie had even reminded Samuel during their phone call not to forget what she had asked him to do.

However, Samuel, instead of delivering Valerie's greetings and messages, had opted to find a replacement woman to bring to the party and show off during his mother's birthday celebration.

Now? Samuel seemed to regret following Axel's plan. Not only was his relationship with Valerie at risk, but also his status as Arabella Walters's child could be jeopardized if he were caught in such a significant lie.

"Thank goodness you've conveyed it. So, how was the event? It must have been quite lively."

"It was okay," Samuel replied lazily. Instead of continuing the conversation about the party, Samuel was more interested in discussing something else with his girlfriend. "Where are you now? It sounds really noisy."

"I just finished a photoshoot. Now I'm in the evaluation session before my appearance tonight."

"When will your work be done? I mean, when will your work in Paris be finished?"

A small laugh came from Valerie. Still talking to Samuel, the beautiful woman then replied, "I'm in Paris until Wednesday, dear. After that—"

"After that, you're coming back to Indonesia according to the schedule you informed earlier, right?" Samuel interrupted. His tone, initially lazy, suddenly became enthusiastic.

"No, dear. I won't be coming back next week," Valerie whispered. Her voice sounded weaker.

"What do you mean?"

"Yes. I won't be coming back next week."

"But isn't your schedule still far off, Valerie? It's still two weeks away. Why don't you come back first?"

Valerie didn't respond immediately. There was a moment of silence, and then a faint sigh was heard, followed by Valerie's answer to Samuel's preValerieus question.

"I'm sorry. It's because my performances here look the best. One of the Canadian fashion designers working with Dior personally selected me to participate in a fashion show in Los Angeles next month."

As if running out of words, Samuel chose to remain silent. He was sure it would be futile to argue with his girlfriend, especially when it came to dreams and aspirations.

Samuel realized that Valerie had always been ambitious to become a top model who could venture into the international fashion world. Now, when the opportunity was wide open, Valerie would do anything to ensure that her dream went as she had hoped for all these years.

"So, you're not coming back anytime soon?" Samuel asked again. There was a hint of disappointment in his words.

"Yes. I'm sorry. It's possible I'll be abroad for a long time."

"For how long?"

"Maybe one to two months. At most, I'll be back in Indonesia in three months."

"Valerie! Are you serious? Are you sure we can handle long-distance for that long?"

"If you miss me, you can come to visit me overseas, Sam. You have plenty of money."

"That's not the point, Valerie. You know I've just taken on this new position. I can't just go abroad without a valid reason, especially just for dating."

"Well, then, it means you have to be patient. Besides, three months isn't long, you know. In Indonesia, we can't meet every day because you're often busy. So, what's the difference?"

Seemingly at a loss for words, Samuel remained silent. To him, arguing would be pointless. Valerie was the type of woman who couldn't be contradicted once she said something. No matter how vehemently he protested, it wouldn't sway her decision.

Moreover, this wasn't the first time Samuel had objected to Valerie's decisions, which often seemed one-sided. She was used to acting selfishly, thinking mostly of herself without considering Samuel.

"It's up to you whether you want to come back or not," Samuel said after being silent for a while. He had initially called to express his longing, but now he felt annoyed and frustrated after having a long conversation with his girlfriend.

"Samuel."

Valerie's voice softened. Maybe she realized that her boyfriend was now angry.

"Don't be angry like that, dear."

"I'm not angry. But I just don't like how you make decisions without discussing them first."

"Samuel, listen. I don't want you—"

"It's already late, Valerie," Samuel interrupted. "I want to rest. You can continue your work. One thing to remember, I won't force you to come back to Indonesia quickly. If you can act on your own terms, I can do the same."

Samuel, who was already angry, immediately hung up the call without giving Valerie a chance to explain or say goodbye as usual.