Evelyn found that Sheffield liked boasting. That was a side of him she hadn't seen. And challenging Calvert like that...
"But..." Before she could speak, Sheffield moved closer to her again, noses almost touching.
Her heart skipped a beat. She stuttered, "What... What do you want?"
He stared at her with a serious look. "I want you to keep your promise."
"What promise?" She broke eye contact, pretending not to know what he meant.
Sheffield never imagined she'd play dumb. He sighed and spelled it out for her. "You promised to be my girlfriend for ten days."
"Oh..." she responded quietly.
He was unhappy. "Is that all you can say? 'Oh'? How about yes or no? You going to dump me after I helped you out?"
Evelyn felt she was too impulsive a moment ago. She shouldn't have asked him to take Calvert's call.
Sheffield grabbed her hands and confronted her in disbelief, "So you lied to me? Why would you do that? Get my hopes up and everything?"
It was a habit for her to say no. She shook her head. "No..."
"So you'll keep your promise?" He was as happy as a little kid again.
Evelyn felt a headache coming on.
Seeing the baffled look on her face, Sheffield stopped smiling and sat back in his seat. He said in a calm voice, "Relax, alright? I like you but I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do. Just have fun."
Evelyn was at a loss for words. This was the first time she had gotten to know a man like him. A trickster, capable of highs and lows. He was as unpredictable as women were said to be. But his words did set her mind at ease.
She had mixed feelings about him. This guy was really weird—so hard to understand.
Back at the guesthouse, Sheffield lazily leaned against the doorframe of her room, hands in his pants pockets. When he made sure that Evelyn was safe, and her bodyguard was back at his station, the doctor walked back to his room, whistling a tune.
Evelyn washed her face, changed into her pajamas and began texting her friends on WeChat. "Busy now?"
The person on the other end texted back in a heartbeat. "No. How's your trip? Having fun yet?"
"Well...yeah. But I found a weird guy. I've been staying with him all day."
"Wow! Do I detect a budding romance? A bit quick, isn't it?"
Instead of replying to her joke, Evelyn wrote, "Calvert called me again today."
"Did you talk to him?"
"Yes."
This time, her friend didn't text her back as quick. "Don't change your mind. Don't go back to him. Calvert isn't the right guy for you, trust me."
"I know. He said Rowena didn't mean it like that. He wanted to talk to me."
"You've been together for six months, and you guys talked a lot. But it always ended up in a big fight. Just have fun on your trip, Piggy. Don't let him pee on your parade. Just give the other guy a try. Maybe he's the guy for you."
'Give Sheffield a try?' Evelyn hesitated and idly looked at the sea outside the window, preoccupied.
After a long while, she sighed and clicked her friend's dialogue box again. "He's three years younger than me. I don't want... I don't know. I feel pretty comfortable around him."
"Age isn't a problem. Calvert's three years older, but he still didn't know how to treat a woman. All I know is that you were always in a bad mood back then. Now you've finally broken up with him, just move on. Forget him. Concentrate on the new guy."
"I will." After exchanging a few more messages, Evelyn put away her phone and went to bed. She decided to shrug off all the messy thoughts and try and get some sleep.
On the other hand, Sheffield went back to his own room. The first thing he noticed was the guy sitting on his couch. His hair was neatly combed. Clad in a blue designer suit jacket, and with a glass of red wine in his hand, he rested his legs on the table, white leather shoes glistening brightly. His eyes were closed.
Totally relaxed, he didn't even open his eyes when he heard the noise from the doorway. "Yo, Mr. Tang is finally back. I thought you were still with that beautiful girl."
Sheffield randomly threw the room card on the table and asked, "Why are you here?"
"Just want to catch up with you. It's been awhile. Miss me?" The man opened his eyes, a teasing look in his eyes.
"I'm in a good mood today, so I'll let that go. Get out!" Sheffield poured himself a glass of red wine.
Joshua put his legs down and sat upright. With keen interest, he asked curiously, "Horace told me the girl with you today was hot. Think you can introduce us?"
Sheffield took a sip of Joshua's red wine and smiled evilly. "I've got a better idea. I know a doctor who could do wonders with that tiny nutsack of yours."
"You asshole!" Joshua leaned against the back of the couch again. Dramatically letting out a heavy sigh, he mocked the other man. "I'm not the guy who always cracks dirty jokes, dates different girls, but is still a poor little virgin..."
He began to hum a chirpy tune.
Sheffield had heard that many times before. Usually, he just blew him off. This time, however, he really didn't like the barb. "Come on, Joshua. Out with it! Did you come here just to tick me off? Leave me alone. Unless you want an impromptu operation right here..."
As he dropped his warning, he took out his scalpel, unsheathed it and dashed towards Joshua like a runaway horse.
It scared the wits out of Joshua. The next second, the scalpel was embedded in the couch beside him, merely missing his leg.
"Shit! Are you nuts?" Joshua jumped up from the couch and put some distance between him and his crazy friend. He retorted, "Don't get too comfortable as the deputy director. I could boot you."
Unflappable, the doctor leaned against the table and said, "I don't care."
Joshua rolled his eyes. It dawned on him his friend didn't care about fame, money or position at all.
"Oh right, do you know about the only son of the Ji family?" Sheffield had just come back from abroad. He didn't know everything, because he just wasn't interested. There were certain people, places, and events he needed to know about. This was one of them.
"You mean Calvert Ji?" Joshua plucked the scalpel from the couch and fiddled with it. "Ask me nicely, and I'll tell you."
Sheffield snorted, "Humph! Fine. Please tell me. Now spill it."
"Didn't I say nicely? That sound nice to you? But I get it. Buy me an F1 racer and I'll tell you." Joshua flashed a cunning smile.
The doctor turned around and opened his laptop. He sat down on the couch and began to search for information.
Joshua stared at him, sighing. "Quit it. I'll tell you. God, you're a jerk."
Sheffield put away his laptop. "Fire away."
"Calvert Ji, male, 32 years old, only son of the Ji family. He's a top-notch specialist in the jewelry business, knowledgeable and good at marketing. I heard he has a very wealthy girlfriend. But I didn't ask much about it since I'm not interested in his private affairs. So why do you care?" Joshua stared at the doctor in confusion.
'Wealthy girlfriend? He must mean Evelina.' "Is he powerful?" he asked.