Take My Breath Away

As soon as the housemaid put the plate in front of Carlos, Debbie thrust her chopsticks in to pick up the slice of roasted meat. Shaking the meat in front of the angry Megan, she said in a naughty tone, "Oh, I'm sorry. You know, your uncle Carlos is a germophobe. You touched the meat with your chopsticks, so he won't eat it. I'd better eat it instead."

Before stuffing the meat into her mouth, she looked at the meat while adding, "But...do you have... Are you healthy?" She managed to swallow the words "infectious disease" before she said them out loud. That would have been blatant, and Debbie was too clever for that. She wanted her attack to be well-planned, well-timed, and well-executed, and being too brazen would have knocked all that off kilter. She tried not to smile while chewing her food. That would have given her away. Exasperated, Megan

Exasperated, Megan began to breathe faster. Short of breath, she stuttered, "Aunt Debbie, what are you... talking about... I... I..."

It seemed to Debbie that Megan's asthma attack always came at the best times. Debbie's plan had hit a snag, instead of staking her claim to what was rightfully hers—Carlos himself. But yet again, it looked as though Debbie was bullying a patient.

"Enough! Why are you being so noisy at the dinner table?" Seeing Megan struggling for breath, Valerie immediately gestured to a housemaid, instructing her to take care of Megan. In the meantime, she cast a stern glance at Debbie. Of course, Debbie wasn't about to take that lying down.

'I'm being noisy? But who started it?' Unconvinced, Debbie pursed her lips and focused on eating her food.

Carlos put down his chopsticks and called in the steward. When the steward came into the dining room, he ordered, "Tomorrow, swap this table out for a rotating table."

"Yes, Mr. Huo," the steward answered and left.

Carlos put a piece of cabbage in Debbie's bowl and looked at Valerie. "Grandma, Debbie's part of this family too. If you play favorites, you'll hurt Debbie's heart. As time goes by, she may develop psychological problems. If that happens, you might find it harder to be a great-grandmother."

'A great-grandmother?'

Valerie looked toward Debbie with hatred, while the latter blinked her innocent eyes at her. Debbie didn't expect Carlos to mention having a child all of a sudden.

"Just eat your food," Carlos ordered her in a hushed voice. He moved more food to her plate before eating his own.

On the other side of the table, Valerie heaved a sigh of relief when Megan's breathing had improved. It seemed like her asthma attack was going away. Debbie saw it too, and glared at her briefly. She believed that Megan used it to get attention, and might even be faking to the whole ordeal. Quite the accusation!

After dinner, Valerie excused herself, and asked both Carlos and Megan to come into her room. She wanted to talk with them privately.

Obviously knowing that Debbie was watching, Megan cheerfully closed the door.

Left outside, Debbie made a face at the closed door. 'Huh! I don't give a damn what you will talk about, ' she thought, gritting her teeth.

When she turned around, she saw an emotionless Miranda standing right behind her. In an instant, the grimace on her face was replaced by a polite smile. "Aunt Miranda," she greeted, sounding courteous.

The reason why Debbie showed so much respect to the arrogant Miranda was not because Debbie was scared of her. It was just that Miranda was an elder. And besides, she hadn't done anything overt to Debbie, nor did she seem to side with the other family members whenever they got mad at her.

Miranda gave her a cold glance and said slowly, "I'd like you to come with me to visit Carlos' grandpa in the hospital. Today or tomorrow."

'What?' Shocked, Debbie raised her head and looked at Miranda with disbelief in her eyes.

Her reaction made Miranda unhappy. She queried in a cold voice, "Is that a no?"

Shaking her head vigorously, Debbie promised, "No. I didn't expect to be asked. It would be an honor to go with you." It was just that she hadn't ever imagined that Miranda would invite her to tag along when she visited Carlos' grandfather.

Without responding to Debbie, Miranda turned around and returned to her own bedroom, leaving Debbie alone with her thoughts. Why did she do that? Was this a way to reach out, maybe an olive branch? She didn't have long to think about it, though.

