Take My Breath Away

The rain came down heavily as Carlos drove the black Bentley out of the parking lot. He accelerated and hurried back to Champs Bay Apartments. After parking the car, he rushed to the seventh floor.

He rang the doorbell, but without waiting for another second, he entered the password and unlocked it.

It was quiet inside Debbie's apartment.

He searched the bedroom, her study, the kitchen… But she was nowhere to be found.

When he walked out of the kitchen, he noticed a small notebook on the dining table. "Huo" was written in bold letters on the book cover.

He opened it; the first few pages were full of notes.

On the very first page, Debbie had written, "Carlos' flavor: Light meal, Less meat."

He turned to the second page. It was the lunch menu for the first day she had cooked for him. "Today's meal will be noodles with beef and two kinds of vegetables for Mr. Handsome."

"Second day: Dumplings and egg drop soup with seaweed."

On the third day's menu, she had crossed out the "stewed pork in brown sauce," and had instead decided on "beef short ribs" and three other vegetables and rice.

On the fourth day…

Carlos flipped through the pages. Debbie had planned the whole month's menu in advance.

He calculated the days in his mind and turned to the page to check today's menu. Indeed, it was the same dishes of which she had posted pictures in WeChat Moments earlier.

There was a small note beneath the menu. "To keep a balanced diet, today I will be making one more meat dish for Mr. Handsome…"

Carlos instantly pulled out his phone and called Debbie.

Surprisingly, the call connected soon, but it wasn't Debbie who answered. It was Kasie's voice. "Hi, Mr. Huo. It's me, Kasie."

"Where's she?"

"Mr. Wen is in Y City to see her. She…um...is on a date with him now. But she left her phone at my place," Kasie said nervously.

Carlos thought for a second. "When is she leaving Y City?"

"Tomorrow morning." There was no response from the other end. Kasie mustered up some courage and asked, "Mr. Huo… I have no idea why Debbie has decided to marry Mr. Wen all of a sudden. But how do you feel about it? Don't you feel sad?"

Carlos remained silent.

His silence made Kasie angry. She thought, 'Debbie lost Carlos once. Now that she has chosen to marry another man, maybe she has really made up her mind to give up on Carlos completely.'

So she said sarcastically, "Does your silence mean that you have no feelings for her? Well, fine. Forget it. After all, you love Miss Li so much and you'r

o him. But he didn't say that. She sneered, "I'm sorry, Mr Huo. I'm leaving tomorrow. Ivan and I will be getting our marriage license from Z Country the day after."

"Ivan doesn't love you!" Carlos spat.

"You're wrong. He does. He wouldn't have helped me otherwise," Debbie replied firmly.

Carlos closed his eyes tightly. "Has he ever said that he loves you?"

She answered honestly, "No. But we were not a couple before this. Why would he say it? Besides, does true love need to be proven by mere words?"

He was driven mad by her replies. In a huff, he pulled her closer to his body and pressed his lips on hers.

Debbie was taken aback. Her eyes widened.

He kissed her passionately; she was pressed against the couch. Panting, she reminded him in a hushed voice, "I'm...getting married soon."

"I know."

"And you... have a fiancee..."

"I know," he said again and placed soft kisses on her cheeks.

Debbie was lost.

'You know? Then why are you kissing me?' She tried to push him away, but the man didn't budge even a little. Instead, he became handsy and his hungry lips went down her neck.

Staring at the ceiling helplessly, she warned him, "Carlos Huo, stop now! Or I'll punch you!"

He stopped kissing her and his hands froze. He raised his head, his deep eyes fixed on the panting woman under him.

A jumble of thoughts flooded his mind. He had once felt sympathy for this woman. He remembered when they had met for the first time, she had rushed to hug him and cried hysterically, ignoring everything and everyone around her. It struck his heart. He was shocked by the amount of affection she had for him.

But now, she was going to be another man's wife.