CHAPTER 73: PRS 73

The next morning,

As soon as Alesio woke up, he instinctively reached for the side of the bed when he no longer found his lover in his arms. Finding it empty and cold, his eyes widened in panic.

"Where is she!" he muttered anxiously, sitting up hastily and looking around the room in confusion.

"Isabella? Honey, where are you?" he shouted hoarsely.

For some reason, Alesio felt incredibly afraid that his lover would leave again, leaving him without a word.

"No, no, no! She couldn’t have just left like that! Last night... last night we..." Alesio muttered, running his hands through his hair in frustration.

"Did I do something wrong?" Alesio, unsure why Isabella had left without saying goodbye, immediately got out of bed and walked quickly to the bathroom, hoping she would be there.

As soon as he reached the bathroom door, his heart suddenly pounded, a sense of dread rising.

He slowly approached the bathroom door and put his ear to it. Silence was all he found. There wasn’t even the sound of running water, making his heart even more frantic.

"There’s no sound. Why is it so quiet?" Alesio muttered, his hands starting to tremble.

Click!

As soon as the door opened, Alesio immediately swept the entire room. It was completely empty. Even the floor and walls were completely dry, indicating that no one had been there since last night. His body immediately felt weak.

"Empty. No way! I definitely brought her here last night!" Alesio exclaimed, holding onto the wall to support his nearly collapsing body.

"She must be downstairs by now!" he muttered to himself, slapping his cheek several times.

Alesio, still hoping Isabella was in the residence, immediately went downstairs and questioned every servant he encountered.

"Madam, have you seen Isabella?" he asked the servant who happened to be going upstairs to collect her master’s dirty clothes.

"Isabella?" he muttered, scratching his head in confusion.

"Yes, my beloved Isabella, auntie!" Alesio said, a little too forcefully, almost shouting.

"I didn’t see her, sir. I haven’t seen any guests since this morning," he replied, shaking his head in surprise.

"What do you mean, auntie? She was here last night!" Alesio demanded, his face frustrated.

Unable to get a satisfactory answer, Alesio immediately ran around the house like a man possessed.

"Isabella! Isabella! Where are you, honey? Don’t joke around! Come out now!" he shouted, continuing to run around.

My son and grandfather, who had just emerged from the room, narrowed their eyes, curious about what was happening this morning.

"Grandpa, what’s going on? Why is Daddy screaming like he’s crazy?" Nathan asked, worried.

"What’s wrong, Alesio? Why are you causing such a commotion so early in the morning?" Grandpa asked curiously, approaching his grandson with hurried steps.

"Grandpa, have you seen Isabella?" he asked, his face full of worry and his eyes starting to well up with tears.

Grandpa frowned deeply. "Isabella!" he said in a confused tone.

"Yes, Isabella, Grandpa. My darling! Did you see her?" he asked again, shaking his grandfather’s shoulders.

"Alesio, calm down! I don’t see any girl here at all!" Teddy replied firmly.

Teddy just shook his head slowly, still with a questioning expression.

"What’s wrong with this child? Is she missing him so much that she’s gone crazy like this?" he monologued, looking at his grandson worriedly.

The same thought crossed Putra’s mind. "Oh no! Daddy’s gone crazy after not seeing Mommy Isabella for so long!" he cried silently, covering his mouth with both hands.

All the servants and everyone else in the residence who had been questioned by Alesio were also confused because they hadn’t seen the girl their young master was looking for. Alesio had never even brought Isabella to Xander’s residence, so how could the employees there know who his boss’s lover was?

"Who are you looking for, young master?" one of the servants whispered to her colleague with a confused look.

Not finding the figure he was looking for, he stepped forward to the security post and asked again if the guards had seen his lover leave.

"Hey! You guys! Did you see a beautiful girl leave the mansion this morning?" Alesio asked breathlessly.

Like the servants at the residence, the security guards on duty could only look at each other when asked; they didn’t even know the face of the young master’s lover.

