"Thank you, Eve." Sheffield was touched by her words.
He didn't expect Evelyn to leave her family for him. She had done so much for him already. She had even given birth to a beautiful baby for him. What else could he ask for?
"What for?" she asked. All she wanted was to be with him. She didn't want to lose him again.
He didn't say anything. They sat in the bath for a while, and then he said, "Gifford, Joshua and I are going to play mahjong tomorrow, and we need a fourth player. Would you like to join us?"
Since Gifford had not been busy lately, the three men had time on their hands to hang out together.
She teased him deliberately, "I better join, just in case you invite some other woman to play with you in my absence."
Knowing that she was joking, he smiled and asked, "Do you know how to play mahjong?"
"I don't." She had never played before, but had seen others play. She didn't think there was any need to learn until now.
"I will teach you tomorrow."
"Okay."
After a few more minutes of cuddling in the bath, they came out of the bathroom and jumped straight into bed. Just as Sheffield was about to get on top of Evelyn, her phone rang, interrupting their romantic moment.
Sheffield groaned in anger. "Who is that?" he spat.
Evelyn cast a casual glance at her phone and answered, "It's Matthew."
Sheffield felt like punching Matthew in the face for his horrible timing. "Why is he calling at this hour?"
Evelyn, unlike Sheffield, was grateful for the call from Matthew. All Sheffield wanted to do was hug her all day and have sex 24/7. He was too clingy.
"Hi Matthew, what's up?" Evelyn asked, picking up the call, ignoring Sheffield's protests.
"Evelyn, did you hear from Mom?" he asked.
"No. Why?"
"She is planning to run away from home again."
'This again?' Evelyn thought. She was calm despite the news. "You know Mom. It's nothing new." 'She must have heard that Dad is going to break all ties with me. She is probably just throwing a tantrum at him, ' she thought.
"I don't know. She was really angry when she called me and was crying too. She said that Dad was talking about breaking ties with you, and that she didn't want to see him anymore. She's going to run away to the US, and asked me to pick her up."
"Should I go back to the manor and check on her?" Evelyn asked, a little concern in her voice.
"No. I think it'll be better if I go," Matthew refused instantly. He hadn't been home in a while anyway, so it was time for him to come back.
"It's just too much trouble for you, Matthew. I'll go. I'm closer."
"Don't worry about it. I've already asked my assistant to book the ticket. I'll reach by noon tomorrow," he said.
Evelyn gave in. "Okay." They talked for another minute before hanging up.
Sheffield let her place her head on his arm. "Should I just apologize to your dad?" It seemed that things were getting more and more serious.
"Don't bother about it. My mom always gets mad at my dad. She would run away from home and go to her friend's place, just to piss him off. And as for Dad, he can't live without her for a single day. He would run to apologize to her soon." Matthew said that Debbie had cried during their call, but Evelyn knew that it was all just pretense. Debbie wanted Carlos to surrender.
Debbie was protesting without saying it out loud—'Look how upset your wife is. Aren't you ashamed for making her cry?
"Well, that's a relief," Sheffield said and rolled over towards Evelyn. "Shall we continue?"
He kissed her gently on her neck. Evelyn chuckled and wrapped her arms around him.
It was past midnight. Sheffield waited until Evelyn fell asleep. He put on his pajamas and went to the study.
He turned on his computer and posted a message in a forum.
Soon, the forum came alive with messages from popular hackers and honkers. "Star Anise is back! Is he going to take tasks again?"
"What? Didn't he retire?"
"I don't know. I just know that I'm about to lose my job. Please show some mercy on us, Star Anise."
The tasks aimed for Star Anise were all heavily rewarded. In under ten minutes, the members of Star Anise's group sent him five tasks. "Boss, if you don't mind, take all of them."
"Fuck off! I don't have that much time on my hands. I'll take any one for now." He had bought the proposal ring for Evelyn using loan from a bank. So, he had to take on a task to pay the money he owed.
He had to make more money than before to make sure that his wife and daughter could live luxuriously.
"Okay! Then, take this one. A hundred million dollars to break the defense system of ZL Group."
'ZL Group's defense system?' "Tell whoever issued that task that it was I who created the defense system for ZL Group."
"Damn it! Why didn't we know that?" The youngest teammate was shocked. No wonder ZL Group had such an amazing defense system.
"You are the only one who didn't know that," said Star Anise, aka Sheffield.
"Boss, shall we take part in the hacker competition in the second half of the year?"
"You guys go ahead. I won't be joining."
His answer was just as the others had expected.
Another teammate asked, "Boss, when will we have the chance of meeting you in person?"
"I'm just an ordinary loser. There's nothing special about me for you to be curious about. Just focus on your work."
Every time they asked the question, he would give the same answer. Star Anise was a mysterious figure to the world.
In the end, Sheffield chose a relatively easy task.
The next day, after lunch, Sheffield asked Tobias to get him a traditional costume.
The previous night, Evelyn had expressed her desire to see him in all kinds of traditional costumes, in different colors and styles. He decided that the first one would be white.
Though he didn't know why she wanted to see him in traditional costumes, it was his wish to see all her wishes come true.
Evelyn waited in the living room while he got dressed. A few minutes later, the handsome man stepped out in the white traditional costume.
His eyes sparkled. He was wearing a wig. The long inky hair was tied up with a snow-white ribbon. He looked charming in it.
And when he smiled at her, he looked more handsome than ever.
Sheffield stood in front of her and twirled once. It was then that Evelyn remembered the boy she had met a long time ago. She blurted out, "Sheffield, have you worn an ancient costume before?"
"Hmm, yes. It was almost ten years back, my friend had held a cosplay party and asked me to help him."
Evelyn's heart skipped a beat. "Was the party held in a mall?"
"No, but we did go to a nearby shopping mall to eat. Why? What's wrong?" Sheffield asked doubtfully.
'It was him! Wow! We had met so long ago.' She laughed and when she saw the confused look on his face, she explained, "I once saw a boy in a white traditional costume like this in a shopping mall. Although I only saw him from behind, I was kind of attracted to him somehow."
Women always paid attention to beautiful things. She was no exception.
Although she had to leave without seeing his face, the boy in white stayed in her heart for several days.
Sheffield's eyes lit up. "Eve, are you saying that you met me a decade ago?"
Evelyn didn't deny it. "Yes."
He ran over to hug her, exclaiming exaggeratedly, "Eve! We are destined to be together!"
"What? I only saw you from behind, Sheffield. It's not much of a destiny, is it?" she asked, amused by his enthusiasm.
"Haven't you heard about the Law of Attraction? You've been obsessed with my back for so long. That's why I found you!" he said excitedly.