Words I was Afraid to Hear

Romina Ta was pushing a shopping cart along the aisle of a supermarket.

It has been over a month since she tendered her resignation, to the bewilderment and reluctance of her boss. She had been living in their old house by the sea, but visits the city proper every two weeks to buy her supplies. She had been living off her savings and the inheritance from her mother.

As she walked along the detergent section, the clicking of high heels caught her attention.

"Vincent, stop running around! You can hurt yourself!" A scolding, but motherly voice was heard.

Romina Ta noticed a boy of about 5 years old running around, while holding a box of chocolates as if he was protecting a treasure. Then she glanced at the woman in a tan jumpsuit in pursuit of the boy.

Romina Ta's eyes widened and shook for a brief moment. She recognized the lady.

It was the new CEO of ZFC, the first born child of Victor Zhou. Three weeks ago, ZFC had announced that they will switch their CEOs for the branch in City B and City S. There was a vague reason given, but everyone accepted that CEO Verdan Zhou just went abroad. The press never learned that he was missing.

Romina Ta, who witnessed his last moment, knew otherwise.

She gazed at Vanessa Zhou. This lady has a strong personality. ZFC was still lucky that she is capable. Otherwise, they could come crumbling down.

Romina Ta was impressed of how well the Zhou family had covered up the death of their heir.

The child the CEO was chasing was probably her son.

Speaking of an heir, Vanessa Zhou's children would not be heir to ZFC, since their father is also a prominent figure in the business industry.

Romina Ta furrowed her brows. 'Miss Midori's child is the heir then?' She thought that they will wait for the child to grow up and take over the company. He is a Zhou after all.

Romina Ta sighed and continued pushing her cart away.

If the Zhou family chose to cover up the death of their heir, she will not bother to disclose what she had witnessed.

Vanessa Zhou felt a stare behind her back, but when she turned, the person who was pushing a cart had gone to another aisle. She had a weird feeling that the person wanted a conversation. 'Do I know that person?' she asked herself.

After not recalling the person who had been on the same aisle as them, she shrugged her shoulders and lifted her son to make him sit on the cart.

Her movement was fluid, despite being in heels. Her aura was confident, but not overbearing.

Indeed, she had to be strong. Her brother is no longer around, and her mother refuses to recognize his marriage to the daughter of the Xiu family.

She left her husband in City B, but she could not part with her children, so they went back with her to City S.

That day, she brought Vincent, her eldest, to go shopping for groceries. Her younger child was left under the care of her mother. However, since she does not trust her mother's ability to raise children, as she was the one who truly raised her brother, she assigned one of the housekeepers to 'assist' her mother in caring for the baby.

She frowned as they reached the section with breakfast grains. Her brother once told her the story of how he met Midori again.

She reached and took out a box of their product, Cerealz. She stared at it as if reading the details, but she was just reminiscing the flashy smile of her brother as he animatedly described his encounter with Manta.

In truth, the idea of bringing Manta into the production area was made by Vanessa Zhou, after her brother had told him about the child.

Right now, she needed to endure the inconvenience of raising her kids while keeping the company afloat. At the same time, she wanted justice for her brother.