Chapter 8: Meet His Ex-lover

As soon as the weekend was over, she instantly returned as a model of personal assistant. She had not finished her job yet. A good deal of work was still outstanding, which made her quickly forget about that day. In fact, she tried to forget the awkwardness of that night.

During the lunch break, she leaned against the back of the chair and went right to sleep. She dreamed a dream. In her dream, she was standing in front of his room. She saw he was talking to a man, but she ignored that man. Her attention had concentrated on his angry face and his rude words. So, she kept trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Who the heck do you expect you are, being my younger sister's boyfriend without even my permission? Food, clothes, house,... all the things you had are because my family put all the money on you. And looked at the way you pay us back! How dare you love her? You are in love with her, or should I say you love her money? My family is not so simple as to be easily led. Use your loaf! A person who has nothing like you can never make my sister happy!"

It was a real slap in the face when he made insulting comments about Jessica's boyfriend.

Aware in some corner of her consciousness that she was dreaming, she recognized the past events had printed themselves on her memory. Her fists were clenched tight. She kept telling herself that she needed to wake up. Wake up! Get up! Come on! But she could not dissociate her from the dream. Suddenly, his furious voice was in her ear, hissing out a stream of profanities. He fixed that man with an irritable stare and smiled.

"You're no worth to Jess. Now, get out of here!"

She shuddered slightly at the sudden bleakness in his voice, but she jerked awake from a nightmare.

Nightmare made her feel scared. She groaned, pressing her trembling fists to her temples and squeezing her eyes shut. Then she opened her eyes again, taking a glance at the clock over the wall. It was already eleven o'clock. She opened a document on her phone, seeing the money had been credited to her account by bank giro. Then, she opened the note app, carefully writing the withdrawal and the income, and calculated again. The total amount soothed her mind and body and rid herself of the anxiety.

Finally, she could repay everything she borrowed from him and was now squared with him at last.

It was time to join the dinner party, but she didn't come to the party with him. She was on leave tonight because she wanted to go home.

At their apartment.

She turned on the bright lighting in the dressing room and rushed to the wardrobe. She opened the door wide and rifled through the contents of her wardrobe, looking for a wooden chest.

A trunk plastered with labels and had flaky paintwork. He turned the key in the lock, slowly opening the lid. Inside the trunk was an old notebook, a block of writing paper and a long thick piece of paper with an overwhelming amount of fine print. She stretched out her arm to take the notebook, opened it, and turned the pages. It was full of neat handwriting. Then, she turned the last page of the notebook and her eyes fell last on the sequence of numbers. It was the total amount she owed him. But now, she could clear off his debt.

She could not stop laughing. She looked like she did not believe she had done it. Can't believe it!

At the night party.

He was at the party, but he could not concentrate. He did not think a workaholic like her could ask for leave and go home first, which made him a little worried and afraid she got ill. This afternoon, he had recognized that she was not feeling well and was not in a relaxed mood. And now, he had been going half crazy worrying about her. Then, he suddenly stood up and was ready to leave the party. When the host of the party saw him, he drew towards the gate quickly.

"Mr. Sophronia, where do you want to go?" That old man asked, not sounding as if he cared about the answer.

"Sorry Mr. Wales, I need to take leave—Family emergency." Although he was in a hurry, he should ask him politely to move.

"Family… emergency? Mr. Sophronia, you got married?" His answer totally bewildered Mr. Wales, but eager to learn. However, he had no time to explain. Then he let Mr. Wales alone and left the party. When he got closer to the gate, someone at the back of the crowd called out his name.

"Elias!!" A woman was in a euphoric mood and her voice was full of disbelief.

He stopped as if to gather breath and looked behind him. He peered at the slight figure in front of him as if he doubted what his eyes were telling him.

"Susan Smith??"

After many years, he did not see her. Now Susan was many times beautiful again, even more mature and elegant.

"Oh, you are back?" He did not have time to enjoy her aura. He just wanted to go home now. His wife was waiting for him. "So, what's the matter?"

"Oh, I just… I just want to say hi… and we haven't seen each other for a long time…"

"Done?" He interrupted.

"Huh?? Oh, yes… yes, I'm done." Puzzled, she replied.

He nodded, smiled at her, and then left without saying goodbye. He thought if, by adventure, he came across Susan, he would inflict upon her. But now, when she stood confronting him, he just wanted to go home.

When he got home, it was pitch black inside. He searched everywhere, but he found nothing. He could not find the one who he needed.

"Becky?"

He wanted to phone her, but he could not get through to her. She was out, or else she had decided not to answer the telephone.

_________

"How are you, Becky?"

"Me? I'm fine, fine." She was talking with somebody on the phone while driving, "How are you, grandpa? Don't starve yourself, eat your meals properly, ok?"

"Okay." Her grandpa smiled sweetly, and said, "It rains so much these days. Well, I just want you to stay out of the rain, because I don't want you to get sick."

"Yeah, I will. Thanks, grandpa!" She sat inside a car, just staring out the windshield blankly. It was absolutely pissing down with rain, "Don't worry, grandpa. I'm not five years old anymore."

"Becky, you are a child. I worry about you. Constantly." The voice on the other end of the phone sounded happy and exciting, which made her in fits of laughter.

"And…" He hesitated, scrutinizing her reaction to his next word, "How's work? Good?"

"Yup. It's good." The faintest hint of a smile playing around the corners of her mouth, "Grandpa, I'm pressing pause on this conversation. I'll send the gift to you tomorrow."

"It's unnecessary to give me a present. Cost you a lot of money though, yeah? You should keep it for yourself, because you need money more than me now." Then he added, "Though your husband is rich, save everything and not be in leading-strings."

Though they had lived with each other for a long time, her grandpa troubled his head over her. Many years ago, her grandma got an incurable disease. So, when her grandma became ill and her illness resisted the efforts of the best obtainable physicians, Becky became like a woman possessed, moving heaven and earth to bring about her restoration to health. When Becky and her grandpa were discharged from the hospital, they almost passed out when they saw the medical bill. However, the hospital quickly dispelled their doubts and said that a young wealthy man had already paid the bill. It was the rich young man that brought the joint medical experts over to treat her grandma. And that man was absolutely Elias.

Her grandpa never thought that Elias wanted to be legally married to her, because he always felt they owed Elias.

This was the first time she felt so comfortable. Then, she comforted him, "Don't worry, grandpa. I've invested a lot of money in the projects these past few years. I've spent enough to pay off all our debts…"

She turned the car into the car park when she ended a call. The car pulled up, and she stepped out. A flashing neon sign would catch her eyes. With a sigh, she shoved the door open.