Debbie was embarrassed into silence. Thanks to Carlos, some x-rated scenes flashed through her mind, making her blush bright red. In a huff, she silently tried to pinch him, but to no avail. The man was so slender that there was nowhere to pinch, only solid muscle. Frustrated, Debbie faked a smile and warned him, "Get your hand off me, or I'll give you hell!"
In contrast to her anger and frustration, he felt really good after finally going public with his wife's identity. He'd been waiting for this moment for months. He'd wanted to do it long before, but Debbie didn't want all the paparazzi following her every move. She didn't want to worry about going out in public, or attending school. She didn't want to worry who was pretending to be her friend only trying to get close to Carlos and his money. For every piece of jewelry or watch that Debbie had looked at with keen interest, he would secretly signal his assistant, instructing him to buy and pack up the item. In the meantime, he kept bantering with his wife. "I'll let go if you kiss me," he teased playfully.
Debbie took a deep breath to contain her anger. She felt like a pot about to boil over, and all Carlos was doing was increasing the heat. She closed her eyes, kept the feigned smile on her face and muttered between gritted teeth, "Carlos, I'm serious. Let go of me now. My foot hurts. Do you want a high heel in the face? Imagine what a scar might do to your popularity with the girls."
When what she said sank in, Carlos frowned and loosened his grip. The next second, he squatted down in front of her and asked with concern, "Which foot?"
'My wife is hurting. Who cares about everyone else?' he thought, not in the mood to carry on with the joke now.
He reached out his hand to touch Debbie's ankles, trying to check for a wound. In the process, he kept his back straight. It wasn't hard to tell he used to be a soldier.
His sudden gesture startled Debbie. She hastily tried to pull him up. "Hey, not here. Everyone's staring!"
Seeing Carlos obediently stand up, Debbie heaved a sigh of relief. Yet he scooped her up all of a sudden.
Under everyone's shocked gaze, Carlos strode towards the lounge, carrying Debbie in his arms. No one expected the gesture, so they stared in rapt fascination as he left.
On their way, Debbie noted the crowd's reactions. When she saw some of the women glare at her with resentment, she wanted to cry. "You're doing this on purpose, old man?" she complained.
Carlos lowered his head to look at her. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you told everyone who I was. I don't remember telling you that was okay. Then you tried to make out with me in front of all the guests. And now? You carry me in your arms. In front of everyone. You have a lot of fans! Don't make them hate me out of jealousy." Debbie was well aware of Carlos' popularity. If she guessed right, they might have already hit the headlines.
Unfortunately, Debbie's guess was right. Moments ago, someone uploaded photos. The news went viral. The news headlines read, "Mrs. Huo's identity," "Carlos Huo apologizes to his wife in public" and "the Huos showed off their love at the exposition."
And what was more, some netizens even dug into Debbie's past and found out more about her past.
Like how her ex-boyfriend was Hayden Gu, the CEO of Gu Group.
And her best friends were Jared, the second son of the Han family in Y City; Kasie, the daughter of the Zheng family; Dixon Shu, the straight-A student of Economics and Management School; and Kristina Lin, Dixon's girlfriend. On top of that, a lot of Debbie's personal info was also leaked. Everyone wanted to know more about the recently-revealed Mrs. Huo.
But since Debbie didn't have a chance to do anything with phone at the moment, she still had no idea of what kind of uproar they had caused on the Internet.
In the lounge
Carlos gently put Debbie on a sofa and squatted down again. This time he didn't draw curious stares. He took off her high heels and found that her right heel was chafed raw by the shoe. If she had walked any longer, the shoe might have caused nasty, painful blisters on her right heel or even scraped off her skin.
Seeing that, Carlos furrowed his eyebrows and stood up. He pulled out his phone and called Emmett. "Get me a pair of comfortable sneakers and some band-aids. Quickly," he ordered.
Debbie didn't want to bother him. "Hey, cut it out. I'll be okay after a little rest here." 'Or I can go back home early, ' she thought.
But Carlos didn't listen to her. After ending the call, he sat down next to Debbie and asked, "Hungry?"
"Um...no. Look, people are lining up just to talk to you. You have to go talk with them. Leave me alone here. I'll be okay," Debbie urged again. She had been trying to drive this man away mainly because she didn't want any more attention than she'd gotten already. Carlos was a walking attention magnet, drawing stares wherever he went.
