Love’s New Bloom By Simone Hastings - Season 1 Episode 42

Erin was struck speechless upon seeing Chandler’s furious reaction.

The car was suddenly in pin–drop silence. Chandler has finally calmed down a little. He had lost control of his emotions a moment ago. which was why he was feeling annoyed. He looked tense and said nothing.

When they reached the parking lot of the office building, they still didn’t talk to each other, merely taking their respective elevators to their offices.

When Erin was at her office, she wanted to look for Dana to ask her some questions. It wasn’t that she suspected Dana of drugging her. After all, she never had any conflicts with Dana, even when they were at their previous company. She didn’t think Dana would harm her. However, she only chatted and drank with Caleb and Dana the night before. Her thoughts couldn’t help but drift toward Caleb.

She was even more unconvinced that Caleb would have drugged her. Thinking about how righteous and kind he looked, even suspecting him was considered an insult to him.

When Erin noticed Dana’s desk was empty, she returned to her own. She turned on the computer and started staring at it in a daze. Although she found it hard to believe that someone had drugged her, the strange feelings her body felt the night before and what Chandler told her made her think otherwise!

She scanned around the design department, suddenly feeling the need to be extra cautious at work in the future.

Right at that moment, she received a voice message. She keyed in her passcode and saw that it was a message from Sean, saying, “Erin, when are you returning the clothes to me?”

Erin snorted. She thought about how Sean told her she didn’t need to return it to him, yet she had merely forgotten about it for a while, and there he was trying to get her to return it!

She quickly replied. “Give me your address. I’ll courier it to you. I’ve washed and ironed the clothes. The tag is still brand new. Also, don’t call me Erin. We’re not close.”

She had made a huge effort to protect and keep the tag. She initially thought of buying it from Sean, but on second thought, why should she buy something that she didn’t like and was expensive as well?

Before she received Sean’s reply, someone called her.

When she saw it was her old family’s home number, she picked up the call while leaving her desk. She said, “Mom, give me a moment. I’ll head to the stairwell to talk to you.”

No one other than her mother would call her from the family home’s landline. When Erin was by the emergency exit stairwell, she said, ” Mom, you can talk now.”

“Erin, it’s me! Gavin!”

“Gavin? Why are you calling? Are you already on your summer break?” Although Erin rarely had any contact with her stepbrother, on the surface, they still pretended to be a family.

Gavin was standing in the living room of their old home. He said anxiously. “Erin, listen to me. I think something has happened to Mom and Dad.”

When Erin heard that, chills ran down her spine, and her mind instantly blanked. She immediately asked, “Speak slowly. What happened to Mom and Mr. Lawrence?”

“Mom took a flight to Aunder two days ago, saying she was going to pick Dad up. I called Mom this morning to ask when they’d come back, but I couldn’t get hold of her! Dad has been unreachable since a few days ago! I’m really worried!” Gavin sounded almost in tears, as he was obviously worried.

Erin calmly asked, “Do you know why they went to Aunder? Also, did you know about your Dad killing someone in a car crash a few days ago? Has that issue been resolved?”

“What? Dad killed someone? I didn’t know about this! I’ve been home most of the time recently, but I never hear them bring it up.” He continued. “I only know Dad is unhappy about being fired from school. But Mr. Cole got rich recently and said he wanted to take Dad to Aunder to relax for a few days. Mom agreed to it too, but two days ago, she told me solemnly that she had to go to Aunder to get Dad. I don’t know anything else.”

Erin pondered deeply. She couldn’t gel anything out of what Gavin told her. She thought for a while before saying, “Gavin, look after yourself for now. If you’re afraid of being alone, go to your Aunt’s place to stay for a couple of days. I can give her a call if you want. I’ll look into Mom and your dad’s matter. Il it’s necessary, I’ll call the cops. Wait for my call at home. Also, do you have money on you? If you don’t. I’ll get your Aunt to wire you some.”

Gavin, still sounding worried, said, “Erin, don’t worry about me. Mom gave me a thousand dollars before she left. That is more than enough for me to use. Go and focus on finding Mom and Dad.” He paused before adding, “I’ll stay here. My aunt doesn’t know about Morn and Dad’s incident. Mom specifically told me not to tell anyone. I couldn’t reach them, so I called you out of desperation.”

“Okay, Gavin. I understand. Just wait for me at home and don’t go running about! Remember to lock the doors at night.”

“Yes, I can take care of myself. It’s not like I’m three!”

After ending the call, Erin was down for quite a long time. She had a strong feeling that something must have happened to her mom and

Mr. Lawrence.

Aunder was a city infamous for its gambling. Erin was perplexed. The Mr. Cole that Gavin mentioned was a well–known gambler. How could her mom possibly agree to let Mr. Lawrence go to Aunder?

When she returned to her desk, she texted Holly about the incident and asked if she had any friends in Aunder who could help look into

her mom and Mr. Lawrence.

If Erin were to report to the police right now and it turned out that her mom and Mr. Lawrence were fine, it would be embarrassing.

Holly responded to the message by calling Erin directly. She told Erin she had friends in Aunder who could help, then told Erin to sit tight. and wait for her call,

After hanging up, Erin was still distracted. She really hoped that she was just overthinking and that Grayson Lawrence had nothing to do with gambling!

When Caleb arrived at the design department, it was almost lunchtime. He got his assistant to get Erin to see him in his office.

When Erin arrived at Caleb’s office, she noticed two sets of sandwiches by the coffee table, but she soon retracted her gaze and asked.” Mr. Grant, you wanted to see me?”

Caleb put the documents that were in his hands on his desk and walked over to her. He smiled happily. “Nothing much. I just wanted to ask why you left without saying goodbye last night. I wanted to send you home.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Dana said she had a stomach ache.”

“Yes, I know. I saw both of you walking toward the bathroom. She’s not here today. Mr. Jones told me that she took a day off.”

“Oh, I see.” Erin nodded.

Caleb asked, “It’s almost lunch time. Do you have any plans? If you don’t, join me. I got Mr. Jones to get two sets of sandwiches. I can’t finish them all by myself.”

Erin was about to find an excuse to leave when her phone pinged just in the nick of time. It was a message from Chandler, giving her an excuse to leave. “I’m sorry, Mr. Grant. Thank you for the offer, but I’ve already made plans with a friend. She sent me a text. I think she’s almost here.”

A hint of sadness flashed through Caleb’s eyes. He smiled rather ambiguously and said, “I bet you and her are close because you have set quite a special ringtone for her messages.”