Thea had been feeling uneasy ever since she went back to the City, because Chin had been missing and Leon was interrogating her about the happenings surrounding Chin's mysterious disappearance. She was perturbed about what might have happened to Chin, but at the same time, she was also very nervous at the thought of Leon finding out about the dreadful incident that had transpired at the charity event.
"What!? Why can't you find a single thing, you idiots!? How come none of the CCTV footage from the event are available!?" Leon shouted at his men in the living room. Thea let out a sigh of relief, thinking that Chin must have been the one who had cleaned up everything to keep Leon from finding out about what had happened between Jeru and her that night.
'Where are you, Chin?' she thought silently. The last time she had seen Chin was when she scolded her for planning a spiteful act on her behalf without her knowledge. So she was not worried at all when she didn't see Chin for a while after their little squabble, as she thought that Chin was just giving her the space that she clearly needed. It had never occurred to her that she would have instead gone missing.
"Don't you dare come back without giving me anything, you morons! Get the list of all the attendees at that event! I want their names and profiles immediately!" Thea gasped in fear as she heard Leon give peremptory orders to his men. Leon must never find anything, or else they would all end up dead.
With trembling hands she dialed Chin's number once more, but it was still off. Thea exhaled deeply before she walked to Leon to tell him that she would head back to work.
"I will assign a new assistant for you soon, while Chin is missing." said Leon before he let her go.
That was not good at all. Having a new assistant assigned to her would only mean trouble. 'Chin, where are you? Please come back safely!' she pleaded inwardly as she hoped for Chin to somehow be well and alive.
......
Inside the newsroom…
Thea kept stealing glances at Lisa as soon as she arrived at work. She would like to ask Jungkook for help, but she knew that she would have to go through Lisa.
'Geez!' she exclaimed to herself, as she felt embarrassed at the thought of asking Lisa for help, especially after all the vile things that she had done to Lisa in a pitiful attempt to make her look bad in Jungkook's eyes. But she really did not know what to do anymore. She was desperate; and desperate people call for desperate measures. Chin was her only hope but she had gone missing without a trace.
Thea sighed several times as she contemplated on how to approach Lisa.
Maybe there really was no more hope left for her. After all these years, in which she had been stuck with the cruel fate that life had bestowed her, perhaps she should just accept that it was her destiny to end in despair.
She took another brief look at Lisa, who was still busy reviewing various reports to gather newsworthy information. She knew that she needed to apologize to her, but she did not know where to start.
Thea did not know if she should tell Lisa everything; from what she had initially planned to do to her and the altered plan that Chin had designed without her knowledge, to how that plan had ironically ended up backfiring on herself. Yes, the joke was on her and she had learned her lesson in a very hard way.
'Thea, you're so pathetic!' she sneered at herself and got startled by the ringing of her own phone. She hesitated for a bit if she should answer, because it was a number that she didn't recognize. But at the thought of the possibility that the call could be from Chin, she quickly answered her phone.
"Hello?"
"Meet me at the cafe on the fifth floor. I have an important matter to discuss with you," a man's voice could be heard from the other line.
