"And I've always tried my best to become a good doctor. Eventually, I'll become the hospital's attending physician, and then finally, the director. That day will come, I'm sure of that. And I'll groom the next ones into becoming a remarkable team of doctors as well," Niles proudly said. He truly had faith that he would become a successful doctor in time.
Damon simply bobbed his head along to all of that. "That's right. Niles is certainly a good doctor."
"Of course. Definitely," Niles replied quite proudly, as he raised his glass to have a toast with Damon.
At that moment, Niles appeared as though something came to his mind. "What has Curtis been doing these days? And what about Megan? Has she been busy with school activities? It's been so long since the last time I saw those two."
The other men listening to him gave each other some suspicious glances. Damon, feeling quite irritated, then answered, "Curtis has changed significantly."
"What's the matter? Is something wrong?" Niles had only been staying in Y City for two years now. Taking that into consideration, he didn't really know much about the group's past.
"For Debbie's sake, he..."
"Damon!" Wesley abruptly—and quite harshly—interrupted Damon as he was talking.
'He mentioned Debbie.' Despite the interruption, Niles heard Damon say her name clear as day.
And it wasn't just him. Carlos, who had been silently sitting there, was left completely dumbfounded by how furiously Wesley reacted. "Are Debbie and Curtis somehow acquainted?" Niles curiously asked.
Nodding along, Damon replied, "Curtis is actually Debbie's uncle."
"Oh, is that so?" That was all Niles said, but in reality, he ended up having a lot more questions to ask. "Wesley, has Debbie done anything? Why do you get so worked up every time someone mentions her name? If I didn't know that you'd been in a relationship with Blair for years now, I would've assumed that Debbie broke up with you or something, making you despise her to that extent."
After saying this, Wesley glanced at Carlos who had confusion written all over his face, much like Niles'. "Have the two of you met already?" he asked him.
Carlos had no intention of denying it.
"It would be best for you to steer clear of that sort of woman!" Wesley remarked, visibly getting infuriated.
This just made Niles' curiosity grow even stronger.
"From my impression of her, Debbie seems like such a nice person. Damon, would you please tell me what really happened? Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm asking this for Carlos' sake. It's easy to tell that he's just as perplexed as I am."
All of them knew that Carlos suffered from amnesia. For that reason, Niles got the idea that Carlos probably was more interested in finding out the truth than he did.
'Was I really that easy to read?' Carlos wondered upon hearing Niles' remarks. The truth was that he had been under the assumption that he was doing a good job acting like he couldn't care less about the topic.
Seeing how Wesley appeared to be fuming with anger, Damon tried to clear things up very carefully, "In a nutshell, wherever that woman goes, trouble seems to follow." During the time Carlos brought her along to New York, she made a mess out of the Huo family. And back when she was in Y City, she caused a lot of problems here."
He tried his best to make Niles understand, but he still failed to do so. It was the details that the young doctor was eager to hear. Niles had a lot more questions up his sleeve, but Wesley already lost his cool.
"Say that wretched woman's name one more time, I dare you, and I'll transfer you to the army and turn you into a military surgeon. Make no doubt about it." The military surgeons who belonged to his troops had undergone such harsh conditions to make sure they could serve their purpose to the best of their abilities.
And with that statement, he finally managed to shut Niles up.
Niles shot Carlos a quick glance, but to his astonishment, as the person directly involved in the matter, he didn't look like he was showing any interest in finding out the answer anymore. With that, Niles had no other choice but to cease asking further.
Considering the fact that Carlos himself didn't really care that much about knowing his past, he wasn't in any position to be sticking his nose into his business.
"Alright, I won't be prying into it anymore. But at the moment, she is quite a well-known singer in Z Country. People say that her songs seem so heartbreaking. Whenever she performs, the fans, as well as the artist herself, tear up. It's possible that she has a tragic past."
Listening to him prattle, Damon took a sip of wine, sneering at him, "She has done some detestable things, but the worst of them all is when she ran off with another man. What kind of sad past do you think she could possibly have? That woman is one manipulative bitch. You shouldn't let her make a fool out of you."
