Replacement Lantern

Chapters 08. Replacement Lantern

The elevator doors opened wide, Jeff stepped out into his study. Ten minutes ago he got word that Kenzo had already arrived at the company. Unlike usual, Kenzo came alone without waiting for an invitation from him. It seems that today he will get a lot of work.

"Good morning, sir!"

Jeff just nodded. Then he walked back past Chika, the assistant he had only been working on for a few days.

"Wait!" Jeff's voice stopped Chika from leaving. "Is everything okay?"

Jeff suspected. It's not natural for Kenzo to come to the company earlier than usual. And his premonition grew more correct, when he saw Chika's face change in an instant.

Chika gave a small nod, although she actually did not know exactly what was happening inside the CEO room. Her, Jeff immediately left without waiting for an explanation from her. In an instant, the man had already disappeared from sight.

Jeff's hand was ready to open the door of the CEO room, when suddenly the door was already open from the inside. Two male employees came out with deathly pale faces and cold sweat drenching the temples. The two men just left, after giving Jeff a bow.

"What's going on, sir?" Kenzo's room looked neat, unlike Jeff's previous guesses. Only Kenzo looks unusual, with his emotions still not subsiding.

"Search a replacement for both of them!" Kenzo left his waist, sighed and sat in his great chair.

"You fired them, sir?"

"Why keep people who are not good at work? Instead of working well, they took what was not their right!" Kenzo's sharp gaze. The two employees had indeed taken money that was not their right, secretly. And Kenzo hates that. "Do they think I'm stupid?"

"I'm sorry, sir. I'm not very careful at work!" Jeff felt guilty. He should have been keeping a close eye on those subordinates.

"Easy! Forget it!" Kenzo was about to pick up the file on the table, when he suddenly remembered something. "Do you know who that woman is outside of?"

At first, Jeff did not understand the meaning of Kenzo's words. After that, he remembers Chika after Kenzo gives the code from her eyes. "He's my assistant, sir. Her name is Chika."

"They?" Kenzo is half confused. "When did the assistant have an assistant?"

"Since you gave all your work to me, Sir. I can't do all your tasks at the same time."

Jeff's work is already a lot, especially coupled with Kenzo's work that is sometimes neglected. Kenzo used to be the one who always put his job first. Kenzo is very disciplined. All that before he had a close relationship with Vanessa.

Kenzo chuckles full of ridicule. In the past, Papa Kenzo always boasted of Jeff's abilities, entrusting Jeff to be his son's assistant. "Does Jeff Lisette's abilities begin to diminish now?"

"I'll fix everything, sir!"

"Is there no other answer than that?" Honestly Kenzo is bored. Every time he makes a mistake, Jeff will say it just to show regret. And this time, Jeff said it again. Kenzo doesn't blame Jeff.

"I'll try my best as mung—"

"That's it!" cut off Kenzo before Jeff finishes his sacred word. "Can't you joke around a little? Your life is too stiff!"

Quite tiring as it turns out, facing Jeff who always behaves formally. Kenzo used to try to make silly jokes on Jeff, to think of him as a friend. But unfortunately, his efforts never came to fruition. As a result, Jeff always showed a flat face to him.

"Have you had breakfast, sir?" jeff asked after a long silence.

A breakfast? The word suddenly reminded Kenzo of someone. A girl who was willing to enter the hospital due to not having breakfast, and instead filled her empty stomach with spicy pegs. "What about the girl? Have you got any information on him?"

Can not be denied, since last night Kenzo continues to be haunted by curiosity. About the scar on Lantern's shoulder, it's exactly the same as Vincie's scar. It is not impossible if it turns out that there is still a mystery behind the deadly accident that hit Vincie and Mama Shena first.

"That's not the answer I want, sir." Jeff's lips murmured, thankfully Kenzo didn't hear it. He took the minipad in the bag, then handed it to Kenzo after opening a file.

"His name is Lantern Princess Permana, the only daughter of the Permana family. Her parents died six years ago, and after that she lived with her aunt. More precisely, the maid who used to work in the Permana family residence."

Jeff explained some of the data he remembered. Although there is actually still a lot of data about the lanterns inside the minipad. Kenzo is still reading it carefully now.

