Chapter 283 I’m a Dysfunctional Person
“What are you doing here?” Amber’s expression changed as soon as she saw Rachel, and the former stared at the latter guardedly. Just then, Rachel came to her senses. “I should be the one asking you this question, right?” “Rachel, what do you mean by that?!”
“The engagement is already called off, yet the two of you seem to be joined at the hip. Are you guys trying to create further topics for the press and contribute some tabloid news on behalf of both the Burton Group and Hudson Pharmaceuticals?” Rachel spoke in a cold voice and she sounded angry. Her reaction caused Justin to feel slightly joyful as he explained himself, “You’ve misunderstood the situation. Amber and I—”
“Chris!” Hernandez’s voice rang out from behind Rachel and he cut off Justin’s words. “Oh—this is such a coincidence. You’ve bumped into someone we know,” Hernandez greeted Justin quite naturally and calmly upon seeing him. “It’s been quite a while since we last met, Mr. Burton.”
Meanwhile, Justin frowned. “Why are you here?”
“I’m here for lunch with Chris. Aren’t the two of you here for lunch as well?”
Just then, Hernandez shot a suggestive look at Justin and Amber, and then he spoke up meaningfully. “Mr. Burton, it looks like you’ve got a different target, huh? Should I express my gratitude then?”
Justin’s expression darkened significantly when he heard that.
Meanwhile, Amber was her usual pretentious self and she put on a world-class act as she pretended to explain the situation, “You guys have misunderstood us. Justin and I have something to discuss, so we met up here.”
“There’s no need to explain things.” As soon as Justin said that, he walked past Rachel and he clearly exuded a cold, domineering demeanor.
Just then, Amber shot a smug look at Rachel before quickly joining him. “Justin, wait up.”
As for Rachel, she was quite composed and she merely mentioned, “Let’s go to another restaurant.”
At that moment, Justin paused in his tracks and he turned around to find that Rachel and Hernandez had gone back to their seats to gather their belongings. Subsequently, they left immediately without any intention of staying on any longer than necessary.
Just then, Amber tried to fuel the flames as she spitefully mentioned, “Justin, what are they discussing anyway? Why are they intentionally avoiding you?”
Instantly, Justin furrowed his brows, and all of a sudden, there was a frosty look on his face.
Truth was, Amber was partially correct. Rachel and Hernandez did want to have their discussion privately, but they were trying to avoid Amber instead of Justin.
After they had ended the discussion, night had also descended.
Just then, Rachel received a phone call from Jolly, and the latter mentioned that the two kids were exhausted after a fun-filled day so they had fallen asleep at her house.
“I’ll go and pick them up tomorrow, then.”
“Sure. Anyway, you can leave them with me. There’s no need to worry about them.”
After Rachel had hung up the phone, she directly made her way back to the Burton Residence.
She got back home, but the servants weren’t there and the house was eerily silent without any lights on.
Just then, she flicked on the light switch and noticed that there was a figure on the couch. Startled, she yelled out, “You’re home? Why didn’t you switch on the lights?”
There was only a single lamp in the room, so it was quite dim inside. The lights illuminated Justin, but his figure looked quite scary sitting there.
“You’re back quite late. Where’s Charlotte?”
Rachel finally recollected herself and she changed into the bedroom slippers as she explained, “She’s at Jolly’s place. The two kids were too exhausted after their fun-filled day, so she fell asleep there. I’ll pick her up tomorrow.”
“So is this a proper behavior of a mother?”
His sudden interrogative words caused her to halt in her steps. “What do you mean by that?”
“You cast your own child aside and hand her over to someone else to take care of. Then, you go on a date with another man and come back late at night without even picking your child up. Is this what responsibility means to you?”
“Jolly isn’t a stranger and you know very well that she’s related to Samuel.”
“How is she related to Charlotte, then?”
“She…”
“Besides, she’s someone who abandoned her child right after giving birth, and even refused to acknowledge him. How can you trust someone like that with your child?”
Just then, Rachel found Justin’s random outburst of anger quite illogical.
She took a deep breath before exhaling slowly as she tried her best to remain calm and communicate in a nice manner, “Can you calm down first?”
“I need to calm down?!” At that point, Justin clenched his fists tightly and strode in her direction. However, he didn’t even bother to cast his eyes on her; he only changed his shoes and left the place.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to pick Charlotte up.”
“Justin Burton!” Rachel stopped him immediately. “It’s very late now and they’re fast asleep. Do you really have to go over and wake them up? Why are you losing your temper all of a sudden?”
Meanwhile, Justin was insistent on leaving and his actions rendered Rachel completely speechless.
“Are you really insisting on going over there right now? Tell me—how do you plan on getting there? You can’t catch a cab at this time of the night. Do you dare to drive?”
At that moment, Justin tightened his grip on the doorknob that he had his hand wrapped around.
His fear of driving was ultimately an obstacle that bothered him very much. He had thought that he had overcome this fear when Samuel had been kidnapped but unfortunately, after that incident, he still experienced a severe headache as soon as he touched the steering wheel.
“Are you mocking me?”
Justin turned around gradually and his expression was thunderous. “In your eyes, I’m just a dysfunctional person who doesn’t even dare to drive and has incomplete memories, right?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But your actions clearly indicated that.”
“What did I do?”
Suddenly, there was a flash of anger in Justin’s eyes and he could no longer contain his anger as he grabbed Rachel forcefully by her arms. “How many times have you met up in secret with Hernandez under the pretext of bringing the kids out?!”
His forceful move caused Rachel’s back to bang against the shoe rack in the foyer, and the intense pain rendered her speechless.
“Today, I coincidentally bumped into you, but what about those other times when I never did?”
“Justin Burton, are you out of your mind?” Rachel struggled to get out of his arms. “In your mind, can a man and a woman only be involved in a sexual relationship? Other than that, there’s nothing else that they could do?! Then, did I mention anything about you and Amber?”
“Well, I would rather you interrogated me about that!” Suddenly, a loud male voice reverberated in the room.
Upon hearing that, Rachel was significantly stunned and she looked at him with a shocked expression.
Meanwhile, Justin kept both hands tightly pressed against her shoulders to stop her from even moving a single inch. His reddened eyes were full of displeased resentment as he growled, “Why didn’t you question me for the reason I met up for lunch with Amber? Actually, you don’t even care that I met up with another woman, right? I’m asking you a question, so answer me!”
At that point, Rachel tried to push him aside. “I have nothing to say to you.”
Instantly, Justin’s anger flared up and there was practically fire coming out of his ears.
Suddenly, he tightened his grip on her struggling body and leaned forward.
“Mmph—”
Rachel’s eyes widened in shock and unexpectedly, her words were cut off as her lips were sealed all of a sudden.
Justin’s kiss, filled with the scent of tobacco, was dominating and raging. It felt as if he was in a race to conquer better ground as he went on without any hint of tenderness. He forced open her lips and invaded forcefully.
Meanwhile, Rachel was fully conscious, so she somehow mustered up her inner strength and shoved him aside abruptly.
Thwack! Suddenly, the sound of a loud slap rang out and it reverberated for quite a while in the living room.
Instantly, Justin’s face turned red and swollen, and there was an evident handprint on the right side of his face. Meanwhile, he stared back at her in shock.
At that moment, Rachel panted as she countered, “Did I force you to go and have lunch with Amber? What do you mean by all this? Is this a preemptive move?”
