Debbie had been in England for a few days now. The day she reported to her university, she met someone she was familiar with.
Gus, who had always been an odd egg, ran towards her with a huge smile on his face. "Debbie, long time no see," he said, a complex look in his eyes.
Debbie looked at him and walked past without a word.
'What did I do wrong?' he mused with a confused frown.
But it didn't matter. The thought that he was actually Debbie's uncle put him in a good mood again.
He caught up with her and proclaimed, "Niece, as your uncle, I have come here to keep you company. Are you moved? Come on! Call me 'Uncle'."
The truth was that he didn't want to study abroad at all, because that meant being away from his girlfriend. Curtis had tricked him into coming here.
Making Debbie call him "Uncle" was the only thing he was interested in at the moment.
Debbie stopped and looked at him coldly. "I'm sorry. Do I know you? Get away from me."
Gus was stunned by her rude tone. It was not until then that he sensed there was something wrong about her behavior towards him.
His happy face disappeared. He shouted at her back, "Debbie Nian, I was just asking you to call me 'Uncle', as you rightly should. Do you have to pull such a long face for that?"
Without so much as a pause, Debbie walked straight towards her classroom.
'Damn that Curtis!
Why does he put me on such frustrating tasks every time?' he wondered sullenly.
On the eighth day she was in England, Debbie video-called Carlos and learned that he was sick.
She asked Emmett how it happened, and he told her that ever since she had gone to England, Carlos hadn't gone back to the manor even once. He ate and slept at the company and worked more than ten hours a day. The long hours, stress, and lack of sleep eventually damaged his health.
Today was the third day he had been sick, but he had taken no medicine and insisted on working without a break.
Worried, Debbie made him go to the hospital by coaxing, ordering, and threatening him all at once.
Even so, she still didn't believe that Carlos would take his pills like he was supposed to.
During recess, she sent Carlos a message asking, "Did you take your medicine? Take a picture so that I can see it for myself."
She didn't get any reply. Instead, she got a domestic call from an unknown number. "Hello?" she answered.
"Aunt Debbie, it's me. Uncle Carlos hasn't taken his medicine yet. He's having a fever of 39℃. I've tried to persuade him, but he won't listen. You try."
It was Megan.
Debbie couldn't figure out why the girl had called her all of a sudden. "Where is he?"
"In the meeting room. He left his phone in his office on charge. I didn't mean to pry into his personal messages. When your message came, the phone screen lit up, and I saw it accidentally. And..."
Debbie hung up while Megan was still explaining the situation.
She called Emmett, but he was in another city on a business trip. She asked him for another assistant's phone number, and she finally got hold of Carlos.
Debbie sounded as calm as still water. "You have high fever. Why are you still working? Do you want me to buy an air ticket and come back to take care of you right away?"
Carlos smiled. "This meeting is very important. I promise I'll take my medicine as soon as it's over, okay?"
"No. I want to see you take your medicine right now."
'He's a grown man. Why can't he take proper care of himself?'
Carlos sighed. "Okay, I'll go to my office and take it right away."
After returning the phone to Ashley, he walked back to his office. Megan was doing her homework at his desk. "Did your aunt Debbie call on my phone?" he asked her.
Megan drew back her head in fear and answered honestly, "No, she left you a message. I'm sorry, Uncle Carlos. I didn't mean to read it. Your phone was right there on the desk. I saw the message accidentally. And I was worried about you."
Carlos unplugged his phone silently. Then he said, "The rain has stopped. When you finish your homework, I'll ask the driver to take you home."
"All right. I'll need another ten minutes." Megan continued with her homework.
Looking at her lowered head, Carlos sank into deep thoughts for a moment.
When he came back to his senses, he made a video-call request to Debbie. It was accepted at once. Debbie had been sitting under a big tree, waiting for his message.
Video chatting had become the main means by which Carlos and Debbie communicated with each other these past few days.
He fixed his phone on the stand so that Debbie could watch him as he got a glass of water and took his pill.
However, through the camera lens, Debbie could see not only Carlos, but also Megan, who was doing her homework at his desk. Her eyes burned at the sight of the girl, and her cheeks puffed with anger.
At that moment, she realized how stupid she had been to ask Carlos to send her abroad so early. Now, she wouldn't know about it if Megan seduced Carlos again.
She cursed herself a million times. Carlos picked up his phone after taking the pill. That was when he saw Debbie's unhappy face. "There was a heavy downpour a while back. It was unsafe to drive, so Megan came here for shelter and to do her homework. She will leave as soon as she finishes her work."
Debbie made a face. "I didn't ask. Why are you explaining it?" she said, pretending not to care. "All right, Mr. Handsome, why don't you go home and get some rest?"
"There's no need for that. It's just a fever. I'll get better when the medicine takes effect." Carlos couldn't wait to finish his work in Y City so that he could go to England and be with Debbie. Taking two days off meant that he could only go to England two days later.
"But you..." Carlos checked the time in his watch and asked, "Shouldn't you be in class at this hour? Where are you?"
"Um... I... I'm in my classroom, of course," Debbie lied.
"Oh really? Tell me, which university classroom has a big tree inside it?"
Caught in the act of cutting class, Debbie looked up at the cheating tree and giggled, "I was too worried about you to stay focused in class. I had to call you."
"If you skip class again, I'll consider becoming an instructor in your university until you graduate, just to supervise you," Carlos warned as he walked into his office lounge.
Debbie stood up and dusted the dirt off her butt. "Mr. Huo, God has endowed you with the ability of being an extraordinary CEO and to make money to boost the world's economic development, not to become an instructor in some university. That would be a waste of your talent."
Carlos put his phone aside and started taking off his suit jacket. "An instructor can cultivate more capable minds for the country. In that sense, being an instructor is more meaningful than pushing forward the world's economy."
"Wait, Mr. Handsome! Why are you taking off your clothes?" Debbie had been running towards her classroom. But when she saw Carlos stripping himself, she stopped in her tracks, not being able to take her eyes off the phone screen.