Shiela continued to read the article and as she held her breath. However, she had to know more about him and his world.
MS Sciences t, Inc. is the leading pharmaceutical company in the world specializing in narcotic drugs to treat all types of psychiatric disorders. The company is owned by the parents of both Mr. Ryan Paaul Te and Dr. Jullien Sy. Their fathers are childhood best friends who dreamed to dominate the business world when they grow up.
As their dream started to materialize, the best friends made a pact that their children in the future should marry each other to continue the legacy. The Te's raised their child to be an efficient businessman and the SY's trained their daughter on sciences and chemistry.
On the bottom portion, Jullien was quoted saying, "We are inseparable. Our parents raised us to be for each other only. I grow up having it in my mind that Ryan would become my husband when the right time comes.
Shiela's fatigue disappeared as she put up the pieces together. She sank on the couch and hang up her head in the backrest as her mind connected the fragments of information from the present to the past. She now understood Jullien's role in Ryan's life and their connection to their business legacy. And she now understood that she had no place in his life. Ryan could no way cut off her connection to Jullien.
She laughed at how the journalist defined the company profile of MS Sciences, Inc. While it was true that the company was specializing in creating pharmaceutical products, the world didn't know that they were dominating the world with their illegal drug creation which they produced from Chara blooms. It was too unfortunate that the authority arrested Ryan's parents as methamphetamine or shabu producers but not on their underlying business. What confused her at the moment was why Ryan introduced himself as Ryan Paul Te in the business world and not Ryan Neil Yu. One thing crossed her mind, he was using a disguise.
A knock on the door interrupted her train of thoughts and she walked fast toward the monitor. She saw Ryan standing there with a broad smile, and behind him were Mr. & Mrs. Lopez and the rest.
They gathered later by the couch and Ryan placed an air pot, a tray of mugs and sachets of Myrtle Shades on the center table. There was also the rectangular box that contained the creamer with different kinds of flavor.
Cherry pulled out one pack of creamer and held it out at Ryan. "Is this the best creamer? People at the coffee shops go crazy with this flavor."
Ryan shrugged but replied, anyway. "That is one of the besat-sellers but it really depends on the consumers. All I have here are the top five best selling creamers."
"Mom is addicted to Caffe affogato and she can't live without it,"
Shiela looked at Ryan's reaction and he got startled at the mention of the flavor. However, he was quick to conceal it and Cherry didn't seem to notice it. Caffe affogato is one of the most expensive flavors in any Myrtle Shade coffee shops. An attendant would give the consumer a steaming, brewed coffee on a mug and then drop a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it.
"Yes, the taste is really great. I can understand why she is addicted to it."
'Is it not harmful to patients with heart problems?" Cherry confirmed, trying to gauge him up if he had knowledge about the addictive effect of the cream.
"It is because the caffeine in the coffee pushes forces her weak heart to pump faster."
Shiela could tell that by looking at the way Ryan answered Cherry, he was so good at hiding the secret of Myrtle Shade.
Shiela then saw him emptying a sachet into two cups, and then he sat beside her as he gave her one.
"It's black, as you wish," he said as he looked at her before he ran his eyes over to the rest of them and said," please, help yourself."
As soon as everyone had their share of coffee, Allie brought up right away the purpose of their gathering.
"Shall we start now? I hope after this, we would get to know each other better and we could rely on each other for emotional support."
Ryan nodded and smiled, h her stooping after this that he would find the answer to his many questions. Everyone looked at Shiela, expecting that she would start telling her story but Mr. Dioko cut them off.
"I think, one of us in the family should start sharing our personal story so that Shiela would be encouraged to do so, " Mr. Dioko suggested.
"Who would be the first?" Ajie asked as he ran his eyes over to all of them.
"You," Allie said, laughing.
"Okay, but we should do a chain-telling method."
"I agree," Mrs. Lopez said.
Then, Ajie took a deep breath and turned serious as he started to narrate his story.
"When I was three years old, Nanay Issa and Tatay Leo found me sleeping on a bench on the night of Sinulog Festival. I knew only later, that my nanny took me out to watch the fireworks display as sponsored by my parents. I got afraid of the sound of erupting firecrackers that I ran without their knowledge and it was how the son of the famous yacht builder and designer got lost."
"Many years after that, I went to the city to study and stayed with my aunt in Kamelyo. There I met a girl I fell in love with and married her a year after. Little did I know, that she held the secrets that toppled down the glory of the once impenetrable walls of the biggest drug syndicate of the country."
"Afraid of her dear life the moment she knew that dad's son was out for revenge, she ran away with a new identity for five years..."
Ryan's eyes grew wide as he heard it. At long last, the heavy task his family placed on him had finally drawn to its culmination. He was right after all in aiming his family's revenge at Mr. Dioko and he rejoiced at the thought that he got an added bonus in discovering the truth that the main destroyer was not him but her daughter.
His family had spent a great amount in their silent and separate investigation to know who was the traitor who sold the secret that destroyed his parents' dream. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. An innocent child for a parent...And he smiled inwardly at the thought that he sent his warning for revenge through the lovely and innocent Chloe.
Though he had personal grudges against his parents, this mission was so important to prove himself that he was worthy to receive the legacy.