“A vacation to Ireland for free for three days for all of you? Wow … who gave that vacation, Anne?” Asked Aaron curiously.

“Mr. Leonardo Ganke,” said Anne briefly, mentioning Leon’s name again now felt different to her, there was no feeling of annoyance or anger anymore, after she let go of all the feelings in her chest.

​​

“Leonardo Ganke from Germany, you mean, Anne?” Aaron said quietly, repeating Anne’s words.

Anne nodded her head slowly at Aaron’s words, a warm smile appeared on Anne’s lips right now.

“What a generous guy, giving a luxurious vacation like that for all the students who take part in …”

“I’m not going, Aaron, I’ve just started working. I can’t possibly leave my job for a vacation like that,” said Anne quickly interrupting Aaron’s words.

“Work, where did you work, Anne?” Aaron asked in surprise. 

“I work in a flower shop, there’s no way I’m leaving my job for a vacation. Finding money is more fun than having to waste money like that,” said Anne excitedly.

“Yes, you’re right, but a vacation with college friends like that won’t come twice, Anne, there must be lots of fun things that will happen there. You should enjoy your time with your college friends, Anne. Just leave your work for a while and go on the vacation, Anne,” Aaron said quietly.

“I wanted to, but Linda, my friend, couldn’t come because she had to work too, so I just chose to work,” said Anne quickly as she reached for the glass of warm honey water on the table and drank it slowly.

Aaron was increasingly stunned by the girl in front of him right now. This was the first time he found a girl who preferred to keep working rather than having a fun vacation. 

Meanwhile, in his new residence, Jack had just finished work. He was checking some documents that must be signed for submission to his lawyers tomorrow morning, concerning the establishment of Muller Finance International’s new London office. Opening a subsidiary company in another country was not easy, much of which must be taken care of, starting from business permits, letters of recommendation from the local government and others. And he had to finish everything as soon as possible before his new office could begin to operate. Opening a finance office in London with a big name that was quite famous was not an easy thing for Jack. It was like he was betting his big name again, he had to bring the new Muller Finance International as successful as the one in Switzerland, because otherwise his good name would be tarnished in the eyes of his other business partners and Jack didn’t want that to happen. He had to make this new Muller Finance International subsidiary as successful as its parent, which was why he brought all the core team temporarily to London. 

“Okay Erick, everything is enough for tonight. You can go and rest, tomorrow morning we still have a lot to take care of in the office,” said Jack softly while massaging the nape of his neck which felt sore.

“I’m not tired, sir, I can do other things too.” Erick replied, quickly refusing to Jack’s subtle order to rest.

“Your mouth can say that you’re not tired, but your face and eyes don’t. Hurry up and rest, or I’ll be angry,” Jack said curtly.

“A-alright sir, I’m going to rest,” said Erick stuttered. After saying that, Erick tidied up the files that were in front of him and put them back in one file.

“Excuse me sir, I’m going to my room first,” said Erick briefly.

Jack only raised one hand up as a response to Erick’s words. He continued his many work alone. All the teams that came today with Erick had already rested before Erick, so that currently only Jack who was still working.

“I have to finish everything on time, after that I can annoy Anne again. I’m doing this for you, Anne, to be closer to you, I am willing to restart my business from scratch in another country,” Jack said softly with a smile. Remembering Anne had boosted his energy to finish his job. 

The day that all students who were involved in the performance had been waiting for a few days finally arrived. They were all asked to gather on campus because they would have a documentation session first with Leonardo Ganke and his wife Steffani Ganke, who were the main sponsors of this trip. The students looked very enthusiastic waiting for the rich businessman to arrive, they were busy with their respective activities. Several girls were seen taking turns to take group photos and laughing together, making the atmosphere in the main hall of the University of the Arts London very busy and noisy.

“You’re sure that Anne will be on this vacation?” Edward asked Austin, one of the students, who was in charge of recording the students who were going on the vacation to Ireland. 

“Yes, yesterday I asked Gabriela again. She said that her classmates were all going,” Austin replied quickly. 

“Thank God,” Edward said, relieved.

At first Edward didn’t want to join this event, but when he heard that Anne was going, he canceled his activities with his family to go to Italy to watch a music concert of one of the best pianists in Italy. Even Sarah, Edward’s ex-lover, who at first didn’t want to participate, finally joined at the last seconds of the data collection done by Austin. She decided to go to Ireland after knowing Edward was going to come. Sarah really couldn’t move on from Edward and tried to get close to Edward again, but she forgot that Edward never wanted to return to her former lover. According to him, discarded items were not suitable for use again, as well as for the women he had dumped. 

Not long after, a limousine was seen entering the campus area. The car was carrying Leonardo Ganke and his wife, Steffani. As soon as he saw the guests had arrived, Professor Gilbert immediately ran to greet them with a friendly smile. He was happy to have succeeded in attracting one of the CEOs of a large company in Germany to become a partner of the arts campus. So, in the future, he would have no trouble in finding a company that would accept interns for his students again. Therefore he put the company name Leonardo Ganke with a full page on the official website of the University of the Arts London.

“Welcome sir, madam,” said Professor Gilbert kindly to Leon and Steffi, who had just got out of the car. 

“Have everyone gathered, Professor?” Asked Leon quickly while glancing at the students who had gathered. He tried to find Anne that he had missed for the past two days. 

to be continued