"After the young master entered, no one else entered Xander’s residence. This morning, no one left the residence either. If you don’t believe me, you can check the residence’s CCTV," said one of the security guards, who immediately went with Alesio to the CCTV control room.

"We’ll show you the footage from last night until this morning, sir," said the security guard, opening the CCTV system.

There, Alesio could see that the figure he was looking for was nowhere to be seen, making his mind reel. "Was everything that happened last night just a dream?" he thought, slightly confused, staring at the screen in disbelief.

"But... it felt so real! I smelled her scent, felt her touch, heard her voice... how could it be a dream?" Alesio muttered, holding his dizzying head.

Alesio walked into the house, dazed, as his lover’s whereabouts were nowhere to be found. He still couldn’t accept that all the wonderful things that happened last night were just a dream because they felt so real.

"Isabella was really here last night!" Alesio said, sitting on the stairs with a blank expression.

***

While Alesio was in a panic, the girl who had caused a commotion at Xander’s residence this morning was already inside her apartment, preparing to go visit her business in City XX.

"Phew, I made it back safely. This teleportation is truly amazing," Isabella muttered as she stretched.

Seeing the refrigerator full of groceries, Isabella cooked a quick meal to fill her stomach, which was already starting to feel hungry after being drained by Alesio last night.

"Thank you, Siva, for stocking the refrigerator. I’m so hungry now," Isabella said, taking out the ingredients.

Recalling the steamy memories of last night, Isabella’s cheeks flushed. She never imagined she would go that far with her lover.

"Oh my God! What have I done! How could I go that far!" she said, holding her burning cheeks.

Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk!

Isabella slapped her cheeks with both hands several times, realizing she had overdone it last night.

"Isabella Clark! You’ve gone too far! How will I face Alesio?" she scolded herself.

Up until now, even though they had often slept together during their vacations to several countries before Isabella left for Country S, everything had been under control; they had only kissed without doing anything that crossed the line.

But last night, remembering how they had let each other go, even though they hadn’t actually joined forces, it was enough to embarrass Isabella.

"How could I have been so bold last night? It must have been because I missed Alesio so much," Isabella muttered, fanning her burning face.

"Should I just pretend to have amnesia? Besides, seeing me suddenly appear and then disappear just as suddenly without a trace, Alesio will probably think everything that happened last night was just a dream. Well, I should pretend I don’t know anything, that’s better," she muttered, nodding to herself.

After breakfast and packing up her newly used equipment, Isabella went downstairs and immediately drove out to her business premises.

"I have to check on all my businesses. Hopefully, everything is okay after the storm," Isabella said as she started the car.

Although the storm had passed, the phone signal was still unstable, so Isabella couldn’t contact Siva to show her around.

"Damn, I still can’t call. I’ll try Siva’s apartment," Isabella muttered as she drove.

Isabella, who had tried to get to Siva’s unit, had rang the doorbell for quite some time, but no one showed up. In the end, she decided to drive herself today.

"Where’s he? He’s not at the apartment. Oh well, I’ll go alone," Isabella said as she returned to her car.

When Isabella drove to campus B to check on her shop there, Siva had just left, so the two of them didn’t have a chance to meet.

Similarly, when the girl went to check on her stationery shop at campus M and O, Siva was no longer there. It was as if fate hadn’t allowed them to meet at this time, so Siva didn’t know Isabella was already in City XX.

"How strange, why do you keep slipping away?" Isabella muttered, glancing at her watch.

Siva also experienced the same thing as Jery. After finishing up at the coffee shop he and Isabella collaborated on on Jalan Pahlawan, Jery, who had just gotten out of his car, didn’t see Isabella approaching because he turned left while she was coming from the right.

Isabella spent quite a while at her coffee shop, as her main office is here, checking several documents that needed her signature while she was away from Indonesia.

"There were so many documents to sign. But thank God, everything went smoothly," Isabella said as she signed document after document.

She also shared souvenirs from Indonesia that she had brought for all her employees at the Coffee Shop Jalani Hidup, just like the ones she had given to her employees at the stationery shop and the cake shop, which were scheduled to reopen the following day.

