Take My Breath Away

Debbie squeezed Carlos' hands while listening attentively to each word he said.

"Decar..." she repeated the brand name.

Carlos kissed her on the lips and then gently stroked the tear stains on her face with his thumb. "Decar is the combination of Debbie and Carlos," he said tenderly.

'Decar...Debbie and Carlos... What a good name!'

Staring at him in a daze, Debbie cupped his face with her hands as if in a gentle gesture, only to pinch his cheeks so hard. Carlos was startled. "What's wrong?"

In a serious voice, she asked, "Did it hurt?"

He shook his head. "No."

"No? So I'm just daydreaming! Everything here is not real, right? What a good dream! I hope I'll never wake up," she said, pouting.

Carlos rolled his eyes at her.

As Debbie was still in a confused state, he led her to another room that was specially furnished for her—a gym.

There had been a gym in this villa previously but he had it renovated for her sake.

As Debbie was good at running, he had purchased a few new treadmills with different functions. He also had added other equipment, suitable for women.

The last room they visited was a spacious dancing and yoga studio. On one side of the room was a French window facing a lawn. The other three walls were covered with floor to ceiling mirrors, giving the room an illusion of even bigger space.

A few pieces of hammocks and swing straps for doing anti-gravity yoga dangled from the ceiling. Beautiful yoga mats and yoga balls completed the list of accessories. It was a fully furnished yoga studio that would rival any professional clubs around.

Just a feel of the studio would excite even those who didn't have interest in yoga.

Observing their reflections in the mirror, Carlos noticed the pleased look in Debbie's eyes. Affectionately, he pulled her into his arms and said, "Just hold on a little longer. After you finish your studies abroad and come back, we will settle down here. This will be our home forever. Okay?"

'Our home forever...' Debbie felt touched.

Through the French window, she gazed at the lawn outside and indulged in a bit of fantasy. She pictured herself walking hand in hand with Carlos on the lawn under the sunlight, probably with one or two kids and a cat or a dog playing around. A happy smile crept across her face as she thought about such a warm scene.

Then, they headed to the three-storey villa. When they arrived at the gate, Carlos grabbed her hand and pressed her finger on the fingerprint lock to collect and identify her data.

Now, she realized this three-storey villa was the place where they would live, while the two-storey building they had just visited would be for recreational purposes. Carlos had chosen that building and renovated it into a music studio, a lipstick lab,

that some of the skin care products were given to her by the parents of the naughty boy, who had been brought to the villa by Megan the other day.

"And some of those items were flown in last week from Paris, by Mom. She strictly instructed me not to tell you until you walked into your new house. They are her house-warming bash for you. There's a cabinet next to your dressing table where you can place your cosmetics. If the cabinet is not large enough, just tell me and I'll change it to a larger one," Carlos told her on the other end.

'Oh, my goodness!

This... This is too extravagant for me!' Debbie exclaimed in her mind. The number of pleasant surprises Carlos had pulled on Debbie in one day were just far too many.

After ending the call, she looked at the cabinet. It was a customized wooden cabinet with gliding glass doors. On the upper part of the cabinet, the shelves were divided into small compartments which would be convenient to store different items.

Humming in joy, Debbie didn't unwrap any of these packages. She simply stuffed them into the cabinet.

But when her mind ran back to the biting levels of poverty she had recently seen first hand in Southon Village, she began to wish they could return all the items for a refund. Up to the last cent, she would spend the money on improving living conditions in the village.

Overwhelmed by compassion on the welcoming but poor villagers over there in Southon Village, she dejectedly slumped into bed, badly in need of a rest.

When she woke up, it was already dark outside. Carlos hadn't come back yet for he had a lot of work to finish before Spring Festival. She would have dinner on her own.

When she came downstairs, she found that the chef and his beautiful female assistant were busy at work in the kitchen. In a few minutes, mouth-watering dinner was served.