"And? Is a woman more important than the Theo Group?" Peterson asked in reply. This was not what he wanted to hear.
Sheffield shifted his eyes from the glass in his hand to Peterson. "Then why should I come back?" He spoke in a cold tone, as if he were not talking to his biological father.
Actually, Peterson had tried to get Sheffield to take over the company a few years back, but Sheffield rebuffed him each time.
After Sheffield made inroads in drug research and development, Peterson had given up on that idea. Now that he had something he was interested in, why should he leave that behind?
But Sheffield had given all of that up. He had gone to the countryside to offer some much-needed medical support. That was when Peterson started to think that maybe he could lure the young man back to the company.
Peterson was expecting an uphill battle. After all, he had been turned down by Sheffield several times. But the young doctor contacted him first. He agreed to come back and take over the company. Peterson was so excited that he and his assistant even went to the D City to pick Sheffield up.
Not giving anyone a chance to raise objections, he let Sheffield move into the position immediately.
Peterson had also racked his brains to figure out what could have made Sheffield change his mind, and when he realized what it might be, his eyes widened in shock.
'So he came back because of her? Is she really that attractive to Sheffield?' he thought to himself in disbelief.
Knowing that he had figured it out, Sheffield turned around and left.
Joshua ran after Sheffield. When they were out of earshot, Joshua said angrily, "What did you think you were doing, anyway?"
"What? I don't understand." Sheffield didn't like parties much. When Evelyn left, he got bored and frustrated. So he decided to leave. Was Joshua talking about that?
"Why did you pour red wine on Evelyn? And you even blamed it on me. Some friend you are!"
"Her back was bare. People were starting to stare." The way those men looked at her made him very uncomfortable.
When he ruined her evening dress last time, he warned her not to wear such a revealing dress again. Apparently, she hadn't learned her lesson. Well, he was going to teach her.
Joshua looked at the calm man in astonishment and asked, "What? You caused a scene over that?"
"Yeah! So?" Sheffield was getting bored with the conversation.
Joshua rolled his eyes at him. "You haven't seen each other for two years. You meet up with her again, and you pull a stunt like that? Two years ago, you were head over heels for her. I was expecting you to offer her a ring, not ruin her dress. Who does that?"
Leaning against the window, Sheffield lit a cigarette. "Let me ask you something."
"What's that?"
"Will a girl love you just because you make a fool out of yourself for her?"
When he heard this, Joshua was amazed. He didn't know the answer to that question. Yes, he liked Terilynn, but he didn't think he'd do stupid things for her in the name of love. They were still just dating.
"Let me give you a piece of advice: the answer is no!" said Sheffield, flicking the ash from his cigarette into the waste basket.
"Okay?" Joshua asked in confusion. What did that have to do with anything?
"You see..." Sheffield curled his lips before continuing, "Being faithful is for chumps. Why should I do that? It didn't work with Evelyn. I should just forget her and sleep with as many women as I can."
"Bullshit!" The simple, crude word Joshua uttered broke Sheffield's reverie.
Joshua didn't believe a single word his friend said. "You're so full of it. So you wouldn't mind if I made a play for her, then. Since you're obviously not interested," he said with a disdainful smile.
Sheffield just ignored him. He looked out of the window at the moonlight and sighed wistfully, "We haven't seen each other for so long. I almost lost control when I smelled her. She still wears that perfume that drives me crazy."
When he held her hand, he was almost overcome by desire. If they weren't in public, he would have made love to her right then and there.
"Why don't you tell her that?"
"I can't!" said Sheffield. He knew the reason why. This had to happen organically, on its own. And he was hoping that he could feel her touch. Then maybe he could pour his heart out to her.
But if they met up again, hopefully there would be no need for words. Hopefully their bodies would do the talking.
Joshua rolled his eyes at him and said, "You're such a little bitch!"
When Evelyn got to the Huo family's mansion, Carlos had just put a sleeping Gwyn to bed. Seeing her go upstairs, he said in a hushed voice, "Hey, you're back."
"Mm hmm. So Gwyn's asleep?"
"Yeah. She had a short nap this afternoon. She started doing the long blink after your mom bathed her."
"Okay."
When Carlos saw the wine stains on her clothing, he frowned and asked, "What happened to your dress?"
"An accident. It's just a little red wine," she explained simply. She didn't want to let him know the truth.
"I see." Carlos looked at her and asked, "Were you with him?"
He knew Sheffield took over as CEO of Theo Group. He still hung out in business circles, and heard that through the grapevine.
Evelyn understood who Carlos meant. "Yes." No use in lying to the old man.
"Well, I knew he isn't as dumb as he looks. But I didn't know he is the son of that cunning old fox, Peterson Tang!" Carlos was surprised to hear that.
After a short pause, Evelyn asked, "Dad, did Matthew know? Before he arranged for me to go to that party, I mean."
Otherwise, Matthew wouldn't have had her attend Theo Group's anniversary ceremony.
Thinking of this, Carlos was even angrier. "Yes. That brat! He didn't even tell me about it. He had a lot of advance notice, and yet he never told his old man."
Carlos didn't know when Matthew discovered the truth about Sheffield, but he was sure that Matthew knew it before he found out.
Evelyn didn't know what to say to any of that. She pulled on her overcoat and said, "Hate to cut this short, Dad, but I'm going to take a shower and head to bed."
"Wait!" Carlos stopped her again.
She turned around.
Carlos looked at her and asked, "What are you going to do?"
Knowing what he meant, Evelyn didn't answer but asked, "Dad, do you still want to stop us from getting back together?"
"And what if I do? What if I don't?" His opinion didn't really matter anyway.
"If you still have a problem with him, I can't do anything about it. I'll just live the rest of my life taking care of Gwyn. But if you keep out of this and trust me for once, I'll..." 'I'll do my best to get Sheffield back, ' she thought.
Carlos felt a little embarrassed. To cover up his embarrassment, he let out a cold hum and said, "That's all you can do. Are you going to give up if I stop you? Do you really love him?"
Evelyn sighed and held his arm. "Dad, please stay out of this. I can do this myself, okay?"
"Okay, but don't tell him about Gwyn first. Let him feel the way I did."
Evelyn was flabbergasted. "Dad! You wanna let Mom know about this?"
"About what?" Debbie had just washed Gwyn's clothes and was about to check on the baby. When she opened the door, she heard father and daughter talking.
Carlos winked at his daughter and said, "Nothing, honey."
Carlos' reaction amused Evelyn. Regardless of his petty action, she said to Debbie, "Dad didn't want me to tell Sheffield about Gwyn. He wanted him to feel the way he did."
Carlos' face soured at Evelyn's words. "Evelyn Huo, you little traitor," he reprimanded. 'Gwyn is the only one who listens to me, ' he thought bitterly.
Debbie came over to Carlos and punched his shoulder as hard as she could. "Look, you got what you wanted. Everything is fine now. Evelyn and Calvert got engaged, and we've got the money. If you butt into their lives again, I'll... I'll run off and leave you!"
What wasn't fine initially was Evelyn's ectopic pregnancy, and the money Debbie was referring to was the profit from Sheffield's research into different drug therapies.