After breakfast, they immediately set out in a group, walking around the parts of the villa complex they hadn't visited yet.
After spending about an hour inspecting the J Group villas, Kalix and his employees were led to a rather spacious room. The CEO of J Group had prepared an abundant and appetizing lunch.
"Head back to the main villa. I still have things to discuss with the CEO of J Group," Kalix said to his employees once lunch was over.
The employees nodded, said their goodbyes to the CEO, and began heading back to the main villa.
Outside the villa, a few female employees slowed their pace when they spotted a 45-year-old socialite standing beside a golf cart.
"Her face looks kinda familiar," one whispered to the colleague walking beside her.
"Isn't she that woman from the news?"
Dariella, who happened to be walking right behind them, naturally overheard the conversation and glanced at the woman they were talking about.
Her eyes widened in recognition. She couldn't hide her shock at first, but quickly composed her expression.
"Is Mr. James still talking with his client?" the woman asked the villa staff who had approached her.
"Yes, ma'am. He's still with Mr. Kalix and Mr. Naka. Mr. James instructed me to take you to the back villa."
"All right," she replied, stepping into the golf cart.
Once the cart pulled away, the female employees began gossiping.
"Wow… I can't believe the CEO of J Group is openly bringing his mistress here."
"It's really his mistress, right? No wonder her face looked familiar—she's the one from the news."
"I thought it was just a tabloid rumor, but I guess it's true. Poor wife…"
"Mistress?" Dariella murmured to herself.
Why haven't I heard anything about this? she thought.
"Hey, can you not speak so loudly? If someone overhears you, you could get into trouble. You'd better head back to the main villa—we still need to pack," one of the male employees warned.
They all nodded and continued walking toward the main villa.
But Dariella didn't follow them. Instead, she turned around and walked off in the opposite direction.
*******
Now, she found herself at the farthest villa in the J Group complex. She wasn't entirely sure what the woman was doing there, but it was clear Dariella was looking for something—or someone.
After wandering around for a while, she spotted her target alone by the pool. Dariella immediately walked toward her, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into a secluded spot.
"HEY! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" the woman shouted, shoving Dariella's hand away.
Dariella turned to face her, her expression cold and unreadable. "Stop messing around with another woman's husband."
"You can play around with as many men as you want, but leave married men alone," she added.
The woman frowned, then burst out laughing. "Who the hell are you to meddle in my business? Ah—wait a second, aren't you one of Alano Company's employees? Tck… I could report you to your boss for having the audacity to interfere in someone's private life."
Dariella gave a bitter smile. "At your age—almost half a century—you should be improving yourself, but instead you keep making things worse. And even now, there's nothing—absolutely nothing—I can be proud of you for…"
"Mother," she said.
DEG!!!
The woman froze for a moment, scanning Dariella from head to toe. "You…!"
"DARIELLA?!" she exclaimed, shocked.
"Wasn't it enough to ruin my life—and yours? Now you want to ruin someone else's too? What do you actually want? Can't you just live quietly without hurting anyone?" Dariella demanded.
The woman ignored her words. "What have you done to yourself, Dariella? Why do you look like this?! And where have you been all this time?!" she snapped.
"Because of you, I had to go back to work. If you hadn't run away, I could've just stayed home and enjoyed the money," the woman said bitterly.
"If the work you offered was decent, I would have accepted it. And you would never have to feed yourself with money from something immoral. But then again… it's hard to negotiate with someone who doesn't have a shred of empathy—"
SLAAP!
"You insolent brat! After this, don't think you can run away again. You'll bow down and obey every order I give you," the woman said angrily.
"Oh yeah? Do whatever you want, because I'm not afraid anymore. The Dariella you see now is no longer the little girl who could only cry and hide," Dariella shot back.
"Listen, Mother. You reap what you sow. If you don't stop hurting people, you'll get back something far more painful than anything you've done."
She turned and began walking away.
