Feeling sympathetic for Jolly who was still getting over the pain of her breakup, Rachel decided to help her by giving her some opinions about which dress to pick through her earphone. In the end, Jolly settled with a beautiful gray dress. “Alright, take care of the bill yourself later.”
“No problem.” Jolly’s voice was heard from the earphone. “Pick one for yourself too.”
“Any dress is fine by me.”
“No way. You need to pick a decent dress for yourself on a grand occasion like the one we’re going to be attending. Be sure to pick one for her, Justin. Do you hear me?” Jolly said in a bossy manner.
Although Justin was present throughout the call, he was silent most of the time. While he was initially planning to just be a fly on the wall, he didn’t expect Jolly to call him out like that. Nonetheless, he was happy to help Rachel in that regard. “Try this one, Rae.’ Justin clamped the green dress tightly with his fingers, showing the eye-catching fabric with a vintage flavor to the lady as he indirectly proved his good taste.
As Rachel couldn’t seem to find a reason to turn the man down, the saleswoman approached her to take her measurements, explaining with a smile, “It can be rather troublesome to put on this dress, so maybe I should come with you, Madam.”
“Thank you.” Rachel gazed at Justin. “Wait for me outside.”
“Alright.”
The saleswoman then followed Rachel into the fitting room. While the dress seemed even better on the wearer, its color perfectly set off Rachel’s fair skin. When the saleswoman saw that, she couldn’t stop complimenting Rachel’s beauty.
“You look stunning in this dress, Madam.”
“Thank you.”
“I suppose that man outside must be your husband. You both make such a perfect couple.”
“Do we really?”
“Not only do you two look like a perfect couple, but I’m also sure that your husband really loves you. Look at him. He carries everything for you and picks your clothes for you. In fact, men, who are willing to shop with their wives and pick clothes for them, are hard to find these. days. While Rachel chuckled in response, the saleswoman added, “Oh, I wouldn’t laugh at that if I were you, Madam.
I dare say that I’ve become quite a good judge myself, considering the years I’ve spent working as a salesperson here. We can tell whether a man loves his wife by just observing his reaction. Therefore, I’m sure you’re in luck, Madam.” The saleswoman went on and on, giving Rachel little to no chance to interrupt and cut her short.
When the saleswoman was finally told to fix her dress, Rachel opened the fitting room curtain, only to see Justin sitting on the couch with his eyes closed, seemingly asleep. Initially stunned, she quickly felt warm on the inside as she continued to set her eyes on the man. After all, Justin had been keeping her company wherever she went for the past few days, not to mention the fact that he slept on the couch at night. Therefore, she could tell that Justin must have been exhausted from the busy schedule in these few days. For that, she turned her attention to the saleswoman and said, “I’ll go with this dress. Please pack it for me.”
In the meantime, Justin continued to nod off on the couch until the cushion beside him began to sink. It was then that he woke up and saw Rachel sitting beside him in her casual wear. “Wait, what? Didn’t you change? The dress doesn’t look good on you?”
“I did, and it looked good on me too. So, I told the saleswoman to pack it for me.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“You were sound asleep, so I figured I shouldn’t ruin your sweet dream.” Rachel took a look at the watch and said, “It’s getting late now. So, let’s go back.”
“Relax, we’re not in a hurry anyway. We can have dinner together before returning to the hotel. In fact, I’ve booked a table at a restaurant, and Jolly will be joining us.”
“With us?”
“She’ll perhaps sit two tables away from us.”
Rachel burst into laughter when she heard that. “Is it just me or is she really acting like a thief?”
During dinner, Jolly sat two tables away from Rachel and Justin as they expected. Although Rachel tried to strike up a conversation with her, Jolly only responded with a long face and ignored the former. Soon, her voice was heard from the earpiece. “Stop staring at me like a creep. Just enjoy your meal and get on with your business.”
“I was just worried that you’d be too lonely eating by yourself.”
“Who says I’m lonely? I’m not lonely. Not at all! If you continue to stare at me like that, I’m going to take my meal away and have it in the hotel room instead.”
“Alright. Alright, I’ll stop looking at you, okay? Just enjoy your food.” Rachel helplessly took her gaze off Jolly. Then, she turned her attention to Justin and said, “Let’s hope everything goes smoothly tomorrow.”
Justin replied, “The wedding is held in the afternoon. Although there are going to be a lot of people there, the traffic should be clear. By then, I’ll get Frankie to take them to the airport straight away as we follow right behind them.”
“If anything goes wrong during the wedding, would Mrs. Bennett suspect us?”
“I don’t know.” Justin had no idea what to say since the situation seemed unpredictable to him.
While the three of them appeared to be preoccupied about the wedding the next day, they didn’t really enjoy themselves even though they were dining at a famous restaurant. Not long after that, they decided to make a move and return to the hotel. As Jolly flagged down a cab and made her way back by herself, Rachel and Justin both took Frankie’s ride back home.
“The car isn’t going to break down again today, is it? Rachel looked at Frankie, expressing her concern to him as soon as she entered the car. “Mind you, the hotel is pretty far away from here.”
“Don’t worry. I requested a new model from the car rental company, Frankie replied with an embarrassed smile. As the neon lights began to shine through the night, the busy city of Enistan started to seem lively and prosperous.
Meanwhile, Justin, who had only taken his seat for a few minutes, slowly dozed off, his head tilting to the side until it rested on Rachel’s shoulder. In the meantime, Rachel paused when she suddenly felt something heavy on her shoulder. She then straightened her body to keep the man’s head still, but at the same time, she happened to catch a glimpse of Frankie peeking at them through the rear mirror.
While Rachel’s face blushed in that instant, Frankie said in a soft voice, “I didn’t see anything.” He murmured with a soft voice and proceeded to intentionally adjust the mirror in an attempt to convince Rachel that he wasn’t peeking. When Rachel noticed Frankie’s reaction, her face blushed even more.
As the few of them continued their journey back, Rachel’s phone suddenly rang, shattering the reigning silence within the car. While Justin was awakened by the ringtone, Rachel slid the answer button and picked up the call. “Hello?”
“Help me, Chris!” Jolly’s panicky voice was heard from the other side of the phone. When Rachel heard that, her face changed. “What’s going on? Where are you now?”
Jolly responded in a hushed tone. “I don’t know. where I am. I hopped out of the car when the driver took me down an alley. I’m now hiding in a dumpster.”
“Send me your location!” However, Jolly’s voice was abruptly stopped after some noise was heard. “Hello? Hello, Jolly!”
Since Justin was close enough to the phone, he was able to overhear what Jolly just said. Thus, he quickly gave his assistant an order. “Relax. Frankie, drive in the direction of the hotel and be sure to drive slowly so that we can see what’s going on in the alleys.”
“Is anything going to happen to Jolly?”
“No, there isn’t. She is smart enough to get out of the car and hide until we arrive.”
“Is it Mrs. Bennett who found out that Jolly is now in Enistan?”
“We don’t know what’s going on now, so let’s not freak yourself out.” Justin wrapped his arm around Rachel’s shoulder to calm her down.
As the car continued to move forward on the busy street, the few of them went on to notice many more humid and dark alleys despite the prosperous-looking appearance of the place. When Rachel noticed that, she couldn’t help but think that anything terrible could happen. I can’t believe Jolly is now hiding in a dumpster filled with a reeking and disgusting stench. Although Rachel knew Jolly would usually not be able to bear with that, she was sure that her friend would face a fate worse than enduring some unpleasant smell if she ever stepped out of the dumpster. At the same time, the sound of metal pipes shattering a car’s windows reverberated in her head as her mind went blank.
