Take My Breath Away

"Who is the 'old man' you referred to?" Hayden asked as he was surprised by Debbie's response when she answered his call.

"Never mind, I was referring to no one in particular," Debbie replied casually. "What made you call?"

"I've been in Y City for a couple of days now. I have no plans tonight, so I'm thinking maybe we can have dinner together."

"Oh, sorry. I'm out of town. I'm on a trip."

Hayden hadn't expected her response. For a moment, he was in a daze but soon realized that Debbie was such a travel gal. He remembered how much she enjoyed going to places. She had visited different tourist destinations, more than he ever had. He envied her determination and her free spirit.

"Oh! I see. It's okay. Anyways, my schedule will be cleared out early next month. How about I take you to England for a vacation then?"

"No, thanks." Debbie turned him down immediately. "I've been busy lately. I have all these different classes every day. I had to make time for this trip."

Debbie was telling the truth. When her trip was over, she would once again be occupied with dance, yoga, English, and other classes.

"Debbie, don't lie to me. I know you. You always hate studying. You're just trying to blow me off by making up those classes."

"No, I'm not. That's the old me. People change. Now I have yoga, dance, English, Advanced Mathematics, and so on, but I don't learn martial arts anymore."

For a moment, there was only silence at the other end of the line. "You used to say you will never quit martial arts. My mom and I once asked you to quit, but you refused. Why now?"

Hayden knew how much she used to hate those classes she just mentioned.

Debbie smiled and said, "Because I don't have to protect you anymore." One of the reasons why she had worked hard on martial arts was to protect Hayden and his sister, Portia Gu, who was frail like a willow leaf.

Debbie and Hayden started dating when she was 16 and their relationship lasted for two years. Just a few days before her 18th birthday, for some unknown reasons they broke up. During those two years, being his girlfriend, Debbie was the one who had protected Hayden and his sister, although she herself was a little girl.

In return for her bravery, she got ridiculed by Hayden himself. "You are not womanly at all," Hayden had said to her.

Debbie's reply on the phone made his heart tighten. "I'm sorry, Deb. I didn't treat you well before. I didn't treasure what we had. I've regretted it. I've missed you for the past three years. Can we start over?" Hayden apologized, his voice full of remorse.

He had been involved with dozens of women after Debbie had left him, but none of them truly loved him as Debbie had.

She was so thoughtful in a way that, even though she didn

.

"How much is it?"

"$28, 000. A good price."

Debbie's eyes widened. That was way too pricey for a lucky peace buckle. She knew a little about emerald. To appraise its quality, she looked at the buckle against the light and found that it was not transparent at all. It definitely wasn't worth $28, 000.

So Debbie put the lucky peace buckle back and said, "I'll look at some more."

Seeing her turn around, the storekeeper put on a hideous look on his face and snapped, "How can you not buy it after you looked at it?"

Debbie was confused. "What do you mean? Do I have to buy it after I looked at it? Why? I don't like it. Of course, I won't buy it." She thought the storekeeper was being ridiculous.

The storekeeper hit the table hard with his fat hand and announced, "Why did you look at it if you didn't intend to buy it? You must buy it!"

"How can you force your customers to buy things they don't want?" Debbie stopped to observe the circumstances of the store. Four sinister-looking men were playing mahjong seated around a square table near the entrance of the store. Hearing the conversation between the storekeeper and Debbie, they turned around and gave Debbie an ominous look.

"I'm forcing you to buy it. So what? Give me the money! $28, 000. Not a penny less!" From the way Debbie dressed, the bald man could tell that she was rich, and he was going to rip her off before he let her leave.

Debbie wanted to leave the store as soon as she could, so she ignored the storekeeper and turned around to walk towards the door.

However, the storekeeper grabbed a remote and locked the automatic door. "You can't leave without buying it!"

Debbie's blood was up. "He keeps pushing me! This pig is looking for trouble!" She darted towards the bald man and clutched his collar. "Open the damn door!" she warned angrily.