Marcus' words failed to goad Jack in surrendering. Rubbing the space in between his eyebrows, Jack
sighed. "I've been exhausted lately."
Michael snorted. "And why is that?"
Eric was the only one who knew exactly why Jack was so tired.
"He has been taking care of Rachel," he stated proudly.
Eric patted Jack's shoulder. He didn't notice the smile that carved into his lips.
Rachel was half asleep when the bed sank. The smell of alcohol wafted across her, and she couldn't
help but wrinkle her nose.
"Did you drink?" she murmured.
Jack's eyes widened. "Is the smell that strong?"
He made sure that he took a shower before coming to bed in fear that the smell might cause her to
vomit.
Rachel slowly opened her eyes, yawning. "I have a good nose."
She tapped her nose to emphasize her point. "It's not that strong though. Did they leave?"
Jack pulled her into a kiss. "No, they're still in the living room."
"Why did you leave them?"
"Eric is with them right now."
"Eric?"
"Yes. There's no need to worry about them. Let's sleep now."
Michael and Marcus had initially planned to drink with Jack. However, Jack decided to run away and let
Eric serve as his scapegoat.
Eric's head hurt so much in the morning from all the drinking he did. In fact, it took him a few hours to
get over his hangover.
When Rachel saw the two men again, they began to complain to her.
While Jack was playing with his lighter indifferently, Michael took his time to ridicule them. "You're so
awesome, Rachel. You've already turned this playboy into a good husband."
She almost choked on her juice at the man's words. At the sound, Jack immediately set aside his
lighter and patted her on the back. "Drink it slowly," he instructed.
Marcus couldn't help but be surprised by the scene. Even when Jack and Celine were together, he had
never seen them in such an intimate relationship. Most of the time, Celine would take it upon herself to
please Jack, not the other way around.
Marcus coughed awkwardly. "By the way, how's Eric doing? He was so drunk he couldn't even stand
up when we left."
Hearing him mention Eric, Jack froze and snuck a glance at his wife.
Before he could say anything, Rachel frowned and snapped, "You two crossed the line that day!"
Marcus went into a coughing fit.
Michael avoided her cool gaze. In fact, it felt as if they had bullied Eric and were now being scolded by
his parent. When he glanced at Jack, he couldn't even believe the man's audacity.
Jack was shameless enough to pretend to be innocent after betraying Eric.
Michael raised his hands up in the air. "I gave him three days off."
"You shouldn't have let him drink too much," Jack reminded them.
If looks could kill, Jack would've already been six feet under as the two sneered at him. 'What the fuck?
Traitor!'
Rachel had no idea what had happened, so she nodded in agreement. "It really is too much. You know
that Eric's not good at drinking. The nanny had to help him go back to his room."
According to what the nanny had said, Eric was forced to drink loads of glasses.
As they struggled to explain themselves, a man knocked at the door and poked his head in. "It's time
for fireworks. Come on. Don't hide yourselves here."
They were actually attending the birthday party of one of best friends. To be more specific, the
celebrant was actually a friend of Michael's.
Given that they were all still in their early twenties, they still had a way of celebrating very exuberantly.
The host rented a yacht and invited his friends over.
Jack was one of the people he had invited, so he took Rachel out here to relax.
After being discharged from the hospital for more than half a month, she stayed most of her time in her
home. The only place she ever went to was the surrounding park.
However, Jack knew that she stayed at home most of the time because she was insecure about her
hair.
Since he was busy with his work, he wasn't always with her all the time. These days, he noticed that
she had grown even slimmer than before, and her skin was so pale after not going out in the past
month.
While he was thinking of finding an excuse to take her out for a walk, the birthday invitation came by
just in time.
Jack thought it over and decided to take her. After all, there weren't that many people on the yacht, and
it was mostly filled with people Rachel already knew.
There were several people on the deck setting off the fireworks. Three hot girls dressed in bikinis were
chasing after one another as they yelled gleefully as the skies lit up.
Marcus' eyes glinted at the sight of the beautiful women. Glancing at him, Michael snorted. "These girls
already have boyfriends," he reminded.
The flickering light in the man's eyes quickly vanished, and he said nothing in reply.
The girls' laughter echoed throughout the yacht as the fireworks continued.
Rachel stared at the sky thoughtfully, not noticing that Jack was staring at her.
"Are you cold?" he asked.
She was the only one who chose to wear more casual clothes. Before she came out of the washroom
as she got ready for the party, Jack had been so worried that she'd be insecure of her hair.
He even prepared a wig for her if she wanted, but she refused to wear it.
Rachel knew that this was a fear that she needed to overcome herself.
She picked the hat that was sent by Eric and dressed herself in a simple T-shirt and a pair of jeans.
The brim of her hat was lowered.
No one really noticed her hair.
However, when she went out dressing like that, Jack was stunned.
Rachel didn't normally wear casual clothes like that. Her eyes were bright under the hat, and he
couldn't help but grin back.
An unknown feeling surged through his heart.
In the past, she had dressed too dull and conservative. He had never seen her dress in something that
matched her age.
However, Rachel now looked even lovelier. She looked like a girl who had just graduated from college.
She was bright and youthful.
Although the days were approaching autumn, the weather was still warmer than usual.
There was no sea breeze washing over them, but he was still afraid that she might catch a cold.
"I can go get a coat," he said.
"There's no need." She grabbed his arm. "I'm not cold."
"The moment you know it's cold, it will already be too late," he argued. Now, he sounded like her nanny.
The people on the deck looked up at them and shouted, "What are you doing there? Come down
already!"
Rachel pursed her lips. "I'm not a child," she stated. "Don't worry about me."
The party was held by a young man celebrating his twenty-second birthday.
Normally, his birthdays were celebrated in a grander manner, but this time, he decided to keep it low.
The fireworks were actually prepared by his other friends. As the sparks lit up the sky and exploded in
the night, their secret was finally revealed.
Johnny Yu had been staring blankly at the bottle in his hand when the fireworks crackled in the air. It
read "Happy Birthday Johnny" in colorful and elaborate letterings. The man burst into laughter. "What
the hell? You're not creative at all!"
he screamed out, chuckling.
Rachel thought that his comments might offend the people behind this.
However, what she didn't expect was for another man to yell back, "You deserve this crap! What else
do you want, man? This is the best we can give you."
Someone else laughed. "Frank, he was angry that we've prepared fireworks for him.
He wanted a hot woman."
Frank snorted. "Sorry, dude. Next time I will."
Johnny blushed in shame. He threw an empty bottle at the man.
"Fuck you asshole!"
he scolded.
Rachel couldn't help but shake her head as the other girls in the yacht hissed in disgust.
Standing next to her, Jack pulled a long face. He couldn't believe that these bastards were talking
nonsense in front of his wife.
After the fireworks, the waiter came over to set up the table.
The planned to roast some seafood tonight. In addition to the materials they had taken out, they had
also fished a few things during the afternoon.
The barbecue was big enough for all the things that they'd caught.
Rachel was thinking how it was possible to make barbecue on the ship. She didn't expect that they
would bring out an electric griller.
The men rolled up their sleeves and went to work. The scraped the scales and removed the internal
organs from the fish's bodies.
They also brought some meat with them.
The girls looked at the knife and the meat, not knowing how to slice it.
They stood aside, unsure on how to help the men.
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