As soon as the pierogi was served, Gloria and Jolly began to race against each other to see who could eat the most pierogies. For that, the ladies made Victor the judge who was tasked with keeping count of the pierogies they ate before determining who the winner was. In the meantime, Rachel was heading into the kitchen with an empty plate in her hands, her mind filled with the words that Justin said before lunch. Too absorbed in her train of thought, she tripped and fell, shouting in fear just as she felt a pair of arms getting a hold of her. “Are you alright?”
It was only when Rachel looked up and set her eyes on Justin that she realized she had accidentally spilled her soup all over the man’s shirt. “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry.” She then looked around her for something to wipe his shirt but to no avail. At the same time, she couldn’t stop beating herself up for that, knowing that an oily stain like that could only be removed through washing instead of wiping.
“It’s alright.” Upon hearing the commotion in the living room, Victor turned around and saw Justin’s shirt dampened with the soup. Thus, he immediately said, “If you wouldn’t mind, you could head over to my bedroom and get changed. Just pick any shirt you like from my wardrobe.”
“Of course I wouldn’t mind. Thanks.”
When Justin was done changing, he stepped out of his bedroom and saw Rachel standing by the door in a preoccupied manner. “I’m done.” In the meantime, Rachel only snapped out of her trance when she heard the man’s gentle voice. As Justin wore Victor’s black hoodie, the sleeves seemed a little too short to cover his entire arms, which made it look a little too small for him. “Is that all there is? This shirt looks a little too small for you.”
“Nope.” Justin added helplessly, “The others look even smaller in size.” “Well then, I guess this shirt will have to do. Give me your stained shirt, by the way.”
“It’s okay. I’m good.” Despite Justin’s unconcerned reply, Rachel still went ahead and took his shirt away from him. “I’ll take it to the laundry shop later and return it to you in 2 days.” Unable to argue with the lady, Justin eventually gave in to her.
“Can you see it? I ate the most pierogies! So, that means I’m going to have a good run this year! Burp!” “You ate almost half of the big pot. I can’t continue anymore anyway, so I don’t care if you have a good run this year. You win. Burp!
Jolly, who won her race against Gloria, celebrated happily, filling the living room with her laughter and cheers. Meanwhile, Rachel’s eyes appeared to be filled with complicated emotions, as she confirmed with Justin once again. “Are you sure you’re not kidding me? Leroy…
“Why would I joke with something like that? The only reason that Mr. Carter is against the relationship between his daughter and Leroy because he found out about the situation way earlier than we thought he would.”
“No wonder.” Rachel suddenly caught on to Justin’s point, finding Jolly’s situation strange because her parents were known to be open- minded. Therefore, she couldn’t believe they would object to Jolly’s relationship with Leroy just because he was a celebrity. Upon hearing Justin’s answer, she started to suspect that there could be some other reason behind the situation. Soon, Rachel leaned against the wall and let out a sigh. “Should I tell her then?”
On the other hand, Justin subconsciously extended his arm to pat Rachel’s shoulder to comfort her, but as soon as he did that, he retracted his arm immediately, his fingers bending and stiffening in the air. He then replied, “I think we should just let it be and see how it plays out.”
“Well, I suppose that’s the only thing we can do for now. Anyway, Gloria and Victor’s wedding is just around the corner, and I think Leroy will probably attend the occasion. By then, I’ll ask him what’s on his mind.”
“Let me do the asking, perhaps.” Considering the complications that revolved around Leroy’s position, Justin thought it was better to keep Rachel out of the complicated matter. The lesser she knows, the better.
“We’ll see how it plays out when the time comes. If Leroy refuses to tell Jolly the truth, 1 will. After all, I think she deserves to know the truth.” Nevertheless, Rachel answered with a sigh, to which Justin reacted speechlessly.
Since it was the first New Year’s Eve’s night after Gloria and Victor’s wedding, Rachel reckoned it was necessary to give them some space and privacy, so she left with the others not long after they finished their lunch.
