Chapter 196 Sorry, I Choose My Dream
The next day, after her first morning lecture at the academy, Teresa called to inquire about her exam paper.
To her dismay, she was told that her paper was missing.
—Missing? You've got to be kidding!
Feeling frustrated, she couldn’t hold back her tears.
Could it really be such a coincidence? She was almost certain she had aced the exam, yet the outcome was a failure. Now, when she wanted to verify it, her paper had vanished.
Coincidence? Or foul play?
Regardless, Teresa couldn’t just let it go. She was determined to find her paper and seek justice.
After ending the call, she immediately requested leave from the academy's authorities. True to her word, she would fly to the capital to investigate her exam paper personally.
If the staff there refused to cooperate upon her arrival, she would ask Hayden for help. She trusted that Hayden would assist her in this matter.
Not wanting to disrupt Gabriel's work, Teresa didn't notify him. She booked her flight online and headed straight for the airport.
Teresa had been discretely followed by the bodyguard to the airport. He didn't realize something was amiss till she got her boarding pass and went to security check that he quickly contacted Finley.
Teresa had been tight-lipped earlier, and the guard had assumed she was there to pick someone up, not realizing that she had plans to board a flight herself.
Meanwhile, Finley was in a meeting with Gabriel and the executives from Capital Construction when his phone buzzed. Seeing it was from Teresa's bodyguard, he quickly excused himself and answered the call.
On learning that Teresa had ditched her security detail to go through the security check, Finley was taken aback. After hanging up, he stormed back into the conference room, made a beeline for Gabriel, and whispered the news into his ear.
Gabriel's brows furrowed instantly. After quickly delegating the meeting to Finley, he hurried off.
The executives weren't surprised by his abrupt departure, suspecting that it must be something to do with her wife.
Gabriel had never been one to rush off for anything before marrying Teresa. However, since their wedding, he had changed, in a way that made him seem more grounded and human, a change the executives actually found more endearing.
Leaving the Capital Construction building, Gabriel dove into his car, instructing the driver to head to the airport as fast as possible while trying to call Teresa.
But her phone was on silent, tucked away in her bag during security check; she didn't notice the incessant flashing.
Having passed the checkpoint, she heard the boarding announcement for her flight. Hurrying to the gate, she was preoccupied, her phone blinking unnoticed inside her bag.
Teresa had a grueling fifteen minutes to make the walk from River North International Airport's security to the boarding gate, arriving barely in time to be the last passenger on board.
After settling into her first-class seat, Teresa finally exhaled a sigh of relief, pulled out her phone, and planned to call Gabriel and then casually check in with Hayden.
However, she was greeted with a slew of missed calls, all from Gabriel.
If the bodyguard had been with her all the way to the airport, it didn't make sense for Gabriel to be unaware that she had already cleared security.
Hurriedly, she hit redial.
"Honey, where are you?" The phone barely rang once before Gabriel picked up, his voice urgent and filled with concern.
"Sorry, darling, I didn't want to interrupt your work, so I didn't tell you in advance; I'm already on the plane to the capital city. Don't worry about me. It's just about checking some papers, I'll be fine. Besides, if anything goes wrong, Hayden's got my back!" Teresa rambled on in one breath, trying to reassure Gabriel.
"Honey, get off the plane now, wait for me; I'll go with you." On the other end of the phone, Gabriel's voice came through without any hesitation, "Plus, you don't need to go all that way just to check some papers. With one word from you, plenty of folks would jump in to help you out."
"I'm sorry, the plane's already taxiing. I can't get off now," Teresa pouted, feeling a bit guilty for concerning Gabriel, "I would feel at ease until I see those papers in person! Really, you don't need to come after me. I'm not a toddler; I can handle such little things."
On the phone, Gabriel could only sigh in resignation and compromise, "Well, once you land at the destination, don't go anywhere. Wait there for me; I'll catch the next flight over."
"Darling, ......."
"Please!"
Hearing that mix of helplessness and indulgence in Gabriel's voice, Teresa's heart melted. Obediently, she nodded, "Okay, I'll wait for you at the airport."
"Good," Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief and then reminded her, "As soon as you land, let me know."
"Yeah, I will," she assured him.
After exchanging a few more sweet nothings, they ended the call. Teresa felt as if her heart was filled with honey, overwhelmed with sweetness.
Leaning back in her seat, the previous gloom vanished due to her elevated spirits, compounded by the short amount of sleep she had gotten the night before after Gabriel's playful disturbance. She drifted off to sleep without realizing it.
She slept through more than two hours of deep sleep, waking as the aircraft gently landed at Capital International Airport.
After disembarking, Teresa sent Gabriel a message and waited for him in a private lounge, then reached out to Hayden.
"Can you believe it? I didn't pass the written exam, and now my papers are missing," she texted Hayden, who immediately responded with three emojis showing a face of shock and disbelief.
"Yeah, I'm at Capital International Airport waiting for Gabriel to arrive, then we'll head straight to check on my papers."
I have a good friend in the administration. I'll ask her to look into it and see what's really going on. Chances are, this is all just a big mix-up.
Hayden couldn't think of any other explanation. Although the Garcias didn't dominate in the capital, but who in the nation didn't know their influence, who didn’t respect Mason, and whose life wasn't somehow touched by Capital Construction or Nebula?
There's no way this was sabotage; no one wanted to stop Teresa from becoming a diplomat.
"Thanks, honey." Teresa texted back.
As she focused on her phone in the lounge waiting, about an hour later, she took a bathroom break. Coming back, she looked up and immediately noticed Gabriel standing there.
"Darling," she said joyfully, rushing into his arms.
