The sky was turning dark by the time they arrived home from the supermarket. Jolly, Leroy, and Victor were already inside the house, playing poker in the living room out of sheer boredom.
When they saw Justin, Jolly waved at him and greeted, “Leroy and I skipped his movie’s appreciation dinner and rushed over when we heard that you’ll be cooking tonight. Are we your friends, or are we your friends, eh?”
Ever since Justin saved Leroy, Jolly’s impression of the man had changed entirely, becoming all chummy with him as though wishing they could have met sooner.
Meanwhile, Justin was carrying all their shopping in his hands. “If you’re a friend, you’d come and help me with the groceries.”
“I’m a girl, though. Girls are all weak and frail. I won’t be able to carry them.” Having said that, Jolly still went over and helped him out while taking a look at the things they got, mumbling, “Let me see what we’re having tonight. Turbot? Not bad, I like it! Huh?” After moving the groceries in the entryway to the kitchen, Jolly looked up to find Rachel entering empty- handed, leading her to stand with her arms akimbo. “Do you have to be so discriminatory, Justin? How dare you twist me around your little finger?”
“Twist whose finger?” Rachel was at a complete loss, for she hadn’t a clue what happened when she just arrived after parking her car.
“Nothing, Justin answered plainly. “Miss Carter voluntarily brought the groceries into the kitchen and even offered to help wash the vegetables, am I right?”
Jolly rolled her eyes at Justin after being screwed big time. “Pfft, I didn’t promise anything. I’m already pooped from a full day’s work, so I’m not going to do anything but eat. Whoever wants to help out in the kitchen, feel free to be my guest.”
With that, she dashed to the couch, looking as though she feared she’d be dragged into the kitchen. “Come on, guys. Where were we? F*ck, which one of you stole my cards? Where’s my King?”
“What King?” Victor rolled his eyes at her. “Don’t go around slandering people. All of them are with me.” Jolly shrugged at that. “Alright, my mistake.. Well, where were we?”
Beside them, Leroy couldn’t stop chuckling to himself. Victor was an idiot. With just a couple of words, he already revealed what he had. Needless to say, they didn’t need to waste much brain juice. playing poker with him.
Meanwhile, Rachel helped to prepare the ingredients in the kitchen. On the other hand, Samuel grabbed onto the edge of the kitchen island and popped half of his head out while looking at Justin.
In response, Justin looked behind his shoulder at Rachel, pulled out the Optimus Prime action. figure when she wasn’t watching, and hurriedly handed it to the boy.
“What’s your plan with these tomatoes?” Rachel suddenly turned around with a tomato in her hand. ‘Soup? Roasted?”
Samuel reacted super quickly, squatting down behind the island as soon as Rachel turned around. He thanked his kid-sized body, or Rachel would’ve likely caught him.
The things I have to do to get an Optimus Prime action figure. Justin, on the other hand, was unfazed. “Make borscht with it. It’ll help to cleanse the palate.” “Okay, I’ll prepare some carrots and celery then.”
It wasn’t until Rachel turned back around that Justin tapped on the island top. Samuel understood instantly and crawled out of the kitchen, pressing his body against the island ast he made his way into his room.
In actuality, the only blindspot was inside the kitchen. Anybody in the living room would’ve seen everything.
“Hey, check out the sneaky little thief.” Jolly gave Leroy a nudge with her elbow. Leroy looked over reflexively and found Samuel crawling into his room with his beloved Optimus Prime in his arms, looking like a thief.
Unbeknownst to Leroy, while his eyes were focused on the boy, Jolly blatantly took one of the cards they had thrown out onto the coffee table and shoved it into her deck. Victor was rendered gobsmacked. What the heck?!
“Hey, it’s your turn,” Jolly reminded Leroy. “I’ve already thrown an Ace out. Isn’t it Victor’s turn?” “I’ll pass.” Victor shook his head with a complicated gaze. Sure enough, Jolly shamelessly threw the card out. “Joker.”
“Hold up.” Leroy was stumped for a second. “How is there another colored Joker? Wasn’t it thrown out earlier?”
“What are you talking about? It has always been with me.” “Don’t mess with me. Victor threw the colored Joker out, didn’t you, Victor?”
However, Victor said nothing, only watching the drama. He finally had it all figured out. It was no wonder he had been stifled for a good few rounds. These two were definitely working as a team to cheat him.
“Dude, say something!” Leroy got anxious. However, it only got Victor to roll his eyes at him. “I didn’t see you saying anything when she stole my cards.”
Leroy instantly turned awkward upon being exposed, but Jolly took her shamelessness to the extreme. “You two pass, right? A pair of three from me it is! Game over! Come on, give me the money, both of you!” Jolly shot right up, forcing the guys to pay up..
The guys were originally pretty glum, but Leroy suddenly said, “You want us to pay up? Fine. Let’s play another round. Are you going to join us?”
With that, he exchanged a glance with Victor, who had his arms crossed in front of his chest. As though the two were telepathically linked, Victor got what Leroy was thinking in an instant. Sensing something wasn’t right, Jolly immediately shoved the cards away. ‘Let’s stop at this. We’ve played quite a few rounds.”
As she tried to make a run, Leroy grabbed her. “You’re going to run away as soon as you win, huh? That’s terrible sportsmanship. Sit down. We’re playing a couple more rounds.”
“Me? Terrible sportsmanship? Excuse me! You guys are the ones with the lousy skills. You guys will continue to lose horribly no matter how many rounds we’re playing!” “In that case, just come at me!”
Though there were only three of them in the living room, it sounded like a few tables were playing simultaneously. Just then, Rachel shouted from the kitchen, “I’m not going to stop you guys from playing, but don’t make big bets.”
She was worried Victor’s measly wage wouldn’t be enough against the two big spenders, namely Jolly and Leroy.
These two wouldn’t even bat an eyelid when they lost a couple of million a night when they gambled in places like Las Vegas. After all, one had her parents supporting her while the other could earn a fortune every day. Someone like Victor, a simple school teacher, couldn’t afford to go this far.
Justin saw through her worries at a glance and comforted her by saying, “Don’t worry. Judging by how things are looking, Leroy will help Victor to win enough money to buy a good house if Jolly doesn’t yield.”
“That woman is extremely shrewd, and she’d even go as far as to cheat. As if she would lose.” “That’s because you’re underestimating Leroy.”
“Leroy?” Rachel was bewildered. “That guy’s an angel! He’s just pissed off right now and is deliberately messing with Jolly. As if he’d really go against her.”
“Trust me, Rae. He’s no angel. Want to bet? If he wants to, he can decide who wins the game. Not only that, he’s able to determine the amount of money won or lost on the table for each person.”
It sounded so absurd to Rachel that she thought Justin was only joking. At that, shel rolled her eyes at him. “Why don’t you just say he’s the king of all gambling kings? As if I’d believe that kind of bullsh*t.”
Justin shifted his gaze to the living room, looking at Leroy’s back with profound shrewdness. Jolly’s parents must’ve had a clue about Leroy’s background, which was why they were so against their daughter dating him. The question now was when Leroy would finally come clean with Jolly. If he failed to handle it well, Ryan might get another chance at winning Jolly over.
To be honest, Justin couldn’t be bothered with gossip like this. However, Jolly was Rachel’s best friend. If things didn’t go well with her, Rachel would worry for her as well. It seemed that he would have to mull over this seriously.
