Cindy giggled.“Of course!”Stony-faced, Leila snapped, “Cindy! Have you forgotten what you came here to ask about? And, and… weren’t you so worried about Gerald, just a moment ago? Aren’t you curious why he’s unscathed?”“Oh, right! Gosh, in my excitement I quite forgot. Gerald, tell us. How are you still in one piece? And are all those guys outside your people?”“Indeed… how am I still in one piece?” Gerald answered dumbly.“We’re asking you!” Leila frowned, glaring at Gerald.Then Gerald clapped a hand to his forehead. “Oh, I remember now. Just as I was about to come to blows with Louie, the patrons from next door burst into the room, and maybe they had some kind of grudge against Louie, because everyone started fighting on sight! In all that chaos, I managed to slip away.” Gerald finished with a laugh.Leila was so mad that words failed her.Gerald was obviously lying. Slipped away? Like, out of the karaoke bar… and into the restaurant next door, for a spot of fine dining?
“That’s right, sir. One thousand and five hundred dollars!” The waitress beamed.Douglas’s face was a sight to behold. At first, he’d thought to just toss down a hundred bucks, and then swagger out of there. He’d never expected that bunch of flowers to be worth so much!If he called his father over to make some noise…No, that wouldn’t do. This restaurant chain was owned by a powerful figure over at Mayberry. Whatever clout his family had counted for nothing in here!But neither did he have a thousand five hundred on him right now!“Hmph. So it’s a thousand five, so what? No big deal!” Leila sneered. She was this close to slapping the money in that waitress’s face.Gerald was watching. No matter what, she had to have the last word in this!Leila glanced towards Douglas. He’d definitely be able to do something about this!Patting his pockets, he leaned in close to whisper to her, “I’ve only got a few hundred left on me… I can’t pay!”“Ah?” Leila had been expecting Douglas to st
Douglas called out to her, but Leila replied, “That’s alright. You go on without me. I’ll find my own ride home!” With that, she hailed a passing cab, and departed—leaving Douglas dumbfounded by the side of the road.He already knew what was wrong—and he blamed Gerald for it!Some time later, Gerald and Cindy finished their meal together, and exchanged their contact numbers. Then he called for a cab to send her home.Gerald stepped into the karaoke bar next door to have a look. Everyone had left, and the bar had closed for the night.He hadn’t expected this to be such an eventful day. He was exhausted.Hailing a cab for himself, he returned to the hotel where he was staying. The moment he stepped into his room, his phone rang again. It was that unknown caller who’d tried to reach him while he was at the restaurant earlier.Who could it be? Curious, Gerald took the call.“Gerald, what’s going on? Why didn’t you pick up?” It was a lovely, feminine voice. Gerald was taken aback whe
“What was that?” Gerald couldn’t believe his ears.Stay a few days, at his place? How would he be cool with that? He talked to Mila every day, and on that note: He was spoken for right now—just that his girlfriend was abroad at present—and yet he’d be living together with another woman?Even if the rest of the world was cool with it, Gerald certainly wasn’t! What madness was this?“No way, forget it!” he answered.“Oh… haha, it’s alright… I thought someone would be willing to help me, but I get it now…” Giya’s voice was barely more than a whisper.“Has something happened over there?” Gerald asked, intrigued.Come to think of it, Giya was hardly the sort of girl to suddenly run off to crash at some guy’s place for a few days without rhyme or reason. Had she fallen for him?Hah! As though Gerald thought that highly of himself… He was only asking out of curiosity.After a pause, Giya suddenly announced, “I’m getting engaged!”“Oh, congratula—” As Gerald began to respond to this, he sudden
He parked the 4WD outside the train station. As expected, it attracted a lot of attention. There were even some girls coming over to snap pictures on their phones.After all, this was a car that cost over three hundred thousand dollars!“Oh, wow! A G500 here in Serene County? Who’s inside? Must be some rich kid!”“Gosh… Hey, how do I look? What if he gets off the car, and falls for me at first sight? What will I do?”“Hahaha! Get over yourself!”“Girls, let’s go over there and say hi!”The girls whispered amongst themselves, giggling out loud every so often.Just then, an old woman of eighty approached the girls and said, “Whoever owns that car must be loaded, I guess?”“Of course! The G500 goes for over three hundred thousand dollars! What’s up, grandma? Hoping to catch a big fish? He’s probably some young lordling, though…” The girls chortled with laughter.“So what if I’m old? I’ve still got just as much right to flirt around. Hmph!” the old woman replied flippantly.Sayin
“Gerald, I bought these fruits for you. I’ve already washed them, so come over and eat them!”Giya set a tray of fruits down upon the coffee table, then took an apple herself and began munching on it as she watched the television.Rather than a runaway fiancée escaping an arranged marriage, Gerald thought she looked more like she’d come for a pleasant holiday.He’d returned half an hour ago. After helping Giya get settled in, he’d gone to take a bath.At the moment, he wasn’t sure what to say about this relaxed, untroubled mood she was in. Regarding the luxurious suite he was in, Gerald had only mumbled some throw-away excuse so far.His earlier attempt at theatrics had flopped, and now he was no longer in the mood. Imagine bringing it up out of nowhere…Gerald took a seat. “So, about your engagement… I think it’s best to talk things through with your father. Certainly, you can’t keep running away from it forever. The trouble with his business will ease in time—surely it’s not worth sa
Tammy’s car was a handsome Camry.The very first thing she said to him was, “Hmph! Gerald Crawford… to think that a bottom-feeder like you could snare yourself a goddess like Giya—what a dream come true for you!”“Yes! Yes, indeed!” Gerald nodded.“Huh? Tammy, this guy is Giya’s boyfriend? Ah… what is this world coming to?” Tammy’s cousin clutched her forehead, staggering in place.After all, anyone who knew Giya, knew that she was a beauty among beauties, a goddess among goddesses. No one would have expected her to find someone like this to be her boyfriend.It seemed that Tammy and her cousin were of like mind. They stood there now, scowling contemptuously at Gerald.‘Wipe those dirty looks off your faces!’ Gerald thought to himself.“Alright, that’s enough,” Giya cut in. “Oh, Tammy—didn’t you say you had a bunch of distant relatives here in Serene County? Are they not joining us?”As she said this, she hugged Gerald’s arm tenderly… and also rolled her eyes at him, as though to say,
“Gerald, did you come here to have lunch?” Morgana enquired, with no small amount of disbelief.At the table sat Morgana, her boyfriend, Cameron, and several others. Everyone was smiling his way.Mead Hall was unmistakably an upper-crust establishment, and you paid by the head here, from a starting minimum of thirty dollars per pax. After accounting for drinks and so on, each meal could easily cost hundreds.Everyone knew Gerald wasn’t rich, so this was a fairly peculiar circumstance.Gerald smiled back at them. “That’s right! I’m meeting with some friends, and I thought I’d treat them all to lunch here! Who would have thought I’d run into you guys here, too!”“Pfft! We eat here all the time!”“Ah, Gerald… It’s nice that you’re treating your friends to something, but do you know they charge at least thirty dollars per person here? Are you sure this is a good idea?” This was coming from a girl seated beside Morgana, who had also gone to the same high school with them.Sully was h