Love Worth Fighting For

119 Warm Welcome

Since coming home from the hospital Areez has been in a bad mood, for him there has never been a more terrible day than today.

Reunited with Suri after three months of separation, knowing the fact that Suri is the younger sister of Christian Clarke, who is the son of Jackson Clarke, his new business partner. It was something Areez never imagined.

Ever since Suri went missing, Areez has become a very messed up person. All of his thoroughness and prudence was lost, until at the peak he had to be missed after establishing a cooperative relationship with Jackson Clarke who incidentally is the biological father of Christian Clarke. Because Muller Finance International is a big company that is already very well known, Areez forgot to look for information about the company. Until finally he discovered the surprising fact that Christian Clarke was Jackson Clarke’s first son.

“I was really careless, how could I forget the most important thing like that, Aldrich. I am so stupid!” Areez said hoarsely, cursing the stupidity he had done.

Aldrich refreshed his messy hair. “It’s not your fault Areez. In this world there are a lot of people whose last name is Clarke, so if we don’t know Christian Clarke is Jackson Clarke’s son it’s only natural. What’s more, we’ve never interacted with them before. So stop. blame yourself, it’s not your fault.”

Areez, who was already sitting down, couldn’t help but listen to his best friend’s words, he really had made the stupidest mistake.

“What if I just confessed to Jackson Clarke about Suri, Aldrich? Seeing Suri faint because she was so scared of me made me almost can’t breathe,” Areez said hoarsely, it was clear Areez was holding back his tears from coming out.

Brak...

Aldrich hit the table in front of him.

.....

“Don’t be crazy, Areez! You can’t do that, if you came and confessed to Jackson Clarke it would be suicide!”

Areaz massaged his aching temples, still vividly remembering how Suri had fallen unconscious moments after meeting him. Remembering that Areez felt so guilty, Suri was very afraid of him. Even though all this time he had never touched Suri’s skin, Areez even treated Suri very well like a noble princess.

“It’s better for us to remain calm while continuing to approach Jackson Clarke,” said Aldrich again. “When the time is right, then we can talk. I’m sure Jackson Clarke can understand what you’ve done to Suri.”

“But will my excuse be accepted?” Areez asked doubtfully.

“Jackson Clarke is a wise man, I’m sure he will understand,” Aldrich replied quietly, trying to calm Areez who looked so nervous. “As a big businessman I’m pretty sure that if Jackson didn’t blame your decision at that time, he would have done the same thing you did then. So now you better calm down and don’t panic.”

Areez, who was so weak, could only stay silent and did not respond to his best friend’s words. Currently Areez really in a position awry, he can not possibly cancel the cooperation agreement that has been made with Muller Finance International. The stakes are huge. All Areez can do now is to follow the advice given by Aldrich, to continue working with Jackson Clarke while waiting for the right time to apologize to him.

“I hope you can forgive me, Suri. I’m really sorry.” Areez spoke to himself with his eyes tightly closed.

Even so, he was shocked when he found out that Suri was the youngest daughter of Jackson Clarke, his new investor. But on the other hand Areez was so happy when he met Suri again.

***

Elena opened her eyes when the position of the moon was almost replaced by the sun, even though she slept on the sofa bed which was quite comfortable, but still Elena couldn’t really fall asleep. Several times Elena woke up and was surprised when she realized that she was in the room alone. Elena even almost got up from the sofa to look for Christian if she didn’t hear Christian’s voice talking to a nurse in front of her bedroom.

“Already up?”

Elena, who was not yet fully conscious, was surprised when she heard Christian’s voice so close to her, Elena suddenly looked up to try to find the source of the sound. Her smile immediately broke when she saw Christian sitting next to her.

“You do not sleep?” asked Elena back.

Christian smiles. “You naughty girl, answer a question with a question.”

“I’m serious, Christ. You really didn’t sleep, did you?”

Christian purses his lips. “Suri doesn’t sleep, how can I sleep?”

“Suri doesn’t sleep? Why?”

“The trauma is coming again, I don’t know why. Suri didn’t talk about it and I didn’t want to ask,” Christian answers hoarsely, not sleeping all night has made it so bad.

Elena pursed her lips, she slowly reached her hand out to Christian and pulled him over to the sofa where she was sleeping.

“Elena...”

“You need sleep, Christ,” Elena says softly, forcing Christian to lie down by her side.