A bit later, Carlos went back to their bedroom too after listening to Valerie's lecture. Debbie had given up thinking about the invitation, and had been chatting happily on WeChat with her friends. Jared suddenly complained, "Damon's getting married. His wife-to-be is pregnant. My dad is busy preparing the betrothal gifts. Maybe I should get hitched. Otherwise, my dad might break the bank buying gifts for Damon and his wife. If he did that, I would have to start eating air for breakfast."

Debbie wrote, "Ha! Think your brother cares about your dad's money?"

Jared replied with a zipper-mouth face emoji. But she was right, Damon was rich enough himself, so he wouldn't care about his dad's fortune a bit. Then he asked Debbie, "Do you remember Oscar? The man you had a fight with at the Orchid Private Club."

Debbie sent a nodding-head emoji.

"I've told you something about him last time, but you were too drunk to listen. I'm not sure you heard anything I said. So... I heard Damon say he sent Oscar to the police station at your husband's request. And in the end, the court gave Oscar a life sentence."

Debbie was taken aback. "Seriously? Life-imprisonment? But it wasn't that serious..."

Jared wrote, "Yeah, no shit. But he deserved it. The guy was a punk. He committed crimes like kids eat candy. Any one of these would have dumped him in jail for the rest of his life. He's lucky he didn't get the death penalty."

Debbie didn't text back.

She lay prone on the bed, deep in thought. When Carlos walked into the room, this was what he saw—a meditating Debbie. He climbed onto the bed, pressed on her back and asked, "What are you doing?" He kissed her long hair.

Putting her phone aside, she struggled to roll over and looked into his eyes. They were in a rather sexy position now.

But she was so deep in thought and had so many doubts that she didn't even have time to care about it. "Is it true? Did Oscar get life in prison?" she asked outright.

'Oscar?' Carlos slightly frowned, racking his brain to recall who this guy was. But he failed. "Who's Oscar?" he asked in confusion.

"Last time at the Orchid Private Club, I got in a fight with a guy and a woman. The guy was Oscar."

After her reminder, two blurry faces popped into his brain. Yet, he didn't give it much thought and shook it off quickly. He wouldn't bother dealing with a guy like that personally. "I told Damon about it. I don't know the rest. If you want, I can ask Damon now."

Debbie shook her head. After a moment of meditation, she pinched the handsy man's ear and asked, "He got the sentence because of his past, not because of me, right?"

It seemed like this woman wouldn't let it go. After giving her a quick kiss, Carlos pulled out his phone and called Damon.

The call went through in no time. Damon's voice was clearly heard in the quiet bedroom. "Carlos? You finally remember that I exist. You've been a hermit since you fell for Debbie."

Oblivious to his complaint, Carlos got straight to the point. "How did you deal with the guy I handed to you last time?"

"Which one?"

"The man who offended my wife at the Orchid Private Club!"

"Well, that guy. O...Oscar, right? He's just a scumbag. I just called a friend of mine, a cop, and got him arrested. They found outstanding warrants and the rest was history."

Carlos hung up the phone as soon as he made sure that Debbie had an answer. Putting his phone aside, he asked, "Happy now?"

"Hmm," Debbie nodded. So Jared was right. It was reasonable to lock Oscar in jail for his entire life, regarding the tons of crimes he had committed.

Carlos pulled her into his arms and whispered, "If they mess with you, I won't let them off the hook."

Debbie planted a kiss on his forehead. "Hmm. Honey, thank you!" she beamed at him.

"Thank you? Why so formal?"

"Me?"

"Yes!" He raised his eyebrows.

Debbie smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, asking, "By the way, what did Grandma talk to you about? Did she try to talk you into divorcing me again?"

"Hmm." He didn't hide it. "I'm not giving you up, no matter what."

Wearing a sweet smile on her face, Debbie pretended to be angry and grabbed him by his collar. She rested one leg on top of him and threatened in a condescending manner, "Promise me...or else."

Carlos put his hands under his head on the pillow and looked at her, a tender smile adorning his handsome face. Finally, a single word left his lips. "Promise." For the first time in his life, he had willingly allowed himself to be weak. Most willingly.

"I'm happy!" Debbie blew him a kiss, and then tried to push him into the study.

But he shook his head. "I'm not working tonight. Let's go out for fun instead."