Take My Breath Away

With Debbie's assurance, Tabitha nodded in approval.

She liked her daughter-in-law. She was simple, honest but also quite perky when she was with Carlos.

Megan sat next to Carlos with her hands propped against her jaw, wearing her typical sweet smile. "Tabitha is so nice to Aunt Debbie. I'm envious," she said.

Tabitha smiled, "Megan, one day when you get married, your mother-in-law will be nice to you too."

"I'm too young to think about getting married, Tabitha," Megan replied. At that point, a housemaid handed her a cup of tea; she took it and lowered her head to take a sip.

Tabitha smiled and continued to talk with Debbie. "Which year are you in at university? Busy at school?" she asked.

"I'm in my Junior year. We're not so busy," she replied.

"What's your major?" Tabitha asked.

Just then, the housemaid with Jake upstairs ran down, flustered. "Mr. and Mrs. Huo, something's up," she reported nervously.

"What's wrong?" asked Megan.

The housemaid ignored her and looked at Debbie, saying, "The boy... Mrs. Huo, I didn't mean it. I was cleaning. I didn't notice... I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen..."

The housemaid was so scared she was on the verge of crying.

Debbie had an ominous feeling. She stood up and went upstairs.

The others followed at her heels.

There were a few rooms upstairs, but only the door to Debbie's room was open. She walked in, only to find that her tidy room was now a total disaster.

Jake was nowhere to be seen and water could be heard running in the bathroom.

Debbie walled around to examine the room. When she passed by the dressing table, she saw that the lines of cosmetics had been messed up and some products were missing.

Then she pushed open the door of the bathroom, to find that the boy was playing with the missing cosmetics with the faucet on. Standing in front of the mirror, he dabbed cream all over his face until it was completely covered. He put some on his body too, but more of the product was in the sink, being slowly washed into the drain.

Debbie felt her blood rise to her face. Without thinking, she rushed up to the boy and shouted, "What are you

at brand but I couldn't afford it. I might never be able to wear that kind of makeup if it were not for the bank card you gave me. Now that I finally had them, they were ruined. Tens of thousands of dollars were spent for nothing," she sobbed.

"It's no big deal. Sugar, don't cry. If you like that brand so much, I'll ask them to deliver a few more sets here," he said.

Debbie wiped her eyes and glared at him. "Tens of thousands of dollars is no big deal? You worked hard for that money! Why should it be wasted? You might have stayed up late to earn it or drank with your clients just to make them happy. It's not easy to make money. Besides, that boy was way too rude. Somebody needs to knock some sense into his head," she told him.

It would have been easier for her to let go if the boy hadn't done it on purpose. But he not only refused to apologize but also threw a jar at her.

The old her would have spanked him by now.

Carlos realized that Debbie wasn't mad just because of the cosmetics. She was mad partly because of the boy's bad attitude and partly because she felt as if his hard work had been wasted. "Okay, there, there. You know I don't care about that sum of money, so don't get so upset. Go get changed. I'll ask Megan to call the boy's parents, all right?" he comforted her.

After wiping away her tears, he kissed her eyes gently.

'Deb, my girl. Do you know how much it pains me when you cry?' he thought.