15
1038 Words
Mrs. Andrew went to the Principal's office and used the office's phone to call Mr. Vincent Gray.
After a few beeps, the line was connected, and she took a deep breath to prepare herself for this powerful man.
The old Principal couldn't shrug off the nervousness lingering in her heart no matter how often she faced Vincent Gray. Every time she had to face or talk with Vincent, she thought that Vincent would ruin her life with just a snap of his fingers.
-
"G—Good morning, Mr. Gray," Mrs. Andrew greeted first.
"Hm, you better give me good news for calling me so early," Vincent said lazily, but that simple threat was enough to send a shiver down the old woman's spine.
The fear was too much for her that she didn't even care if she had to push Mrs. Gray and her daughter to the cliff as long as she could save herself.
"I—I have good news, Mr. Gray," Mrs. Andrew hurriedly said. "Your wife and daughter are here."
"Oh, they do?" Vincent responded positively. "Where are they now?"
"backstage. Your daughter will be playing as the Big bad wolf in the 'Three little pigs' play. Do you want to watch her?" Mrs. Andrew offered, thinking that watching her daughter's drama would bring joy to Vincent.
"Hah, I don't care about some stupid child drama."
"But… this is your daughter playing as the main character, Sir…."
"And?" Vincent's mocking tone shocked Mrs. Andrew as well. She knew that he was unfeeling, but she didn't expect him to not even care about her daughter's play.
"I don't care if my daughter is playing some stupid drama. It's one of those useless activities that my wife usually encouraged Mackie to do," Vincent jeered continuously. "She should be learning how to be a good heir by following my footsteps by now, or at least study really hard. I want her to be at the top of her class every semester."
…
'I should've known that a cold man like him wouldn't give a damn about his daughter….' Mrs. Andrew thought.
"I want to know about my wife," Vincent shot straight to the point. "She's inside the school building, right?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Good, keep her busy, make sure she won't be able to leave the school building," Vincent gave an absolute order that nobody couldn't object to. "I happen to miss my wife."
**
Zzz…
Vernon was sleeping soundly, snoring like he had nothing to worry about.
That was until he got nonstop calls that disturbed his sleep. He frowned and groaned out of pain. He was pulling an all-nighter because there were plenty of documents he needed to check, so he could finally close his eyes at five in the morning.
"Urgh, this is bullshit," Vernon groaned while enduring a headache. He grabbed his phone and squinted to check the caller.
"Uh… Diamond?" Vernon pressed the green button, and the call was connected.
-
"What?" he asked.
"Sir, do you know what time it is?"
"Uh… I don't know, seven?"
"It's nine past twenty! Chloe called me just now, asking if you're already in the office because Mackie will start her play in ten minutes!"
"… OH s**t!"
Vernon's eyes were wide open when he realized he had overslept. He got up from the bed and rushed to the bedroom to wash his face before returning to his phone, "Diamond, send the bodyguards now! Make sure they're patrolling around the school!"
"Understood, Sir."
Beep.
-
Vernon panicked, afraid that it might be too late for him to send the bodyguards.
He could always send the bodyguards to stay around the school area starting from midnight. But Chloe protested, saying that she wanted everything to be as natural as possible, so he planned to send the bodyguard right when Chloe and Mackie entered the school ground.
"Am I too late? No, right?" Vernon mused. "Damn, I should've told Chloe to wake me up in the morning."
Vernon quickly called Chloe, which was connected without a problem, much to his relief.
-
"Chloe, where are you right now? Are you hurt? Did something happen while I was asleep?" Vernon overwhelmed Chloe by asking so many questions out of the blue.
"R—Relax, Vernon. I'm waiting for Mackie's play to start, which should be in five minutes," Chloe murmured her reply as she was surrounded by other parents. "Wait, let me open the video call."
Chloe clicked the video button, and the face of Vernon with messy hair, red eyes, and dark eyebags appeared on the screen.
"Ah, Vernon, you should rest more. You look… very tired."
"No, I promise Mackie that I will be watching her play," Vernon insisted. "It's fine, just aim the camera to the stage, so I can watch as well."
"Um, okay…" Chloe flipped the camera so Vernon could watch Mackie's play.
He watched how the kids who played three pigs appeared and built their houses, and then came the star of the show, Mackie, with a wolf costume that covered her with fur from her neck down to her feet and a wolf headpiece squeezing Mackie's cheeks.
"I will eat you! Awoooo!" Mackie howled like a real wolf, and Vernon couldn't help but smile.
He watched how the little girl ran around the stage, trying to catch the three little pigs before they entered their respective houses.
"Awoooo!" Mackie howled again, and she invited the awe from the other parents.
Because instead of looking scary and intimidating, Mackie looked so cute in her wolf costume. Her chubby cheeks were sticking out like two white buns waiting to be pinched, and Vernon was holding himself, not to squeal the rest of the parents who watched the drama.
'So cute.'
'But she's so energetic, that kid is good.'
'What a cute girl.'
'She seems so excited playing the Big bad wolf, maybe her parents taught her how to act.'
Vernon heard the murmurs from the parents sitting near Chloe, and he couldn't help to feel proud, like a father who watched his daughter doing well in school.
'Hah, of course! They don't know that she is my daughter, a CEO of a showbiz company!'
- Writer