"Woman Princess Lantern?" Kenzo said as he stared at some small family photos of the lantern. Even as a child, Lantern's face was very similar to Vincie and Vanessa's. "His face is really similar to Vanessa's."

"But Lanterns are one year younger than Miss Vanessa" Jeff said. From the data he had read, Lanterns did enter school earlier than children his age.

"He had an accident until he lost his memory?" Kenzo squinted, a little interested in the facts of Lantern life. Similar to Vincie, Lanterns also had an accident. It was even stated, the girl had lost her memory. It's not impossible that the lanterns are indeed Vincie's.

"Are you sure?" Kenzo looked at Jeff. "I don't want any miss information on this!"

They both had accidents. If it happened on the same day or even in the same year, it might be true that Lantern was Vincie, Vanessa's twin sister.

"We did our best, sir. It's true that Lanterns crashed exactly one year after Miss Vincie had an accident" Jeff explained. "Because of the accident, the lantern had memory loss. In addition, he also had to have surgery on his face."

"Operation?" Kenzo frowned.

"Really! The accident left him with facial damage, and required him to have surgery" Jeff said.

"Did you guys get a picture of the girl before the surgery?" Only Kenzo realized, since earlier he had only seen photos of lanterns when he was about eight years old.

"There, Sir. But that's a picture of when Lanterns were babies." Jeff takes over the minipad, then looks for a photo of the infant lantern. There is only one, because it is quite difficult for Jeff's men to find all that. Moreover, the Lantern family used to belong to a wealthy family and is quite closed.

Kenzo pulled the corner of his lips. "It's not Vincie!"

The minipad screen is still on, showing a photo of a toddler about two years old. Kenzo still remembers how Vanes and Vincie looked as babies, and it was very different from the toddler in the photo.

"Because Lanterns aren't Vincie, sir!" muttered Jeff.

"I mean this baby! This baby's not Vincie!" Kenzo's voice rose, a little upset that Jeff did not understand the meaning of his words. He himself was wrong to consider someone. "What about the girl's elementary school information?"

"After the accident, Lantern had moved schools during elementary school. It's because her parents moved cities, and we just found data from her new school."

"Stupid! Why look for data only you're not smart?" nagel Kenzo. Maybe his men could not collect data about lanterns in his old school, while still in elementary school or while still in kindergarten.

"We've been trying, sir, but it looks like the Permana family put their family's privacy first."

"Isn't that suspicious enough?" ask Kenzo, a little suspicious.

"I don't think so, sir. Just like you, Mr. Permana must also want the best for his family. Moreover, he was also not a random person," said Jeff.

"You mean?" Kenzo frowned, curious about what Jeff said.

"The company is engaged in fisheries. Before he died, many other companies tried to bring him down. The competition there is very tight, they do a lot of ways to win the competition. Maybe because of that, Lanterns became his victims."

Jeff glanced at the clock that was coiled in his left hand. Just to discuss the lanterns alone had taken quite a bit of time. There is still a lot of work to be done today.

"So he's not Vincie?" Kenzo puts down the minipad after he finishes reading the whole thing. That girl is a lantern, not Vincie. However, Kenzo's little heart still believes that the girl is none other than Vincie.

"I don't think it's possible that the Lantern is Vincie, sir!"

"Why?"

"You still think that girl is Vincie?" Just by looking at Kenzo's face, Jeff guessed the answer.

"I'm pretty sure he's Vincie, but—"

"Didn't you see for yourself when Miss Vincie was buried?" Jeff cut out Kenzo's speech. Though it's not the character of a Jeff who always put Kenzo first in any case.

"It's true, but at the time no one could recognize the body." Kenzo's memories go back in time, as Vincie and Mama Shena are pronounced dead in a traffic accident. "The car exploded! Mama Shena slammed out, while Vincie's little body burned in the car with the driver."

His gaze was blank, Kenzo's hands began to clench firmly. Remembering that incident always aroused the greatest regret in her little heart. Therefore, he always keeps Vanessa in order for Mama Shena to calm down with Vincie. But the opposite happened, he had made Vanessa wretched.

"What about the autopsy results?"

Kenzo shakes. "Papa Kenzie forbid it, Papa just wants Mama and Vincie to rest in peace." His head lowered, Kenzo was very sorry until now. Because he was the cause of the accident.

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...See you in the next Substitute Lantern story...