They arrived at Justin’s penthouse at the top of the NextEra Corp headquarters building. Natalie was not surprised at the thought that this man had such a lavish penthouse with every possible facility available here. It even had its own garden that one wouldn’t feel like going anywhere else to visit the greenery. The entire top floor of that building was his residence, which was impossible to explore in just a single visit.
For now, it was ti to deal with the important matters. The rest, she could explore this ho later.
"Let’s head to my study. I have sothing to show you," Justin said.
As they entered the study, Justin made her sit on the couch and then went to one of the drawer chests and pulled out a small box. He brought it to Natalie.
"What is it?" she asked, curiously looking at that old, but beautifully crafted wooden box.
"Sothing my real father has left behind," Justin answered and opened it.
Natalie went through it, while Justin pulled out one picture of Serena in her youth. He clicked the picture of it and sent it to soone.
"I have a call to make. You can look through it," Justin said and went to sit in the chair behind his desk as he talked on the call for a while. When he returned, Natalie, who was delighted to see Justin’s pictures from when he was just a baby to his eight-year-old self, looked at him.
"Justin, these seem like precious mories your father wished to cherish," she said, feeling a little emotional about it. "You were so cute as a baby. Can’t believe that cute baby would grow into a handso but mysterious man like you."
"You should be relived, our baby would be as cute as ," he comnted.
"I was cute as well," she comnted with a smile, and then looked at the beuatiful couple in the picture, "I do feel bad about your parents."
As she now knew the story from the past, she couldn’t help but feel bad not only about Justin but his parents as well. Two people in love—what did they even want? Just a peaceful, ordinary life, but they couldn’t even have it.
Seeing Serena today in her miserable situation and seeing Serena from her youth, how happy she was with her man and her kids, she couldn’t help but feel sympathy towards her.
How great would it have been if the past was not so cruel and she was still with her husband and kids, living a happy life?
Justin simply sat quietly next to her, looking at those pictures, trying to comprehend his own emotions.
Natalie then looked at Justin. "If your grandpa ever tried to do the sa with us, I wouldn’t run away, but I would rather kill him right there."
"You don’t have to. I would be the one to do that," Justin replied. "Let him live for a while longer."
Natalie put her hand on Justin’s. "I know your parents had different situation with two kids to protect, and that old man was more powerful, I can only wish if at least soone was there to help them. I know you feel bad for them as well."
She knew he never showed his emotional side, but she could feel he was equally affected for his parents.
She got the picture from Justin’s hand, which he had sent to soone a while ago. As she looked at youthful Serena, Natalie said as if trying to figure out sothing, "You might feel I am overthinking, but I feel like I have t your mother sowhere."
"We will know once we talk to your mother," Justin said.
Just then, his cellphone rang.
------
anwhile, in the Imperial City.
Jas, who had been working in his study, received a picture from Justin and then a call as well. Both of them talked for a while, before Jas left his study and went to Caryn’s room, who was busy reading a book.
She looked at him to know why he was here in the middle of his working hours, only to have him hand her the cellphone.
"Take a look at this picture. Do you know this woman?" Jas asked.
Caryn accepted the cellphone and stared at the picture for a mont before saying, "This is Eli. I t her in the orphanage after. We were good friends, but I am not in contact with her anymore, for over two decades now."
Then she looked at Jas. "Why do you ask?"
Jas sighed, "It’s my fault for not showing you Justin’s family picture before, or we would have been talking about it even earlier."
"What do you an?" she asked. "This woman..."
"She is Serena. Justin’s biological mother," Jas responded.
Hearing it, Caryn felt stunned, her expression one of great shock. She then looked back at the picture, as if trying to place the pieces together.
"When Natalie t her, she called her Caryn," Jas explained to her. "It ans she still rembers you."
"The last ti I talked with her was when she had given birth to her kids. She had given birth to the twins... No wonder... I..." She sighed inwardly. "All this ti, I was raising a child of my friend and I didn’t even know."
"You need to talk to Justin about his mother’s past. He might get so idea," Jas said.
Caryn humd while Jas made a video call through his tablet so they could talk.
As the talk began, Caryn explained when she t Serena and when she lost contact.
"I t your mother in the orphanage. I was taken there by soone who was protecting under the orders of my mother," Caryn began, "Back then, her na used to be Eli not Serena. She was around eleven or twelve, a few years older than . She was one of the oldest girls there and was close to the orphanage head, Mr. Hunt, as she was the first child he brought to the orphanage when he started it for orphaned girl children.
"The man, who protected , knew Mr. Hunt really well and handed over to him. Since then I started to live in that orphanage. Mr. Hunt trusted Eli to look after as I was new, and we sowhat beca good friends despite our age difference. She was brave and bold, and I always admired her back then.
"But then she was adopted by a couple as their daughter when she was thirteen, and she had to leave the orphanage despite her will to not leave Mr. Hunt. She considered Mr. Hunt as her father and wished to stay in the orphanage by his side. But..." Caryn sighed, "After that, we lost contact with her. All we knew was that her new parents shifted out of the country, and she left with them as well."
"If you lost contact with her at that ti, then how did you get to know about her having kids?" Jas asked.
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