Jerry visibly shook when he caught sight of the so-called kind smile.
Justin kept that terrifying smile plastered on his face. ‘Do you still want to write down her contact? Or do you want to have my contact? She usually has to take care of our child at home, so she doesn’t have time to reply to messages.”
“Ahem! Um… I don’t think I want that.
“I have something to do. Let’s have a chat. again when we have the chance.”
“You want to have a chat again?”
“Ah! N-No more chatting.”
Just like that, Jerry dashed out of there after throwing that out.
Rachel was looking at Justin before she finally came to her senses. “Why are you here?” she asked.
“Did I interrupt something?”
“You sure did.” She raised her eyebrows. “More accurately, you interrupted my business talk.”
“Business?”
She proceeded to raise her chin toward the figure who ran to the next booth. “He is a student at a nearby medical school, and he is studying Eastern medicine. I thought he would be a suitable candidate to work at the company after we talked, so we were going to exchange contacts.”
“Isn’t that too much of a coincidence?”
“Go ahead and ask him if you don’t believe me. Everyone from that booth is from the same school.”
“Ahem!” Justin coughed awkwardly.
He didn’t think she was really talking about a collaboration? I mean, who would even talk about that in a nightclub? he thought to himself.
“What? Don’t tell me you thought I would lay my hands on such a young man?”
“Of course not!” Justin coughed again to hide his embarrassment. She looked at him with scrutinizing eyes as she teased, “Then why did you tell him that?”
Justin was ferocious when he barked about how he was Rachel’s husband, making the young lad scamper away with his tail between his legs in fear that he was misunderstood and would be beaten up right there and then.
Instead of answering her, he solemnly waved a waiter over and pointed at the booth behind.
“I will pay for that table. Also, send a fruit platter over.”
“Yes, sir.”
He couldn’t possibly apologize when there was still the possibility of the young man approaching Rachel intentionally to get a job. Young men in this day and age were too smart for their own good.
However, he had no problem footing their bill. Not only could he appear to be a generous man, he could also stake his claim to Rachel. As expected, Rachel was satisfied with Justin’s solution to the issue.
“Did you come here alone?”
“No.”
“Where is the rest of the group, then?”
Speak of the devil.
As soon as she asked that, the dancing trio were dragged to Rachel’s booth by the back of their necks from the dancefloor, while being witnessed by the crowd of clubgoers.
The only person who wasn’t manhandled by the back of her neck was Carmen, who waddled behind them. She was still living in the moment, and even high-fived passers-by as she remained completely oblivious to her friends” fate.
“Geez, let go! Let go of me!”
Even though Jolly struggled throughout the journey from the dance floor to the booth, she was still thrown to the sofa at last.
After that, Leroy immediately took off his jacket. Embarrassed, she smoothed out her clothes and glared at him. “What the hell are you doing?!”
“What, you ask?” He swiftly wrapped her in the jacket. “Put it on,” he demanded.
Jolly had a halter top on. Even though her outfit wasn’t considered all that strange in a place like this, her body was, undeniably, too perfect. She was curvy in all the right places. She wouldn’t have been the center of attention otherwise.
Victor, too, had taken off his own jacket to put on Gloria.
“Do you girls want to die or something?”
Jolly still remained firm as she rebutted, “How petty of you. This is a bachelorette party. Are we supposed to have tea instead of dance at a bachelorette party?”
Now that she said that, it did make sense. Carmen quickly shook her head while she consciously put on the jacket. “I don’t like tea,” she whined. “It is so bitter.”
“Fine. Continue with it, then.” Leroy leaned back into the sofa with his arms crossed. “I will sit here and watch.”
“He is mad,” Rachel whispered, poking Jolly on her arm. “He has really gotten mad.”
“He can blow up for all I care.”
After her short complaint, she asked the group after a few beats, “How about we find a place to have tea?”
Rachel almost spurted out her mouthful of soda upon hearing that. What happened to the dignity of Miss Jolly or the queen of the nightclubs we talked about?
Not many tea houses were still open in the middle of the night. Right after the group left the nightclub, they saw numerous designated drivers in their blue uniforms standing by the side of the road. The few women didn’t feel cold at all after all the drinks they had.
However, the one type of coldness that definitely existed was when the boyfriend thought that the girlfriend felt cold.
“Pull up the zipper,” Leroy grumbled while he pulled Jolly closer and pulled the zipper all the way up to her neck.
When a few passers-by recognized him, they scurried toward him for autographs and photos, only to have all of them brutally rejected.
“Why did you tell them no? You are going to be a trending topic again later.”
“So be it. You think I can’t handle something like this with the PR teams I pay for?”
“At least wear a mask.”
“Wouldn’t I be declaring to the world that I am a celebrity by having a mask on in a nightclub?”
“Gosh, Mr. Pissy Pants. Did you swallow dynamite or something?”
“I swallowed a whole nuclear bomb.”
Rachel and the rest of them were walking behind the bickering couple, and they couldn’t help but laugh at their conversation.
The Leroy they knew was someone good- tempered who had never lost his temper nor gotten angry at anyone. This night was probably the first time they had seen him like this.
Victor, whom they all thought was the most chauvinistic one among the three men, surprisingly didn’t get angry and only quietly held Gloria’s hand. He even paid attention to Carmen beside him by asking her if she was hungry.
The entire street was bustling with noise. There were a lot of drunk men and women, and there were also many among them who were kissing right there in public.
Holding hands seemed to have become the most simple way to show he cared. As they were crossing a road, Justin suddenly grabbed Rachel by the hand and in a commanding voice, he warned, “The light has gone red.”
She was taken aback by hin, but she soon lifted her head to look at the tall man beside her. It felt as though she would be able to get through life even with her eyes closed as long as she had him by her side. It had always been like this throughout the years.
“Where did you park the car?”
“Green River Street.”
“Oh, that is beside the river.”
“Want to take a stroll?”
“Sure.”
As there weren’t a lot of people around at night, as soon as the traffic light turned green, Rachel’s group was the only one who crossed the pedestrian crossing. Passers-by couldn’t help but steal glance after glance at them because they were all extremely good-looking.
Noticing this, Rachel teased, “Seems like we will be trending topics as well along with our two celebrity friends.”
“Don’t worry. I have told Frankie before we came here to take care of the media,” Justin reassured her.
Rachel froze when she heard that. She could feel the grip on her hand tighten.There were many stalls that sold all kinds of small items along the river.
As they walked, Carmen had her attention caught by a stand that sold sweet potato tacos.
“Pick the biggest one.” Victor handed a bill to the owner of the stand before turning to ask Gloria if she wanted one.
Gloria shook her head in reply.
She had been controlling her food intake lately in preparation for the tour in two days. It would be visible on stage if she were to put on weight now.
Jolly and Leroy were leaning against the railing around the river. As their anger left as quickly as it came, they had stopped arguing at some point and were now chattering about something that made them laugh heartily.
“A flower for your wife, kind sir? They are all fresh!”
Rachel and Justin were stopped in their tracks by a young girl who sold flowers.
Rachel was going to reject her subconsciously, but she paused when she caught sight of the white bicycle the young girl had parked by the river. The basket in front of the bicycle was filled with flowers which, when caressed by the gentle river breeze and illuminated by the street light, was an ethereal sight to behold.
Rachel couldn’t hold herself back from complimenting, “Your bicycle is beautiful.”
Hearing that, Justin abruptly asked, “Would you sell your bike?”
His unexpected question immediately left the young lady stunned.