Christian growls. “It’s almost morning, Elena. I can’t sleep, after all Suri...”

“Suri is not alone, your parents and Asher are taking care of her.”

Christian’s almost lost consciousness returns to full when he hears Elena mention Asher’s name.

“Who told you that person’s name, Elena?”

Elena tilted her head. “What’s name?”

Christian’s jaw tightens. “Asher, who told you about Asher?”

“Haven’t you and Kainer mentioned his name a lot, haven’t you?” asked Elena confusedly.

Christian immediately fell silent, he cursed his stupidity for mentioning Asher’s name without realizing it. As Christian’s anger fades, Elena slowly lays her body on Christian’s chest. Elena is trying to get Christian to lie down and sleep.

“Elena....”

“I’m still sleepy, come on accompany me to sleep again, Christ,” said Elena hoarsely full of compulsion.

Even Christian, who is in a difficult position, can only surrender and not fight, after all at this time his head also feels very sore. In a matter of minutes Elena finally managed to put Christian to sleep, the sound of his soft snoring could be heard clearly in Elena’s ears, who is currently using Christian’s chest as a pillow. Afraid to make Christian wake up, Elena decides to stay a little longer until finally after twenty minutes Elena finally slowly gets up from above Christian’s body. Elena slightly goes to the bathroom, Elena has to take a shower before Christian wakes up.

Elena doesn’t want to make Christian’s parents think that she’s a lazy girl, so even though it’s still early, Elena continues to take a shower. Elena is sure that if Christian wakes up he won’t be able to take a shower. Elena’s decision to take a shower was right, because not long after she finished putting her face with light makeup, Elena overheard the conversation of Christian’s parents. Elena immediately shuddered at the thought of what would happen to her if she were still asleep at this point.

“Christ....ups, sorry! Sorry, mommy forgot you were here, kid.”

Elena, who was in a hurry to tidy up her make-up equipment, was surprised by Anne who suddenly entered the room where Christian and her were.

Anne, who did not know that Christian was sleeping, immediately closed her mouth when she saw her proud son was sitting on a different sofa in a crouched position, hugging a pillow.

“Christian just slept, right?”

Elena nodded slowly.

“Well then, let him sleep. He kept Suri all night,” said Anne again.

Elena who was confused about what to do was forced to just smile without opening her lips, she was still so awkward. Even though this is her second meeting with Christian’s parents, Elena still feels uncomfortable. Not being officially introduced by Christian to his parents, Elena was in a very uncomfortable position and went awry. And Anne who was once in the same position as Elena smiled a little, Anne carefully walked towards Elena who was standing by the glass.

“Don’t hesitate, Elena,” said Anne softly. “Your name is Elena, right?”

“Y..yes, madam...”

Anne shook her head slowly. “Don’t call me madam, you are Christian’s future wife. You can call me Mommy too, Elena.”

Elena’s legs immediately felt weak, Elena did not expect that Marianne Clarke was so good to her. A beautiful, kind-hearted woman who is admired by many for her frequent charitable events to help others.

“You want to call me ‘mommy’ right?” said Anne back with a smile so gentle.

Elena, who didn’t know what else to do, could only nod slowly in response to Anne’s words, Elena was still too shocked by Anne’s previous request.

Seeing the attitude of Elena who was very nervous made Anne touched. Anne, who never met Jack’s parents when she first came into Jack’s life, understands that Elena is very nervous when talking to her at this time and Anne is happy with that because it is a sign that Elena really respects her as Christian’s mother.

Not wanting to wake Christian up, Anne leaves the room silently after gently touching Elena’s cheek. Anne didn’t want to stress Elena. In her heart, Anne promises to have a better relationship with Elena in the future so that she can re-knit the tension between Christian and her.

“Oh Lord.” Elena directly touched her left chest which was racing rapidly with a pale face. “Christian’s mother asked me to call her ‘mommy’.... I’m not dreaming, am I? Oh my God, how is this, what should I do?”

Unbeknownst to Elena, Christian, who was thought to be sleeping, was smiling at her. Christian, who had had time to sleep, woke up immediately when his mother called his name, but Christian chose to stay in his position because he wanted to know the interaction between his mother and Elena. Christian chuckles when he sees how adorable Elena is right now.

“Welcome to Clarke family, Elena,” Christian said in his heart without taking his eyes off Elena who was still holding her cheeks with flushed cheeks. “I didn’t choose you wrong, Elena.”