'She ran off with another man...'
At that point, Niles' and Carlos' personal opinions of Debbie probably couldn't get any lower.
It was around two in the morning by the time their group left Orchid Private Club. Niles climbed into Wesley's military vehicle and told him, "Since you live alone anyway, I'm just going to crash at your place tonight."
Simply giving him a cold stare, Wesley didn't say anything.
The two of them immediately drove off to Wesley's apartment. After making sure that Carlos was already out of sight, Niles began asking again, "Wesley, just between the two of us, what's Debbie's relationship with Carlos?"
Kicking his leg, Wesley yelled at him, "Your curiosity is going to get you in an awful lot of trouble sooner or later!"
Niles screamed painfully and answered, "I just really wanted to find out." Truth be told, he was actually beginning to regret poking his nose into it. But at that point, he was already much too invested in the topic to drop it. If Wesley still wouldn't tell him anything else about those two, Niles was sure that he would be having a hard time sleeping.
"Carlos and Debbie used to be married." Wesley finally gave in and spilled the beans. Niles' jaw almost dropped at those words. Wesley went on, "We don't want Carlos to remember such a miserable past. So, it would be best for you to watch your tongue whenever he's around."
"My God. So, she used to be Carlos' wife." Niles was aware that Carlos had been married. But during that time, he wasn't around as he had been studying abroad. For that reason, he had no idea whom Carlos had gotten married to or the state of their married life.
Niles scratched his head, feeling so bewildered. "But to me, Debbie doesn't look like the type of person you're making her out to be. Being unfaithful and eloping with some other guy? I don't see her as someone capable of doing something like that."
"That's why I've been trying to tell you not to be swayed by her acting. Carlos got seriously injured. That's why he lost his memory. And all of that was because he put himself in harm's way to protect her." Not once had Wesley ever uttered Debbie's name after that terrible accident.
Still, Niles asked again, "Did the police say anything about the accident?"
Seemingly deep in thought for a while, Wesley then answered, "Uncle James wouldn't allow us to get involved. He asked some people to update him about how the investigation was going. In the end, they were able to confirm that the driver had been driving under extreme exhaustion and died on the spot. He didn't have a wife or any kids. All he had was an old disabled mother."
James had informed them that the poor driver's mother was a pitiable old lady, who was over 80 years of age. Their family was quite impoverished. If you could see their house, you wouldn't be able to find a single piece of decent furniture, so asking her to pay for the hospitalization was out of the question. After all, the old lady had also been so devastated after finding out that his son had died. So, ultimately, they had no choice but to drop the issue.
For a while, the air was filled with deafening silence. Before stepping out of the vehicle, Niles suddenly asked Wesley, "By the way, where is Blair? I haven't seen her in such a long time. Have the two of you broken up or something?" Giving him an intense glare, Wesley responded, "You should just stay out of adult matters."
'As a commander of the army, you couldn't do anything to make your relationship with a woman work out even after four years of being together. Big deal, ' Niles pondered to himself.
It should go without saying that Debbie had no clue about what those men had been talking about. She kept on reminding herself that just because Carlos was being so distant with her, she shouldn't be giving up hope that they could still turn their relationship back to the way it used to be.
For two days straight, she stayed over at Kasie's place. Originally, she was planning to acquire an apartment right next to Carlos' at Building 2 of the Champs Bay Apartments. Unfortunately, the unit had a steep cost of $100, 000 per square meter, so she had to think of something else.
Getting a bit of help from a realtor, she managed to get the apartment right above Carlos', on a lease.
As she was moving her stuff, she chanced upon Stephanie walking a dog along the road. With this, Debbie came up with a plan. After a while, she headed over to the pet shop and purchased a Bichon Frise, the exact same breed as Stephanie's pet dog. There was just one thing different about them, though. Stephanie's dog was female, while Debbie, on the other hand, had gotten herself a male one.