"She is my woman and will be my wife sooner or later. It's just a matter of time." Sheffield always got what he wanted. He wasn't one to give up so easily, even if that meant getting hurt in the process.
Joshua felt sorry for him. He realized that his friend had fallen deeply in love, and that he wouldn't be able to convince him to let go.
In fact, for a moment, he envied Sheffield. At least there was someone who could make him so engrossed and willing. But what about him? He couldn't find a woman that he could lose his heart to.
The two friends leaned against the race car and smoked, lost in their own thoughts.
In the Huo Residence
Only Evelyn and Terilynn were home in the evenings lately. But when Evelyn came home that day, her little sister wasn't back yet.
She turned to Tayson and said, "Go home and get some rest. I will not be heading to work tomorrow morning. We'll be going to the Chestnut Mountain Cemetery."
"Yes, Miss Huo."
After Tayson left, Evelyn went straight to her bedroom. She was exhausted.
Sitting on the chaise lounge, she stared out the window.
The weather forecast said that it would be rainy the next day; so it was every year, on the day she visited the cemetery.
At the Chestnut Mountain Cemetery
Evelyn arrived at the graveyard, wearing a black suit and a white shirt underneath it. There was a bunch of fresh purple rosemary on the gravestone.
The picture on the tombstone was that of a young woman with a sweet smile.
Evelyn looked at the rosemary in her hand and placed it right next to the bunch on top of the gravestone.
"You are here," a cold voice said from behind.
Evelyn didn't turn around. She looked at the picture and answered, "Yes."
"If she were still alive, a few days from today would have been her 30th birthday." The man's voice was now colder and hoarse. "You hurt her so much when she was alive. You have no right to be here!" he added.
Evelyn turned around and looked at the disheveled man sitting under the tree next to the gravestone, like a beggar. "You're breaking her heart by living such a pitiful life."
The man touched his unkempt beard and laughed hysterically. "She didn't love me at all! She wouldn't care. She never cared how I lived my life."
"Then, why are you here?"
The man grabbed a blade of grass from the ground and put it in his mouth. As he chewed on it, he looked at Evelyn viciously. "I had been with her since she was born, until she was twenty-seven years old. Every day, I have to see her. If I didn't, I would feel like I was dying."
Evelyn indifferently shifted her eyes away from him and waved to Tayson.
Tayson walked over to the man and put a suitcase in front of him. "Mr. Tao, there is one million dollars in this; enough to last for a whole year."
The man roughly kicked the suitcase and said, "Bah! You give me so much money every year. You just want to sleep tight at night, don't you, Evelyn Huo? But that won't work. She will haunt you for the rest of your life and drag you into hell! Hahaha..."
Evelyn's eyes fell on the gravestone. "I've never wronged her. Why should I feel guilty?"
The man roared and jumped to his feet. As he was about to pounce on Evelyn, Tayson stopped him. So, he spat, "Shut up! If it weren't for you, she wouldn't have died so young! You are a murderer!"
Evelyn had become immune to all those words. She put on her sunglasses, turned around and left the cemetery.
"Damn you, Evelyn Huo! It's you, who pushed her into the abyss. You'll pay for this! Argh!" he screamed.
Evelyn stopped and closed her eyes. "Tayson, let him go."
Tayson pulled back his punch, pointed at the man's nose and warned, "Watch your mouth."
However, the man was still stubborn and mocked, "Bah! Why are you still working for her? Do you satisfy her when she is lonely at nights? Does her body make you— Arghh!" Tayson's fist made contact with the man's face.
This time, Evelyn didn't care and went straight back to her car.
At ZL Group
Evelyn kept herself busy at work.
Nadia placed a file on her desk and said, "Miss Huo, this is our deal documents with the General Hospital. A new project has come up. But the vice general manger who was in charge of the deal resigned a few days ago. Who should be appointed to take his place?"
Without raising her head, Evelyn asked as she typed on her laptop, "What new project?"
"A new antibiotic was recently developed in our medicine factory. As the largest medicine supplier for the General Hospital, we haven't discussed the price and the specific deal for this batch of medicine with them yet."
ZL Group was involved in almost all industries that one could think of.
"Leave it here. Make an appointment with the partner and give me the specifications of the previous deals and contracts."
Nadia understood that Evelyn meant to take over the deal in person. "Yes, Miss Huo. I'm on it."
It was not until Nadia had put all the contracts in front of her that Evelyn became aware that the General Hospital Nadia had been talking about was Y City First General Hospital.
She was in a daze for several minutes as she read the documents, but her decision remained unchanged.
She said to Nadia, who had been staring at her in confusion, "Set the meeting for tomorrow noon. You and the former vice general manager's assistant will tag along with me."
"Yes, Miss Huo."
In Black Box Bar
A woman stood outside a booth and said to a man in a pissed-off tone, "The author was telling the truth. You have blatantly plagiarized her work. You have violated the author's copyright. Do you understand? If you don't, you can come to me anytime. I'm a student at the Law School of Y City University. I'm very busy today. Otherwise, I would have definitely taken the time to teach you what intellectual property right is!"
As he passed by the angry woman, Joshua's interest was piqued and he stared at her with a raised eyebrow. It was the first time he had ever seen a person use a bar as a negotiation venue.
The place was noisy, but the woman's voice was loud enough for people to hear. The man she was yelling at felt embarrassed. He was angry and ashamed. "You are just a student who hasn't even graduated yet. Mind your own business!"
Terilynn wanted to punch him. "So what? I just won the first prize for the Talent Cup National Judgment Paperwork Competition. You think I can't tell an original from a plagiarized version? You have absolutely no respect for the author's hard work. What are you still arguing about? You have infringed on someone else's IPR! It's a crime. If you don't know what that means, you can google it!"
"What do you know about it? How dare you claim that I copied her work? All I did was put some screenshots of her book on my platform so that more people can see them. I was just doing some publicity for her. What crime did I commit? Didn't she write the book for everyone to read? If you ask me, you are the fake one here!" The man's words infuriated Terilynn.