Achilles heel

At midnight, Rose's Residence

Rose came out of her bedroom, she walked towards the kitchen. In the silent night, even the sounds of her footsteps on the tiles were magnified. But Rose could not hear anything. Her mind was in a mess. The unexpected meeting tonight was constantly playing in a loop in her mind.

She once had decided to leave her past and never come back here again. But, fate played great games.

Actually, it was not just fate, it was her own decision. Her decision to come back to country I, her decision to meet her past and to give a closure to everything that had happened. Maybe then her heart would not feel so empty and lonely on these dark nights.

But just meeting Matthew had made her so nervous, she did not know what would happen when she met all of them.

Actually, she was a bit disappointed, they all looked so happy without her, she had seen , yup she had followed them on all over the internet. Although, Matthew looked surprised when he saw her, it was just that, there was nothing more. He just believed that she was not Joy. Rose really felt angry that time but she also did not know what to expect.

Rose looked outside her floor to ceiling window, the Landmark city where she was raised and lived nearly two decades of her life. She thought to herself that it was right so, she was no longer Joy. She is Rose. Although there were many people outside there more outstanding and brilliant than her, she believed she had also done satisfactory enough in life. She had made it to the top, she became the CEO of Maple conglomerate starting from nothing. Over this decade, she did not know how many sleepless nights she had spent to reach this height. May be she wanted to be outstanding enough, shining enough to make people notice. It was not at all easy but at this point she felt it was worth it. When she started she was all alone but now she had family and friends. It was just that the people from past, her family in the past, she even now could not completely let go. It wasn't that she was not happy, she was really happy at her current life but there were some things about which she did not know what she wanted.

Rose stood at the window seeing the vast city for a long time until some noises from the bedroom came. Rose snapped out of her thoughts , closed the curtains and walked towards the bedroom thinking that she had indeed stayed out outside too long that it woke someone up. She unconsciously smiled thinking and hurried her steps towards the bedroom.

Next day, William Residence.

At the dining table, Matthew and his father, James were having breakfast alone without any kind of noise.

After they finished their breakfast, James started browsing news on his ipad.

Whereas, Matthew was lost in his own thoughts. After meeting Rose last night, it was as if a locked box was opened that he would always get reminded of Joy. It had indeed been a long time before he thought about her, their Joy, his sister. He was in a dilemma whether to tell his father about Rose or not who resembled Joy too much. But he also knew that Joy was his father's Achilles heel. He did not know how he would react to her name that had become his family's unspoken point.

At this point, while Matthew was long lost in his thoughts, he suddenly heard his father say, " Do you know Rose? Did you meet her?"

Matthew replied instantly as he stood up from his seat, " How did you know that? I mean who told you about her?"

" Who doesn't know Rose? Do I need anyone else to tell me about her? Anybody in the business circle will know about her.

And why are you reacting so much?" James answered without moving his eyes from the screen.

Matthew could not react for a moment,

" What Business circle, what Rose?"

" You don't even know Rose. She is the CEO of Maple conglomerate. She has been the CEO for about two years and the company had grew very well in her leadership. The Maple corporation has recently shifted there headquarters to country I. Nowadays, everywhere you could hear her name. And the most remarkable point is that she is just twenty seven this year but is able to run such a company on her own. And above that she has no family connections to the chairman but she was appointed as the CEO instead of his own son.

Aiii, she truly is other people's child.

Anyway, I have heard she has good friendship with the Evans. They also have co operated a lot. So, I thought you have met with her at the party."

Matthew muttered to himself, " What other people's child, may be your child."

James looked at his son who was talking to himself, " What did you say?"

" I mean I met Rose last night but I didn't know who she was."

James looked at his son with annoyance and felt an urge to give him a beating. He won't admit he is his own son, so foolish to not even pay attention to the business news being a business man.