The others shook their heads, declining the milkshake. Only Lenard nodded his head. "I'm thirsty. I'd like to drink some."
"Alright. Let's share it," Talbot suggested and poured half of the drink into two disposable paper cups.
At that moment, the door opened and Wesley walked inside the office.
Upon seeing him, Talbot waved at him. "There you are, Chief! We've left you a few cakes. Oh my! The cakes were so delicious. Where did you buy them?"
Wesley's face darkened once he saw the scattered lunch boxes on his desk. "Who ate them?" he asked rigidly.
Talbot didn't see the sullen look on Wesley's face as he proceeded to drink a mouthful of his milkshake before answering, "We all ate them. But don't worry. We've left some for you."
"Who opened the boxes?" Wesley asked.
"I did, Chief. Why? Is something wrong?" Talbot pursed his lips in confusion
Wesley cast a cold glance at him before saying, "You'll get fat after eating all those desserts. Go out and do sit-ups. No less than a hundred sit-ups in one minute. Talbot, you'll do additional thirty push-ups for every sit-up missed. As for the rest of you, additional twenty push-ups for every sit-up missed." He then caught sight of the cups of milkshake that Lenard and Talbot were holding. "Since you two drank the milkshake, you get more exercise too. It will help burn off the calories. Go run two kilometers with five-kilogram weights. Finish it in ten minutes. You'll do additional thirty push-ups for every minute excess."
Everyone in the office fell silent, not quite understanding what was going on. It was the first time that Wesley had given them punishments for such a seemingly harmless reason.
Nonetheless, they didn't dare protest. They were soldiers, and soldiers must obey orders. They exchanged a few stumped glances at each other and then rushed out of the office posthaste.
On the training grounds, while they were doing sit-ups, Talbot gazed at the office building with his brows knitted together in confusion and murmured, "What exactly did we do to piss him off? Where was he before he arrived at the office? Did someone snitch on us to him?" He paused to consider it. "But we haven't made any mistakes recently," he continued.
Lenard was also confused by Wesley's behavior. "Beats me," he replied with a shrug. "I caught a glimpse of his face as we walked out of his office. Seemed like he was in a bad mood. Did we unknowingly piss him off somehow? Or was he perhaps just taking out his anger on us?"
"Of course we pissed him off! Our chief isn't the kind of man who would make things difficult for us for no reason," Bowman chimed in without second thoughts. But like the other two soldiers, he too couldn't think of anything they did that would have offended Wesley so much.
A soldier who had been keeping quiet suddenly opened his mouth. "Ah! I know it!" he exclaimed as if he just discovered life's greatest secrets.
"What is it?" The others all turned to look at him with their eyebrows raised.
"He must have been dumped!"
"Meh!" The soldier was met with blank stares and a variety of disdainful looks. The other soldiers then brushed him off and went back to carrying out their punishments.
'Wesley? Dumped? He didn't even have a girlfriend. How could he have gotten dumped?' they thought to themselves.
Before long, they soon found out why Wesley punished them. The following day, Talbot happened to see Blair's latest update in her Moments while browsing through his phone during lunch break. She posted a picture showing several fancy-looking mung bean cakes and mooncakes—the cakes that they had eaten. The caption read, "Looks yummy, huh? After countless failures, I've finally made the perfect pastries!"
'No wonder Wesley was so angry. We ate the desserts that his beloved girl had made for him.'
Talbot eagerly showed the update to the others. They all looked at each other, at a loss for words.
Back inside Wesley's office, he stared at the remaining mooncake, two mung bean cakes and half a bottle of milkshake. He pursed his lip in annoyance. 'What a pity, ' he thought.
Blair had worked hard to make these pastries for him, but most of them ended up getting eaten by others.
He took a mung bean cake and put it inside his mouth, chewing slowly. He had to admit that it was delicious and that the sweetness wasn't too overpowering.
Sweet food can really lift up people's moods, even Wesley's. Tasting the cake alleviated his bad mood somehow. He then finished up the remaining desserts quickly.
Not only that, he drank the strawberry milkshake in one big gulp. Although it was a little stale, it hadn't gone bad at all. After that, he set aside the lunch boxes and left the office. He then drove to the Hillside Apartments to pack his stuff.
Meanwhile, Blair had been sitting in the living room, waiting for Wesley. It was already past 11 o'clock in the evening. She was starting to wonder whether he would still come back.
Ten minutes passed and she decided to give up on waiting. She stood up from the couch and was about to go to her bedroom when the door suddenly opened.
Wesley walked in carrying a medium-sized travel bag in his hand. 'Those are all his belongings?' Blair thought.
Wesley was slightly surprised to see Blair in the living room. He was expecting that she had already gone to sleep by now. He didn't say anything; he just nodded, acknowledging her presence.
Blair lowered her head and sighed inwardly, slightly pouting. 'A nod? It's only the two of us here in the middle of the night. Why is he still acting so distant? Is he a coward or is he just too dumb?'
"I don't think it's a good idea to stay here in Mr. Huo's apartment for the long term. Please think about it carefully. Once you've made your decision, please inform me so that I can move into the company dorm," she said.
"I've already thought about it," Wesley said as he slipped his feet into his slippers, standing away from her.
"Really? Then tell me." Blair cocked her head sideways, a little surprised.
"Don't worry. I'll buy this apartment. You can live here for as long as you like until you find someone who can protect you." Wesley had already made up his mind on the way to the Hillside Apartments.
Blair frowned, but immediately feigned a cheerful expression. "Oh, officer Li! You are indeed a good man who protectd the country and it's citizens!"
Ignoring her mocking tone, Wesley walked towards the bedroom next to hers. "I'm going to sleep if you are done."
"I'm not done!"
Wesley stopped and turned around to look at her, his face as impassive as ever.
Blair glared at him in return. She was growing more frustrated. "Do you have the money to buy this apartment? This is central area of Y City. The housing price is probably something you can't afford. Even if you've saved all your salaries all these years, I don't think you can pay that kind of sum upfront. Besides, why do you have to do this for me?"
'Is he an idiot? I guess he doesn't know anything about housing prices at all,' she thought. 'The apartment belongs to Eastern Coastal Apartment, easily one of the most expensive apartment complexes in Y City. It costs at least twenty million dollars.'
"This apartment is close to you company," Wesley simply said. Carlos had a couple of apartments, but Wesley preferred this one as the office of company that Blair worked for was only a few hundere meters away. He knew that selling price was high. But other than the apartment in Hillside Apartments, he also had two other apartments in A Country that his parents and his grandfather have him. He could sell one of them.
"This is one of Carlos' apartments, but he has never lived here once. It's almost as good as new. The developer of Eastern Coastal Apartment works for him. Carlos promised to give me a fifty percent discount," he told Blair. Carlos had initially offered to give Wesley the apartment as a gift, but Wesley turned it down. Left with no choice, Carlos offered him a fifty percent discount instead.
The apartment was valued at about 26 million dollars, so now, Wesley only needed to pay just a little over 10 million dollars.
'He wants to buy the apartment just because it's close toy workplace!' Blair opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say. 'Why is he going out of his way to do this for me? the apartment would still cost at least 10 million dollars even with the fifty percent discount. Does this mean he actually has feelings for me?'
"Wesley..." Her voice was soft and carried a hint of affection.
Wesley looked her in the eyes