Maya stared at her like she had grown a second head.
"You idiot," Maya whispered dramatically. "You pure, innocent, clueless idiot."
Maya turned the phone over in her hand and tapped the back gently. "Do you see this?" she asked.
Alina leaned in. Engraved neatly on the back of the silver metal was a single initial: *A*. Very clean and aesthetic.
"Oooh!" Alina gasped. "It's A!.... A for Alina! What a cute coincidence!"
Maya stared at her. "You are seriously… an absolute idiot. This is not a coincidence," Maya whispered, voice lowering. "This is not even a normal engraving."
Alina frowned. "Then what is it?"
Maya inhaled deeply, her chest rising. "This phone… is not a regular model. It's not even a premium one. It's custom-made."
Alina blinked. "Custom-made? You mean like… people choose colours? Themes?"
Maya shut her eyes as if she were in pain. "No. I mean CUSTOM-MADE. From the manufacturer directly. The kind of custom where billionaires order a phone with personal initials, personal metal plating, custom chip, custom design… that type."
"That sounds… fake," Alina laughed nervously.
"It's not fake." Maya turned the phone again, tracing the engraved A with her thumb. "I saw a video yesterday. There's a phone model that only a handful of people in the world own. It looks EXACTLY like this. Same curve. Same weight. Same camera lens arrangement. Same engraving style."
Alina felt her stomach tighten. "Maya…" she whispered. "You're scaring me."
Maya swallowed hard. "This… is one of the most expensive phones in the world."
A cold chill ran across Alina's shoulders. "No way," she muttered. "It can't be. Someone wouldn't give an expensive phone in a lucky coupon."
Maya let out a breathless laugh. "Lucky coupon? Alina, people don't even get a Bluetooth speaker for free, and you think they gave you THIS?"
Alina stared at the phone, confusion twisting into fear. "How expensive?" she asked quietly.
"Maya… how much?"
Maya hesitated, then she spoke slowly. "For my guess… around forty-nine."
Alina blinked. "Forty-nine dollars?"
Maya burst out laughing. Actually laughing. Her laugh echoed through the café, making two nearby people glance their way.
Alina's cheeks flushed. "MAYA STOP LAUGHING!"
Maya wiped her eyes. "Not forty-nine dollars, you fool."
Alina blinked. "Then… forty-nine hundred?"
"Alina…" Maya exhaled deeply. Her voice became serious. Too serious. "Forty-nine million."
Silence. The café noise disappeared. The soft music faded. The world froze. Alina stared at her friend, heartbeat slamming against her ribs.
"…What?" she whispered.
Maya set the phone gently on the table like it was a bomb. "FORTY. NINE. MILLION. DOLLARS."
Alina felt everything leave her body air, thoughts, and blood. Her vision blurred for a second. Her hands trembled.
"What… what are you talking about?" Alina whispered. "That's impossible. Maya....forty-nine million? That's… that's a house. Five houses! A private jet! Who would give… why would anyone… how can a phone even cost.." Her voice broke. Her hands shook uncontrollably on the table. Her breathing turned uneven.
Maya leaned closer. "Alina, calm down...."
"How can I calm down?!" Alina whispered harshly. "I just sat on it! I kept it on the sofa! Oh my God...Oh my...Maya, I touched it with my fingers...What if it breaks? WHAT IF IT SCRATCHES? Her breaths got shorter.
Maya grabbed her shoulders. "Hey...look at me. Look at me!"
Alina looked up, tears brimming in her eyes. "This is not a lucky coupon," Maya said firmly.
"This was sent by someone. Someone who mistakenly drops by your house, someone whose name is the same as your name."
Alina swallowed hard and whispered the only question left in her mind, "But who?"
Her heartbeat thundered. Her palms grew cold. Maya looked at the phone again, its shine, its weight, the engraving. Whoever sent this… It was definitely not ordinary.
Maya didn't blink for a full second. Her eyes were locked on the phone like it was a bomb that could go off with a wrong breath. She slowly placed the phone back into Alina's trembling hands, her throat visibly moving as she swallowed.
"Alina," Maya said softly, but her voice carried a seriousness so heavy that Alina's throat tightened again. "Let this phone be with you until someone contacts you… or comes to your house saying it's theirs."
Alina's breath hitched. Her fingers tightened around the phone unconsciously, knuckles turning white. "What do you mean?" she whispered, voice cracking.
Maya dragged in a shaky breath. Even her hands, normally steady and confident, were trembling as she pushed her hair behind her ear.
"I mean… no one would forget something like this. If someone truly ordered a custom-made phone worth millions, they would… they would never lose track of it."
Alina felt her stomach drop. Hard. "It can't be," she said, shaking her head. "Who would buy something like this? And why...why would it come to me? I'm nobody, Maya."