On her way back to the Carter Residence with Rachel, Jolly was reminded of something, so she asked, “Victor called out to Justin when we were all leaving and gave him something. What was it?”
“You’re observant, aren’t you? It’s some pierogies,” Rachel replied. “I thought we just had that during lunch just now? Does he still crave that so much that he wants to take some away? Furthermore, Justin could always get his chef to make some for him back in his summer villa whenever he feels like eating them. After all, I bet their cooking is probably even better than Victor’s. Don’t you think so?”
“Well, spare a thought for the chef because even they may be home celebrating New Year’s Day with their family.” Rachel gently reminded Jolly, who immediately understood the reason behind what she saw.
“Oh, I see. By the way, I guess that could also be the case for our maid, right? So if she is going back home later at night, then Justin…” Jolly swallowed the words that were forming at the tip of her tongue just when she was about to speak her mind.
“Out with it, won’t you? Since when have your become so indecisive?” Rachel was helpless. “I just want to say that it’s going to be a lonely new year for him because not even the kids are with him.”
Rachel paused, not knowing what to say upon hearing Jolly’s words. Although she was willing to let Charlotte celebrate New Year’s Day with Justin, she knew her daughter was inseparable from her brother, Samuel. While Samuel was Rachel’s son in name only, she was worried that Mr. and Mrs. Carter, who were both aware of that, would not agree to let their maternal grandchildren celebrate New Year’s Day with an outsider, which put her in a difficult position.
However, she didn’t think she had time to think about that because the moment she arrived at the Carter Residence, Marilyn immediately urged her to get a haircut before the hair salon was closed. For that, she took Rachel and Jolly to the hair salon in a hurry.
Sitting in the chair, Charlotte found roller clips all over her hair as her legs dangled over the edge of her seat. “Mommy, there is smoke coming out of my hair.”
“That’s steam.”
“Ew! How come it still stinks? But I remember washing my hair yesterday!”
“That’s the smell of the hair spray. When you’re done, it’ll be gone.” “Mommy, why didn’t anyone ever tell me to perm my hair when it was Christmas?”
“Um…”
“Samuel, is your hair permed? Does that mean you don’t have to perm your hair anymore?”
Charlotte was curious about everything she laid eyes on in the hair salon. After all, she always had her haircut at home as her hair stylist was told to visit Rachel’s residence. Therefore, the girl had never seen the sight of several people sitting next to each other for a haircut with a mirror in front of each of them.
Meanwhile, Rachel was only given a simple haircut, whereupon she sat on the couch at the back and read a magazine, casually answering Charlotte’s questions, among which were some tough ones that made her go as far as to pretend that she had to rack her brain for an answer. “Miss Hudson, there is someone who’d like to see you outside,” one of the hair stylists said.
“Who?” Rachel appeared to be confused.
“Someone who goes by ‘Mr. Peters’.”
As soon as the hair stylist finished her sentence, Jolly, who had already dozed off, immediately snapped out of her cat nap, stretching out her neck to peek outside the window with roller clips all over her hair. “Where?”
However, Rachel only closed her magazine while ignoring Jolly. She then stepped out of the hair salon and saw a silhouette leaning on a car parked by the roadside. It turned out that the man was wearing a coat that was khaki in color with a pair of frameless glasses. When he saw Rachel, he quickly stepped away from his car and stood straight, facing her.
“Happy New Year.”
Rachel curled her lips upward and greeted the man back. “Happy New Year. What brings you here, by the way?”
“I just paid a visit to Mr. Carter not long ago and chatted with him for a bit. Then, I heard that you guys and Mrs. Carter are right here, so I figured I should drop by and say hello,” Julian answered.
In fact, the Burton Group and Carter Enterprise cooperated with each other as Julian became closer and closer to Jolly’s parents. Back then, Mr. and Mrs. Carter even thought highly of Julian, thinking he would perhaps make a good son-in-law for them.
Not long after that, Rachel nodded in a preoccupied manner and asked, “Why don’t you come inside and say hi to the rest?”
