The Eternal Abyss
'The Eternal Abyss' a secret facility deep underground
"Mariko, I've underestimated that kid, but I got to say he has grown up to be a fine young man."
"Of course he is, your an excellent geneticist honey. But its a shame, why did we have to leave our daughter with them."
"You know very well we couldn't take her with us. She is a talented girl and she can get out of any situation. We will see her soon when the right time comes, don't worry."
"I know honey. I'm just worried. What if she never forgives us for abandoning her as a child? She might shun us out of her life permanently. I don't think my heart an take it if our little princess doesn't love us anymore."
"Come here, honey." Mariko approached Jiro and sat on his lap, he caressed her face reassuring her. "No matter what happens my love, we will support her on whatever decisions she makes. But right now we must do whatever it takes to protect our little princess. If she shuns us, then let it be, as long as we always let her know that we still love her."
"But what are we going to do about those brothers, they are getting closer to figuring out our plan."
"Maybe it's a good thing that they figure it out. They seem like good boys and might even help us. They would do whatever means necessary just like their father, but we probably have to be more secretive or cease our plan for a few years."
"Mmm, okay honey. By the way. How is the drug coming along?"
"It's going well, but the drug can only erase the memory for the past 5 months. The only problem is, I don't know if it will be permanent."
"I wish we didn't have to do this, but it seems like we have a small time frame now. It will be her birthday in a few months, that will be the best time to execute our plan. We can't let them fall in love, well at least not for now."
"Jiro, Mariko, I've obtained the files you wanted." An assistant walked in and handed them a file.
"Thank you, please call an emergency meeting in an hour." Said Mariko
"Yes, Madam." The assistant bowed then left.
"What's with the sudden meeting, honey?" Jiro asked confused.
"Well, I just wanted to inform everyone that we are going against Elijah Guinto at this moment so we need to be weary in the future."
"Very well then, I'll be in the laboratory if you need me."
In the laboratory.
"Oh, Marcus. What are you doing here in the lab so early?"
"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure the drug was safe to use. After all your going to use it on your daughter." Marcus said flustered.
"Actually Marcus, it's a good thing yours here. I wanted to speak to you about a secret mission I hope you would accept."
"I would do anything you ask. After all, I do owe you my life."
"Since you have been so dedicated ever since we started to create the drug. I would like you to go undercover and watch over my daughter and make sure she won't have a chance to remember anything."
"What are you implying I do?"
"Just be her friend. Make her trust you, that all."
"I don't think it would be that simple to get that close to her."
"Yes, your right. Actually, there was this one boy she met before when she was younger. They have only met once. You can pretend to be him, I think he called her 'My little wife' back then. I'm not clear with the whole story, but ask Mariko to fill you in."
"Mmm, okay. I won't disappoint you."
...
The sun was shining brightly through the windows and Maddie sat up quickly on the bed. "Sh*t, what time is it now?" "It's already 9. Did you have a good sleep sweetheart?" Elijah smiled as he walked out of the closet fixing his tie. Maddie had a hard time falling asleep last night from all his teasing. "Why didn't you wake me up for our morning training?" "You looked too peaceful and don't worry I already informed Aiden that you were sleeping in since I kept you up all night." Elijah chuckled as he left the room. Maddie felt frustrated by all his teasing and couldn't think of payback since no matter what she did it would just turn back on her. She quickly changed into her office attire and headed down for breakfast. "Good morning Aiden," Maddie said as she took a seat next to Elijah who was reading a newspaper. "We missed you this morning sister-in-law. So should I be expecting any nephews or nieces in the future?" Aiden said happily. Maddie ignored him as she stared at the main article of the newspaper. "Hello, sister-in-law"? Are you still there?" Aiden said confused since he got no response. Elijah put the paper down to check what was wrong with Maddie. "What's a wrong sweetheart?" As he touched her hand making her startled. "Huh? Oh, its nothing. I think I'm just seeing things." Maddie gave a forced smile as she grabbed some food.
The two brothers looked at each other confused. So Elijah tried to probe further. "What did you see sweetheart?" "I thought I saw my mother, but it's impossible since she's dead." Elijah flipped to the front page of the newspaper and examined the picture. "What if it is your mother, it's possible she could have faked her own death. I'll get my men to investigate further into this." Maddie was feeling conflicted. What if her mother was still alive? How come she never came for her or does her mother think she also died. There were too many what if's possible but Maddie wanted to find out the truth. "Do you think I can do some investigating myself?" Maddie asked Elijah. "Of course, if that will make you feel more at ease. But be careful you might not like what you find." Elijah had a bad feeling about this.
