All the other soldiers nodded in unison. They were one big well-oiled machinery. "Yes, Talbot's right, Chief. We did that only for your own good! We had no ulterior motives."
Wesley, however, was unfazed by their unanimous response and replied calmly, "All of you! Get out and get ready for a running exercise. If you delay for even a single second, your phone will be confiscated." He added in a warning tone, "For a month!"
"Yes, sir. We're leaving right now." They all responded in a similar way. Then one of them mischievously added, "Please do remember to check Blair's WeChat Moments." Before Wesley could retort, Talbot and the other soldiers turned around and darted out of Wesley's office faster than a scared rabbit.
When the office had quietened down, Wesley slowly brought out his phone and opened the WeChat app. He tapped on Blair's Moments.
Blair had posted a photo about half an hour ago. She was with a group of eight people, all holding a glass of beer and toasting each other. The caption caught his eye. "Warning! Whoever gets a phone call, has to chug down one glass!" Eight phone numbers were mentioned beneath that, as if inviting people to call!
Wesley knew at a glance that the last number was Blair's. He wondered if anyone had called her. Was she drunk?
The glasses looked quite tall, even though they were slightly narrow. Still, she didn't have a big appetite. Could she gulp one down?
Actually, by the time Wesley could check her WeChat Moments, Blair had already been forced to gulp down two glasses of beer.
Of the two calls she had received, one was from a classmate she had in high school and the other one was from Orion.
Joslyn, the birthday girl, had already received five calls. Unfortunately, the calls weren't going to stop for her since everyone would want to wish her, oblivious of the rules of the game.
Just as the group had settled down after one of the calls, one of the boys received a call—from Hartwell!
The boy wanted to cry when he heard what the voice from the other end of the line was saying. "Hi there. I'm Joslyn's husband. Can you put her on the phone for me, please."
The boy replied in an anguished tone, "Sir! Come on! You could have called your wife directly!"
Hartwell nonchalantly responded, "Oh, please! I saw her post and know all about your little game. I wanted to talk to her so I just randomly picked up a number." It was obvious why. He didn't want his wife or Blair to drink too much, so he had deliberately chosen a random number.
The boy passed his phone to Joslyn, murmuring, "You know, your husband is such a sly fox. This one doesn't count."
"Doesn't count?" Everyone burst out laughing. "You wish! You know the rules! Whoever gets a call has to chug it down! We didn't have a restriction on the callers. Pop a glass down, now!" While Joslyn was busy talking to Hartwell on the phone, the boy was forced by the group to gulp a tall glass of beer in a single breath.
"Hey honey," Joslyn greeted her husband with a smile.
Sighing helplessly, Hartwell cautioned her, "What's this game you guys are doing? Take care, huh? I cannot be there, you know? Don't drink too much and keep an eye out for Blair too. Don't let her drink too much either."
"Honey, it's fine! It's just beer."
Joslyn tried to calm him down. On the other end, Hartwell massaged his forehead. "Mmm, all right. But Blair gets drunk easily. Take care of her. Wait for me when the party is over. I'll come pick you up."
"Got it."
When she ended the call, Joslyn saw that Blair was drinking her third glass of beer. Remembering what Hartwell had said, she hastily went over to help her. "Blair, let me drink that for you. I have a better capacity for alcohol than you do."
"Oh there's no need. It's just beer; there is very low alcohol content in it." Blair shook her head.
The boy sitting next to them burst out laughing when he heard the proposal. "Joslyn, you're one to talk! Look at the three glasses of beer in front of you. You haven't even finished your own portion yet."
The game progressed quite rapidly and pretty soon, the table in front of the eight players was full of glasses and bottles of beer. Those who hadn't taken part in the game helped them open the bottles and fill the glasses. Some of them were beginning to lose their senses now.
Blair thought that after her third call, no one else would call her anymore. One important reason behind that was that she hadn't kept in touch with her old friends for long ever since she began to study abroad. However, much to her surprise, she still received quite a number of calls after that. Maybe some of her followers found the game interesting and were just calling her for fun. However, what annoyed her the most was that some of the calls were from completely strangers who had deliberately pulled a prank on her. Most probably, they were the followers of the other seven contestants.
Now, there were several tall glasses of beer waiting for her. She threw a sideways glance at Joslyn, who was busy herself with her own portion of beer. Helpless, she asked the others, "Guys, can we take a break first?"
"Of course. But I think there will be even more glasses waiting for you as the game goes on. Look at Aby. He's set quite an example!" A girl gloated as she pointed to a wealthy boy sitting on the sofa. About a dozen tall glasses were already placed in front of him and his phone didn't seem to be showing any signs of dying down.
