Take My Breath Away

"No way. We're not a good match. Emmett is a weird guy when he's not working. What's more, I enjoy being single. I don't need a man. It's my parents. They want me to find a nice guy," Kasie said on the other end.

Debbie pursed her lips and defended Emmett, "So why did you accept the expensive handbag he bought?"

"For the selfies. Those are worth more than the price of a handbag. We took some cute pics to convince his parents we're dating."

Debbie sighed helplessly. "Fine, as long as you guys are okay with it."

"Yeah. Oh! Can you guess who we bumped into at Shining International Plaza?"

"Who?"

"Hayden. By the way, why haven't you told him who your real husband is? He thought you were married to Emmett."

Debbie knew Hayden had mistaken Emmett for her husband. Yet she wasn't interested in explaining anything to him, and he likely wouldn't even believe it. "I don't need to explain anything to him. Anyway, it's not like we're an item," Debbie replied firmly.

"Sounds about right. I'm looking forward to the day Portia finds out you're Mrs. Huo. I can see the look on her face. Aha...ha..." Kasie leaned against the sofa, bursting into wild laughter.

Right then, the door of the empty VIP room was pushed open. A group of businessmen walked in as a man said politely, "Emmett, this is the room we reserved..."

The group of neatly dressed businessmen were shocked to see a woman lying casually on the sofa. When she spotted them, Kasie hastily stood up from the sofa and tidied her clothes.

Emmett asked curiously, "Kasie? Why are you here?"

Kasie swung her phone in front of him. "Too noisy out there, so I wanted a quiet spot to talk on the phone. I'm leaving now," she explained briefly.

Emmett nodded and moved aside to let her out. But the next second, he remembered something and stopped in her tracks. After pulling her out of the room, he said, "Hey, my dad invited you to have a meal at my house."

Kasie widened her eyes in shock. "What did you say? A meal with your parents?"

He nodded casually, confirming her words. "Yeah. I have no choice. Relax, this is a paid gig. When you have some free time, I can buy you a handbag, cosmetics, whatever you want."

'What?' Kasie felt weird. All sorts of thoughts were going through her head right now, none of them good. He was paying her to go out with him? Wouldn't that be like a prostitute? If the comparison was valid, then did that make her a whore? And what did that do to her image? What if someone found out? And was tha

ood grain which looked like stars on each bead.

'A string of Buddhist prayer beads?' Debbie frowned. "No, I haven't seen it. I've been in my room the whole time. Why do you ask?"

Megan gave Debbie a meaningful glance before answering in a regretful voice, "Grandma's string of Buddhist prayer beads is gone. It was here yesterday, but we can't find it now. We've been looking for it for a while."

Debbie nodded and comforted Valerie, "Grandma, please take it easy. In my experience, the more you try to look for something, the less likely it is you'll find it. But if you stop worrying about it, it will show up one day, out of the blue!"

Valerie sneered and gave her a cold glance. "Did you mean to say I shouldn't look for it?"

Under Valerie's cold glare, Debbie felt utterly speechless. 'Fine! Everything I say is wrong. Better zip my mouth.'

A loud yawn broke the awkward silence in the living room. Debbie turned around and saw Lewis coming downstairs.

Lewis' eyes lit up with excitement at the sight of Debbie. He picked up his pace and ran up to her. "Debbie, you're home today?"

"Yeah." The contempt was obvious in her voice.

But Lewis didn't care a bit even if he had sensed it. Instead, he tried to butter her up. "I can show you the hottest spots in town. How about I take you out for a drive? Or do you want to go shopping? I can buy you anything you want."

'Doesn't he know I'm his cousin's wife? How can he be so blatantly obvious?' "No way!" Debbie refused bluntly.

"Now wait. Don't be so quick to turn me down. You know I'm a hottie, right?" Lewis said as he ran his fingers through his hair. A confident smile appeared on his bratty face.