Jack caught up with Rachel, asking why she was angry.
She could feel the warmth of his palm again.
She endured the embarrassment silently and said, "Don't worry about me. You should go back! I'll walk
around by myself for a while and look for my friends."
Jack pretended not to understand her. "Your friends? Who else came with you other than Lucas?" he
asked.
"Lea."
Jack remembered that Rick had told him that Lucas had brought two women with him. So the other one
was Lea.
There was no doubt that Lucas maintained a good relationship with them.
Jack said, "You have an unusual relationship with Lucas,"
He abruptly stopped. 'Am I getting jealous?' he asked himself inwardly.
Rachel thought otherwise, thinking that he just wanted to know why she and Lucas were really close.
She explained subconsciously, "We have been friends for nearly ten years."
She had been friends with Lucas for nearly ten years, meaning that they had known each other since
they were around fifteen or sixteen years old. It was strange not easy for them to maintain such a long-
term friendship.
Jack's heart skipped a beat.
A soft breeze came as they stood near the window.
Outside, the fireworks exploded,
adorning the night sky.
Neither of them talked at that time. They stood in the comfort of the silence as they observed the
magnificent parade in the sky.
After a moment's silence, another round started. Rachel got startled by the noise of firecrackers.
Before she could react, Jack already reached out to hold her. The fireworks were more intense this
time.
When Rachel came to her senses, she had found herself leaning against Jack's chest.
He frowned and asked, "Are you scared?"
Rachel was frightened by the fireworks, but now... she was more uncomfortable with him like this.
Rachel pushed him away immediately. There had been so much physical contact between them the
last few days alone than there ever had been in the last five years.
She raised her hand to put aside a strand of hair from her face. Her heart galloped in her chest. "I need
to look for them now."
Jack was a little confused. "Why don't you just call them?"
Rachel dialed Lucas' number, but he didn't answer.
The fireworks blossomed one after another in the night sky. It was so beautiful, but Lucas didn't have
mood to watch that.
He stared blankly at the person sitting on the top floor, not so far away from him. Entranced, he walked
towards her.
Finally, he found her.
He hoped that what he saw this time was not just another illusion.
Celine, on the other hand, stood there with a pale face, looking at Jack and Rachel.
She had wanted to take a breath outside, not expecting to see such a ghastly scene.
The two leaned against one another. She moved two steps forward in silence.
The two of them separated again. They said something and then gazed outside at the blooming
fireworks.
Accompanied by the burst of fireworks, Celine was unable to move.
She hid in the dark like a paparazzi, following their movements.
Her heart broke.
No wonder he began to act so indifferently towards her. No wonder he no longer felt sorry for her. No
wonder he didn't respond when she told him about what Rachel had done to her.
When did he get close to Rachel?
She realized that she had been missing out on what had been happening.
Like a woman who had discovered that her husband had an affair, Celine stood there in shock and
sadness. She couldn't just barge in so boldly as if she was his wife. After all, Jack and Rachel were a
couple.
She stood there for a while, feeling cold all over. Slowly, she calmed down. Seeing that they turned
around and left, she followed them. She sneaked behind them, wanting to see what they were going to
do.
However, to Celine's disappointment, Rachel went away to look for Lucas. As Lucas was on the top
floor the whole time, Rachel were searching in the wrong direction.
Rachel didn't mean to look for Lucas in the first place. She just wanted to have an excuse in avoiding
Jack.
But Jack just followed her like a stalker.
Rachel finally came up with an excuse to get rid of him. "I need to go to the bathroom."
Jack paused. "The bathroom? Okay. Go ahead." He stopped and didn't follow her any more.
Rachel pursed her lips and smiled in secret. She then walked forward quickly.
Leaning against the wall, Jack stood still and stared at the floor blankly. What was he doing? Why did
he have to follow her?
He only wanted to tease her in the beginning. It was fun to see her nervous and at a loss for words.
And then...
It seemed that he needed to think over what he was doing.
His eyes darkened as he looked up.
He narrowed his eyes, standing quietly.
The bathrooms in the Ying family's villa wasn't like the public ones. For today's banquet, all the
bathrooms had designated gender signs.
It was to prevent something embarrassing from happening.
After staying in the bathroom for a while, Rachel thought that Jack might have left.
But when she opened the door and silently walked out, she saw two people standing face to face.
Rachel was slightly stunned, stopping in her tracks. She hid in the corner as Jack looked towards her
direction.
After a moment, she looked up, only to see that Jack had dragged Celine away.
She walked out from the corner of the wall and sighed.
'He said he and Celine was over. But it doesn't look like that.'
She felt a little annoyed, her anger rising up.
She felt foolish for believing him and even more frustrated that she had fallen for his trap. They lived
together, ate together, shared the same bed, and held hands in public.
Rachel narrowed her eyes. The next time Jack tried to tease her again or did something inappropriate,
she would teach him a lesson!
Both of Jack and Rachel had left for a long time, but neither of them came back. Michael sighed, sitting
in a lazy manner. "They all have their dates. We only have each other for company."
Marcus took a glass of champagne, and took a sip. "You also noticed that, right? Something is not right
with Jack and Rachel."
"Save your crap!"
"Then why didn't you react to what we saw earlier?" Marcus squinted suspiciously.
"What could I say? He's going to divorce her, but he still intimately grabbed her hands. Shame on him!"
Michael's face was full of disgust and contempt, but Marcus lightly rebutted, "I don't think they will
divorce if Jack has feelings for Rachel."
Michael looked at him in a puzzled expression. "Are you saying that he suddenly started to like her?"
Marcus didn't know how he would answer the question.
In truth, he didn't know the answer either.
After the fireworks, Claris went downstairs. As one of the hosts, she had to show up.
She grew up aboard, but she could speak standard Chinese without any accent.
After the fireworks, the ladies and gentlemen upstairs turned around and began to mingle. It was a way
for Ying family to entertain the upper class circle of Ninwell City.
The platform where Rick had delivered a speech at was removed. The workers were fast and quiet,
clearing the area without a trace of sound.
After standing at the corner for a while, Rachel emerged. She didn't see Jack and Celine.
It would be better for her if she avoided them. She hoped that they wouldn't come to her later. She went
straight to the banquet hall and encountered the workers who had just finished clearing the platform.
One of them dropped something when he passed Rachel.
Subconsciously, she stepped back as the man bent forward to pick up what he had dropped.
When the man squatted down to get close to her, she smelled something foul.
It smelled like...
gunpowder.
The man quickly picked up what he had dropped and left.
All of a sudden, the lights in the banquet hall turned off, just as the staff finished clearing the area.
It was 8:43 p.m. When the hall was finally empty, Rachel hesitated, not knowing where she would go.
The ground suddenly shook.
The crowd screamed in panic.
"Is it an earthquake?"
someone asked.
That was what Rachel thought too.
However, she was caught off guard when she heard a violent explosion erupting.
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