Serendipity - A Chance Encounter 34 Small World

A few days later,

Samantha arrived at her company.

"Good morning, Madam.", a.s.sistant Chen greeted when Samantha reached the private elevator from the underground parking.

"You look nice, are you going on a date later?", Samantha asked Chen when they got in the elevator.

a.s.sistant Chen touched her cheeks as she blushed, "Is it very obvious? M-my mother set me up on a blind date at lunchtime. I originally said no because we've been too busy these days and I'm not really looking for a boyfriend right now."

"Why not? You're young. You should date."

"H-Huh?", Chen was surprised by her boss' response.

The elevator doors opened, Samantha stepped out of the elevator with her a.s.sistant following behind. She opened the right drawer of her desk and took out a small silver box.

"You can't just go out like that.", Samantha turned around and handed it to a.s.sistant Chen. "Here, I haven't used it. It's yours now."

Chen received the box and read the label on it. In front of the small box wrote, La Prairie in bold. She wasn't such a huge fan of makeups but she has heard of this brand before. For a salary earner like her, this was an expensive lipstick that she would never buy for herself.

"Madam, are you sure? This is too pricey. I don't--", she said as she tried to give it back to Samantha.

"It's okay, it was a gift but I don't wear lipsticks that often. It would just be a waste. Keep it."

It was indeed a gift from Andrew Park a few months ago. She only remembered it today and thought that the best way to take her eyes off of it was to give it to her a.s.sistant.

Chen pursed her lips and Samantha added, "Oh and take 2 hours break for lunch."

"Thank you very much, Madam!" , she said before Samantha let her get back to work.

When a.s.sistant Chen walked out, Alexander Li entered Samantha's office.

"Your a.s.sistant seemed very... cheery, than usual."

Samantha chuckled, "Yeah, she's going on a blind date at Lunchtime. I gave her a lipstick and a 2-hour break."

"That's generous of you."

"She deserves it."

"What about you? You deserve someone too."

Alexander said casually as he tried to gauge Samantha's expression. All she did was gave him a light smile.

"Nathan and I are going out for lunch today. Would you like to join us?", he asked.

"Thanks but, I'm meeting my mom for lunch."

Alexander spoke after several seconds of silence, "Samantha... I know I'm not in the position to ask you about things like these, but... are you going to get back together with Nathan?"

"Did he tell you to ask me that?"

"No...", Alexander smiled, "Forget it, you don't have to answer.", he said before he placed some doc.u.ments on Samantha's desk... "I... actually have some bad news."

-----

Spring Grove Hospital - VIP room

Andrew Park laid on the bed with his eyes closed as he tried to turn a deaf ear to his father's yelling. He was too s.h.i.+t-faced drunk yesterday and ended up having alcohol poisoning.

"What is wrong with you?!! You were just appointed as the new CEO of Regal Wings Entertainment a few days ago and now you're already causing trouble?? I thought I could count on you! Do you want to step down as the CEO already?"

"No, dad. I was just celebrating with my friends. It's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal?--M", Chairman Park was interrupted by the knock on the door.

The door opened and Nathan Yun entered the room, "Good noon, my name is Dr. Yun."

Chairman Park's expression changed drastically, "Oh, Dr. Yun! Thank you very much for accepting our request. I know this is not your field and it's just a small matter but I can't just let any doctor examine my son. He's too--", he said while he eyed his son on the bed. "sensitive. I hope you can take good care of him."

"It's fine, Chairman Park. I had spare time anyway."

Mayor Yun, Nathan's father is a friend of Chairman Park. The latter asked his friend if Nathan could look after as a doctor for his troublesome son, Andrew because he wanted to contain the news of the hospitalization.

The world was too small for a connection like this. They're both ex-boyfriends of Samantha and they don't even know.

Nathan explained that Andrew Park's condition was now stable and added some healthy bits of advice before he left the VIP room.

As he walked towards his office, his phone beeped. A notification from one of his friends' group chat. When he opened the link, it was an article that has been viral for a few days after the Cho Corporation Anniversary event. The write-up was about CEO Daniel Cho and his mysterious date, the man who was known to be aloof and unsociable towards women was seen very close with his date during the event. Pictures of them walking through the red carpet, entering the event hall together and dancing on the dance floor.

Nathan Yun who knew Samantha very well and learned about her relations.h.i.+p with Daniel had a sad expression on his face. His heart felt heavy upon seeing them together in the photo. He leaned back on his chair as he reminisced how they were as a couple before. Since Samantha never liked the limelight, they had to always be careful when going out or else the possibility of being in a scandal was high especially since a lot of paparazzi lingered around the Mayor's family waiting for a 'scoop'. Seeing that Samantha with a mask managed to be with Daniel even in front of the media, his heart ached. He was very jealous and hurt.

---

The next day.

Regal Wings Entertainment

A trainee artist walked out of the building looking dejected. She just failed an audition. Her phone rang and when she saw the caller ID, her expression turned from gloomy to irritated.

"What??", she said as she answered the call.

"Nancy, dear.. come home, we miss you-"

"I told you already! I don't want to go home! I want to work here and You can't stop me!!"

"Don't be angry... you can choose other places, why must it be there? We can go to Country C or j.a.pan, other countries too."

"I don't want to go to other places. I want to live here! Don't call me anymore!!", she yelled before she hung up the call.

Nancy Jung was very frustrated. She had always received the 'short end' of the stick and now that she managed to get into Regal Wings Entertainment, she still had to work harder. She wanted to be an actress and the Regal Wings of the Park family is one of the top agencies in the entertainment industry. She's actually quite good at acting but it just so happened that another actress was chosen for the role that she wanted on a film.

Ever since she joined the agency a month ago, she was only able to partake a few extra roles in films. She didn't earn a lot so she had to take a part-time job from a Chinese restaurant to support her living expenses. For now, there was nothing else she could do but sigh and leave the building.

To take her mind off it, she decided to drop by a coffee shop on her way home. There she saw Andrew sitting alone on the table outside of the coffee shop.

'President Park?', she thought and a glint appeared on her eyes.

She walked towards Andrew and a bright smile appeared on her face, "It's nice seeing you here, President Park."