Compared to him, Blair's situation was not that bad. But she was already feeling quite full. And if she got drunk, it would have been additional trouble.
However, she had made the choice herself. She had volunteered to take part in this game, so no matter how much she regretted her decision, she had to face the consequences. She picked up a glass of beer resignedly and began to gulp it down. It didn't even feel that good anymore.
However, the trouble was short lived. Because the more they drank, the more excited the eight gamers became. Loud music soon began to drift over from their table. Blair and Joslyn were singing at the top of their lungs. One of the songs they chose turned out to be a romantic duet. In her drunken moment, Blair released all of her bottled up emotions through the song.
In the end, she finally had to send up a new post in her Moments. "Please, please. I've drunk eleven glasses already. I can't take another one. Don't call me anymore." There were several crying emojis after that and a few begging hands.
Normally, Blair wouldn't have asked for mercy in such a pathetic manner. But she was drunk now. She was going to have no idea what she was doing later on. And she was already drinking her twelfth glass which wasn't finished yet.
Blair had a few hundred WeChat friends. After she sent out the second post, a lot of people commented below, saying that they were willing to come over and drink her glasses for her. Who would have said no to free beer! Some of the boys even sent a private message to her, asking for her location.
Blair browsed through the comments and replied, "No, thanks. It's just a game. It will be over soon." She didn't want to involve anyone outside the group and certainly not boys she hadn't even talked to in a long time.
She copied the sentence and also sent it to the boys who had texted her.
But very soon after that, she received Hartwell's message. "My secretary just told me about your update. Don't drink anymore. Turn down the drinks. I'm coming to pick you and Joslyn up."
She tilted her head and saw that Joslyn was lying on the sofa in a slightly drunken state. Her speech was a bit slurred too. As the birthday girl, Joslyn had drunk more than Blair had. Blair gave her a slight kick and asked, "Did your husband just text you?"
"Yes. He's coming to pick us up."
Blair sighed when she heard that. To be honest, she envied her friend a bit; Joslyn had a husband to come pick her up in such situations. Blair felt that she herself was a poor bachelor. What was worse, when Hartwell picked them up, she would feel like the third wheel between him and Joslyn.
She suddenly thought of Wesley. 'I wonder what he's doing right now. He must be busy. He won't even know about my Moments, ' she thought gloomily, letting out a heavy sigh.
She leaned her head on Joslyn's shoulder, watching the other guys chatting fervently under the influence of the alcohol. Even she had become talkative due to the twelve glasses. "Joslyn, my head is spinning. I haven't drunk so much in a long time. Today's your birthday and I'm so happy. I want to drink another glass and make a toast to you, but I'm already full. I think my tummy will burst if I do that."
"Hmm...They haven't finished their own drinks. Hey you don't have to drink anymore either. Blair, I'm really happy with your cousin. I hope you can find someone to be your happiness soon." Joslyn knew about Blair's trouble in love affairs and in her work.
Blair smiled, rubbing her head against her friend's shoulder. It felt weirdly good and relaxing. Then she took the unfinished glass of beer and drank a swig. "Joslyn, I don't even know my own heart now. And you know what? I feel even more confused about Wesley's mind. When I decided to go abroad and study in England, I also swore to myself that I wouldn't love Wesley anymore for the rest of my life. He had turned me down so mercilessly. But when I came back and met him once more, I couldn't help falling in love with him all over again. He's such an attractive young man! But that jerk! If he doesn't love me, why does he keep me in his apartment? He told me that he will let me go when I have a boyfriend. Don't you think he's being ridiculous and a bit weird?"
Joslyn wrapped an arm around her shoulders and laughed. "Yes, he's being very ridiculous. If Wesley were a woman, he would be a manipulative and hypocritical bitch. Haha..."
Blair thought about her words. Joslyn was right. Wesley and the female gender were a dangerous combination. She laughed out loud too. "He thinks he's doing this for my own good, but he never asks me what I want. I don't want to have anything to do with him anymore, but I guess each time I see him, I get soft-hearted. He once told me very clearly that he doesn't love me. Why can't I have more self-respect and stay away from him? Do you think I'm a loser?"
"Shh!" Joslyn raised her feeble arm and covered Blair's mouth, a bit loosely. "Don't look down on yourself like that. It's Wesley's problem. He doesn't like you but still keeps you around him. He's the one who said that he was doing it for your own good. But I can clearly tell that it's because he loves you. He just doesn't want to admit it!"