12 Chapter 11: When Things Start To Change

It was three in the morning and Win is wide awake in front of her computer, analyzing the evidences she has gathered about Asher's case for the last week. It was just less than an hour since she got home from a brand photo shoot. It was because she promised Lia, she would not compromise her modelling career for the Yangs' matter. So, she did legal work in the morning and attended to scheduled shoots or interviews at night, sometimes until early morning. This has been going for a week and she can definitely feel the routine taking a toll on her body.

She takes a sip of the coffee she made for herself. It somehow helped her keep her senses alive.

She re-reads the files in front of her for the nth time, she was almost ready to face court, just one detail she hasn't done yet. The first hearing was scheduled a week and a half from now so, she prays that would be enough time to find her most important witness: the girl whom Asher saved from Mr. Wang that night.

She was the only person that could tell the court what really happened during the incident. If Mr. Wang was insisting that Asher was the one who beat him up, then the girl would be their only way out.

But to Win's dismay, finding her did not seem like an easy job. She researched about the private resort Asher was talking about and it seems like it was in isolation and had no residences near. All she has is a sketch of what the girl looked like, how Asher remembered her. And that too, could be inaccurate.

They can try looking around the nearest residence areas. If they're lucky, one week would be enough for them to find her then the remaining time would be convincing her to testify for Asher in court. If not, they may have to look as wide as the whole of Shenzhen but that would take so long. Who even knows if she's still in China?

But she knew she has to have something prepared. Just in case they don't find her, she has to have something strong enough to put them in the lead for the first trial, something to keep their side concrete, just until she finds her witness.

Win raised her hands in frustration and leaned her head on the table. Why did it have to be this hard to look for a witness? And why did the witness only have to be one person whom no one knows where to find?

She closed her eyes, "I'd just have to take a nap for thirty minutes." She tells herself, "I can't take this any longer."

Suddenly, she was squinting from the bright light from her window, she opens her eyes and sits up, confused. Why was she in her bed, she was discerning, the last thing she remembers, she was leaning face-down on the table, saying she was going to rest for only thirty minutes.

But now she's sitting on her bed, and the sun's all up. She groaned in frustration; she must've overslept. But how in the world did she get into bed?

Just then she hears some movement from the kitchen. She could also smell bacons being fried. She smiled. It's been a while since she's had them. She was too busy these past few days that her breakfast was either outside or none at all.

As she walked to the kitchen to check, Nathan who was preparing breakfast, waved his hand at her and smiled widely, "Good morning, angel."

She sighed in relief as she patched it all up, it was Nathan who carried her to bed. She didn't sleepwalk or anything, "When did you get here?"

"Around four-thirty?"

She frowning, what was he doing in her house at four-thirty? "Really? Why? You don't usually drop by until 8 a.m."

"I had deliveries around here. When I passed by, your light was open. Usually, it wouldn't be if you were asleep so I decided to check. It's actually a good thing I checked, sleeping on a chair would've been painful." He explained.

"Oh." She simply shrugged. She really didn't have much energy to talk yet. She just felt so tired, maybe overworking is finally weighing on her. She walked to the living room and fell down on the couch, "What did I do to deserve this much work?" She sulked.

"You hungry?" Nathan called out.

She quietly shook her head, forgetting that Nathan couldn't see her. A couple of seconds later, she was surprised to find Nathan behind the couch, staring at her, "When did you get there?" She asked him.

"Win, I was asking you a couple of times if you were hungry. I was just worried you fell asleep sitting again so I came to check. Were you spacing out?"

"Yeah." She nodded, feeling stupid that she forgot that Nathan couldn't see her shaking her head in response, "Definitely spacing out, not sleeping."

"Anyway, I'm done preparing food. Let's go eat." He reached out for her hand and gently pulled her up.

Halfway to the table Win stopped walking, terror painted all over her face, "Oh my goodness. It's a weekday."

"Yes, it's a Friday today." Nathan faced her, "What's wrong?"

"And what time is it?"

The latter grabbed his phone from his pocket and checked, "It's a little past 10 am."

"10 a.m?!" Win shouted in shock, "I have work scheduled at eight! Oh my gosh, I have to go!" She quickly ran to her room and started fixing herself. She was spraying dry shampoo on her hair when she realized Nathan was standing by her doorway.

"Stop panicking. I called your office and they said you weren't supposed to come in until afternoon on Fridays. What's with all the rush? You haven't eaten anything yet. You can't just leave." He asked.

Win was still very focused on making herself look presentable at that moment, checking her closet and then trying to match shoes, "Yes. But ever since I started working on Asher's case, I am scheduled to meet him on Mondays and Fridays in his office. I should've set the alarm."

She was too busy fixing her stuff that she didn't realize Nathan's change of mood. His expression suddenly fell, feeling helpless and not knowing what to do with all the food he's prepared for her, "So, what should I do with the food? I can't eat that all alone."

Win was too preoccupied to hear the question. She continued on rummaging through her things and putting everything she needed in a bag. Suddenly she was panicking as she can't find the rough sketch of the girl she was trying to find. She remembered leaving it with her things but it was nowhere to be found, "Nathan, by chance, have you seen a sketch of a girl lying around with my things? You were the one who brought them here."

He sighed as he was ignored and tried to help her look around, "I just took everything I saw on the table. Maybe it's just with the other papers on your desk."

"Yeah, right?" Win agreed, "It's impossible I'd lose it. It probably just is in the pile of papers I placed in my bag." She picked up all her stuff and started walking out of the room while double checking all her things, "Anyway, I have to go. I'll see you later?"

"Win." Nathan called firmly as she was just about to walk out.

This made Win flinch, never has she heard that tone from Nathan before, "Yeah?"

"I was asking about the food. I made a lot and it's not possible to finish all alone. It'll spoil if not eaten today." He replied, face still detached, "Do you want me to pack some for you instead?"

Win looked down and bit her lip. She totally forgot about what he prepared for. That was probably why he was acting cold of all of a sudden. He perhaps spent the entire morning preparing all her favorites and she didn't even touch anything. She looked at the time. She was more than two hours late for a client meeting, even if she wanted to, she couldn't stall any longer.

Instead, she rushed over to him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "I am so sorry, my love. I really have to go. Call Lia over to eat with you or leave them inside the fridge, I'll eat them when I get home!" With that, she finally ran out the door and left.

"My love?" Nathan muttered, "She never called me that before. Silly Win, when did you ever learn to talk like that?" Feeling all giddy, he couldn't help but smile to himself as he walked back to kitchen.