Chapter 126: Chapter 126

Chapter 126:

Eileen ended the call and headed straight to the location Raymond had provided. Once there, she decided to wait in her car.

The midday sun beat down fiercely, making the car uncomfortably hot. After a short while, unable to stand the heat any longer, Eileen got out of the car and walked into the restaurant.

At the entrance, there was a couch for guests. Eileen took a seat and started reviewing the material for her upcoming tutoring session on her phone.

Roughly thirty minutes later, a waiter approached her. “Excuse me, miss. Are you waiting for someone, or are you here to dine?”

“Just waiting for someone,” Eileen replied. Checking her watch, she saw it was nearly an hour since her arrival. She hurriedly redialed Raymond’s number.

The call connected, and she could faintly hear the rumble of a car engine through the phone.

“Hi, is your boss done with his meeting with the client?” Eileen inquired while glancing outside. Just then, she noticed a familiar black car merging into traffic.

It was the same one that had taken Milford to the educational agency days before.

Standing up, Eileen opened the door and stepped outside as Raymond explained, “My boss had an urgent matter come up. We’ve only just left the place.”

Eileen bit her lip as she watched the car drive away. She exhaled slowly before asking, “It’s alright. By the way, what should I call you?”

“Just call me Mr. Brooks,” he replied with brevity, throwing a glance at Bryan in the back seat through the rearview mirror.

Bryan had a slight smile as he looked out the window, seemingly amused by the situation with Eileen.

Eileen, after ending her phone call, saved Raymond’s number in her contacts as “Mr. Brooks” and then drove back to the agency.

Later that night, after careful thought, she decided to go to Pianoforte Villas, bringing with her textbooks for Milford’s grade.

Arriving at the door with her suitcase of books, she noticed the door was ajar. However, to be courteous, she still chose to ring the bell.

From inside, Milford called out with impatience, “The door’s open! Come in!”

As Eileen pushed the door open, a peculiar noise from above caught her attention. Looking up, she was shocked to see a bucket of water tipping toward her.

The cold water drenched her, streaming down from her head to her dress, tracing a path along her chin.

The bucket fell on her head with a loud clunk, sending a throbbing pain through her head.

Milford couldn’t contain his laughter. “That’s what you get!”

With those words, he spun on his heel and dashed up the stairs.

Eileen stood motionless for a moment, her fingers releasing the suitcase handle and allowing it to hit the floor. She removed the bucket, revealing her face flushed with frustration.

Her eyelashes, clumped by water, flicked as she managed to pry her eyes open and glare at Milford, who paused halfway up the stairs.

Milford said, “You might as well accept it. I’m not going to study with you. Keep coming if you want to experience something similar again.”

“My patience has worn thin,” Eileen said. “You’re squandering your youth and your potential. Is this how you want to spend your life?”

Her words, however, fell on deaf ears. Leaning on the railing, Milford scowled and retorted, “My life is none of your concern.”

He then disappeared into the hallway.

Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Eileen smoothed back her damp hair and knelt to salvage the books from her suitcase.

Most of the books were only damp around the edges, so they weren’t ruined. Eileen tipped the water out of the suitcase and put all the books back into it.

After that, she didn’t hesitate. Instead, she went to Milford’s room on the third floor. Milford was cozied up in a bean bag chair, absorbed in a video game.

He was surprised to see Eileen.

Unbothered, Eileen kicked a stool out of the way with her foot and walked in. Finding a seat, she pulled out her phone and started scrolling.

Milford just snorted, his focus returning to his game.

For two hours, they sat there in silence. When 9 o’clock, the end of what would have been their normal time, arrived, Eileen stood up and left.

Reaching the door, she noticed the water marks on the floor had vanished.

Could Milford’s guardian have come home?

But there was no sign of a car outside.

Eventually, Eileen left, carrying the suitcase through the community gates.

Upstairs, a man stood at the window, watching Eileen leave. Eileen’s hair was still slightly damp, clinging to the nape of her neck.

She sneezed as she walked, clearly disheveled.

Once she vanished beyond the community gate, Bryan headed upstairs and barged into Milford’s room.

Milford, caught off guard and starting to protest, straightened up instantly when he saw it was Bryan who had entered.

“If you’re here to persuade me into receiving the tutoring, I advise you not to waste your time,” Milford said.

Bryan surveyed the room, found the only clean chair, and sat down.

The air was tinged with a scent he knew well, and a small puddle next to his shoe glistened in the light.

Fishing out a cigarette, he lit it. Soon, the haze of smoke took over the room.

Milford squirmed under the weight of Bryan’s silence, hastily putting away his gaming tablet and fidgeting.

But to Milford’s surprise, without a word, Bryan just stood and left after finishing his cigarette.

Eileen wasn’t surprised when she came down with a cold, suspecting Milford had spiked the water with ice to make it extra chilly.

