Eric gazed at Jack strangely. "Don't you know?"
"About what?"
"Nothing." Immediately, Eric smoothed his hair, trying to cover the smirk on his face.
Jack frowned. "What's wrong? Tell me."
It seemed that Rachel didn't bother to tell him of her abrupt change of schedule.
'No wonder he came here early in the morning. He doesn't know that Rachel isn't coming back today.
They must've had a fight,' Eric thought.
Now, he just felt sorry for him. 'Is Rachel going to dump him?'
He crossed his arms over his chest. "You broke up with each other?"
Jack sneered at Eric's comments. "I won't give up that easily."
Eric scoffed. "Do you even know Rachel? You may not be ready to give up, but I don't think she is the
same."
His words were like bullets through Jack's heart. His face hardened, and he didn't say a word.
The noise from the washing machine was the only sound echoing across the household. Eric stared at
the machine for a while before he turned to Jack.
He gazed at the floor. Not being able to take it anymore, he looked up at him.
"Hey!"
Jack raised his head, indicating that he was listening.
Eric turned to look at Jack. After a few minutes of contemplation, he continued, "Are you going to wait
for Rachel here?"
Jack nodded. "What time will she land?"
Finally not able to take it anymore, he burst into laughter. "She won't be landing today. Didn't she tell
you?"
At his words, Jack stood up.
His gaze darkened. "What did you say?"
"She's not done with her job yet."
"When will she come back?"
Eric cocked up an eyebrow. "Am I her keeper?"
Jack didn't answer his question. Instead, he repeated, "When will she come back?"
Eric just laughed in reply. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the man in front of him. He looked like a
dog who was waiting for his master to return.
However, before Eric could say anything, Jack already turned and left.
"Hey!" he called. "Don't you want to know when she'll come back?"
Jack turned. "I'll ask her myself."
Seeing this, he had no plans of asking Eric of Rachel's whereabouts. He might just continue laughing
at his face.
That just pissed Eric off even more. 'I'll complain to Rachel, you son of a bitch!
Let's see how you fare. Don't look so arrogant!'
The rain continued pouring on the little town.
The dormitory Rachel was residing in wasn't good. In fact, it wafted off this moist scent that she couldn't
get off. Although the room was clean and ventilated, it still felt stuffy.
Rachel put down her luggage and turned on the ventilator.
Outside, the rain slammed against the windowpane heavily as thunder crackled around the outskirts of
the province.
Luckily, each person was assigned to one room, so there was no need to share.
Seeing as they might need to stay here for a few more days, she cleaned up the room herself, making
sure that everything was organized and set up.
Sweat beaded down her neck.
Rachel was about to clean herself up when someone knocked on the door.
She buttoned up her vest once again before calling out, "Who's there?"
No one responded. The person knocked on the door again.
"Who's there?" Rachel furrowed her eyebrows.
However, the person still didn't respond. The knocking continued.
A shiver ran down her spine.
Although it was daytime, she still couldn't be too sure that nothing would happen.
When the knocking continued, Rachel became even more agitated.
She clenched her fists.
"Who's there?" There was silence before Holley finally responded, "It's me."
She didn't expect that Holley would be at the other side of the door.
After hesitating for a moment, Rachel finally opened the door.
She could see Holley standing quietly in front of her wearing a sleeveless dress.
"Hey, is there anything I can do for you?"
"I actually have something to tell you."
"What is it?"
Holley hesitated. "May I come in?"
Rachel finally let go of the handle and motioned for the woman to come inside.
Holley's eyes scanned the room, which made Rachel uncomfortable. Remembering what Vicky had
said to her, she quickly blocked the woman's line of sight.
"So..."
"Do you have any misunderstandings about me?"
Holley interrupted. "Don't lie."
Rachel chose not to answer her question directly. She smiled and waved her hand. "We're good."
"Then why do I feel like you have a problem with me?" She crossed her arms. Her voice was confident
and disapproving at the same time, as if she was daring Rachel to speak against her thoughts.
"I think there are misunderstandings between us."
What was she going to say?
Rachel didn't think that Holley would be so upfront in asking her.
Holley continued, "Did Vicky say anything to you? Anything at all?"
'Why did she care so much about my thoughts?' Rachel furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"Why don't you sit down for a second?" She motioned to the chair, but Holley didn't move.
"Look, Vicky and I...we had a few problems way back. She often talk about me behind my back. You
don't have to deny it, since I already know. I just want to say that you should be careful about who you
listen to. That's all."
Rachel finally had the chance to speak up. "Look, she didn't tell me anything, okay?"
"Really?" Holley asked doubtfully.
Rachel smiled. "What was she supposed to say anyway?"
"I don't know." She shrugged. "All I know is that she often spoke ill of me behind my back. Others may
have been misled by her words.
Look, I won't bother you anymore. See you."
"See you."
Rachel frowned. She didn't understand why Holley had to come to her directly.
At around midnight, several places not far from her dormitory were already flooded. The rain eventually
went to a stop.
Jack tossed and turned in his bed, unable to fall asleep. Eventually, he grabbed his phone and dialed
Rachel's number.
He thought that the phone wouldn't be connected, just like always. He didn't expect that she would
reply.
"Hello?"
When he heard her voice, he first thought that it was his mind playing its tricks on him.
"Jack?"
Hearing her voice, he glanced at his phone. Jack's eyes widened as he jumped out of bed. It felt as if
his entire body was struck by lightning.
"Are you there?"
Rachel frowned when she heard something fall from the other end of the line.
"Are you okay? What happened?"
Hearing her concerned voice, Jack thought that he had died and gone up to heaven.
He was so ecstatic that he didn't know what to do. In fact, a part of him was tempted to dance around
in happiness. He restrained himself, afraid that he might scare her with his enthusiasm.
"Everything's fine.
A pillow just dropped."
Rachel was silent again.
After hesitating for a while, he asked, "How is everything going there?"
"Everything's going okay," she answered. "It rained heavily a while ago, but it stopped now."
"Oh..." Jack scratched the back of his neck, not really knowing what else to say. "When will you come
back?"
He sounded like a spoiled child who was begging for his mother to come home.
Rachel's mouth twitched. "If everything goes well, I'll be back the day after tomorrow."
As they chatted, he could clearly feel the distance and coldness between them. He tried his best to put
everything back together before, but it seemed that their relationship had been pushed further apart. It
was all his fault.
Upon facing Rachel's coldness, he felt helpless.
Just when he thought he could have his own happy ending, he had to go ahead and screw it all up.
Honestly, at this point, he didn't know whether Rachel would forgive him after what he had done. He
could only hope for the best.
Rachel sighed, breaking the silence. "Aren't you tired of calling?"
He smiled bitterly. "Well, it's my mistake, isn't it? I should make up for it."
Rachel licked her lips. A part of her wanted to ask him if he had already made up his mind, but she felt
that it wasn't a good idea to talk about it on the phone. "Look, if there's nothing else, I'll hang up."
"Wait!" He finally got through to her. He wasn't going to let her hang up before he could say anything
else.
"What? Is there something you want to say? I have a packed schedule tomorrow, so I need to sleep
early."
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda