Megan kept shaking her head, her face turning pale.
"Didn't you declare war on me? Why so afraid now?" Debbie confronted her. Carlos stepped forward, pulling them away from each other.
As soon as they were separated, Megan weakly leaned into Carlos' arms, her body trembling. Debbie sneered, "Carlos Huo, you feel your heart ache, don't you?"
Carlos shut his eyes. "Don't make a fuss out of nothing!"
'Make a fuss? Me? She's got her hooks in you, ' Debbie laughed ironically in her mind.
She felt like she was suffocated by her anger. "Fine, I'm in the wrong. I'm a troublemaker!" she yelled, a lump in her throat.
Ignoring them, she turned away and ran upstairs.
To prevent the two women from fighting again, Carlos had a housemaid prepare a guest room for Megan on the ground floor. After confirming that Megan was fine, he turned around to leave. It was better this way. Debbie was stopped from doing much at the Huo family's house. But here, away from all the elders who disliked her, her anger had free reign. Tomboy's rage was a terrible thing to behold. Carlos thought he'd better make them stay away from each other for the moment.
"Uncle Carlos..." Megan called out, her body curling up in the bed. "I'm sorry if I make you and Aunt Debbie unhappy. Maybe I should fly back to Y City alone tomorrow."
Carlos glanced at her, shaking his head. "No. Stay here. Sleep tight."
Before he left, he turned off the lamp. But all of a sudden, Megan jumped out of the bed and rushed to him. She threw herself into his arms, stopping him from leaving the room. "Uncle Carlos, trust me. Aunt Debbie doesn't love you at all..."
"Megan!" Carlos cried out sternly. He tried to pull himself away from her.
Megan raised her voice. "It's true! Think about it. You've been with her awhile, but why hasn't she gotten pregnant yet? Don't you think something is wrong?"
Her words froze Carlos.
Megan composed herself and continued, "I saw...saw Aunt Debbie take birth control pills. I didn't want to tell you this. But I don't want you to hate me because of her! I want you to know who she really is..."
Carlos asked, "When did you see that, and where?"
"At the Huo family's house. I saw her do it three times there..."
Seeing Carlos pull away to leave, she hastily added, "Don't just ask her outright. She won't admit it. Uncle Carlos, you can take her for a blood test and see if there're any common steroidal compounds in her body, like the kinds that are used in birth control pills. Or maybe figure out why she can't get pregnant."
Carlos stopped walking now.
Megan held her breath and cautiously added fuel to the fire. "I'm a woman and I know how women think. If I married a man I truly loved, I'd want to have kids with him. But if I don't want babies, then it means I don't love the guy at all..."
Her words reminded Carlos of all the times when Debbie told him that she didn't want a baby right now.
"I told you that I saw Hayden Gu kiss her, but you didn't trust me. Truth is, they're still in touch. Otherwise, she wouldn't have dated him behind your back. Uncle Carlos, I never tried to drive a wedge between you and Aunt Debbie. I just care about you. I don't want you to be fooled by this woman. I feel bad that you've fallen into her trap. Uncle Carlos..." she said with a sob and grabbed him by his sleeve.
Without turning his head, Carlos pulled her hand off and strode out of her room.
He slammed the door heavily behind him. As soon as the door was closed, Megan turned her tears into a big and cunning smile.
When Carlos walked upstairs, he found that their bedroom was double locked. He couldn't get in. He could unlock the doorknob, but not the deadbolt on the inside.
As he stared at the closed door, Megan's words resounded in his head, making him even more annoyed.
A housemaid came behind him and reported in a low voice, "Mr. Huo? Mrs. Huo requested... you sleep in the guest room tonight. I have it ready for you."
His face darkened. Kicking the door, he roared, "Open it!"
The noise was loud enough to be heard by the woman inside. But she didn't budge even a little.
Carlos raised his head to stare at the ceiling, pressing his lips tightly to stifle his anger. 'Debbie, you did a good job!'
In the end, the couple slept in separate rooms. Ever since they confirmed their relationship, this was the first time they spent the night in different rooms, though still under the same roof.
The next morning, as Carlos knew that Debbie liked to sleep in, and since they were flying back to Y City in his private plane, there was no need to hurry. So he called in a housemaid to tell her not to wake up Debbie.
However, the housemaid told him Debbie had already left for the airport an hour ago. She'd bought a ticket for herself and asked Carlos not to worry.
Carlos' eyes burned with fire as he listened to the housemaid pass on Debbie's words. The housemaid almost fainted when she saw the fire in his gaze.
At the airport
Wearing a pair of sunglasses and sipping a bottle of milk tea bought at the airport, Debbie sent a message to their friends on WeChat. "Hey guys, good news! The return of the queen! See you soon."
Jared echoed her joke and wrote, "Long Live Queen Debbie!"
Kristina wrote, "Your majesty, we, your people, call to you."
Kasie wrote, "Party time! I'll book a room so we can do that tomorrow."
Dixon wrote, "Bon Voyage, Tomboy!"
Debbie sent a "goodbye" and put away her phone reluctantly.
She had bought an economy ticket. Though she had control over Carlos' wallet now, she still didn't want to waste money.
And she didn't feel guilty taking his wallet away, sparing him not a single cent. She was justified keeping a tight grip on his purse strings, or he would spend all the money on another woman.
After boarding the plane, she went into the economy cabin and looked for her seat following the signs. However, when she found her seat number, she was surprised that her seat was already occupied. "Excuse me, sir. I think this is my seat!" she said to the man sitting in her seat.
The man looked at her and said apologetically, "I'm really sorry. I want to sit next to my girlfriend. Can we change seats ?"
Debbie nodded understandingly. "Okay, so where's your seat?"
The man gestured to a stewardess and showed her his ticket. After exchanging a few words with the stewardess in fluent English, he said to Debbie, "Thank you. The stewardess will guide you to my seat."
Then, Debbie followed the stewardess to walk along the passage. When she walked through the economy class, she felt something wrong. 'Wait, is the stewardess taking me to the first-class cabin?'
Her guess was right. The stewardess led her to an empty seat and said with a smile, "You can sit here."
Stunned, Debbie looked around the sumptuous first-class cabin. 'My guess was right!
What an idiot! Why would he give this up?'
It wasn't until she was settled down in her new seat that she realized the real idiot was none other than herself!
It turned out he had an ulterior motive, for who would be willing to give up a seat in first-class and change to a much cheaper seat in economy? Now she finally got it.
Instantly, she stood up to leave, but the man sitting next to her quickly stopped her. He had wanted to hold her hand, but in the end, he grabbed her by her sleeve. "Deb, seems like we're destined to meet here."
Debbie shook off his hand and said coldly, "Hayden, you stalker! Why do I see you everywhere?"
"I don't know. As I said, it must be fate," Hayden said innocently, throwing his hands in the air and shrugging his shoulders. The truth was, he had spotted Debbie when he was waiting at the VIP lounge earlier. He had someone look into it and found that she had booked an economy ticket herself.
Ignoring him, Debbie took her bag and intended to get back her original seat in economy, like her ticket indicated.
Hayden stood up and stopped in her tracks. He tried persuading her. "The plane is going to take off. It's just a seat. I promise I won't bother you nor will I lay a finger on you. Okay?"
Debbie rolled her eyes. But seeing two stewardesses look curiously at them, Debbie had no choice but to sit back in the seat. 'Forget it. It's just a seat. He won't be able to do anything on a plane, ' she thought, sighing helplessly.
After sitting back, she pulled out her phone and said to him formally, "It's not in Airplane Mode yet, so I can transfer the money to you now. I owe you the price difference between Economy and First Class."