Take My Breath Away

"Someone you don't know." Evelyn looked Sheffield straight in the eye while she answered his question. He had asked who she was meeting so late in the night. What seemed like a simple question was actually very hard to answer. But Sheffield had never met Gwyn before so technically, she was not lying.

"A man or a woman?" he demanded once more.

"Why does it matter to you? Who are you to ask?" 'Perhaps, the only way I could get out of here quicker is by making him mad, ' she thought.

With this thought in mind, her resolve not to tell him anything was set into stone. As expected, it completely infuriated Sheffield. "What am I to you then? Evelyn Huo, we had slept together two years ago. And just tonight, we slept together again. Are you seriously asking me who I am to ask?"

"I really need to leave right now. I can come and see you tomorrow if you'd like? Just, just not tonight." For the past two years, she had never been out late at night. The reason was actually because she needed to take care of her daughter. Every single night, she wouldn't be able to sleep in peace until she had checked on Gwyn.

Instead of answering her question, Sheffield pressed his lips on hers with a little bit of force.

After some time, Evelyn struggled out of his hold. A little short on breath, she mumbled, "If you dare touch me again, I swear I'll never forgive you! I'll hate you for the rest of my life!"

"Then do it! Hate me all you want!" Since Sheffield was becoming desperate, he thought that it would be better if she hated him. This way, she would still have thoughts about him, instead of completely forgetting him.

Evelyn realized that he had changed. He used to coax her and do whatever she said. He had never forced her to do anything before.

But now, he didn't seem to care what she wanted anymore. He didn't listen to her and was even making things difficult for her. This time, she was forced to suffer the scrutiny of his anger.

That night, their encounter ended in the gutter even though they had just engaged in the most intimate thing two persons could do.

It was already past midnight when Evelyn got back to the villa. Gwyn had already fallen asleep in Debbie's room. After standing in front of the said room for a while, she knocked at the door at last.

Carlos was still up. He opened the door and asked with a frown, "Why didn't you come back earlier? Do you know what time it is?"

Because of too much uneasiness, Evelyn wasn't able to answer. Instead, she asked, "Where is Gwyn?"

"She went to bed early. I don't want to wake her up, so let her sleep with us. You should get some rest as well."

"Okay, I just wanted to check on her." She walked past her father and entered the bedroom.

Debbie, who was sleeping beside her granddaughter, opened her sleepy eyes and murmured, "Evelyn, why did you come back so late? Were you so busy?"

Shaking her head, Evelyn responded softly, "No, something happened, so I wasn't able to come back so soon." She then turned to Gwyn and gently stroked her little face with the back of her hand. Then, she kissed the little girl on the forehead. Only then was she able to calm down as she breathed a sigh of relief.

When she was about to close the door on her way out, Carlos called out softly, "Evelyn."

Confused, she turned her head. A dark expression seemed to appear on her father's face while he looked at her from head to toe. He then stated seriously, "You should really be more careful."

Evelyn looked down at herself to check on her outfit. Squinting her eyes, she thought that there was nothing wrong with it. 'Why do I need to be more careful?' she wondered to herself.

'Is it my hair? Doesn't Dad like me wearing it unbound?' That must not be it. "What's wrong, Dad?" she finally asked.

Carlos walked over to her and tried to push her out of the room. "You are such a nuisance. Go to sleep," he conclusively said.

Feeling both confused and helpless, Evelyn stared at the door that her father had immediately closed.

She didn't know what Carlos was mad about until she went to her bathroom. When she looked in the mirror, the first thing that her eyes caught was the several red marks on her neck. Even with her hair down, two or three hickeys could easily be seen. Carlos must have seen them.

Evelyn felt so embarrassed. 'This is all Sheffield's fault!' she exclaimed in her head.

The next morning, Joshua passed by Theo Group on his way to work. He brought breakfast to Sheffield's office and quickly placed it on the table. Then, he deliberately said, "I couldn't finish my breakfast, so I brought my leftovers to you. Do you want to eat it? If you don't, I'll take it to my office and feed it to the dog."

When Sheffield heard what Joshua had said, his eyes dimmed abruptly. "Fuck off!" he cursed.

Joshua chuckled. "Well, why does it seem like you're not yourself today? You're not going along with my jokes and it seems like you haven't even washed your face. Did you even brush your teeth? Did you get up so late? It's already past eight o'clock." He had bought breakfast for Sheffield before, so he knew that the man would always get up very early.

Sheffield rolled up his sleeves and was about to wash his face. "I had too much fun last night."

"You were having fun? Where?" Joshua asked, extremely surprised.

"Right here."

"In your office? What kind of fun could you actually do here?" Joshua was confused. He had half a mind not to believe Sheffield.

"I was driving a bumper car!" Sheffield responded briefly before he went into the bathroom to freshen up.

It was not until later when Joshua was already in his car that he finally realized what Sheffield had meant. He furiously took out his phone and sent a message to Sheffield. "Sheffield Tang, you horny son of a bitch!"

That morning, Evelyn discovered something sad and frustrating. She thought that she had put her watch in the bag that she had last night. When she looked at it this morning, she found out that it was not there. There was no other explanation. She must have left it at Sheffield's lounge.

After getting dressed, she sent Sheffield a message. "Did I leave my watch in your office?"

"I found a lady's watch on my bed, but I'm not sure if it's yours," Sheffield texted while rubbing the watch in his pocket with his thumb.

'Was he insinuating that he had been sleeping with other women too?' Evelyn helplessly rolled her eyes at the thought.

However, because Evelyn knew him so well, she was sure that he was only saying that to annoy her. So she ignored the latter part of his remark. "Should I go get it or will you bring it to me?"

"Do you always expect the things you lost to come back to your pocket automatically? Isn't that a little silly?"

When she read his message, Evelyn was completely speechless. Her intuition was telling her that he was implying something else by that sentence.

What happened back then was a two-way street. She also lost him. Was he saying that she shouldn't expect him to take the initiative in coming back to her? Did he mean that she should be the one to make the first move this time? Did she get it right?

"I'll come and see you after work tonight." Considering what had happened the night before, she decided to get off work early that night. She didn't want to miss saying goodnight to Gwyn for two nights in a row.

Unexpectedly, when she arrived at her office, she received a response from Sheffield. "I'll be at my house tonight."

Evelyn bit her lower lip. What he wanted was very clear.

It made her restless for the rest of the day. In order to prevent Sheffield from making trouble for her, she decided to call Debbie before she left to see him.

On the phone, she tried to make herself sound as natural as possible. "Mom, I'm not coming back home tonight. Could you and Dad please take care of Gwyn for me?"

"Why aren't you coming home? Are you going on a business trip?"

"Yes," Evelyn replied, deciding at that moment that a business trip would actually make a good excuse.

The next moment, however, Carlos' voice came from the other end of the line. "Evelyn Huo, do you really think I'll believe that poor excuse of yours?"

With a guilty conscience, Evelyn tried to greet him as normally as she could. "Hi, Dad." 'Dad was in the office a moment ago. How come he's back home so soon?'

"Are you going to abandon your own daughter for that little bastard?"

"No, Dad. Please don't take it the wrong way, okay? I'll come back later. You know how much I love Gwyn." Evelyn immediately defended her intentions. Gwyn was her own flesh and blood. How could she possibly abandon her for Sheffield?

With a snort, Carlos said, "As long as it's about Sheffield Tang, you're always so anxious. You have never figured out how to remain calm. I was just asking. Why are you so nervous? You've already told your mother that you wouldn't come back. How can you change your words so easily?"