So to stop any more curious glances, she desperately wanted this man to go away now.
Besides, Carlos was in charge of this exposition. He needed to be there to smooth out the kinks. Since Debbie had insisted, Carlos had no choice but to agree. "Okay, but don't go anywhere. Just stay here. I'll be back later when Emmett arrives." Before he left, he gestured to the waiter near them and ordered some desserts and beverages for Debbie.
Just as Carlos exited the lounge, a group of ladies immediately came and crowded around Debbie. Not asking if Debbie wanted to chat or not, they began to spit out a barrage of questions one after another. "He left you alone here?"
"Wow, I never imagined Mrs. Huo would be so beautiful! But Mrs. Huo, what happened to you? I saw Mr. Huo carry you the whole way."
"How long have you been Mrs. Huo? Which family are you from? What do your parents do?"
Debbie felt a surge of dizziness due to the never-ending questions. This was exactly what she was trying to avoid. What was Carlos thinking? And why didn't he ask her before he did it?
And she had no interest in answering any of them. Nonetheless, known as Mrs. Huo now, she had to keep a polite smile on her face. She grabbed a plate of desserts that the waiter had brought to her and apologized, "Ladies, I'm sorry. I'm starving. Ta ta for now."
She was obviously saying goodbye to them. A quick way to end the conversation. But strangely enough, they didn't get the hint. Or maybe they feigned ignorance so they could stay longer. The questions stopped, and the nagging began.
"It's too late for you to be eating anything, Mrs. Huo."
"Oooh! That looks sinful! You should watch your figure."
"Are you trying to put on the pounds?"
"You're in such good shape! Why would you want to be fat?"
"Careful, Mr. Huo may not like you if you put on weight."
"You definitely need to watch your weight—a rich handsome man like Mr. Huo has a lot of girls to choose from."
"Is Mr. Gu really your ex-boyfriend?"
Debbie's head started to pound. She needed to either flee or get rid of them, otherwise she might go mad. This evening was not going well, certainly not the way she envisioned. What were these women doing here? Why weren't they at least window shopping for all the jewelry and watches at the exposition? Why were they poking their nose into her business? Why couldn't they just leave her alone? All these women were such a pain and—wait... Maybe Carlos revealed her identity so that she wouldn't be able to keep tabs on him.
In the end, Debbie put down the desserts, deliberately clattering the plates on the counter. She was loud, trying to get their attention. She ran her eyes over the group and asked, "How's the jewelry?"
Confused, the women answered in chorus, "The jewelry is amazing!" Everything on display was beautiful and luxurious. From sparkling tiaras to gem-encrusted hairpins, from necklaces, chokers, and earrings to diamond-studded bracelets. A dizzying array of gems, rubies, emeralds, opals, pearls, and polished pieces of jade. Even rings and cuff links. And some of the finest timepieces expertly crafted by Swiss watchmakers. But the prices were too high.
If their husbands were as rich as Carlos, they would have already bought all of the jewelry here and brought their favorites home with them.
"And what about the watches?" Debbie continued to ask.
Again, the women replied in confusion, "The watches are great!"
"Since everything looks awesome, maybe you should spend more of your precious time appreciating them. I'm not as interesting as all that ice out there. I shouldn't be the focus here. Please!" Debbie waved at them with a smile.
"You're being modest, Mrs. Huo. You're more attractive than those jewelry and watches..."
"Yes, I think so. Mrs. Huo, are you still a student? Where do you go to university?"
Meanwhile, more and more spectators arrived, adding to the group gathered around Debbie. Debbie was on the brink of a meltdown. 'Jesus! Save me from idiots! Please!' she exclaimed in her head.
She knew it. That was why she didn't want to expose her identity. Now, where was the bad man who had let the whole world know about it? Couldn't he see that she was surrounded by a large group of people? Why didn't he come back and save her?
Left with no choice, Debbie put on her high heels again and squeezed through the crowd that had gathered in the lounge. "I'm sorry. I need to look for my friends. Please enjoy yourselves!"
She broke free of the hangers-on, practically pushing her way through the crowd. Debbie limped through the hall to look for Carlos, Kasie or her other friends.
But she didn't see any of them. Instead, she spotted Wesley and Megan.
She had no interest in talking to those two, so she walked in the opposite direction. "Good evening, Mrs. Huo!" a guest greeted her.