IN LOVE WITH A SOLDIER - Season 9 Episode 58

Seeing the smile traced in Rebecca’s face, Sally felt glorious. She had never felt this good for a long time. And making Rebecca this happy would bring her more better opportunities in the future.

Rebecca looked at the small piece of paper one last time and smiled before she put it in inside her luxury handbag. She lift up her cup of tea, took a sip, and put it down again. She looked at Sally and said, “Thank you for this valuable information. I know what I have to do now.” Rebecca knew this time that she would succeed in the taking revenge to Aria Liu.

Sally replied, “You’re welcome. I’m looking forward to your victory.” And Rebecca left the room. Sally watched as the young lady helped herself out. She was overwhelmed by her last visitor. She knew something was up and she was looking forward to that.

…

It was a windy morning and the sun was shining just right that it wasn’t too hot or too gloomy. This was indeed a perfect day if one would describe it. But it wasn’t an ordinary day for Rebecca. It was her momentous day and the perfect weather made it more marvelous. Rebecca was everywhere, figuratively. Her photos were in every newspaper, magazines, and social media posts. Her pictures and video footage could be seen on the television news from morning until night. She instantly became a household name and most citizens, if not all, knew about Rebecca’s latest appearance. From word of mouth to the accurate news, it was reported the pretty and perfect Rebecca would participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony of multinational firm’s business exhibition. The event was said to showcase many famous celebrities and personalities from different industries – showbiz, business, government, and the society’s elites. It was named as one of the biggest and most-awaited event in the history of the city and everybody was looking forward to see what fashion Rebecca would wear this time.

Aria was on her way to the hospital where her mother was staying to recover and get better. She brought her a meal she prepared for her mother this day. This had always been Aria’s day-to-day activity since her mother’s accident. She started each day by delivering a meal to her mother. In the hospital, Aria would help her mother with the latter’s meal and spend quality time by talking about Aria’s life and her mother’s hospital experience. After which, she would go on and check with her mother’s doctor about the progress and if there were medicines needed. After she bid goodbye to her mother, Aria would go to the market and fetch some ingredients for her mother’s next day meal and would go home to prepare it.

Despite this routine, Aria was definitely enjoying this because she loved her mother so much. She had hope that soon her mother would fully recover and they could spend time together at home. Aside from her mother, Aria was also looking forward to something – or someone. She was hoping and praying that the guy would come home soon so they could share sweet and romantic moments together.

Daydreaming about the guy, Aria almost missed her bus stop. When she realized that it was her stop, she immediately gathered her things, stood up, and pressed the button to signal the driver that someone would alight from the bus in the bus stop. It was a busy working day, and the bus was full with passengers as usual. Aria had a hard time passing through the people standing and blocking the way.

“Excuse me, let me through. My stop is here,” she said repeatedly as she passed along the standing passengers. When she finally alighted from the bus, the bus drove away immediately to catch the next stop schedule. She had to check all her things to make sure she had not forgotten anything.

She put down all her things and took a good look at the chicken soup she prepared for her mother. First she checked the package, all good. Then she slightly opened the cover to smell the soup, ‘Ah, that’s so good!’ Aria thought. Then she put the cover back safely. She sighed in relief knowing that the soup was not spilled during her little misadventures on the bus earlier.

“Thank God that the soup is still good,” Aria murmured to herself. She put back the soup securely in the bag and picked up the rest of her stuffs. She checked the time and smiled to see that she still had enough time before her mother’s therapy ends. So she decided to take a stroll at the park on her way to the hospital.

The way to the hospital was unlike the rest of the city. It was peaceful, no cars but only bicycles, full of full grown tress that gave shade to the park itself. There were also some ponds with fish that people could feed and birds that were free to land on the fresh green grass or stay on the tree branches. It was a paradise for Aria. She enjoyed this time out of her busy routine as this was the only time she could see something different from her routine.

People jogging and taking a walk with their dogs, families having picnic, and children playing in the park were some of the scenes that Aria loved. She took a slow, relax walk through the park until she could see the hospital tower. She smiled at the sight of the hospital and the thought of seeing her mother again.
It was a change in ambiance. The fresh grass smell of the park was long gone. Aria could now smell the familiar scent of the hospital. It was embedded in her memory like the back of her hand. Well, she had been here almost everyday for three months. She almost reached the building, but before she could enter, the phone in her bag rang.

She didn’t want to answer it, but decided to just look at who the caller could be. With her left hand holding the chicken soup, she utilized her right hand to reach for her phone inside her bag. “This bag is a mess,” Aria mumbled as she rummage through her things to find her phone. Alas, her hand found it. She took it out and saw that the call was from an unknown number.