It fell on Debbie to smooth things over. With a smile, she put her hand on Carlos' and said, "Honey, Mrs. Fan and Joshua are right. Getting engaged is a big deal. Think about Evelyn. Don't push her too hard."
Terilynn also spoke. "Dad, it's all your fault. Why are you giving Evelyn a hard time?"
Carlos cast a cold glance at Terilynn. Then, she fell into silence. He looked at Debbie and then turned to the waiter and demanded, "Serve the dishes."
While Evelyn was eating her dinner without thinking about it, Joshua whispered in her ear, "So what do you think of me?"
'What?' Confused, Evelyn asked, "Do you really plan to..."
Joshua knew what she wanted to say. He shook his head and said, "Of course not. It's just a question. It has nothing to do with our relationship." He knew she was Sheffield's woman. She was persona non nookie—off limits.
What he meant was, what did she think about him being her brother-in-law?
Evelyn looked at him up and down. Joshua was wearing a dark suit and his leather shoes glinted in the light. "You don't look like a prosecutor."
Every prosecutor she'd ever met had been super-serious. But just like Sheffield, Joshua was the opposite.
A look of amusement flashed across his face. "Then what do you think I look like?" Joshua asked with strong interest.
Evelyn cast a casual glance at him. "You look like... like... I don't know." she answered honestly.
When he heard this, Joshua was speechless.
Watching them whispering to each other, every elder was happy to see them getting on well. Everyone except Debbie, that was.
As the parents of both families were quite powerful, they were also busy—their dinner was over before long.
They hadn't reached an agreement on the date of engagement by the end. Evelyn was quite adamant about that.
After they parted, Joshua drove his parents home. Penelope turned to her son. "Josh, why does Evelyn not want to marry you?"
"Because we've only known each other a few days. Jeez, you guys! One blind date and you have us marching down the aisle together!"
Penelope nodded thoughtfully. "Mr. Huo is plenty anxious himself. Evelyn doesn't seem to be very lucky in love, if her past relationships are any indication. She have any secrets we need to know about? She seems to be a great gal. But almost thirty but not married yet. I wonder why?"
With a smile, Joshua said, "No secrets I know of. So what do you think about her sister, Terilynn?"
His words caught Darius's attention. He and Joshua looked at each other through the rearview mirror, and Joshua averted his eyes nervously.
"Terilynn? I like her too. Their parents had excellent genes. She and Evelyn are both so good-looking and well-bred. If you can marry one of those two, it's a guarantee your kids will be awesome!" Penelope had the same feeling about the two sisters. If Evelyn were her daughter-in-law, she would be nicer to her.
"Terilynn didn't talk much the whole time tonight. Are you assuming that she is as quiet as her sister?" Joshua asked.
"Yeah, isn't she?" Penelope had seen Terilynn at a concert once, but they didn't talk to each other, so she barely knew her at all.
Joshua smiled, "Actually she is perky. She was just in a bad mood tonight."
He knew about her getting dumped by some guy. When he saw her getting drunk in a bar and some other guy carrying her out, he guessed what had happened.
'It's better to go through that at least once. Now she can find the right guy, ' thought Joshua.
"I see. Why was she unhappy? Something we said?" Penelope was worried.
Joshua felt helpless. "Mom, come on. It wasn't you guys. All right, I'll talk to you later. But I have something to deal with and need to talk with Sheffield, so I'll drop you off in front of the house."
"It's so late. Why are you meeting with him? I hope you won't make a drunken fool of yourself." Penelope glared at her son.
"Seriously, Mom? Can't you just believe in me for once? It's just a drink. No big deal. Even if I wanted to, Sheffield doesn't have that much free time. He's working on something important!" Joshua felt helpless.
Darius cut in, "Are you talking about the project with the drugs and all that? I heard that he had been doing some research and development. How's that going?"
"How do you even know about that, Dad?"
Darius snorted, "Because he came to me about it when he needed advice. Look at him, and look at you. Can't you be more like him? If you don't work hard, your future father-in-law will hate you and refuse to let you marry his daughter! I'm warning you, everyone in this city knows who the Huo family is. If you mess this up, I swear I'll disown you!"
Joshua pursed his lips sullenly. "Funny how you like all my friends, and then yell at me."
"You've noticed, haven't you? Gifford's already a major general and is quite young. You know more about Sheffield's situation than I do. You, on the other hand, are just a prosecutor. Work hard! And make me proud!" Darius was going to retire soon. Once he did that, he couldn't protect his son from getting fired from that office.
Joshua sighed and said, "Okay, I know. Don't yell at me anymore!"
Looking out of the window, Darius said, "Drive carefully, so I don't need to bail your dumb ass out if you hit someone."
Upon hearing this, Joshua was speechless.
Compared to the icy fury between the father and son, Evelyn and Carlos were no better.
As soon as they got in the car, Evelyn asked Carlos in a cold voice, "Dad, why are you so eager to marry me off?"
Carlos never did anything without a reason.
Carlos didn't deny it.
His attitude annoyed Evelyn. "You're afraid I'll get back together with Sheffield, aren't you?"
"Yes!" Carlos admitted.
Evelyn was pissed off. "Look, I stopped seeing him, okay? Cause you wanted me to. Have you ever asked me if I want to be with Joshua?"
"Aren't you going out with him?" Since they were dating, it showed she didn't hate him. At least Carlos thought so.
"I tried going out with him because I didn't want to disappoint you. But now you're trying to marry us, after a few days. It's ridiculous!" The more Evelyn thought about it, the angrier she got. Carlos had never tried to mess with her dating life before. So why now? He even wanted to arrange her marriage.
Seeing Carlos and Evelyn turn on each other, Debbie covered his mouth and said to Evelyn, "Evelyn, your dad did what he thought was right. If you don't want to marry Joshua, then don't. It's fine. We can wait."
Carlos shook Debbie's hand off and said, "We can wait?" Carlos cast a cold glance at Evelyn and asked, "Evelyn, where were you this afternoon?"
Evelyn opened her mouth and stammered, "I was with Joshua. "
"And?" Carlos fixed his eyes on her, waiting for her response.