Take My Breath Away

"I hear you. Goodbye, Aunt Miranda." After bidding farewell to Miranda, Debbie began to think about her parting words. 'Carlos did a good job? They deserved it? Did she mean what she said? Is Miranda really Lewis' mother?' Watching Miranda's receding figure, Debbie couldn't fend off the barrage of doubts from intruding on her thoughts.

That night, Carlos picked up Megan from the Huo family's house and drove her to the villa. Megan was going to spend the night with them. Since they were all flying back to Y City tomorrow, it would be more convenient to have her there.

When Megan stepped into the villa and spotted Debbie, she ran briskly and gleefully toward her. With an innocent look on her face, she said, "Aunt Debbie. Guess what I bought you?"

Debbie smiled sarcastically as she stared at her innocent look. It was exactly the same look as when she met Megan for the first time. Miranda's words came unbidden to her mind—"And be careful of Megan. She's a great actress." And wasn't that the truth? Megan had managed to hoodwink both Carlos and her, intending to steal Carlos away from her. Back then, her fake innocent expression blinded Debbie's eyes, making her believe that Megan was a pure, sweet girl. It turned out that she was just a hypocritical and cunning woman.

Oblivious to Debbie's indifferent attitude, Megan lifted the shopping bag with an international brand logo printed on it. In a more excited voice, she revealed the answer. "Lipsticks! The latest ones! Uncle Carlos and I picked out the colors for you. Come on. Open it and take a look."

'Uncle Carlos and I...' Debbie repeated this sentence in her mind. 'Interesting that you'd bring Carlos into it. You always follow him around like a lost puppy dog, ' she thought angrily.

She shifted her gaze past Megan to the man walking towards them. 'Wasn't Carlos busy wrapping up his work here before leaving New York? How could he spare any time to go shopping with Megan?' she wondered.

Devoid of emotion, Debbie took the shopping bag from Megan and said flatly, "Thanks." Then, while Carlos and Megan watched, she opened the exquisite, high-class packing box.

There were three shades of lipstick inside the box. When she unscrewed the lid of the first one and saw the color, she was overwhelmed by an urge to punch the pair.

She couldn't believe her eyes. The first one was Death Barbie Pink!

Her lips twitched, totally at a loss for words. Every netizen knew about that shade, and many jokes were told about it. It was supposed to be a hue similar to a Barbie doll's lips. But this shade was completely unsuitable for most Chinese women. All it did was make their faces seem darker and dirtier. Some actresses tried it, but they also failed to pull it off and were roundly mocked. Thus, it came to be known as 'Death Barbie Pink.' And the second tube of lipstick was blue.

This was getting bad! She had lost all her strength to lay a finger on the third lipstick. Instead, she glared at Carlos. The man was obviously confused by her expression.

Finally, she mustered the courage to unscrew the lid of the third lipstick. Thank God! This one was at least normal. It was orange.

She asked Carlos, "How much did this set you back?"

Her question embarrassed Megan and she apologized, "I'm sorry, Aunt Debbie. You know, I can't get a job yet..."

Debbie paid no attention to her, but kept her eyes on Carlos. Confused, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"How much did they cost?" She insisted on an answer.

"Eighty thousand, give or take," Carlos replied honestly.

His reply sent a chill down her spine. Her eyes popped out in shock. "Dollars? Eighty thousand dollars for three lipsticks?!" she confirmed again.

Perplexed, Megan replied, "Yeah. Was that too much? But Aunt Debbie, the manager told us that it was a limited edition. There are only two sets of these in the entire world. Now you have one in your hands! Cool, right?"

Bang! Debbie slammed the box heavily on the table and glared at the fake innocent girl. "Cool? No, more like a fool. Of course they had only made two sets of these particular shades. If they made hundreds of thousands of these lipstick colors, the company would've already gone bankrupt! And you think eighty thousand dollars isn't expensive? It's a sky-high price for lipstick. Much higher than market price. You think money grows on trees or something? How about you go and earn eighty thousand dollars for me now? Huh? And, you take it for granted to waste my husband's money. Take it back to wherever you got this!" she shouted out a barrage of words in one breath.

Hearing Debbie's rant, Megan was startled and staggered backward. Tears instantly sprang to her eyes and streamed down her face. Yes, she shed crocodile tears again.

On the other hand, Carlos still couldn't make sense of the situation and had no idea why Debbie got pissed. As a straight man and a workaholic, he didn't understand colors of lipstick. "Why get mad? You don't like them? I think pink fits you." He remembered she looked quite lovely in a pink dress last time he saw her wear it.