Maddie spent days searching for any clues. Obviously, she went to the place that photo was taken and found out she was one of the members of that research team but soon left that company. But what was weird was that she stole a prototype of the device that they were making. The company didn't press any charges since they discontinued that project months ago, due to lack of funds. What would her mother need a brain analyzing device that doesn't even function? When she went through her personal information in the companies she used to work for were either fake or went bankrupt years ago. Everything about her profile was suspicious. How was she even able to obtain that job in that first place. It turned out that the people hiring them in dire need of scientists and didn't question their background in detail.
Her mother was like a ghost. She would appear suddenly but disappear when you try to look for her. Maddie was getting restless and wanted to find information soon. Even the report Elijah's men gave wasn't helpful at all. Elijah noticed she was going to a dead-end, so he decided to give her information about her past, hoping there would be any clues about her mother. This actually helped Maddie a lot. It showed her different patterns her parents did before and how they worked. Although there was very little information about her mother, her father showed a very distinguished working pattern. He would work at one company for 3 years before he switches to a different one but he stayed at Guinto internationals for 14 years before he died. This made Maddie more suspicious of why her father stayed at Guinto internationals for so long.
It turned out her father and Elijah's father were good friends during childhood. She wanted to confront Elijah's father, but it didn't seem like a good idea since they didn't have a good father-son relationship. So she can only ask Mrs. Guinto if she knew anything. It turned out her mother erased her past, she didn't even know what family her mother came from. She can only base her life from the stories her mother used to tell her about her family. Apparently, her father, Maddie's grandfather, was a person of high status and was respected by many. He would make Maddie's mother into a perfect child which was well disciplined, smart, and with many talents. But her mother didn't like that kind of life because she felt like a prisoner in her own home. So she left her family to live a normal life and find love. she worked odd jobs to pay for her college, where she met the love of her life. They spent years together before deciding to get married. Maddi's father wanted to get her family's approval and hoped her father would walk her down the aisle. But her family never forgave her and kicked her out of the family long ago saying that she was a disgrace to their family and told her to never show her face there again.
Maddie was too focused on finding more information about the woman on the front page that she forgot about her date with Mrs. Guinto. She only remembered once she was at the front door to pick her up. "Good morning mother, I'm so sorry I totally forgot about today, I'll just go up quickly and get changed." " Don't worry darling take you time, I'll just have a quick chat with Elijah." "Thanks, mother." Maddie ran up quickly while Mrs. Guinto followed her up to go to Elijah's study. Mrs. Guinto entered and gave a smack on her son's head. "What was that for mother?" Elijah was confused by his mother's sudden attack. "That's for making your wife work so hard. She looks so haggard since the last time I've seen her." " That's why I'm glad your here to take her out. She has been cooped up in this house for days trying to look for any signs if her real mother is still alive. I just hope this party can get her mind off things. And I've been trying for days to get her to go outside, but she can be very stubborn and it's very hard for me to say no to her." " Okay don't worry son, I'll make sure she has a good time today and I'll bring her home safely tonight." "Thanks, mom." Elijah hugged his mother then escorted her downstairs to wait for Maddie.
Maddie came down the stairs. "Mom is it possible for us to have a chat first?" "Of course darling, what do you want to talk about?" "Do you know a man named Jiro Xu?" Mrs. Guinto was surprised, she hasn't heard that name in so long. "Yes, he was good friends with Elijah's father when they were kids. And we also offered a job for him in the company. Jiro was also the one who helped me get pregnant with Elijah since we've been trying for years to have a child, he was a blessing in disguise. But Jiro was a very secretive man and I don't know much about his personal life. I just know he had a very beautiful wife and kid. It's just a shame that he and his family died in that horrible fire." "Do you know what he was working on during his time in Guinto internationals?" "Well, that I'm not quite sure Jiro and Elijah's father kept everything top secret. All I know is that he worked on genetics. Why do you ask so many questions about this man darling?" "Well Jiro is my biological father and I've been trying to get more information about how they died. It doesn't seem as simple as a fire." "Wait so your Jiro's daughter. I thought you died many years ago. My condolences child." "Thank you, mom. Well, I was saved by Master Li and he became my father ever since. But do you know anything about my mother, like who she was or what she did?" "I'm sorry I barely knew your mother and she seldom came to the company when I visited. I just knew she was very beautiful and it seemed like she came from an influential family. Well, your father did tell me accidentally that she was from a military family but I don't know which since she changed her name and identity." "Thanks, mom. I think we should get going now."