During their third day at K City, Leon and the others saw Jon. That afternoon, their car stopped at the intersection and waited for the light to turn green. When Leon looked around, he noticed someone wearing a cyan dress entering a cafe.
Leon hurriedly got out of the car and followed her inside the cafe. "Valerie!" he called.
The woman turned around and looked at him with a strange look. She smiled at him and replied, "Sir, I believe you're mistaking me for someone else. My name isn't Valerie Feng."
Her face was similar to Valerie's, not exactly the same. Her badge revealed her name. Upon realizing his mistake, Leon apologized politely and watched the woman leave with a cup of coffee.
After parking the car, Bryant met the woman at the door. Because he knew her cousin very well, he didn't need a second glance to know that that woman wasn't Valerie.
He saw Leon and approached him. "Where's Valerie? Didn't you say that you saw her?"
Leon didn't seem to hear him, his gaze still fixed somewhere outside. No one really knew where he was looking at. He could be looking at passers-by or something else entirely.
Bryant noticed Leon's somber mood. "What's wrong?"
"I was mistaken. I mistook her for Valerie," Leon said with a faint smile.
Bryant was stunned for a moment. Then after a while, he smiled. "Not bad. If Wynn knew, he would raise his glass in celebration. It's been a long time. You should've moved on."
Leon remained silent.
He had always thought that aside from her sister Nina, the only other person he would surely recognize would be Valerie. He thought he could identify both of them just by looking at their silhouettes.
But just now, he had mistaken someone else for Valerie.
Since the cafe only had a few customers that day, the overall ambiance was very peaceful. The only sounds inside the cafe were the door sliding open when someone came out and the waitress greeting customers coming in.
Bryant looked around the cafe. "We're here. Sit down and have a cup of coffee."
Both of them sat down and ordered two cups of coffee. As he placed his order, Leon asked the waitress, "Is there a design company called the ZH Company nearby?"
"Yes. It's next to our coffee shop! When you go out, turn right and keep going until you see their billboard. That's where their office is located. Do you have any business with them?" The waitress put the coffee on their table.
Leon didn't answer her but smiled. "Thank you."
Leon's charming look made it hard for the waitress to leave, but she left nevertheless.
As Bryant added sugar to his coffee, he asked, "What's wrong with ZH Company?"
"I saw the badge of the woman, the one I mistook for Valerie. She works for ZH Company." Leon's eyes brightened as he took a sip of his coffee. "I just called her Valerie. And yet, she told me that her name wasn't Valerie Feng. More so, she seemed strange when she said that."
Bryant sprang upright and stopped stirring his coffee. "If she knows Valerie's surname, she must know Valerie!"
"Maybe she doesn't know her. Perhaps she just heard her name from someone else, such as Jon." At the mention of Jon's name, Leon remained composed, feeling neither anger nor resentment.
Calmly, he said, "Check the ZH Company first."
"Okay." Bryant took out his phone and searched the Internet for any information about the ZH Company. He found out that it was a relatively new and small company. They only started last year and had less than thirty employees in total.
Upon coursing through all the relevant information, he turned to Leon. "Jon changed his name into Baker. He graduated from design school last year, started his own business, and is now running the ZH Company. He is an ambitious man. No wonder Valerie..."
He realized where he was going and immediately stopped.
"No wonder Valerie chose him," Leon continued for him. "Although he's from a wealthy family, he isn't a playboy. He took his studies seriously and started a business. That's good."
His tone was largely indifferent, as though he couldn't care less about what was happening in Jon's life.
After a while, a smirk flashed on Leon's face. "Too bad they broke up in the end. I don't want to see him. You can go and ask him where Valerie is."
"What do you mean? Are they separated?" Bryant was surprised. He didn't know about this.
Leon smiled and said nothing. Although he wasn't absolutely certain, he was confident that the woman he mistook for Valerie a while ago was Jon's secretary. No, not Jon, since he changed his name to Baker. She was Baker's secretary.
A female secretary that looked like Valerie and wore a cyan dress that Valerie liked seemed like a good replacement.
He would only be looking for a replacement for Valerie only if Valerie weren't around anymore.
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