“Stop looking at it.” Rachel took the phone away and deleted the message in front of Jolly. “Don’t let this ruin your day. Just pretend that you didn’t see anything.”
“I’m gonna block her number. It’s annoying that she kept texting me.” Jolly plopped down on the staircase and grumbled as she swiped on her phone.
Rachel didn’t stop her from doing so, but she knew that the only way to go was for Jolly to get a new number, as Estelle could always send another message using a new number. Since it was the new year, Rachel didn’t have time for that, so she tried to distract Jolly by asking her to move some stuff.
“Help me move these to the car boot. We will be leaving soon.”
“These?”
“Yes, just these.”
“Jolly, let me help you!” Charlotte rushed over to help out as she saw them. “Good girl. Could you carry them?” “Yes, I can. I’ll carry this.” With that, she displayed how ‘strong’ she was by carrying a box that was as tall as her and walking outside. It seemed like a piece of cake to her.
“Chris, is your daughter Hercules?” Jolly looked over at Rachel in awe. “The box only contains two plush toys,” Rachel replied calmly. It did not take rocket science to know how strong a six-year-old could be. Jolly was just too imaginative.
When it was almost noon, Justin was seen at the entrance of the Summer Resort. It was his second lap, jogging around the forests surrounding his house. During his third lap, Gloria’s car drove past him.
“Justin!” Hearing that, he stopped and looked back to see Gloria’s car. “Happy New Year.” The beaming bride-to-be stuck her head out from the front passenger seat and greeted him.
“Happy New Year.” Justin smiled and glanced over at Victor before greeting him by nodding at him. “You guys are early,” he added.
“Well, since we have nothing to do at home, we decided to come over and help out. Um, that doesn’t sound right since it’s our wedding. Hahaha! I guess we’re just here to do our part.”
Gloria giggled.
After chatting for some time, Victor nudged her, and she finally realized that Justin had been standing in the cold as they chatted. “Right, Justin, you should get into our car, and we can continue our conversation in your house since it’s freezing outside.”
“You guys go ahead first. I’ll do two more laps.” “You’re going to continue jogging? I’ve never known that you’re so into it.” She seemed surprised. Throughout the 20 years that she had known him, he never had the habit of jogging, even if the doctor suggested that he do so. He would always turn a deaf ear to the doctors’ advice.
“Well, I may as well do it since I have some free time.” He jogged away right after.
“Hey-” As she looked at his back, she didn’t get to ask him the question she had, and Justin had already left. She then turned over to Victor and asked, “What is going on? Why is he starting to work out only when he’s getting older?”
“Old people enjoy working out. Didn’t you notice the elderly men and women in our neighborhood who would start exercising every morning?” Victor answered as he was holding on to the steering wheel. Hearing that, she seemed nervous. “Oh my, do you think that he is going through andropause?”
“I think it’s unlikely since he’s only 40.” “No way. This shouldn’t be happening.” She immediately took her mobile phone out.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to ask Jolly about the symptoms of andropause.”
“Why would you ask her that?” He looked at her puzzledly. “Stop asking the obvious. She’s the only one among us that has a dad, and he should be at that stage where he’s experiencing andropause.” She lifted her head to look at him rather quizzically.
“Um, I guess?” He pursed his lips. In his mind, he thought that it was unlikely that Justin was going through andropause at such an age. He didn’t give much thought to it and drove into the Summer Resort. After he parked the car, he carried some boxes down and walked into the house.
Gloria had texted Jolly a while ago, but she hadn’t received a reply. “What’s wrong? Why isn’t she replying to me?” She frowned.
“Maybe she’s still sleeping, Victor replied. “It can’t be. Look at the time now. We agreed that we are meeting at 10.00AM.”
Even so, Gloria didn’t trust Jolly to be on time. “Alright, I’ll give her a call then,” she said. “Sorry, the person that you’re calling is not answering. Please leave a message…”
“Why isn’t she picking up the phone?” Gloria stared at her phone and grumbled. “Who isn’t picking up your call?” Justin, who was back from his jog, walked into the house all sweaty and asked.
Victor skipped the part about Gloria trying to figure out whether Justin was going through andropause. “Ria is trying to call Jolly to ask whether they are on their way here, but the call was unanswered,” he briefly explained.
“They should be on their way here since it’s almost 10.00AM now.” “Try giving Rachel a call,” Victor suggested. Gloria nodded and made a call to Rachel. The call was finally answered after ringing for sometime.
“Hello?”
“Rachel, did something happen to you?” Gloria furrowed her brows and asked once the call got through. She could barely hear Rachel’s voice because of the commotion in the background.
“What?”
“Rachel…” Gloria immediately stood up from the couch. Noticing that, Justin and Victor put down their tasks on hand and asked simultaneously, “What’s wrong?”
“It seemed like something had happened to Rachel,” she answered. Justin’s expression turned grim. It was almost 10.00AM when Rachel and the others headed to the Summer Resort after leaving the Carter Residence. Their red sedan car was suddenly surrounded by five black vehicles from all sides. They were forced to stop in the middle of the road after slamming on the brakes.
Rachel’s body was thrown forward due to the inertia from the sudden braking, but luckily, she had seatbelts on. Even so, her head was hit hard against the steering wheel, which gave her tinnitus.
Meanwhile, in the front passenger seat, Jolly’s head almost hit the windscreen. “Charlotte, Samuel, are both of you alright?” The first thing both of them did was check on the children.
Both children weren’t hurt since they were buckled up in their child car seats. However, they were shocked by what had happened. “Mommy, what happened?”
“Everything’s fine.” Rachel comforted them. Soon after, Jolly turned around and looked out through the windscreen. She saw a black sedan stopping by the roadside, and the next moment, a trembling older woman was seen coming out from it while being assisted by a maid. She was donned in a purple mink coat and hat, with a huge emerald ring on her finger. Oh, boy! Is it just me, or is this person filthy rich?
Seeing that, Rachel felt her heart sink. She remembered seeing that older lady prior to this, and neither side left a good impression. It was obvious that it would be the same this time round. “That old hag!” Jolly growled and got down from the car.
“Jolly! Hold your horses!” Rachel failed to stop her in time. By then, Jolly, who was fuming with anger, walked toward the older lady in a purple mink coat.
