Kasie felt a warm feeling course throughout her body. She tried to stay calm and pulled Emmett closer to her, who was seriously looking at the diamond rings. "I was just kidding, Emmett! I haven't even graduated yet. I don't want to spend my school life with a baby in my belly. Don't propose to me now."
Emmett shook his head helplessly. "Kasie, you fool. We can get engaged now and we'll get married after you graduate."
His words touched Kasie. Tears threatened to fall from her reddened eyes. But she pretended to be angry and chided, "Be honest! Are you rushing your proposal just to save a meal? Our parents haven't met each other yet. Do you think I'll be taken in so easily? Humph, no way!"
The truth was that she wanted to marry Emmett as soon as possible too. But on second thoughts, she didn't want to rush things because they had only been together for a short period. After all, marriage was a huge event in a person's life, especially for a woman. She wanted to thoroughly consider this before making a final decision.
Emmett nodded understandingly. "You have a point there. I'll wait until you graduate. And then, I'll ask my parents to speak to your parents about our marriage."
Through her tear-filled eyes, Kasie saw a beautiful future unfolding in front of her. She said with a fake pout, "Then it's settled. If you don't officially propose when I graduate, you'll be a cheating dog. And if I don't say yes when you do, I'll be the cheating dog."
Emmett considered her words for a few seconds. As if waking up from a confusion, he corrected himself immediately, "You got me wrong, Kasie! What I meant was that I'd propose to you after your junior year, not your senior year! You will not be taking the postgraduate entrance exam, right? If so, let's make it earlier. I'll propose to you at the end of this semester and ask for your parents' blessing."
"What?! So soon? There's only one semester left in that case." Although she wanted to marry him soon, she felt a semester's time was too short.
"Yeah. I need to ask Mr. Huo for leave a few months in advance. I may need at least a month off to prepare for our engagement and wedding. That's to say, I won't be working in July and I'll start earning for our family from August..." Emmett kept mumbling about their plan with a serious look on his face.
Kasie glowed with happiness as she watched her man carefully plan their future. He was obviously serious about their marriage.
She had missed out on Lewis, but now, she had Emmett, a much more reliable man. 'I'm so lucky that I found him...' she thought to herself, feeling blessed.
In the lounge
Carlos carefully put a band-aid on Debbie's scratched skin and then helped her put on the sneakers. "Try this and see if it's better," he said gently.
Debbie stood up from the sofa and walked a few steps. "Better. It doesn't hurt."
But the sneakers looked so weird with her evening dress. She felt awkward.
Carlos asked a person nearby to throw her high heels away. He turned to her and instructed, "Get some rest. I still have some things to handle."
After a pause, Debbie said hesitantly, "You go ahead with your work. Since you came here with Portia and I came with Gregory, I think we should go back home separately. I'll leave with him."
Carlos's face fell abruptly. He looked intently into her eyes and requested sternly, "No way! Wait for me here. Don't go anywhere or with anyone else."
Debbie pouted and said in an unconvinced tone, "Yes, sir! As you wish. I'm gonna listen to you since there are so many people here. I don't want to make you look bad in front of them."
"Be good..." Carlos drew closer to her and whispered. "Wait for me and we'll go back home together, okay?"
Debbie nodded slowly. At that moment, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a woman standing a short distance away. In an instant, she drew closer to Carlos and wrapped her arms around his neck as she planted a kiss on his cheek. "Okay," she said sweetly.
Confused by her initiative kiss and the sweet smile on her face, Carlos discreetly scanned the hall out of the corner of his eye. As expected, he noticed some women and understood her little trick at once. Portia and Olga were among the women who were watching them from a short distance away.
He dotingly pinched her nose. "How dare you make use of me? You better pay me back when we're home."
Pretending innocence, she shrugged her shoulders and said in a helpless voice, "I have no choice. My husband is good at attracting all kinds of women. I have to drive them away, right?"
Carlos smiled lovingly. "Yeah, whatever you say. Wait for me here. I'll be back as soon as possible."
They pulled away from each other and Carlos walked away. As soon as he disappeared into the crowd, the women who had been watching them came up to Debbie.
Portia had returned to her normal self. With a glass of cocktail in her hand, she sat opposite Debbie. Olga did the same. A few other wealthy ladies from Y City followed suit. Most of these women had fought with Debbie at the last party and she had spilled blood red wine all over their dresses.
Debbie didn't want anything to do with those women. She stood up to leave.
Pretending to be nonchalant, Portia collected herself and said in a cool tone, "Debbie Nian, you've concealed yourself well."
Debbie smirked. "Concealed what? I never hid anything from you."
"Then why did you tell everyone that you were married to Emmett?" Portia asked between gritted teeth. 'Dammit! I was fooled by this bitch all along!' she cursed in her mind.
Debbie was amused. She turned to Portia and taunted, "You're as ridiculous as your brother. It's you who were stupid enough to think that I was married to Emmett. Why are you blaming me for your idiocy? Did I ever say that Emmett was my husband? Did you hear it from me anytime? Huh?"
Portia was dumbfounded, her face deadpan. She suddenly realized that Debbie had never once said it herself that she was married to Emmett!
When Portia remained silent, Olga chipped in, "When did you marry Mr. Huo? And now that you are married, why do you still keep an ambiguous relationship with Mr. Gu? Do you still love Mr. Gu? Does Mr. Huo know about this?"
Debbie answered outright, "Yes, he knows. So what? What does it have to do with you?"
Her answer was way out of Olga's expectation. Dumbstruck, she couldn't find a reasonable thing to say, so she just cursed, "Shame on you!"
"Shame on me?" Debbie raised her brows at Olga with a cunning smile.
Seeing her grin, Olga recalled some scenes in her mind. Last time, when Carlos had invited her to dinner, they had met Debbie and Gregory at the restaurant. 'At that time, Debbie said that her husband had run away with an old woman. So...by old woman, she actually meant me!' she thought angrily.
Olga had believed that Carlos had invited her to insult Debbie and laugh at her. But now, she realized that she had been the one who was being laughed at by the couple.
Olga was ticked off, her face contorted in anger.
As she was about to throw a tantrum, Carlos' warning came to her mind. He had earlier warned her not to offend Debbie. Olga shuddered and held back her anger.
She tried her hardest to adjust her emotion and steady her breathing. As Olga was wondering whether she should apologize or go away at once, Debbie asked again, "Miss Mi, who is shameless here? How about I call my husband and ask him for his opinion?"
Debbie thought that it was the right time to exercise her right as Mrs. Huo and get rid of her love rivals. It was now or never!
"You dare threaten me using Mr. Huo's name?" Olga flared up. She hadn't had the chance to humiliate Debbie yet, and the arrogant woman was already Mrs. Huo. How could she ever get the chance to stamp on her now?
"Carlos is my husband. Why can't I do it?" 'I should make good use of Carlos' power right now!' she thought mischievously. Debbie sat back on the sofa and continued with a broad smile, "I don't want to see any of you here. Get lost, or I'll call Carlos."
"Aunt Debbie," a voice called out.
Before those women could stand up to leave, another appeared in the lounge.
Debbie felt her head pound. She had dealt with a lot of women tonight, but now she had to handle a more troublesome, disgusting woman. 'Oh, Jesus! I'd better get up and leave!' she thought, sighing helplessly.