Ficorpio
Chapter 1
I was staring at the strawberry shortbread cookies Mom had just set down when a dense spray of colored words suddenly exploded in front of me.
[Help! The heroine is still working late to finish a proposal and earn milk money. Her stomach cancer was early stage, and now it’s already progressed to a late stage!]
[If those two idiots could communicate for once, their child wouldn’t end up an orphan at six!]
[The male lead, Adrian Sterling, must have cement in his head. He’s been clueless for five years and still doesn’t know he has a daughter. He can keep waiting for a lonely old age!]
[Worst of all is Nina. Her biological father is a billionaire CEO, and she’s still squeezed into a rented apartment with her sick mom. In the end, she even gets sent to foster care…]
Mom is going to die?
My little hand froze around the cookie. I looked up at Mom, who was smiling so gently. Lately, she had been rubbing her stomach a lot. At meals, she would only take a couple of bites before putting her chopsticks down. So she wasn’t just tired. She was sick?
The floating comments kept rolling across the air.
[If Sophia Bennett goes for a checkup right now, there’s still time!]
[This business trip is their last chance to meet again. Miss it, and they’ll really be separated by life and death!]
No way. If they wouldn’t say it, I would.
Three days later, I was crouched under a sparkling office tower, watching for the tall man in a suit. The second I spotted him, I shot forward like a little cannonball and wrapped my arms around his pant leg.
“Dad! Pay up! I need money to save Mom!”
My name is Annie Bennett. My nickname is Nina.
Ever since I could remember, strange symbols had floated in front of my eyes in long streams. I thought everyone could see them, until I was three and pointed at the air and asked Mom, “Mommy, what are those colorful words?”
Mom stared at me for a long time, then touched my forehead. “Does Nina have bad eyesight? Mommy can’t see anything.”
Only later did I realize it was a secret only I could unlock.
Mom said I was smarter than other kids, and when I was three she started teaching me to read and count. By the time I was four, I could finally understand those strange symbols. They were called floating comments, and they could tell me lots of things ahead of time, like the candy Mom hid under her pillow, or the nursery rhyme the kindergarten teacher was going to quiz us on.
But today’s floating comments weren’t fun at all.
[Sophia, stop! Your life matters more than work!]
[That idiot Adrian is still waiting for the heroine to turn back to him, and he doesn’t even know his daughter can already run errands!]
[Nina, your biological dad is in Sterling Holdings in the city your mom is traveling to. Hurry and take your mom there to claim him!]
Chapter 2
I was still staring blankly at the comments when Mom came home from work. She looked troubled.
“Nina,” she said softly, “Mom has to go on a business trip to the next city the day after tomorrow. Can you stay at Aunt Nora’s for two days? She’ll take you to kindergarten.”
The comments immediately flooded the air.
[It’s this trip! In the original timeline, the heroine was supposed to run into the male lead here, and they missed each other by a hair!]
[Sophia, you’re being ridiculous! Go to the hospital and get checked out. Stop forcing yourself to make money!]
[Waaah, the heroine gives up treatment at the late stage, saves every penny for Nina, and dies in that rented apartment…]
Sophia.
That was Mom’s name.
I jerked my head up. Mom’s chin was so sharp it almost pointed at her collarbone, and there were faint shadows under her eyes. She really had gotten a lot thinner lately. The last time she held me, I could feel the bones in her arm.
“No!” I shook my head without even thinking.
Mom clearly hadn’t expected me to refuse. She softened her voice and coaxed me, “Nina, be good. I’m only gone for three days. Once I’m done, I’ll come back and pick you up.”
I threw myself at her and wrapped my arms around her leg, tilting my red little face up at her. “Mom, let me go with you! I already know everything they teach in kindergarten. I promise I won’t cause trouble. I’ll just sit quietly next to you and wait!”
“How could that work?” Mom crouched down and lightly brushed my cheek with her fingertip. “It’s not safe outside, and when I’m working, I won’t be able to watch you.”
“I’ll stay good by myself!” I nodded hard and thumped my little chest. “I can hand you documents, pour you warm water, and be your little helper!”
Mom had never been able to resist it when I got clingy. She looked into my wet eyes and hesitated for a long time. In the end, she gave in anyway. “All right. I’ll ask your teacher for leave. But you have to promise me something: once we’re out, you stay right beside me. No running off.”
“Yay!” I hugged her neck so hard I nearly climbed onto her.
It was my first time traveling far from home. On the high-speed train, Mom leaned by the window and kept working. I sprawled on the fold-down tray table and stared at the floating comment stream in front of me.
[Finally brought the kid along! This plot is about to change!] [The heroine’s company is right next to Sterling Holdings, and Adrian walks past there every day. How did they still miss each other? I honestly don’t get it!] [Nina, go! Find your dad, and your mom will be saved!]
Find Dad?
Chapter 3
I knew all the kids in kindergarten had dads, and Mom had always said mine had gone a very long way away. I’d always thought that meant he was gone forever. So he was still alive. And rich?
The comments said Mom had worked hard to raise me, so Dad should help too. Anyway, neither of them seemed willing to speak up first, so I might as well be the messenger!
“Mom, what does Dad look like?” I asked that question for the very first time.
The fingers tapping on her keyboard paused. Mom’s smile faded a little, and her eyes drifted somewhere far away. “Your dad… he’s very tall, with big eyes. He just doesn’t have the best temper.”
A bad temper still didn’t mean he could avoid raising his kid. I grumbled to myself.
By the time we reached the neighboring city, Mom took me straight to the company where she was here on business.
She and her coworkers had to go upstairs to talk about the partnership, and it wasn’t convenient to bring me along. So she settled me on the sofa in the lobby on the first floor.
“Nina, make sure this kids’ smartwatch stays on,” Mom said, checking the location tracker over and over again. “If anything happens, call me. If you’re thirsty or hungry, ask the lady at the front desk for help. And absolutely do not run outside on your own, understand?”
“Got it!” I nodded hard.
I watched her figure disappear into the elevator.
The second the doors closed, I hopped off the sofa and sprinted out of the building in a flash.
The floating comment stream went wild in front of me.
[Kid! Look left! The man in the black Bentley is your dad!]
[Adrian Sterling! That’s your biological daughter! Get out here and claim her!]
[Nina, go! Grab his leg and don’t let go. That’s the heir to a fortune big enough to make your head spin!]
I followed where the comments pointed.
Not far from the entrance of Sterling Tower, a black car pulled up slowly and stopped.
The door opened. Two men in suits got out first, and then a tall man stepped out after them.
He wore a perfectly tailored black suit. His features were deep and sharp, and his mouth was pressed into a straight line. He looked cold, exactly like Mom had said: a bad temper and all.
[It’s him! Go, Nina!]
I clenched my little fists and ran toward him on my short legs. The moment he passed by me, I lunged forward and grabbed the leg of his pants.
“Dad!”
The man stopped.
The entire area went silent.
I looked up at him and added loudly, “Pay up! I need to save Mom!”