What a waste of cloth!

"Sofia!! Hurry up, we'll be late!" Samartha yelled at her daughter, "All this girl knows is to start working at the last moment! At such times I really wish she could learn from her sister. She should learn to be punctual!" 

"Okay, calm down! We still have a few hours before we need to leave." David looked at his wife with an annoyed gaze. Since morning she had been making fuss because of this. "Go out and go meet with your friend, who was she? That Miss Jen. Don't disturb me right now, I still have work to do." He said as he continued his work on his laptop.

Samartha smiled at this… Now that finally she had gotten a chance to get out of here without creating any suspicions, she quickly picked up her handbag and her scarf, "Since you guys have such a casual approach towards such an important occasion, what can I do?"

As she headed out, she reminded her husband, "I will be back in an hour, I hope we can leave then and not be late. Bye."

*Slam!* She slammed the door and left.

"Um?" Mr. Parker raised his eyebrows, "What is she planning to do this time?" He thought as he continued with his work.

…

"Where are you!?" Samartha angrily whispered in a hushed voice.

"Will be there soon, that's why I had told you that you should have just transferred the money!" The person from the other side of the phone replied back. 

"Haven't I told you? We can not take the risk of leaving any records!" Samartha looked around, "Come soon. I'm keeping the phone now."

After some time...

"You are finally here… How much time do you think I have for you, huh?"

"Oh stop it! Even if you didn't want to transfer the money, you could have given it to me at the auction dinner or some other time! What was the need to call me all the way here?" The man in front of Samartha said.

Samartha decided to ignore his useless words and looked around, "She didn't come here?"

"Of course not! We can't be seen together you know."

"Anyways, Maya knows that I gave money to Lucas's family. I don't know how she found out about it, but she did. Now you need to make sure she does not trace it back to you."

"Hmm okay, don't worry. See you at the party. And… I think I am planning to buy the item from your family." 

Samartha didn't say her thoughts out loud when she heard this. One could say that she didn't care about it, not anymore.

"I heard that it's very valuable!"

Saying that, the man carefully left the place, making sure that no one saw him… Or at least that's what he had thought.

...

"Hello?" Maya picked up her phone, an unknown number had called her, but she had a hunch about who this person might be, "Amy?... Is that you?"

"Hey CEO Maya…" It indeed was Amy; the girl from the office whom Maya had asked about Mr. Collins' schedule.

Some time ago, Maya had asked Amy to find out where Mr. Collins was heading to after taking a leave for a few days.

On the same evening, Amy had got back to her, and told her that according to his previous secretary, Mr. Collins was attending the auction in the Capital.

Maya didn't have any other work from her but Amy said that if Maya permitted her, she could get more details about Mr. Collins' trip to the Capital city. She was free anyways. Maya allowed her to do so and told her to be careful about it. 

"Yeah, so as you know, I have been following Mr. Collins since he left the Zed city. He was sitting in his hotel the entire time, but he came out about an hour ago to meet with a woman." Amy said as she went through the photos she had taken today.

"They exchanged an envelope, it seemed as if it was filled with cash. I had taken the photos of them and their exchange…"

"Who was that woman?" Maya asked as she went through the photographs and other details Amy had emailed her. 

"...I am sorry CEO Maya, I couldn't take any better photos of that woman, her entire face was covered with a scarf."

"Well… It's fine. Thanks for your hard work Amy." Maya said as they soon ended the call. 

Maya yawned. Aiden and she had returned back to the Capital from their long drive early this morning. While Aiden left for his work, she came back to her hotel room and worked a bit as well. 

She smiled when she thought about yesterday night. Maybe, by the time she leaves the Capital city, she won't be single anymore!

Now she finally decided to take a small nap.

…

As soon as Samartha came back to her hotel lobby, she threw away her scarf in the dustbin of the public washroom and returned to the room she was staying at with David. But before that she made a trip to the neighboring room, the room in which Sofia was staying at.

"Are you ready?" She asked her as she entered the shabby room filled with clothes. 

"Yup... I am all done. Is dad ready? And are you going to wear this?" Sofia said as she picked up her phone and called Maya. She had messaged her yesterday night as well but didn't get any response from her. 

"I will go and check up on him, you come out." Samartha said as she left the room. Since Sofia had pointed it out, she decided that she should change her clothes as well. 

"Okay…" Sofia answered her as she closed the room door. 

She looked at herself in the mirror, "Hmm… Not bad! Wearing Maya's dresses is always the best choice! Why is she not picking up her phone?"

Sofia called Maya again, this time it was a video call.

Maya finally picked up the phone after a few rings, "Yeah?"

"What 'Yeah'?" Sofia scolded her, "Are you not coming?"

"No..I am very tired right now. You go, have fun." Maya said in a sleepy voice. 

"Umm are you sure? We are about to leave…" Sofia didn't pressure her much as she could see that Maya was very tired. 

"Ya~ A hundred percent sure." Maya's eyes were about to shut completely when she noticed something. "Wait! Is the MY dress? When did you take it!!?" She literally shouted at Sofia. 

After seeing that Maya was getting angry, Sofia skillfully avoided her and said, "Mom's her. Need to leave, bye!" Saying that she cut the call and finally left her room. 

…

The family of three came down and were about to sit in their car, when all of a sudden Sofia said that she urgently needed to go to the washroom.

Samantha looked at her with dissatisfaction, "Go and come soon."

"Yeah, will be back in a minute." Sofia immediately left.

"Tsk, what a waste! Who could have thrown it here? The cloth material looks expensive and the design is also so beautiful!" Sofia exclaimed as she threw the tissue in the dustbin after wiping her hands and walked out, "It looks a bit familiar...? Who cares! It's not mine anyways."