Jaguar gripped the envelope as if holding the fate of their relationship in his hands and headed to the hospital; he wouldn't waste a second without confronting her with this "informational treasure." However, he was met with the harsh reality of her profession she was buried in the operating room. Left with no choice but to leave a digital trail, he sent a concise message:
"I need to see you."
Meanwhile, Fati emerged from surgery with the thrill of success. A conversation with the senior doctor led to delightful news: she had two consecutive days off! Her eyes lit up with a long-lost smile.
"This is my chance,"
She thought.
"I'll go to Mary and her family."
She began envisioning the gifts she would buy and the peace she would finally find away from all this chaos.
But the moment she pulled her phone from the locker and saw Jaguar's message, her smile evaporated. A weight settled in her chest; what did he want now? Wasn't it all over? She replied coldly:
"Is it something urgent?"
Jaguar's response came instantly, like a bolt of lightning:
"Yes... very urgent."
"Are you coming to the hospital?"
she asked. His reply was an unexpected invitation:
"How about we have dinner together at a nearby restaurant?"
Fati's fingers froze over the screen; she felt the biting irony of the situation. For six whole years, they had lived as a married, yet they had never shared a single dinner table. And now, he asks so casually? However, she saw this belated invitation as a golden opportunity to finally place the long awaited period at the end of their story a chance to ask for a divorce face to face. She typed back curtly:
"Fine. Send me the address."
Thirty minutes later, Fati stood before the restaurant. To her surprise, she discovered a world she never knew existed a vibrant street behind the hospital, teeming with life, restaurants, markets, and shops. She took a deep breath, thinking,
"How did I miss all of this?"
She wasn't looking at the neighborhood as Jaguar's wife, but as an independent woman planning her future in this district, far away from his heavy shadow.
The moment Fati entered and sat across from Jaguar, she spoke with a visible lack of patience
- Jaguar... what is this urgent matter?
With utmost calm, Jaguar placed the envelope on the table before her. He wore a mysterious smile whose meaning she couldn't quite grasp, then added in a confident tone:
- You wanted information about the servants... and this woman happened to be overlooked in the previous file I gave you.
Instantly, Fati's expression shifted. Her coldness evaporated, replaced by an overwhelming curiosity. Her eyes lit up with the radiance of someone in suspense as she reached for the envelope:
- Yes... yes! I've been waiting for this information desperately.
But before her fingers could brush the edge of the paper, Jaguar slammed his hand down on the envelope, blocking her. He said with a provocative calmness:
- Not until we've had dinner. I'm starving.
She tried to persuade him:
- It will only take a moment; I just want to check something...
But he cut her off with a firm, non negotiable tone:
- I said, we eat first.
During dinner, Jaguar cut a piece of meat and placed it before her with care, then ordered a cake to conclude the evening. The cake looked strikingly familiar it was exactly like the one Fati had once sketched in her journals. Fati smiled bitterly at the sight; she was supposed to have baked and decorated that very cake for him herself once. Suddenly, she wondered to herself,
"What is today's date?"
The realization hit her: it was his birthday! She asked in a tone she tried to keep neutral,
- What is this? Are you celebrating your birthday?
He replied with a hint of hidden reproach,
- What? Did you forget it was today? Come on... what did you get me as a gift?
Fati frowned and said curtly,
- I don't have to give you anything.
Jaguar didn't give up, adding slyly,
- Then... grant me a wish.
She replied firmly,
- No, I won't. I am under no obligation to grant wishes.
Then, a superior smile played on her lips as she added words that struck his pride to the core:
- One wish granted per day is enough for you.
She meant that his grandfather waking up from a six-year coma was the only and final gift he would ever receive from her.
Jaguar stopped teasing her and pushed the envelope toward her calmly, saying,
- Then... I will be the one to give you a gift.
The moment the envelope was in her hands, she completely forgot his presence. She pulled out the edge of the paper, her eyes falling on the name "Alina." She sighed with bitter disappointment and tucked the paper back in, saying,
- She's not the one I'm looking for.
He looked at her intently and asked,
- Are you sure?
She replied coldly,
- Yes... you can take your gift back.
But he didn't take the envelope. Instead, he said in a calculated tone,
- Fine... though I read the information before bringing it to you, I found it strange that she changed her name from 'Rosaline' to 'Alina' twenty-seven years ago... as if it happened right after your birth. Is there a secret behind that timing?
As soon as the name "Rosaline" hit her ears, Fati felt a jolt run through her body. The name was so close to "Rosie," or perhaps a diminutive of it. In a swift motion reflecting her racing heart, she snatched the paper from Jaguar's hand and said sharply,
- Let me have a look!
As her eyes devoured the written words, her mind screamed with a certainty that shook her very core: "Finally... I will meet my real mother! It must be her." Her grandfather's voice echoed from his final moments: "You are Rosie's daughter,"and here was "Rosaline." Jaguar and his grandfather's palace no longer mattered; let him leave her when he discovers she is a maid's daughter. All the world's treasures couldn't equal a single moment in the arms of the mother she was denied.
Her eyes glistened with tears of joy she could no longer suppress. Seeing that shimmer on her cheeks, Jaguar reached out tenderly to brush away a tear, but she instantly turned away, as if his touch reminded her of a world she no longer belonged to.
- Thank you so much,
She whispered.
She tucked the envelope into her bag as if storing her heart away, offering him a faint smile that piqued his suspicion. He asked with anxious curiosity,
- What will you do now that you have found this information?
She replied with a cold finality:
- That is my concern... I will be the one to find her. Thank you for the information. Good evening.
Fati walked away, leaving Jaguar in his bewilderment. She left feeling that what remained between them was nothing more than a cold exchange of facts. As for the divorce, she decided to postpone it not out of a desire to stay, but because she was waiting for the perfect moment to confront him with her new truth, making it the final blow.
Jaguar stood watching her silhouette as she left the restaurant with firm steps, his heart pounding with an unfamiliar sense of foreboding. At that moment, his phone vibrated with a text message from his secretary, containing "Alina's address" in detail. He gripped his phone, thinking with determination:
"I must travel there with her... I have to know why she is so desperate to find my aunt's maid, and why her tears fell the moment she saw that information. There is a great secret hiding behind that name, and I will uncover it, no matter what it costs me."
As for Fati, she stepped out into the city night feeling as though the world had suddenly grown smaller. At that instant, she made her decisive move; she wouldn't visit her friend Mary tomorrow as planned. This vacation wouldn't be for rest, but for the journey of a lifetime to find "Alina" to finally grasp the thread her grandfather had long searched for and to open the locked door to her unknown past.