"These are for all of you. Thank you for your hard work while I was away," Isabella said, handing out the souvenirs with a friendly smile.

"Thank you so much, Boss! You are the best!" the employees exclaimed enthusiastically.

Siva and Jery, who had been sleep-deprived from waiting all night for the suspected Isabella to arrive, immediately went home to rest after ensuring that all the businesses they were monitoring were running smoothly.

Meanwhile, Bagus, who had rested that morning, had just met with a client who needed his services this afternoon, so he finished work. Feeling a bit heavy, he walked into a coffee shop on Jalan Pahlawan to relax for a moment.

"I need coffee to refresh my mind," Bagus muttered as he entered the coffee shop.

Just as his coffee and cake order arrived, Bagus’s body froze when he saw a beautiful woman emerge from the staff room and begin chatting with the cashier.

"No way! That... that’s her!" Bagus whispered, his eyes wide.

With trembling hands, Bagus took a picture of Isabella and immediately sent it to Jery, who, unfortunately, was still fast asleep after staying up all night, leaving the message unread.

"Jery! Jery, wake up! She’s here! That figure is here!" Bagus typed with trembling hands.

The sensitive Isabella immediately approached Bagus and extended her hand. "Hand over your phone!" she said in a cold tone and a sharp gaze.

"W-what?" Bagus asked, his voice trembling.

The strong intimidating aura and the sharp gaze of Isabella’s eyes made Bagus’ body freeze, and he subconsciously handed over his phone with trembling hands.

"T-this is my phone," Bagus said, handing it over with trembling hands.

Seeing that the man had sent a photo of himself to Jery, Isabella’s brow furrowed deeply. "Are you Jery’s friend?" she asked in a probing tone.

"R-really..." Bagus replied nervously, swallowing hard.

After deleting the photo on the young man’s phone, Isabella returned Bagus’ phone, quickly dispelling the intimidating aura she had exuded, seeing that the young man had no ill intentions.

"I’ve deleted it. Don’t try to take my photo again," Isabella said, returning Bagus’ phone.

"Tell me, why were you and Jery looking for me? And don’t hide anything," Isabella said sharply, making Bagus swallow several times because his throat felt so dry.

"O-okay. I’ll tell you everything," Bagus said in a trembling voice.

He immediately told her everything, without hiding anything, leaving Isabella stunned for a moment, then not knowing whether to laugh or cry at the ridiculous and protective behavior of the two men who were always trying to protect her silently.

"So... you think I’m a ghost? Or do you have a time machine?" Isabella asked, holding back laughter.

"S-sorry, Boss! We’re just worried!" Bagus replied, his face flushed.

The more Bagus listened to her story, the more Isabella’s body trembled, trying to hold back the laughter that threatened to spill out if all this ridiculous stuff happened just because he saw two packets of instant noodles in the trash and thought he had a time machine that could transport him from country I to country S in an instant.

"Pfft... hahaha! I’m sorry, but this is absolutely ridiculous!" Isabella laughed, holding her stomach.

Isabella had no idea Siva was that detailed. Just from the two packets of instant noodles in the trash, she immediately guessed someone had broken into her house.

A great ability that shouldn’t be wasted—that’s what Siva was thinking now. Isabella’s admiration and affection for the bodyguard she considered her own brother grew even stronger.

"Siva is truly extraordinary. I have to give him a big bonus," Isabella muttered with a proud smile.

She was determined to make Siva her right-hand man in managing all her businesses in Indonesia.

Bagus, who had realized that what he, Jery, and Siva had worried about was merely a misunderstanding and confirmed that Isabella was truly human, not a ghost, felt relieved. Honestly, as soon as he saw the girl’s beauty in person, Bagus realized that a mere human couldn’t possibly possess the appearance of a goddess from heaven, flawless beauty.

But after talking with Isabella, he realized that the beautiful girl was indeed human, just a beauty beyond the bounds of normal human beings, making him realize why his friend Jery had secretly fallen in love with her.

"Now I understand why Jery can’t move on from Boss Isabella," Bagus muttered to himself while looking at Isabella in admiration.