Maya leaned forward, lowering her voice even though it was just the two of them in the small café corner.
"If someone had custom-made this phone for someone with your name...Alina Carter....then the person who placed the order… will get notified that the delivery happened."
Alina's heartbeat thudded so loudly inside her chest that it echoed in her ears.
"So…" Maya continued, her voice barely above a whisper, "whoever ordered it… already knows you received it."
The words hit Alina like ice water down her spine. Her hands instantly loosened, and the phone almost slipped. Maya shot forward and caught Alina's wrists before they could fall.
"Careful!" Maya scolded gently, but she herself was breathing fast, fear creating tension in her shoulders.
Alina's breath turned shallow, almost panicked. "Maya… what if… "
Maya squeezed her hands firmly. "Shhhh....Listen to me carefully," she said, locking eyes with her. "For now, keep the phone. Don't return it, don't give it to anyone, and don't answer any unknown calls. Just wait. If someone contacts you, then we'll handle it."
"But Maya—"
"Alina, trust me." Maya's voice was steady now, even though her chest was rising and falling faster than normal. "If someone paid millions for this phone, then they'll be notified immediately. They will not stay silent."
A visible shiver ran down Alina's spine. Her shoulders curled forward slightly, instinctively protective. She pulled the phone close to her chest like she was scared someone would snatch it. Her breathing came shallow… then deeper… then shaky.
"You're scaring me…" Alina whispered.
"I'm scared too," Maya admitted honestly.
For a moment, silence blanketed the room thick, suffocating, heavy. The café suddenly felt colder. Alina stared at the phone again, her heartbeat thundering. She could feel the vibrations of each pulse in her neck, her wrists, even in her ears.
Maya watched her with concern, noticing how Alina's lower lip trembled, how her eyes glistened with confusion and fear, how her shoulders were stiff like she was bracing for something.
"You said… It's custom-made," Alina murmured.
"Yes."
"And the back has an initial A."
Maya nodded. "That's why I'm telling you it's not a coincidence."
Alina's brow furrowed. "But what if it is just… luck?"
"Alina, this phone is worth more than your house, my apartment, the whole street combined," Maya whispered harshly. "Lucky coupons don't give out multimillion-dollar custom devices."
Alina stared blankly, the shock wearing off and turning into numbness. Her hands shook so hard she had to set the phone down on the café table. The sound was soft, almost nothing still made both of them flinch.
Maya exhaled shakily and rubbed her face. "We need to be careful."
Alina nodded slowly. "O-Okay…"
But even as she said it, her eyes were still wide and unfocused. Her mind was racing, spinning, tripping over the same questions: Who sent it? Why her? Why a phone this expensive? And who could afford something like this?
Her heart wouldn't slow down. Her fingers curled around the edge of the table so tightly the wood pressed lines into her skin.
Maya reached out and touched her arm. "Hey… breathe."
Alina sucked in a shaky breath. Her eyes fluttered shut for a second, trying to steady herself. When she opened them, there was a new emotion mixed with the fear and curiosity. "I guess… I just have to wait, right?"
Maya nodded slowly and gave a tiny, worried smile. "Yeah. Wait. Someone will eventually reveal themselves."
Alina didn't know that the person was already thinking about her.
In the 13th floor of Arden Tower, glass walls, sharp lines, a space filled with power, Kai Arden sat at the head of a long conference table.
The boardroom was silent. Not the ordinary silence. This was the kind of silence that came when a man like him entered a room, controlled, quiet, demanding respect without saying a word.
Kai leaned back in his chair slightly, long fingers tapping once against the polished wooden table. He was reviewing documents, but his jaw had a slight tension only he knew the reason for.
His phone lay beside him, screen black. Then.. A soft notification lit up the screen. Kai didn't react immediately. He finished the line he was reading, calm, measured. Only then did he reach for the phone with a slow, deliberate movement.
He unlocked it with his thumb. One message. "Sir, the parcel has been collected."
His eyes paused on the words. A subtle change barely noticeable to anyone else touched his face. The corner of his lips curved. Not a smile. Not fully. But something like it. Something softer, deeper, pulling at a place inside him that he didn't acknowledge aloud.
He leaned back further, tapping the message once before locking the phone. For the first time that day, the stiffness in his shoulders eased slightly. A calmness washed over him, one that felt… right.
Ryan, sitting beside Kai, glanced at his boss, surprised to see such a rare expression, but he didn't comment. No one commented. No one dared. Kai's aura shifted subtly, still powerful, but with an undercurrent of satisfaction. Like a king pleased with how the pieces on his chessboard were moving.
He lifted his coffee cup, took a slow sip, eyes distant… almost thoughtful. She received it. That was enough.