The next day, her nose was runny and her cough incessant. Despite Bailee’s ginger soup remedy, her condition didn’t improve, and she eventually sought out medication from the hospital.

“The doctor insisted on an IV drip. Medicine alone isn’t enough,” Bailee said, holding the medicine and trailing behind Eileen outside the hospital.

Eileen, not looking back, got into her car. Once Bailee hopped in with a hint of reluctance, Eileen said, “I’ve got a morning full of preparing course materials, an afternoon trial lesson, and even tutoring. I don’t have time for an IV drip.”

She dabbed at her nose with a tissue and fired up the engine, heading back to the agency.

“How about doing it tomorrow?” Bailee asked, leaning in. “You keep tutoring that troublesome Milford? What if he tries something drastic like setting you on fire tomorrow? You’ve got to discuss this with his guardian!”

Milford’s name alone gave Eileen a headache, but she knew he wasn’t the main issue.

The real problem was never getting a chance to really sit down and talk with his guardian.

“Recall Milford’s file had another emergency contact. Pull it up and send it to me once we get back,” Eileen said.

Bailee nodded in agreement. At the studio, she powered up her computer, located Milford’s file, and sent the two emergency contacts to Eileen.

One of them was Raymond’s number.

Eileen picked up the phone and dialed the other number without a second thought. The call connected after a brief wait, and a voice she knew answered.

“Mr. Brooks?” Eileen recognized the voice instantly.

“Is this Miss Curtis?” Raymond, on the other line, sounded just as taken aback.

A moment of awkward silence passed before Eileen broke it.

“I stumbled upon this number in Milford’s contacts. I was guessing it was his sister’s or perhaps boss’s.”

Raymond paused for a second before replying, “Well, it is my boss’s number, but it’s mostly used for work matters. So I’m usually the one answering it.”

Eileen realized she had hit a dead end once again.

“I’d like to schedule a meeting with your boss. It’s important to discuss Milford. His first couple of sessions didn’t go well. I can’t just ignore this,” Eileen said. She was in no mood to drag this out until they sorted this out properly. “I’m putting Milford’s lessons on hold.”

Her voice echoed through Bryan’s office; Raymond had switched the call to speakerphone.

Raymond glanced at Bryan, who seemed to be engrossed in papers on his desk.

Yet Raymond noticed that Bryan hadn’t flipped the page in quite some time.

After a while, Bryan finally looked and gave him a knowing look. Getting the message, Raymond told Eileen, “Alright, I’ll set it up and let you know when.”

“Thanks,” Eileen said, relieved.

Once she hung up, Eileen took a deep breath and shifted her focus to other tasks.

Scheduling an official meeting seemed sensible. Friday morning, Eileen got a call from Raymond telling her to come to their office at two in the afternoon.

Therefore, Eileen rearranged her plans for the day and got to the specified location at one forty.

The building loomed sky-high, buzzing with people at the entrance. Despite Eileen mentioning Raymond’s name, the security didn’t let her through.

Left with no other option, Eileen phoned Raymond and finally gained entry.

But once inside, no one was there to show her to the meeting room. She had to ask for directions from people passing by.

She reached the room at exactly two, sat down, and waited quietly.

Half an hour passed, and no one showed up. Eileen reached out to Raymond again, only to learn his boss was tied up in an unscheduled meeting and couldn’t see her just yet.

“Then please tell him to drop by the education center when he gets a chance,” Eileen said.

Having said that, Eileen grabbed her bag and walked out straight away, having lost her patience.

Once an assistant herself, she knew an official appointment wouldn’t be postponed without a significant reason.

Yet, the calm atmosphere at the office suggested nothing urgent was happening, which made her think they weren’t taking her seriously. So she decided it wasn’t worth her time to stay any longer.

After ending the call, Raymond turned his attention to Bryan, who was in the middle of a video chat with his parents.

Indeed, there was a pressing business matter, as Bryan’s parents were discussing personal issues with Bryan.

“Never assume that just because you’re in Wist Land, you’re out of our reach,” Brandan Dawson, Bryan’s father, said with clear displeasure in his voice.

“Enough of this nonsense, Bryan. You’ll need to come home once things in Wist Land are running smoothly. There are too many issues at Apex Group for Zola to manage by herself,” Bryan’s mother said, her voice brooking no argument.

Bryan appeared unfazed by their words, giving them a nonchalant look through the screen.

Brandon’s frustration peaked at Bryan’s lack of concern. “Are you even listening? If the project’s stable and you’re—”

“I will definitely decide when to go back myself. Better to focus on running Apex Group than chatting with me,” Bryan interjected before his father could finish.

Enraged, Brandon shot back, “Since you left Apex Group so abruptly, everything’s turned to chaos. The stock prices took a hit. Who do you think can clean up this disaster you left behind? Without Zola.”

Tired of their complaints, Bryan swiftly ended the call and snapped the laptop shut. He turned to Raymond and asked, “Where is she now?”

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