"Yes, my daughter… you reap what you sow. That's why you're suffering now, isn't it?" the woman replied with a chilling laugh.
"This time, you won't be able to run away again, Dariella," she muttered, her tone cold and flat.
-------
Dariella didn't head straight back to the main villa. Instead, she walked toward a beach some distance away.
Sitting at the edge of the shore, hugging her knees, she whispered to herself:
I thought that after I ran away, she'd regret it and start living a better life. But nothing's changed… it's only gotten worse.
Why? Why did I have to be born from a woman like that? Out of all the mothers in the world, why her?
She hadn't expected to see that woman again—not after almost five years. That woman was the one who gave her the bitterest life she could imagine… someone she both loved and hated. The woman who gave birth to her, then abandoned her. Even when she did treat Dariella kindly, it was always with an ulterior motive.
Dariella might have been fortunate in her career, but her personal life was far from it.
Her mother was a prostitute, and she didn't even know who her father was. Of course she didn't—her mother had been with too many men for that.
There were still so many questions she'd never gotten answers to… one of them being why her mother had chosen to keep her instead of aborting her. Why go through with the pregnancy, only to give her a life filled with so much pain?
Tears began streaming down Dariella's face—just as rain began to fall from the sky.
*******
At 6 p.m., Kalix was pacing back and forth restlessly—Dariella still hadn't returned to the main villa.
"Where the hell did that woman go?" Kalix muttered irritably.
"Has anyone seen Dariella?" he asked yet again.
"No, boss. She was walking right behind us earlier, then suddenly she was just… gone," one of the employees replied.
"What should we do? It takes an hour to get from here to the airport, and it's already six. We're supposed to check in two hours before departure," Naka said.
Kalix let out a long sigh. "You all just go ahead. Like it or not, I have to stay here. I can't possibly leave that ugly woman alone. One way or another, I'm responsible for every employee who came here."
"You all go first. Mr. Kalix and I will take the next flight," Naka told the group.
"Alright then, sir. We'll get going," they said before getting into their cars and driving away.
Once the employees were gone, Kalix spoke again. "Call the villa staff again and ask if they've found anything. Seriously, where the hell could that ugly woman have gone?" he said, growing more annoyed.
"What if she's been kidnapped?!" Naka asked worriedly.
"Who would want to kidnap someone like Dariella? Stop talking nonsense and just call the villa staff," Kalix snapped.
Naka went off to make the call while Kalix stayed by the front door of the main villa.
.
.
.
Almost an hour passed, Kalix still pacing by the door. His unease was growing—Dariella still hadn't returned, and now the rain was pouring down hard.
As he was grumbling to himself, Dariella suddenly appeared—completely drenched from head to toe.
"Where the hell have you been?! Did you forget we have a flight at eight? Because of you, I have to go home late!" Kalix exploded in frustration.
Dariella looked up at him, silent for a moment, cursing herself for forgetting they were supposed to return to Melbourne tonight. "I'm sorry, sir… I completely forgot," she said, guilt in her voice.
Kalix was about to scold her again for her carelessness. "Why didn't you call me or Naka? And why the hell did you come back walking in the rai—" He stopped mid-sentence when he noticed something strange about her face.
"What's wrong with your face?" Kalix asked.
"Huh? What do you mean, my face?" Dariella instinctively touched her cheek—something came off on her fingers. Her eyes widened in shock. She quickly bowed her head to hide her face and tried to walk away, but Kalix grabbed her arm roughly, forcing her to face him.
"You…!" Kalix's eyes widened.
Curiosity surged through him, and without thinking, he cupped her face and wiped her cheek.
He stared at his fingers, then looked back at her—utter disbelief in his eyes.
Dariella slapped his hand away and bolted toward her room, leaving Kalix frozen in place.
Kalix glanced at his thumb, noticing something that looked like flour mixed with water.
"Fake pimples?" he muttered.