Chapter 15 Reminiscing

Chapter 15 Reminiscing
At her office desk the next day, Zina sat in front of her laptop with a wistful smile on her face as she stared at her laptop screen. On it displayed pictures of a blonde-haired four-year-old holding a large golden cup in one hand and, in the other, a small, unknown device roughly put together.

At this moment, Aika hurried into the office.

"Something wrong?" Zina asked raising her head to her.

"I was going through the pictures, and I also did a search on the Freemans. There is no mention of Adam having a sibling or cousin. So I got to thinking, what if they were just friends or classmates? So I started to go through Adam's childhood photos and I noticed someone familiar"

Walking around the desk to Zina's side, Aika excitedly handed over her tablet.

On the screen was displayed an image of several kids all holding a small football and wearing a smile. In front of them all, the shortest child, a blonde-haired boy with a smug grin held a football under one arm and a golden cup in the other. The weight of the cup seemed to pull his hand downward, and beside him, another young child helped hold up the cup.

"What am I looking at?" Zina asked

"That" Aika reached slowly and pointed down at the person holding the cup for Adam.

"Who. . ." Zina paused and stared intently at the child in the picture.

"A girl" she muttered after close observation. Because they all had on sportswear and the other children were males, she had missed it.

"Miss Zade?" she questioned doubtfully.

The question of how Andrea paired with Adam had always been a mystery. For all of his intelligence, Adam alone was incapable of the success he achieved. This was a secret bot many knew but although she did not know Adam well, she was well aware of this fact.

She had many conjectures about how they met, but never would she have imagined that they'd met as children.

"Is this really her?" Zina asked.

"Yes, and if you look very closely, you will see her in every one of his childhood photos" Aika excitedly revealed.

Leaning down, she stretched to scroll and in every new picture, she pointed out Andrea.

"With this new clue, perhaps we can try again to figure out who she is?" Zina asked looking up at Aika with eyes wide.

Aika's expression fell and she shook her head slowly. Taking back her tablet, she walked around the desk and sat down across from Zina.

"I tried. With the clue Mr Auralis dropped last time about her being raised in an orphanage, I gave the information to Cici last night but she's still coming up blank."

Zina sat back on her chair with a thoughtful expression.

"And Gabriel?" she asked.

Aika raised her brows in surprise. The way the name rolled off Zina's tongue unsettled her.

"Mr Auralis is a blank spot; mentioning his name in Min apparently scares everyone," she replied with a sigh, her exasperation evident.

Zina's expression turned distant.
"It has been so long but nothing has changed. His shadow is everywhere" she muttered, her gaze turning soft and wistful as she stared at a corner of the office.

Her heart itched for something, something she could never hold.

Aika stared at Zina, her eyes wide with sympathy. She understood exactly what Zina meant. Adam was an enigma; there were information gaps in everything he did, so much so that his actions could never be traced. Yet this did not mean he was silent. In fact, his traces could be found all over Arclight.

Although he was gone now. Andrea remained a mystery, and now a new figure with similarly shady movements had appeared.

"Do you want me to reschedule today's meeting?" Aika asked softly. Zina was not herself today.

"No, it's time to get something done" Zina replied immediately. Sitting up, she began to tidy her desk.

Aika watched her for a moment but a message on her screen attracted her attention.

"That's good because Mr Auralis is here"

Zina paused for a moment before nodding.

"I'll be there in a second," she said as Aika rose to leave.

Elsewhere in the building, Gabriel stood in an elevator with a few suited figures. Just as it was about to close, a brown skinned girl with glowing black hair and in a silk pink gown rushed in.

She had in her hands many documents and file holders in an unarranged mess and she struggled to hold everything. As she got in and the doors to the elevator closed, she glanced up at Gabriel and offered a polite smile to which he nodded back.

The elevator stopped, and two people got out. As she made way, a single file slipped away from her, and everything dropped after it in a pile.

"Ugh," she groaned in complaint and squatted to gather the files, but they were still too many for her hands and collapsed again. The elevator stopped on another floor and the door opened. The third and last person got out, stepping on a few documents on her way out.

"Hey!" the brown skinned girl exclaimed but they paid her no mind. The doors closed again and she continued gathering the files.

Watching her struggle, Gabriel frowned and then squatted to assist.

"Thank you." she flashed a half-hearted smile at him

They quickly gathered everything and stood back up.

Stealing a quick glance at Gabriel, the girl tucked a strand of hair behind her ears.

"I'm Cici" she introduced with a glowing smile.

"Gabriel" Gabriel nodded curtly.

"Auralis?" Cici asked in surprise.

"You know me?"

Shaking her head she turned away from him. "I know of you. But you're a bit different from what I expected," she replied.

Gabriel frowned slightly and looked down at her. From his angle, he could see into the cleavage of her dress. He looked back up at the floor display of the elevator and the corner of his lips twitched.

Cici looked back up at him with a teasing look. Eye raised. "Not curious?" she asked.

"No" Gabriel replied bluntly.

"Then what if I am?" Cici raised her head high and spun around to face him.

"About what?" Gabriel asked, still frowning.

"A lot, but let's start with your number." Giving a flirtatious smile, she watched as Gabriel's expression changed a few times.

"Are you asking me out?" he eventually asked.

"Only you would make a girl explicit. Yes, Mr Auralis" Cici replied confidently.

Gabriel had never found himself in such a situation before, nor had he anticipated it.

A minute passed and the elevator doors finally opened to Aika standing with her hands held together in front of her.

Cici spun back around to the open door, seeing Aika, she smiled victoriously and waved.

As she walked past, she mouthed subtly, wearing an exaggerated expression. "He's hoooottt"

Confused, Aika's gaze followed her as she passed by then turned to Gabriel.

"Hello, Mr Auralis," she smiled and reached for a handshake.

"Hello," Gabriel nodded, returning the gesture.

"Mr Oswald is in the meeting room, Mrs Freeman will be joining us soon. I'll lead you there?" she offered.

"Oswald?" Gabriel asked, feeling an inexplicable rush of hostility at the name.

"Yes, Miles Oswald," Aika replied, wearing an odd expression.