Marshall's face uncontrollably turned wooden and pale as those words fell on his ears.
With a cryptic smile hanging on his face, Lucas was unaware of the changes in Marshall's facial
expressions. He then looked at Lydia, "Temporarily, I shall keep her name a secret, but I'll tell you that
when the time comes."
Lydia frowned, "Why keep me guessing, boy? Is it all because of the girl's background?"
Lucas walked up, with his arm around Lydia's should, "I said it was a secret. We can continue our talk
back in my office, mom. Marshall's still got his work to do."
Marshall accompanied Lydia to the doorway, and then stared at Lucas, "Let's find sometime and meet
your little girlfriend. You know you need someone to watch out for you."
In a deserved manner, Lucas smiled naturally, "Sure thing!"
Looking at their backs till they got into Lucas's office, Marshall closed the door and headed back to his
seat.
He had not been in a good mood before they came in, and now Lucas's equivocal words even made
him worse.
Marshall lit up a cigarette, and stuck it between his lips. He leant on the chair, and the smoggy
surrounding seemed to bring him back to those old memories.
With his racked, he was trying to dredge up what was exactly in his head when he agreed to
marry Katherine, and what determined him to divorce at the end.
There were also questions related to Katherine remained desperately unsolved, lingering in his mind:
what was Katherine thinking when she signed off on the divorce settlement? And what were her
feelings when he tried so hard to make up to her?
Not after a while, Peter came to give him a sheet of statement. As he stepped inside the office, he was
bewildered by the strange pensive look on Marshall's face, "What happen, boss? Is there something
wrong with you?"
Marshall stubbed out his cigarette, and answered, "Nope."
Peter laughed, "Just get yourself a mirror and see how aggrieved you are looking now."
Handing the statement over to Marshall, Peter asked, "You are again thinking about Kathy, aren't you?
By the way, I have watched that television show, and Hector's romantic performance was fascinating. It
was really irresistible to any girl, you know?"
His words brought Marshall back from a state of absent-mindedness.
With a solemn look on his face, Marshall said, "You know you could have done your work better if you
can just spend less time on those stupid gossip news."Peter realized that he shouldn't have mentioned
anything like that, and thus remained silent with his mouth pursed.
Marshall checked through the file, and then slammed it down on the desk, "There's no tearing rush,
and I shall check it in detail later."
Attempting to laugh, Peter clearly knew what Marshall was feeling bothered about.
Without leaving the office immediately, Peter said, "You know you don't have to be fidgety about that,
boss. Think it twice, and then resort to action. It will be just as simple as such to get yourself out of the
dilemma."
Frowned, Marshall looked at Peter, and was seemingly loosing his patience.
Before Marshall could say anything to refute, Peter said again, "Come on, ask yourself a question,
boss. Do you still love Kathy or not? If you don't, then maybe you are just being reluctant to see other
guys chasing after this humble divorced lady. If I've hit the point, then time will fix it up for you."
With his mouth compressed, Marshall failed to say anything to justify himself.
Peter continued, "But if you do still love her, then things will be simple. Follow the voice inside you, and
try your best to be with her again. I don't think that the years long accumulated affection between you
guys would ever be outplayed by the effort of Hector in the past few months so easily. Trust me, give it
a try, and then you will win her back."
Marshall stared at Peter for a while, and then hummed, "You're speaking as if you are some sort of
master of love. Honestly, I don't think that you're much more clever than me speaking of this."
Peter clicked his tongue, "Don't you look down upon me, boss. I've been recently dating a girl, and
learned that only the man who is willing to take the initiative in a relationship will win others' hearts."
Raising his eyebrow, he paused for a second and then continued, "You know what I'm talking about,
boss."
Marshall remained silent for a few seconds, and looked at Peter again with a sullen expression in his
eyes, "Stop speaking nonsense and get back to work."
Peter knew that Marshall had born his words in mind. He then nodded, "OK, I'm leaving now. Just think
about what I have just said."After Peter left, Marshall went into a trance.
In his opinion, he had already tried his best to get close to her, and continued even if she repulsed his
attempts over and over again.
Sometimes, he even felt ashamed for himself to ever bow and scrape to her.
However, he knew that if he didn't take the initiative, the determined and stubborn lady would never
hesitate to cut off any contact between them.
It was clear enough that their relationship was now stalemated, and Marshall had no clue how he could
break the situation.
On the other side, Katherine woke up, and decided to get downstairs and have a check on Ralph.
The drunken man was still lying on the sofa with his arms outstretched.
Heaving a sigh, Katherine went into the kitchen and made a kettle of hot tea for him.
In a daze, Ralph woke up, and sat on the sofa bleary-eyed and looked around as the tea was ready.
He then looked at Katherine, "Why am I here? Is that you brought me here?"
Giving him a cup of tea, Katherine asked, "Have you forgotten that it was you who phoned me and
called for my help?"
Under the influence of alcohol, he could hardly remember anything about what happened before he fell
asleep. He took over the cup of tea, and drank it up after confirming that it was cool enough to be not to
get him scalded.
Katherine stood aside, and asked, "Why do you drink so much alcohol in the daytime?"
Ralph sneered, "It's none of your business."
Katherine was not in the mood to argue with him, and then said, "Fine, given that you're awake, you'd
better leave now. I got to go back to work now."
Shaking his head to brace himself up, Ralph answered, "I owe you one."
He stood up, took out his phone and checked the time, heaving a long sigh.
It seemed that something had occurred to him and added melancholy to the expression on his face.
After he left, Katherine cleaned up the living room, and then headed back to her store.
There were not many customers at the time, and Margaret, seemingly in a good mood, was humming
songs and cleaning up the store.
Katherine came up, and stood by the doorway. It seemed that Margaret didn't notice her existence, and
was still singing and mopping the floor.
Suddenly, she stopped singing, and burst into titter with a bashful smile hung on her face.
At this time, Katherine spoke out loud, "What's so funny, sweetie? It seems that something has really
brought you to the top of the world."
Margaret was astonished by the sudden appearance of Katherine. Then, she stroked her chest to calm
herself down and said, "You've frighten me, Kathy! When did you get in?"
Katherine went into the counter, "I've been standing there for quite a long while. You seem to
completely indulge in your own tiny world regardless of anything else around you."
Saying so, she said, "By the way, your bright and bashful smile really makes me curious about what's
in your head."
With her fingers skimming through her hair, Margaret answered, "Nothing! I'm just, you know, feeling
happy for being able to spend the afternoon with leisure."
Katherine looked back at Margaret, and Margaret lowered her head hastily and continued her work as
she caught her eyes.
Squinting at the girl, she could tell that Margaret was not telling her the truth.
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