Zelda went off on the two salesladies. "Who trained you, anyway? Every customer should be treated fairly and respectfully. Don't look down on them. Did you forget everything you were taught? Now, apologize to Mr. Li!"
Wesley cut in coldly, "I'm not the one you need to apologize to!"
The two salesladies turned to look at Zelda in fear. She understood what Wesley meant and simply said, "Apologize to the two elders."
"Yes, Ms. Ye!"
Before returning to the mall, Blair had called Greenwood to ask where they were. When he told her they were in a men's fashion shop on the fourth floor of Dubhe Building, she hurried there. But she didn't know which one it was.
Then she noticed the shop named "Honorable" was quite crowded, so she decided to walk into it to have a look. A group of soldiers in green uniforms came into sight. She wondered if Wesley was here somewhere. She peeked through the crowd and saw that the man sitting on the couch, surrounded by a group of people, was exactly Wesley.
A woman's angry voice rang out. "What a stupid mistake! The two of you have ruined the reputation of our shopping mall. Mr. Xu, fire them. We don't need people like them staffing our store."
The shop manager immediately nodded, "Yes, Ms. Ye!"
Wesley spotted Blair standing behind the soldiers. He waved at her and everyone turned to look.
With everyone's eyes on her, Blair felt shy and slowly walked up to him. Before she could ask about the situation, the soldiers greeted her one by one in a loud voice, "Good morning, Mrs. Li!"
"Hello Mrs. Li!"
"Mrs. Li, nice to meet you!"
"Hi, Blair!" The greetings came one after the other. The soldiers who knew her well called her "Blair," while the others called her "Mrs. Li."
Blair wasn't used to that kind of attention. She smiled politely to everyone and greeted them. "Hi, everyone."
Wesley took her hand and pulled her closer. She asked in a low voice, "What happened? Where are Grandpa and Grandma?"
"In the fitting room. They're trying on their new clothes."
Blair heaved a sigh of relief. But something was off. All of the employees were standing still, and two of them were trembling with their heads bowed.
She didn't spend too much time on it. Soon enough, her grandfather came out of the fitting room in a set of new clothes, another two employees in tow.
Seeing Blair, Greenwood straightened his clothes and asked expectantly, "Blair, what do you think? Do I look good?"
Blair stood up from the couch, walked up to the old man and praised, "Yes! Grandpa, you look absolutely on fleek."
"Ha-ha, my little girl. You know how to make me happy."
Right then, the two trembling salesladies came to them and apologized to the two elders, "Sir and madam, I'm so sorry. We were wrong. We shouldn't have disrespected you."
Blair asked in confusion, "Grandpa, what happened?"
Greenwood let out a cold snort, still angry about how the two girls treated him. He then recounted the story to Blair. The smile on Blair's face disappeared as she listened. She turned to the two girls and told them off, "Seriously? Who taught you manners? Respecting your elders is an important part of that. Don't you have elders in your family? You treat them like this? And, who told you my grandpa couldn't afford the clothes here? What were you thinking? Maybe you were insinuating that I, the wife of Senior Colonel Li, couldn't afford them? So, do you have a problem with my grandpa or my husband?" Blair bombarded them with a barrage of questions. She was angry. Her grandparents were important to her. She couldn't tolerate such an insult to her loved ones.
"We didn't mean it. We're so sorry..." The two girls began to sob. They didn't know he was such a big shot. A country bumpkin like him? Who could have guessed?
The shop manager was flustered. To prevent the matter from getting worse, he quickly came up to apologize too. "Mrs. Li, please don't be angry. It's our mistake. We'll fire these two at once. I don't think we can keep them on after this."
Wesley stood up and put an arm around her. "Honey, I'll call Carlos and ask him to take his investments elsewhere. There will be no Honorable store in the Shining International Plaza anymore."
Blair had calmed down a little more. She whispered to him, "That's not necessary. It was only two girls, not everyone else. We don't need to cause that much trouble."
The shop manager instantly echoed, "Yes, yes. Mrs. Li is right. I promise you we will fire these two rude girls. Please don't call Mr. Huo..." The shop manager couldn't afford to take the bad consequences if ZL Group canceled its contract with Honorable. His career could be at stake.
Blair turned to her grandparents. "Grandpa, change back into your own clothes. We're not buying these. There are so many other shops here. Let's go elsewhere."
"Okay!" Greenwood instantly turned around and walked towards the fitting room.
The group of people stormed out of the men's fashion shop. Blair and Wesley took the two elders to some other shops and bought them tons of togs, never mind that the elders insisted they had enough.
Wesley didn't call Carlos. But Carlos asked Zelda to fill him in.
After knowing the whole story, he decisively canceled the contract with Honorable. The store was soon forced to move out of the plaza.
The next day, they had the results of the tests that had been run on Marie. It showed that there was a bacterial infection in her trachea, interfering with the passage of oxygen from the throat to the lungs. It was a good thing they caught it so early, so Blair's grandmother didn't need to be hospitalized. The doctor had prescribed her an inhaler and a round of antibiotics.
But she needed to come back to the hospital for regular follow-ups. If it turned to full-blow pneumonia, then it might be fatal.
When they were done at the hospital, Blair and Wesley bid goodbye to the two elders. On their way back home, Blair looked at her man. He was focused on the road ahead, so she asked tentatively, "Wesley, um...can we talk?"
"What's it?"
"Debbie's headlining a concert soon. Will you go with me?"
"No," he answered without hesitation.
She knew what his answer would be. "But Carlos, Damon and everyone else will be there! Don't you want to see them?" she argued.
"I can see them whenever I want."
The car came to a stop at a red light. She took the chance to hold on to his arm and said with a pout, "Wesley, come with me. I don't want to go by myself. It won't look good. Please?"
Wesley threw a glance at her, a small smile on his lips. "Then don't go."
Frustrated, Blair sat up straight. "No way. I have to go. Debbie's my friend. I want to be there to support her."
He fell silent.
Blair was upset. After a moment of silence, she glared at Wesley and said, "I'm sure Kinsley would take me there."
'Kinsley?' The soldier's brows knitted tightly. "You like him?" he questioned, a hint of jealousy in his voice.
From now on, he considered Kinsley his love rival.
"Who wouldn't? He's tall and handsome. He knows how to act, too. And more importantly, he's Debbie's friend. He's going to the concert too. He's a real friend!"
Wesley sulked silently.
A few days later, Debbie held her first concert in Y City. A lot of big shots showed up, which just added to the awesomeness. Wesley was there too, and there were throngs just waiting to see him.
But little did everyone know that Wesley only agreed to go because of some bedroom hijinks.
It wasn't until the soldier came to the stadium that he realized Blair lied to him. Kinsley wasn't there. He asked Carlos where he was, and the CEO told him Kinsley was out of the country. He couldn't make it here.
Wesley wanted to confront Blair, but seeing her trying her best to cheer for Debbie and laughing like a little girl, he felt happy. He decided to drop it.
Megan was there too. She sat right behind him and Blair. Blair focused on Debbie's performance and sang along, while Megan tried to get Wesley's attention and chatted him up from time to time.