FORBIDDEN TO FALL IN LOVE

61. Probability

Daniel sits with Valeda in the back seat of Valeda's car driving towards his orphanage. The atmosphere of the afternoon was very bright, with a tinge of reddish skies on the Western horizon of the world.

Daniel's head rested on Valeda's shoulder. He had been asleep since the five minutes they left the hospital. His breathing sounds regular. Valeda believes he could not sleep well for several days in the hospital.

That afternoon, when Cahya was stable and her supporting examination showed good progress, Valeda proposed Daniel to look at his other siblings in the orphanage. Daniel has not been back for a long time. The other kids must be worried. At least, all the orphanage residents should know what happened from Daniel's own mouth. Kris had barely been able to handle them any longer, let alone Orange and Kiki being there as well.

Valeda looked down, looking at the top of Daniel's head. The smell of shampoo smelled faintly from his hair that began to be long. He's been in the hospital for six days. Valeda was sure, his sleep was not good, his mind was also messed up. Even Valeda felt that Daniel grew thinner in that short period of time.

"Kris," call Valeda to Kris who is in the steering chair.

"Yes, Miss?" Kris glanced at the rearview mirror.

"What do the children of the parlour eat well?" Valeda asked.

"Miss need not worry. Despite the mess, I made sure they ate right. Look, I'm good at taking care of kids."

Valeda laughed a little at the confidence that Kris had. "Yes, I believe. The proof is that the rose keeps on sticking to you. I'm so confused, is your boyfriend Celine or Rose?"

Kris laughed softly. He did not want to wake Daniel who was asleep.

Then, their conversation ended just like that. Kris remained focused on the road, while Valeda was immersed in her own thinking. Valeda still didn't talk about anything related to the accident the other day. His mouth was still hard to open for Daniel.

Valeda looked down again. A soft snoring sounded from Daniel's direction. Valeda was sad to see Daniel like this. He who can do everything, can't do much at the moment.

"Yano.." murmured Daniel in his sleep.

There was a disturbing pain suddenly appearing within Valeda. 'And, I promise. I'll reveal who's behind all this, ' Inner Valeda.

Almost an hour passed. The afternoon street was completely jammed at the time. Daniel slept on Valeda's shoulder.

"And, wake... It's here" whispered Valeda, caressing Daniel's head.

"I'm sorry" Daniel said as Valeda woke him up. Daniel immediately pulled himself away from Valeda. "When have I been asleep?" ask Daniel.

"Not for long" Valeda lied. "Your sisters are out to greet you," added Valeda as she raised her chin towards the entrance of the orphanage.

Daniel looked in the direction that Valeda was pointing. The children of the orphanage were lined up there, looking at the Valeda car that entered the park area. When the car stopped and Daniel showed himself, all cheered and rushed up to Daniel.

Valeda smiled slightly. He likes moments like this, when one family comes together. That said, Valeda envied the familiarity that Daniel had. Valeda's thoughts went to her three older sisters who felt like strangers.

"Miss not coming down?" kris asked from behind the wheel, astonished that his voice did not follow Daniel down.

"No. We'll just go right away. Daniel needs time to explain everything without my intervention" Valeda replied. "We'll just go to the office."

"At this hour?" ask Kris.

"There's something I need to discuss with Celine. I've asked him to wait in the office." Valeda pulled out his phone. He checked the e-mail Celine sent a moment ago, before Valeda left the hospital.

Valeda leaned himself into the chair. He stared at the screen of his phone. Unexpectedly, Celine found CCTV near the location of the suicide bomber.

'Suicide? Ahaha! This is clearly murder!' valeda said in his heart.

Valeda's eyes rounded in horror when he saw a middle-aged man with a fat body, dragged into the middle of the field by a rope that snared his neck. The man thrashed around, trying to break away from the people who pulled him.

Yep. 'People'. Not only did one pull her up like pulling a pet forcibly, but there were five people. He wears a mask and dresses in black. It would not be easy to recognize them with such an appearance.

When finally the rope around the neck of the perpetrator stopped being pulled, the perpetrator immediately knelt down and pleaded. Valeda doesn't know what he's saying, but Valeda can sense how desperate that person is.

One of them took out a small bottle from inside the bag of pants, then kicked the perpetrator until it toppled forward. Four other people immediately held the perpetrator, so that he could not dwell as hard as any effort he made. That incident happened fast. The helpless farmer was examined by the contents of the bottle.

"In an instant, a hit-and-run victim became a murder victim in my eyes" Valeda murmured. His chest ached at the battle that was clearly not that draw.

"Miss says something?" ask Kris.

But, he could not move, if only alone. Celine has been with him for a long time. Valeda is sure, Celine will not divulge this to anyone, including Kris who is her boyfriend.

Arriving at the office, Valeda immediately ordered Kris to wait downstairs and not follow him. Valeda wants complete privacy for him and Celine.

"Val!" Celine got up from her seat when she saw Valeda finally appear.

Valeda placed her index finger in front of her lips, then gestured for Celine to follow her into her room.

NAH!

Valeda locked the door when Celine came in. "Don't think I'm a bit more. I have to be vigilant with whatever happens" Valeda said as Celine opened her mouth.

"Do you feel threatened?" ask Celine. He sat on the sofa in Valeda's office.

"Anything can happen." Valeda sat in front of Celine with a tense face. "After seeing the CCTV footage you gave me, I got scared."

"Then, what do you think happened?" celine asked in a soft voice.

Valeda took a long breath. "Is my position on the verge of destruction?" Valeda asked back.

"This is your company and I don't think there's a problem with your performance. No one is protesting about how you lead a company" Celine replied, sounding very confident.

"You think so?" Valeda. "What about my brothers who feel rivaled by me?"

Celine frowned. "Nothing to do with them. They don't take part in your company. If they feel envious, they should try even harder to be superior to you."

Valeda was silent for a moment. She knew her sister's thoughts were not like Celine's, especially Alex and Joan. They tend to do dirty things to get recognition.

"What about your parents?" ask Celine.

"Said Lucas, Papa is busy with his two grandchildren. While Mama, busy contacting her friends to be betrothed to me. They didn't even bother to see Daniel's sister in the hospital."

"I shut it down from the media, remember?" Celine reminded. "I don't think anything like that would affect both the company and you. So I shut the media mouth as a regular accident."

Valeda chuckled at hearing that. "Papa and Mama aren't that stupid, Cel. They know more than we can imagine" Valeda said.

"Then, what does this mean?" Celine is confused.

"First likely, there's something I want to mess up in my job, so I 'fall'."

"That guy used Daniel who he thought was your real girlfriend?" guess Celine.

Valeda. "That guy thinks I'd be fucked if my girlfriend's sister had an accident." Valeda crossed his legs and leaned back. His hands were clinging to each other on his thighs. "Secondly, the man was an enemy of Daniel and wanted to destroy him."

"Is his goal to take control of Daniel's orphanage?" ask Celine.

Valeda nodded again. "But, if this is the goal, it will be easier for me to protect Daniel and his sisters" Valeda added.

Celine rubbed her chin. He tried to digest every word Valeda said. Everything sounds reasonable to him, considering his best friend this is an important person dating the orphanage owner whose land is most in demand right now.

"Maybe third, the person behind all this is my parents."

"What's? Why?" Celine sounded bad.

"The reason is simple. They don't want me and Daniel together. So, they want to make Daniel think that this is all because he's with me."

"I... That's too horrible" sizzled Celine. "If it's true that Mr. Suherman and Mrs Emely did something like that, I..." Celine didn't finish her sentence. Throat's choked.

***