Take My Breath Away

Without raising his head, Wesley answered, "Three more minutes."

"You greedy pig," Keith said with a smile.

"I haven't had a decent snack since basic training," Garnet said with a cute smile, helping Wesley arrange the flowerpots.

Keith nodded. "Wesley will take you out to grab some snacks. You free tomorrow?"

"No. Mom and I will be visiting relatives," Garnet complained with a pout. She didn't want to go along, and just wanted to hang out with Wesley.

"Oh, I see. I just wanted you to meet someone. Since you're busy tomorrow, maybe next time." Blair's plane was due in tomorrow, and Keith thought that maybe she and Garnet could be good friends.

Garnet was confused. "What? Who? Boy or girl?"

"A girl. Tell you more about her when you have time." Keith and Wesley looked at each other and then looked away. Wesley wondered what was on his grandpa's mind. Why did he want to introduce Blair to Garnet?

"All right." Garnet didn't devote much of her attention to it, and went back to what she was doing. She lined up all the flowerpots precisely, spacing them evenly. Wesley finished up his part there too.

While Wesley was washing his hands, Garnet swept the soil off the walk and smoothed it down around the flower beds before saying goodbye to Keith. Keith looked at her retreating figure with an amiable smile.

Wesley led Garnet to his car and they both climbed in. He gave her a ride, driving downtown as the Li family's house faded into the distance.

"Wesley, any news on my transfer?" Garnet asked with a hopeful expression. She wanted to stay by his side.

After some deliberation, Wesley answered, "There is a chance. Just wait a while, okay?"

Garnet was elated when she heard a positive answer from him. "Great! Keep that in mind!"

They went to a snack bar, and Garnet bought the perfect winter dish—a bowl of oden. She savored the smell, taking a huge whiff of it and just holding it there, closing her eyes. The smells filled her nostrils; the light, soy-flavored dashi broth, the boiled eggs, radish, fish cakes, konnyaku and beef. She dipped her chopsticks in, pulled out a piece of fish cake and popped it in her mouth.

The oden reminded Wesley of Blair. She liked it too.

He grabbed a cup of instant noodles and went to the hot water dispenser to fill it with steaming liquid. He used the chopsticks to mix it all up.

"How does it taste?" he asked Garnet. She was shoveling it int

Drugged one night by her ex-boyfriend, a mysterious man took advantage of her in an ecstatic night filled with sex.

To take her revenge, she married the man, and used him.

"As long as I'm alive, I'm still his legal wife, while all of you are just his mistresses."

She remained adamant even when he was involved in scandals with other women.

Eventually she stormed off after she learned that he had betrayed her again.But life brought her back to him a few years later, to his astonishment.

o she would defuse an argument by running away from it.

Now that he knew what was wrong, he hung up on Garnet. Since Blair wasn't taking his calls, he called Hartwell instead.

Hartwell had just gotten home and didn't know about this. "Hi Wesley. Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year, Hartwell."

"You didn't call just to wish me a happy New Year, did you?" Hartwell said with a laugh.

"I'm looking for Blair. Know where she is?"

"Blair? She was at the family reunion dinner on New Year's Eve. I haven't seen her after that. Anything wrong?"

"It's nothing. Sorry to take up your time. Bye, Hartwell." Hartwell looked at his phone in confusion. 'What happened between them?' The next moment, he saw his wife and forgot about this.

Joslyn was quite pregnant, and this was obvious to everyone. She'd gained some weight on top of that. She walked down the stairs to greet her husband. "Honey," she called out cheerfully.

Hartwell pulled her into his arms and planted a kiss on her forehead as if their housemaid weren't there. "Sorry I'm home late. Feeling okay?"

"I'm feeling great. Don't worry." Joslyn knew her husband was super busy, so she never bothered him with trivial matters.

At Eastern Coastal Apartments

Blair watched as her phone rang again and again. She was fighting the urge to answer it.

She couldn't help but think of the woman on Wesley's phone. He didn't like to let others use his stuff. Apparently, the woman was close to him. What was more, the woman threatened her!

'So, is it true?' she wondered. 'Are they getting engaged? Even if it isn't true, she's still close to him.'