Chapter 269 - Ch. 269 Declan's Birth Parent

Dear Miss Roe,

My name is Kei, and I've heard about you since a long time ago but have never had the privilege to see you perform in person. I live far away and can only admire from here.

I particularly liked listening to you play the piano, and my admiration skyrocketed when I found out we'd met before. You might not remember me, but I remember you so well as if we just met yesterday.

I used to want to follow in your footsteps to become a pianist, but I have no talent in it. In the end, I decided to play the cello, and now I am very good at playing it.

If you wish, it would be my honor to do a duet with you.

Along with this email, I attached a file from my playing. Feel free to let me know what you think about my presentation.

From your admirer,

K

***

Roxy's eyebrow raised after reading an email from an unknown name.

This sender admitted they had met before? Why didn't she remember it?

Who is this sender?

Roxy grabbed her phone and called her assistant to ask about this mysterious sender.

"Dani, what's so interesting about the email you showed me?"

"Have you listened to the track file?"

"Not yet. I just read it, and he said he knows me." Roxy downloaded the attached file while she was talking to Danielle. "Do you know this person named Kei?"

"No. I thought you recognized him because he said you two met."

"Nope. I never had a young acquaintance named Kei. Unless he were an ugly boy that could be easily forgotten, I would remember him somehow."

"Maybe you'll remember after listening to the song."

"Why do you think so?"

"Because you played the same tune in the early days I was your assistant."

"What tune?"

"You haven't played it over these two years. I'm sorry, I never ask the title, and I've never heard it in anywhere."

"..." Roxy tried to remember what song she used to play around three years ago, but she recalled nothing. "I don't remember. I'll just listen to it now."

"Okay. I can prepare everything in case you want to invite him over."

"And let Declan kill him? No, thanks." Danielle laughed, amused at that. "Is there anything else that I should know?"

"There was an invitation to the Vienna orchestra, but I've turned it down. And there was also a request from the film industry to make a music soundtrack that fits their latest film genre. Will you accept it?"

Roxy opened her schedule on her laptop and saw that she was still on vacation until mid-January.

"I should be able to do it if no mishap happens. Send me their disposition list. I'll give it a try first."

"Okay."

After ending the call, Roxy opened the file she had just downloaded and listened to the audio. But Declan walked up to her and spoke in a serious tone making Roxy mute the audio.

"Roxy, there's something I need to tell you."

"Okay. What is it?"

"I'm leaving for Montana the day after tomorrow and will probably be back on Tuesday or Wednesday."

"Business trips?"

"Something like that. But," Declan took a deep breath before continuing his sentence. "I don't know if this trip will end up in a contract deal or something else."

"What do you mean?"

"This person required me to go there to do the deal, even though somebody else could do it in my place. I'm only a temporary director in BPE, and I intend to hand over my position to Jacob."

"But Jacob is still young."

"I know. That's why I train him."

"I could imagine his frustrated face." Roxy giggled teasingly when she saw Declan's brow furrowed in displeasure. Is this guy jealous of Jacob? "Go on."

"But for some reason, this person wanted to meet me. Apart from my father and major shareholder, no one knows I work at BPE." Declan hardly ever comes to BPE firms because he was busier with his work as a lecturer at M University and Oscar Security.

Not to mention that he needed to perfect the god eyes project, so he had no time to take care of the project at BPE. But occasionally, he would come when there was a shareholders' meeting or his father summoned him. Otherwise, he would not come.

"You can refuse if you don't want to go."

"Yes. I did reject it. But as soon as I saw this person's face, I changed my mind."

"Hmm? Why? Could it be that she is a woman? Is she prettier than me?"

Declan chuckled in amusement at her teasing tone. "He's a guy, and his name is Dario Gonzales."

Roxy's pair of eyes widen at that. "You mean… The Dario Gonzales?"

"You know him?"

"No, but I'm sure my father knows him. He owns the biggest oil mine in the world! If I remember correctly, years ago, he used my father's bank to buy land in Montana, and now it's a food factory."

"I see. What a small world, isn't it?"

"You can say that. But what about him? Why did you change your mind when you saw his face?"

Declan took out his phone and showed Roxy a photo of Dario Gonzales.

Roxy glanced at the photo and gasped in surprise to see it. She saw an older version of Declan! She compared the image on Declan's phone to Declan himself.

"Wow, you guys look so much alike. Could it be… he's your birth father?"

"There's only one way to find out."

"Is that why you changed your mind?"

Declan nodded his head once. "I have never looked for my father because I don't know my father's name. What I do know is that my father is a wealthy man because we live in a big house, and he seems to own a big company." Declan looked at Roxy lovingly as if just looking at her would calm his heart. "My mother took me away from my father's house when I was four. I don't really remember my father."

This is the first time Declan has told her about his birth parent.