Car Accident
+25 BONUS
Vanessa walked over, carrying the prepared dishes and waved her hand, saying, “It’s good that you’re awake; come and eat!”
“Mommy, is there the braised beans I love the most tonight?”
Vanessa lifted her onto the child seat and smiled, “Yes, yes, yes, you little eater!”
At the dinner table, Mariah appeared somewhat reserved, making the mother and daughter both notice her demeanor.
“Sister, my mommy told me to call you auntie, but I think you’re so pretty you shouldn’t be called that,” Isla said sweetly, offering Mariah a piece of braised bean. “Can I call you sister?”
Mariah was taken aback and blushed at the sight of the braised bean. “Um, sure.”
“Yay! Then what is your name?”
“Mariah.”
“Hello, Sister Mariah!”
“Hello,” Mariah replied, returning the gesture by giving her a piece of braised bean and asking, “What’s your name?”
Isla looked at Vanessa warily and asked, “Mommy, the pretty sister asked me something. Can I say it?”
led her hair and smiled, “Of course you can.”
e is Isla Saxon, and you can also call me Isla.” Isla said sweetly, extending her oby little hands towards her.
Mariah smiled gently, lightly grasping Isla’s hand, and said, “Nice to meet you.”
1/5
Car Accident
+25 BONUS
Isla beamed but quietly tugged at her mother’s sleeve, asking, “Mommy, what does ‘nice to meet you‘ mean?”
Vanessa explained softly in her ear, giving her enough respect despite her young age.
“It means I’m very happy to meet you.”
Upon hearing this, Isla happily told Mariah, “I’m also very happy to meet you, pretty sister.”
After dinner, Isla pulled Mariah to watch ‘Peppa Pig‘ with her. The time felt relaxed and comfortable, yet Mariah had her own dilemmas.
She wondered how she should respond if Vanessa invited her to join Cortex. Should she refuse, or agree because of her kindness in taking her in?
This left her feeling conflicted.
“Mariah…”
Just as she expected, Vanessa called her name.
It seemed she was about to discuss joining Cortex, right?
If she didn’t join, would she still be able to stay here?
Mariah’s expression grew serious, her furrowed brow particularly prominent. Vanessa
immediately sensed what was on her mind.
“Mariah, can I ask you for a favor?”
Mariah became somewhat wary and quietly asked, “What is it?”
Vanessa felt a bit awkward, glancing at Isla before saying, “You know I’m preparing for the
second round of bidding; it’s quite busy, and I might not be able to take care of Isla, so I was hoping you could…”
“Are you asking me to join Cortex?”
2/5
Car Accident
“You can help me take care of Isla, can’t you?”
+25 BONUS
The two spoke in unison, both surprised by each other’s words. Vanessa quickly laughed and denied it, saying, “Of course not! While I really hope you can join, I wouldn’t bring it up in this situation. I believe my professionalism and the company’s capabilities will make you choose me.”
Mariah was taken aback and asked in surprise, “What did you just say?”
“I said if you could help pick up and drop off Isla, is that okay?”
“Of course, I can do that.”
Having Mariah help with picking up Isla over the past few days had given Vanessa the time to deal with matters at the company.
In the office, she had been so busy that she hadn’t eaten all day, and her assistant continued to push her.
“Boss, the designers you’re interested in either have contracts that haven’t expired or have declined our invitation,” the assistant said, looking aggrieved. “I’ve been working overtime for three days… three days…”
Vanessa merely glanced at her assistant and waved her hand, saying, “You should go home
and rest. I’ll handle the rest of the matters.”
“But you…” The assistant hesitated, knowing Vanessa’s personality. Finally, with a sigh and a shrug, she said, “Alright then, you should get home and rest early too.”
“Mm.” Vanessa responded with a hint of indifference.
Late into the night, she finally turned off the lights in the office and drove home.
But when she reached the underground parking lot, she wasn’t sure if it was her eyes playing tricks on her or if she was just too tired; she vaguely saw a shadow pass by her car. Holding on to her belief in science, she shook her head, doubting that she had seen it correctly due to fatigue.
3/5
Car Accident
+25 BONUS
Not thinking too much about it, she took a short nap in the car to regain some energy before starting it up to head home.
The roads were sparsely populated, and the streetlights shone brightly.
Even at intersections that usually had traffic jams during non–peak hours, there were hardly any cars passing through at this moment.
Just as Vanessa was about to brake for a red light, she discovered that her brakes had failed. After several unsuccessful attempts to stop, she saw a car coming around the corner and could only honk her horn frantically to get the driver’s attention.
The other driver seemed to be on a phone call, wearing headphones, and didn’t respond at all. Vanessa instinctively swerved to avoid a collision…
This swerve startled the driver of the approaching vehicle, who also began to dodge, leading to several near misses. With no other option, Vanessa spotted the guardrail not far ahead and could only crash into it—
Bang!
The sound of the impact echoed loudly.
A delivery man passing by saw the incident and stopped his car, trying to help her. The
driver of the car involved also called for an ambulance.
While waiting for the ambulance, passersby came to assist, pulling open the twisted car door and managing to get the dazed Vanessa out of the vehicle.
While they waited, some people took out their phones to record, while others checked to see if Vanessa had any injuries.
took Vanessa to the hospital, accompanied by the other driver and traffic
ere on the scene.
anessa had already fallen into unconsciousness.
4/5