As for the blue color, he remembered Debbie had worn a blue down jacket once. She looked good in it too.

Then for the orange color, she had two orange pajamas and they both were quite flattering.

Debbie tried her hardest to hold back her anger. "Yeah, pink is a nice color. But Carlos, not everything in pink is good and not everyone looks good with pink lipstick. And blue, yeah, you may have seen some people put on blue lipstick, right? But they are mostly models who need special make-up for a fashion show. You want me to be a model? Okay, the orange lipstick is a normal shade, but since I don't like the other two, you should go and return the whole box," she said, trying to make her voice sound calm. Yet again, Megan's nonstop crying got on her nerves. She turned to Megan and rebuked, "Megan, dear spoiled lady, why are you crying? Are you hurt? I can give you a reason to cry... Don't bother buying me any gifts from now on. And would you please kindly stop wasting my husband's money? I'd really appreciate it!"

"Honey," Carlos called out in a helpless voice, trying to stop the angry woman.

Debbie glared at him with widening eyes. "What? Don't tell me you don't care about eighty thousand dollars. But I care! Give me your wallet now. You need my approval before spending a penny!"

Debbie said as she stretched out her hand in front of him. Sighing, he obediently took out his wallet from his pocket and handed it to her.

"Megan, you'll get the same allowance for your living expenses every month, as you used to get from my husband. Not one penny less. But if you squander the money again, half of your allowance goes bye-bye!"

Megan was frightened by Debbie's threat and quickly hid herself behind Carlos. Nodding her head, she tried to soothe her aunt's temper. "Yes, yes, Aunt Debbie... Please don't get mad."

'Don't get mad? How can I not be pissed off by these two?' she thought angrily.

Then, Debbie put the three lipsticks back into the box and lifted it, asking, "Now who's going to return this?"

Carlos frowned in embarrassment. He had never done a thing like that. It would be ridiculous for a CEO of an international company to return a box of lipsticks and take back eighty thousand dollars. After a pause, he begged, "Honey, please let it go this time!"

Debbie's words were believable. He finally realized that it wasn't common for women to put on pink or blue lipstick in daily life. With that epiphany, he was determined to fire the sales manager who had recommended these colors to them.

"Fine, I'll let it go if Megan promises to wear this pink lipstick tomorrow, all the way back to Y City. After all, Megan is such a young and beautiful girl. She'll look gorgeous in this color. Honey, what do you think? Am I right?" Debbie asked in a threatening voice as she put a hand on his arm, getting ready to pinch him heavily if he said a no.

Getting the hint, Carlos had no choice but to nod and tell the girl behind him, "Megan, your aunt Debbie doesn't like them, so you can keep them. And she's right. Don't waste money anymore. I'll arrange a stylist to come and bring you a dress that matches the lipstick. You'll look stunning in both."

"Uncle Carlos..." Megan called out, feeling wronged.

Seeing the grief on Megan's face, Debbie finally felt happier. She held his arm and said blissfully, "Honey, let's go to sleep now!"

Carlos nodded and followed her upstairs.

Megan seethed with anger as she watched them going away. Undeterred by the defeat, she yelled, "Uncle Carlos, seems like Aunt Debbie doesn't want me here. I'd better leave now and come back tomorrow!"

Debbie's head was pounding. 'Why is Megan so annoying? Why all the drama?'

Carlos turned around and looked at Megan's red and tearful eyes, his eyebrows furrowed deeply. "You're already here. No need to go anywhere," he said.

Megan deliberately caught a glimpse of Debbie and asked in a shaking voice, "So is Aunt Debbie still angry with me?

Debbie clenched her fists. 'Jesus! I can't tolerate this hypocritical bitch one more second!'

In an instant, she loosened her grip on Carlos' arm and jumped downstairs, rushing toward Megan.

Carlos was taken aback. 'Oh my!' He hastily followed her. Megan screamed seeing Debbie dashing toward her. The latter grabbed her by her collar and threatened furiously, "Dare you pretend to be weak in front of my husband again? Try again! I'll tear you apart!"

"Uncle Carlos, help! Uncle Carlos..."

"Stop it! Carlos won't save you!" Debbie turned to stare at the man who had caught up with her. "Both of us can't stay here. It's either her, or me! Choose!"

Carlos tried talking her down in a calm voice, "Let go of her first."

But Debbie didn't loosen her grip. Instead, she shoved her against the wall. "You love my husband, right?"