Take My Breath Away

"No, don't bother." Carlos threw the used tissue into the trash can and asked flatly, "Anything else?"

"No..." Debbie shook her head.

He stood up and straightened his tie before striding out of the booth.

As soon as he left, Debbie listlessly sat back in her seat. 'That man is really ruthless when he doesn't love you anymore.'

Nonetheless, Debbie still persistently cooked for him every day. But like she said, she asked Frankie to hand it over to Carlos instead of waiting for him at the cafe.

This went on for a couple of days on end.

On the sixteenth day, Debbie went to a nearby shopping mall and bought him a gift. She bought two mugs. After returning home, she kept one of them in her apartment and packed the other one in the gift bag. Along with the lunch box, she headed to the company.

It was raining when she arrived at ZL Group.

She stood outside, waiting for Frankie to come down as usual. However, Frankie seemed to be busy that day, so after waiting for a few minutes, Debbie had no choice but to deliver it to Carlos' office by herself. She was afraid that the food would become cold. After putting on her mask and sunglasses, she walked into the building with an umbrella in one hand and the gift bag and lunch in the other.

She called Frankie. With his assistance, she arrived smoothly on the floor where the CEO's office was located.

It had been three years since Debbie had come to this floor. When she walked past the work area, she saw all those unfamiliar faces. That was the place where Emmett, Tristan and the other assistants used to work at.

Same place, different people.

Hearing the sound of Debbie's high heels, an assistant came to greet him with a polite smile, "Hi, are you Miss Nian?"

"Yes, I'm here for Mr. Huo."

"Please follow me." The assistant ushered Debbie to the CEO's office and knocked on the door.

After getting the go signal from inside, the assistant pushed open the door and reported, "Mr. Huo, Miss Nian is here."

As soon as Debbie set foot into his office, she saw Stephanie.

Carlos was sitting in his chair while Stephanie was standing right next to him, holding a document in her hand. They seemed to be discussing work.

Debbie wanted to spin around and run away from there.

She didn't know how much courage she needed to muster before walking in. She was afraid that she might break down and humiliate herself.

Carl

t Debbie didn't reply.

The whole afternoon, while he worked, he kept an eye on his phone. But still, there was no reply from her.

He lost his patience at last and randomly tapped on her WeChat Moments.

He was surprised to find an update she had posted around two in the afternoon. "I can't control my feelings for you. But I won't expect anything from you anymore."

Below the caption were a few pictures of the lunch she had cooked. Fried green peas, fried mushrooms and broccoli, sweet-tea ribs, pearl meatballs and a bowl of fish soup.

He guessed that it was the lunch she had brought for him earlier.

Annoyed, he locked the phone screen and stood in front of the window. He lit a cigarette and took a drag.

It was only then that he noticed it was raining outside.

He checked the weather app on his phone. It showed that it had begun to rain from noon and said it wouldn't stop until that evening.

'Debbie came around one o'clock. She came to give me lunch in this rain?'

He nipped the cigarette between his index finger and thumb without taking another drag.

The cigarette burned out and hurt his fingers a little, which finally snapped him back to reality.

After snuffing it out in the ashtray, Carlos grabbed his coat and left the office.

As soon as he stepped out, Frankie trotted over and reminded him, "Mr. Huo, you have an appointment with Mr. Wang later—"

"Cancel it."

"And… the meeting half an hour later?"

"Cancel everything." Without wasting another moment, Carlos entered the elevator and went down to the parking lot. He got into his car and drove out.