The rain came down heavily as Carlos drove the black Bentley out of the parking lot. He accelerated and hurried back to Champs Bay Apartments. After parking the car, he rushed to the seventh floor.
He rang the doorbell, but without waiting for another second, he entered the password and unlocked it.
It was quiet inside Debbie's apartment.
He searched the bedroom, her study, the kitchen… But she was nowhere to be found.
When he walked out of the kitchen, he noticed a small notebook on the dining table. "Huo" was written in bold letters on the book cover.
He opened it; the first few pages were full of notes.
On the very first page, Debbie had written, "Carlos' flavor: Light meal, Less meat."
He turned to the second page. It was the lunch menu for the first day she had cooked for him. "Today's meal will be noodles with beef and two kinds of vegetables for Mr. Handsome."
"Second day: Dumplings and egg drop soup with seaweed."
On the third day's menu, she had crossed out the "stewed pork in brown sauce," and had instead decided on "beef short ribs" and three other vegetables and rice.
On the fourth day…
Carlos flipped through the pages. Debbie had planned the whole month's menu in advance.
He calculated the days in his mind and turned to the page to check today's menu. Indeed, it was the same dishes of which she had posted pictures in WeChat Moments earlier.
There was a small note beneath the menu. "To keep a balanced diet, today I will be making one more meat dish for Mr. Handsome…"
Carlos instantly pulled out his phone and called Debbie.
Surprisingly, the call connected soon, but it wasn't Debbie who answered. It was Kasie's voice. "Hi, Mr. Huo. It's me, Kasie."
"Where's she?"
"Mr. Wen is in Y City to see her. She…um...is on a date with him now. But she left her phone at my place," Kasie said nervously.
Carlos thought for a second. "When is she leaving Y City?"
"Tomorrow morning." There was no response from the other end. Kasie mustered up some courage and asked, "Mr. Huo… I have no idea why Debbie has decided to marry Mr. Wen all of a sudden. But how do you feel about it? Don't you feel sad?"
Carlos remained silent.
His silence made Kasie angry. She thought, 'Debbie lost Carlos once. Now that she has chosen to marry another man, maybe she has really made up her mind to give up on Carlos completely.'
So she said sarcastically, "Does your silence mean that you have no feelings for her? Well, fine. Forget it. After all, you love Miss Li so much and you're engaged to her—"
She stopped mid-sentence when the woman next to her pinched her arm.
She quickly said, "Oh, I'm so sorry, Mr. Huo. I'm such a blabbermouth. Miss Li is such a good match for you. She can work alongside you in business and whatever. Please cherish her. Goodbye." After ending the call with him, Kasie looked at her friend angrily. "You've put in so much effort into this. Why are you marrying Ivan?"
Pretending to be nonchalant, Debbie shrugged and said, "Ivan is nice to me. I won't feel like I'm inferior to him in any way, and there will be no more bitches or homewreckers. So why not?"
As Debbie's best friend, Kasie knew that it was all a bluff. Besides, her eyes were swollen red. Either it was because she had some serious eye problem or she had been crying too much.
The answer was obvious.
Kasie rolled her eyes and sighed helplessly. "Okay, okay. As you wish. I'll support you regardless of whatever decision you make."
Debbie held onto Kasie's arm and rested her head on her shoulder. "Buddy, will you be my bridesmaid? It'll be so humiliating if I don't have a bridesmaid for my wedding. I just need you by my side."
"No way," Kasie refused without any hesitation.
"Why not?"
"You're not marrying the man you love the most. Why should I be your bridesmaid at such a wedding?"
Debbie pouted. "But… If I don't have a bridesmaid, it'll be embarrassing."
"Yes. So, stop the wedding. Don't get married."
"Don't get married? You want me to simply watch Carlos and Stephanie show off their affection for each other every day, and let them anger me to death?"
Kasie let out a long sigh. There was no use arguing with Debbie. She had made up her mind.
After having dinner at Kasie's house, Debbie went back to her apartment. The moment she opened the door, she saw the cloud of smoke swirling in the air, and it instantly covered her nose. She coughed a few times.
'Has something caught on fire? Oh God! Did I forget to turn off the gas?' she thought anxiously.
She ran to turn on the light and when the room was fully lit, she was surprised to see a person sitting on her couch.
She would have screamed, but she recognized him without a doubt. It was Carlos.
He was lazily leaning against the couch. There was an ashtray on the center table, filled with cigarette butts. 'Wait, where did he get the ashtray?' she wondered silently. Beside the ashtray was the other mug she had bought earlier that day. She had bought a pair and had given one of them to Carlos.
Both the mugs had Piggy's picture printed on them. But to avoid more trouble, she had Piggy's face digitalized to look like a cartoony image.
One of the mugs was pink and the other was dark blue.
Debbie frowned at the ashtray. 'How long has he been here?'
When he heard movement in the hall, he craned his neck and saw her standing by the light switch. He stood up, grabbed the ashtray and dumped the cigarette butts into the trash can.
Then he tied up the garbage bag. After that, he opened all the windows in the living room. He probably didn't want her to breathe in all the smoke.
Debbie silently watched him. 'Should I just pretend like I didn't see him?'
Changing into her slippers, she asked without looking at him, "Mr. Huo, is there anything I can do for you?"
Carlos grabbed her wrist and turned her around to make her face him.
He reeked of smoke. Debbie frowned and wondered, 'Isn't he still taking his medicines every day? Why is he smoking so much?'
"What were you doing?" he questioned.
"Looking for houses with Ivan. He said he wanted to stay in Y City with me after the wedding," she lied without blinking.
'Looking at houses? Ivan is moving to Y City? What blatant lies. As if I'd ever believe a single word that comes out of your mouth!' he thought, gritting his teeth.
He tightened his grip on her wrist as he glared at her. The next second, he pulled her into a hug and demanded, "Don't marry him." His voice was a little hoarse, making it sound very hot in her ears.
But it dawned on her how selfish this man could be. Why couldn't he say that he wouldn't marry Stephanie? If he had told her that he wouldn't marry Stephanie, she would have immediately clung on to him. But he didn't say that. She sneered, "I'm sorry, Mr Huo. I'm leaving tomorrow. Ivan and I will be getting our marriage license from Z Country the day after."
"Ivan doesn't love you!" Carlos spat.
"You're wrong. He does. He wouldn't have helped me otherwise," Debbie replied firmly.
Carlos closed his eyes tightly. "Has he ever said that he loves you?"
She answered honestly, "No. But we were not a couple before this. Why would he say it? Besides, does true love need to be proven by mere words?"
He was driven mad by her replies. In a huff, he pulled her closer to his body and pressed his lips on hers.
Debbie was taken aback. Her eyes widened.
He kissed her passionately; she was pressed against the couch. Panting, she reminded him in a hushed voice, "I'm...getting married soon."
"I know."
"And you... have a fiancee..."
"I know," he said again and placed soft kisses on her cheeks.
Debbie was lost.
'You know? Then why are you kissing me?' She tried to push him away, but the man didn't budge even a little. Instead, he became handsy and his hungry lips went down her neck.
Staring at the ceiling helplessly, she warned him, "Carlos Huo, stop now! Or I'll punch you!"
He stopped kissing her and his hands froze. He raised his head, his deep eyes fixed on the panting woman under him.
A jumble of thoughts flooded his mind. He had once felt sympathy for this woman. He remembered when they had met for the first time, she had rushed to hug him and cried hysterically, ignoring everything and everyone around her. It struck his heart. He was shocked by the amount of affection she had for him.
But now, she was going to be another man's wife.