Crystal opened her eyes with a jerk once again, breathing heavily and sweat on her face due to nightmares, now they've become a part of her life. She was about to get up when heard her cell phone's message.
The message was from a familiar number, she saw the message in which there was a link. As she tapped on the link, Maxwell Groups main forum opened in which there were some articles regarding her with interesting titles.
'A female employee tried to gain CEO's sympathy by saving him then getting injured herself'
'Saving or Trapping?'
And many more, in these articles, it was written that a Finance and Accounting Department's female employee of an initial 'C' is a bully, who bullies others in the name of CEO, she pushes her work to others, misuses her authority. Tries to gain the CEO's attention and meet him.
"Why don't they become journalists?" She sneers
The comments section below the article was filled with nasty and bad words.
"Free people!"
The second message held all the information of the person who posted the article and coincidentally she was cousin to the girl who hurt her "That's interesting!" She closes her phone
In previous life, when she heard these rumours she decided to let them be as taking any action will make reveal her identity which she didn't want as she wanted to prove that she can survive without her family name but as a result these rumours becomes bigger and nastier which caused her to be alone till the time she left the office.
"Should I leave it like last time or prove myself innocent?"
She moved her phone from left to right, in two directions then halted it in the middle, smiling slyly "Why not choose the third option?"
She called someone "Mr. Philip, it's been a long time! I need your help!"
Crystal came down to join her family for breakfast wearing a light brown collared formal jumpsuit
"Good morning" She sat on her place
"You removed your bandage?" Laura asked her daughter
"Bothering!" who reasoned before having a bite of her omelette.
After the removal of the bandage there was a scar on her forehead which can be noticed with a single glance.
Looking at her attire Brian asks curiously "You are going somewhere?"
She nodded, then after putting down her fork she said "There's something I want to share with you all."
Sensing the seriousness in her tone, the whole family gave her complete attention. She showed them a letter from her bag "I decided to resign from Maxwell's Group."
"Finally! You made the right choice." Sean was glad about her daughter's decision.
"Exactly, when we have our own company, why do you have to work there? When are you going to join our company so that we can make preparations?" Liam was totally excited that at last his granddaughter will enter their company.
But to his dismay, Crystal shook her head "I won't join our company as well, because I wanted to pursue my passion for painting therefore I'll be helping mom in her arts museum and the exhibition which will occur there as it'll be helpful for me."
Laura happily hugged her daughter "I always knew, you have a heart for painting."
Brain showed her a thumbs-up."But, your major was finance and accounting?" Liam tried to argue
'That was because Lucas chose it, in order to stay close to him I chose it.' She thought
"Grandpa, I want to do it." she pleaded while showing her innocent eyes to Liam
"Dad, if doing this makes her happy then let her do it." Sean tries to convince his father
"Don't act like only you care for her happiness, I'm her grandfather." Liam said sulkily then continued to ask Crystal "Should I arrange a teacher for you?" To which she denied
"Actually…" Crystal hesitated after looking at her family's happy faces
"You want to say something else?" Brian asked seeing her hesitated
Hearing Brian's question, she curled her hands on her lap "Grandpa, I want to annul my engagement with Lucas."
Everyone was stupefied by Crystal's words. There was a deep silence for a while which was broken by Brian's uncertain voice "Are you sure?" he wasn't able to believe that her sister uttered those words which were like a taboo to her.
To which she calmly nodded, her eyes looked stubborn like never before that no one is going to make her change her words
"But…" Sean refrained his wife from saying further by holding her hand
"Will you be happy after this?" Liam's sudden question stumped her, 'will she be happy?' she never thought about this.
From the day she got another chance to live, her mind only revolved around protecting her people and revenge but her grandfather's question made her confused because she never thought about her happiness, after watching her daughter killed in front of her eyes she has a hollowness inside which was unable to be filled, she thought for a second as questions twirled in her mind
'Will she be happy after this annulment?'
'Will she be able to live without him?'
"Was I happy before?" After a pause Crystal mumbled which was audible to everyone due to the silence in the atmosphere.
In the question there was nothing, just emptiness in her voice that everyone felt.
"I'll talk to James today regarding this matter."
Liam announced by breaking her trance, to which she shows him a smile of gratitude.
"I think that's right, this time we'll choose an amazing life partner for our girl."
Liam suggested which was continued by Brian "I know many amazing people, should I introduce them to you?"
"I don't think that's going to work" Crystal tried to calm the men of our family who are ready to arrange some blind dates for her
"As, I live with three amazing men under a roof so my bar is quite high and I don't think anyone can match that right now."
Hearing the praise from the girl whom they all cherish the most, Liam, Sean and Brian felt satisfied and pleasant.
"Ok guys, I'm leaving!" keeping the napkin on the table, she hurriedly left.
At Maxwell's Villa, Lucas was descending stairs wearing a beige three piece suit looking extremely fine and a sight to appreciate from head to toe. Taking a seat at the breakfast table on which his usual breakfast was there with his black coffee.
"Should I bring something else?" Mr. Peter, their butler asked him
Lucas denied before taking a bite "Everyone, is sleeping till now?" He inquired about his other family members who came back last night only after finishing everything as soon as possible.
Lucas observed that Mr. Peter wanted to say something to him, taking a sip of his black coffee he asked "Mr. Peter, do you want to say something?"
Mustering his courage he asked "Actually, I wanted to ask, how is Young Mistress?"
Everyone in this house knows who the Young Mistress is. In starting they used to call her Young Miss as Grandpa James treats her like his own granddaughter and after their engagement she was entitled as Young Mistress. He really doesn't understand sometimes that why his family loved her so much
'You never tried to know, in reality!' His heart mocked at him
What made him more angry was that whenever she was near him, he always felt an indescribable pull towards her, like a force pushing him to her, she's like a magnet to him and he didn't like anything about it as it causes distraction for him so he ignored her as much as he could.
As Lucas heard the butler's question, the scene of the night club replayed in his mind "I don't know!" he replied indifferently and took a sip of his coffee.
With a defeated sigh, Mr. Peter saw his Young Master going out.