Take My Breath Away

Debbie didn't notice Carlos calling Emmett on the phone. She was too focused on blaming Carlos for being bossy. "Jared and I are just friends. You know that. Why are you doing this?" She started to suspect that it was Carlos who called Jared's dad and made him angry at him. 'Why would he even do that? It's none of his business what Jared does, and he doesn't need to stir up drama like that. The man is just too controlling, and it's time he got knocked down a few pegs. Maybe if I bug him enough he'll back off. Yeah, that's what I'll do!'

Carlos wasn't amused. "So this is my fault?" His voice got colder.

Debbie shook her head and said in a hurry, "No, no. My bad. Please call Jared's dad and tell him Jared didn't hit on me. He's really mad. He figured out where Jared is through GPS and is going to take him home and kick his ass."

"Feeling bad for him?"

Just then, Emmett walked into Carlos' office. Carlos mouthed the words "Call Jasper." Emmett noticed that Carlos looked gentler than a moment ago. Immediately he knew who Carlos was talking to on the phone.

Carlos' stubbornness made Debbie feel frustrated. She lost her patience. "You going to call him or not?" she asked in a flat voice.

"Promise me. Promise that you won't get too close to Jared," said Carlos, playing with a lighter.

"Honestly, how many times do I have to tell you? Jared and I are just friends! We've known each other for years. Now you're asking me to stop talking to him all of a sudden? No can do!" Then she turned to Jared and said, "Sorry, buddy. I can't save you. It seems you'll have to go home and face your dad. Or you'll lose me forever."

"Noooooo!" Jared was desperate.

Kasie, Kristina, and Dixon burst into laughter.

"Emmett has already called Jasper Han," Carlos said and hung up.

'What?' Debbie looked at her phone, confused. 'He called already? So Jared won't get beaten by his dad?

Why didn't he tell me earlier? So he was pulling my leg the whole time! Auuugh!' Debbie opened WeChat and sent Carlos a message. "Honey, love you." At the end of the message was a Kiss Mark emoji.

"Your husband won't help?" asked Jared. He had decided that if Carlos didn't help him, he would fix Debbie up with a ton of guys.

"I think... he will. Maybe. Just wait." Debbie wasn't sure.

The Shining International Plaza was only about ten-odd minutes from Jared's home, if you took a car.

Jared was still sweating bullets when he went up to the fifth floor of the Alioth Building. He could think of little else, and picked at his fo

hen she stepped outside. The ambiance inside the booth was nice but boring.

She kept walking. A conversation came to her ears when she passed by the smoking zone. It was actually whispering between two men. She wasn't eavesdropping, but since they mentioned Carlos, she couldn't help noticing.

"We just found out yesterday that Mr. Huo was married, and today we got to see her for ourselves," said one man.

"I want to know more about her. What's her background? I don't want to make any mistakes talking to her. But really... who wants to ask Mr. Huo that?" observed his companion.

"What's he up to tonight, anyway?"

"Isn't it obvious? Pretty much everything he did after he got here, and the words he said, indicated the woman was Mrs. Huo. What he didn't say was that she had to be respected, but that was the subtext. Disrespecting her is like disrespecting him. I think he wanted all of us to remember that." The men that had come to dinner tonight might be of different levels of importance, but they were all elites in commerce and enjoyed a high status in Y City.

Debbie stood there and thought, 'It's just a dinner. How can it mean that much?'

But what the two men said also made sense. Carlos was always serious. Everything he said or did meant something.

Debbie went another way to go to the bathroom. She didn't want it to be awkward, bumping into those two.

On her way back to their booth, the door to another booth opened and the people inside walked out.

There were a lot of them. Debbie was going to change direction again. But she spotted someone familiar. And almost at the same time the person saw her too. "Debbie? Debbie Nian?" called a surprised voice.