Unexpected Encounter: A Second Chance at Love

"Who was he?" Tina inquired.

"One of the many people I wanna murder someday." Elsa grumpily sat on her seat.

"What's his name?" Rachael curiously inquired. The familiarity was still bothering her.

"Samuel Petrov." She looked at Rachael and asked, "Do you know him?"

"I don't know—" she frowned. "Although he looks very familiar. How do you know him?"

Keeping quiet for a while, Elsa answered, "Our families are rivals."

When the three of them gave her a confused look, she explained, "We Volkov's hate the Petrov's and vice versa. It's a mutual feeling of hate and resentment. It has been passed on since generations."

"Though Samuel is a jerk, his big brother, Igor Petrov is worse," she added. "You have no idea how many times they have tried to hurt our family. They hate us to the core and we do the same."

Elsa looked at Rachael. "Andrew doesn't like Samuel."

"Andrew is a Volkov too?" Emma frowned.

"Volkov is his mother's maiden name," Rachael explained.

"It's Andrew's surname too." When Rachael gave her a confused look, Elsa raised her brows. "You don't know? His full name is Andrew Volkov Collins."

…..

[Collins Mansion]

[10:00 PM]

After shopping the entire afternoon and evening, Rachael was exhausted. Her legs were hurting and her eyelids felt very droopy but she forced herself to stay up. She was still waiting for Andrew's call.

As she was about to give in to the exhaustion, her phone started ringing.

Without wasting any time, she quickly answered it.

"Were you sleeping?"

"No, I was waiting for your call." Sitting up straight, she added, "Did you reach home?"

"Not yet, I am still in the car," he answered. "Did you have fun today?"

"Hmm, we went shopping and then ended up having lunch and dinner outside," she chuckled. "Elsa is a shopaholic."

"That girl knows no limit," he sighed. Who better than him knew how crazy his cousin could go when it came to buying things.

"By the way, today I found out a new thing," she remarked.

"What is it?"

"I found out that my husband's full name is Andrew Volkov Collins." Before he could say anything, she added, "So does that make me Mrs.Vokov Collins?"

Keeping quiet for a while, he asked, "Do you like it?"

"Why? Don't you?"

"No, I don't like it," he stated. "I want you to be only Mrs.Collins."

Andrew was forced to add his mother's maiden surname. If given a choice, he would have never agreed to it. Being called a Volkov was like a curse to him.

He would never let Rachael be a Volkov.

"Then I'll be only your Mrs.Collins," she smiled. "Are you happy now?"

"Rach, if you keep saying sweet things like this, I will be forced to abandon work and take the next flight back home." He said in all seriousness.

When he heard her muffled laugh, he sighed, "You are having fun, aren't you?"

"Maybe—" She lied down and gently caressed the empty side of the bed. "The bed feels so cold without you."

"The moment I finish my work here, I am catching the earliest flight and coming back to you."

"The earlier you come, you'll get to see the gift I bought for you today."

"Gift for me?" When she let out an affirmative sound, he inquired, "What did you buy?"

"It's a surprise which you'll get to know when you come home."

Andrew sighed and helplessly shook his head. "You know you are torturing me, right?"

"I just miss you," she muttered.

Though she said it in a very soft tone, Andrew heard it. His lips curled up.

"Are you sleepy?"

"Hmmm—"

"Sleep then, I'll call you tomorrow." She was out for the entire day, he figured out she must have been very tired.

When she did not say anything, he called her out once. "Rach?"

When he did not get a reply even after a few seconds, he hung up the call.

...

[Moscow, Russia]

As soon as Andrew hung up the call, Owen, who was sitting next to him scoffed. "All the love around you is making me nauseous."

"You are just jealous," Justin remarked.

"Jealous my a*ss," he retorted. "I would rather kill myself than fall in love and act like a fool."

"Let's talk about this again when you actually fall for someone," Andrew remarked as he scrolled through his phone.

[Elsa: Samuel Petrov is here. We bumped into him at the mall and it seems like he knows Rachael]

Andrew's expression darkened and his happy mood vanished as soon as he read the message.

Noticing the change in his expression, Justin inquired, "What wrong?"

"Samuel Petrov is in Elisberg City," Andrew answered before calling Elsa.

As soon as she received the call, he said, "Tell me everything."

...

[Next day]

Rachael woke up with a phone call from Ben.

As soon as she received the call, Ben's panic stricken voice greeted her.

"G-Good morning madam, I am so sorry to disturb you early in the morning."

"It's alright, what happened? Is everything okay?" She sat up straight.

"Yes—actually no," he answered. "There is some problem in the office."

Without waiting for her reply, he explained, "We had an important project in line. Before leaving, the boss had finalized everything but now there is a slight problem with the plan we had settled for. Boss won't be here for a few weeks so—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Rachael said, "I'll be there as soon as possible."

"I am extremely sorry for disturbing you like this madam—" Ben didn't want to burden Rachael while Andrew was away but he didn't really have a choice.

"You don't have to apologize, it's my responsibility." Though she hadn't officially joined work, she was still the Vice President of the company.

"I'll come to pick you up madam."

"Yeah okay, you can brief me with the whole thing on the way."

"Okay madam."

After hanging up the call, Rachael quickly rushed to the washroom.

...