Take My Breath Away

"Wesley damaged Blair's phone, so he bought a new one for her. Blair bought me a silk scarf. Then I bought some accessories," Cecelia answered.

"Maybe Wesley bought the lipstick and perfume for Blair," Baldwin suggested.

"How'd he manage that?" Cecelia denied it without a second thought. "We didn't go to the perfume counter. Wesley was with us the whole time."

Baldwin cast a sideways glance at the picture on her phone and then looked at her own shades of lipstick. The lipstick in the picture was of the same brand. "Are you sure it was the whole time? When he paid for the lipstick, did you keep a close eye on him?" he asked doubtfully.

After some deliberation, Cecelia answered, "When he went to pay, Blair and I left the booth. I thought he was close behind us... No! He was gone a few minutes. Blair and I had to wait for him. Aaargh!" Cecelia yelled at the top of her lungs.

Baldwin patted his wife's back. "Hey hey! Calm down."

Cecelia dropped her phone and jumped to her feet. "How am I supposed to calm down? Why did that boy buy her anything? She's his sister-in-law! Wait! He paid for everything I bought for Blair. That means he bought her all that stuff." That was when Cecelia realized something was off.

Baldwin cast a casual glance at his wife and sighed inwardly, 'I think she's finally getting it. Blair and Niles aren't dating.'

Cecelia slapped her thigh. "Oh my God! Things are out of control now."

Baldwin shook his head helplessly. "Find anything else suspicious?"

"Yes!" Cecelia nodded vigorously. "I thought it was weird that Wesley went shopping with us. Then, Blair got nervous and accidentally dropped her phone into her glass of soybean milk. Wesley picked it up from the glass. But when she said it was from her ex-boyfriend, he dunked it again!"

Baldwin giggled. 'Who said that Wesley knew next to nothing about women? It's just that he hadn't met the right girl yet.'

"Last night, they went to the department store together, but then Blair came home alone. She wasn't in a good mood. Wesley came a few moments later. He even stared at her bedroom door a while before leaving. Maybe they had a fight," Cecelia said excitedly.

She decided to change her name to Sherlock Holmes Shi.

"Wesley found an excuse to make Blair sit in the passenger seat next to him. Oh, and that card! That green bank card! That wasn't Blair's! It must be Wesley's! They lied to me! Before I left, Blair fixed some dessert for me and Wesley. He even had an extra cup of strawberry milkshake. A tough guy like that, seemingly reveling in milkshake. That's not weird, not at all.

And when I was on the phone with Blair just now, Wesley was there too. They had supper together. He should've driven her back home after seeing me off at the airport and then left, but he didn't!" Cecelia found more and more that didn't add up.

"There's something going on between those two," Baldwin said with certainty.

"No! How could they do this to Niles?" Cecelia cried, feeling frustrated. 'Blair is Wesley's sister-in-law!' she thought bitterly.

Baldwin didn't think so. "Maybe Niles and Blair aren't a couple. I think you have it backwards." After all, when she called Niles' telephone and Blair answered it, Cecelia came to the conclusion that they were a couple and were living together. Baldwin thought something didn't sound right.

"But why didn't they tell me?" And then, it hit her. She finally had an epiphany. "I guess Blair tried to, but I thought she was just shy, and didn't listen to her." Cecelia had another thought. "But when the three of us were shopping and Blair told me that, Wesley said that they might have had a fight."

'Holy crap! I always thought Blair was Niles' girlfriend. Turns out I was wrong. Will Wesley be ticked off at me?' she thought.

"Did Wesley say they 'might' have had a fight?" he asked.

"Yeah..."

"I get it. Exact words or not, he wasn't entirely sure. But you didn't get it back then. I guess Wesley was pretty frustrated. But he couldn't tell you because you're his mom. Since you tried hard to pair Blair off with Niles, Wesley had to hide his feelings for her. You know him. Poor guy!" Baldwin knew his son quite well.

Cecelia almost cried. "What should I do? He had a crush on her, and I tried to set her up with his brother. He must be so sad."

"You don't need to do anything. It'll sort itself out. Blair knows who she wants," Baldwin said. 'She can't have feelings for both of them. No matter which one she loves, she'll always be our daughter-in-law, ' he thought.

"Right! You're so smart. Maybe I should call her..." Cecelia suggested.

"No, no, no. Let's just wait patiently. If Wesley really has a thing for Blair, we'll find out. Just leave those two alone, okay?" Baldwin thought things would get worse if his wife got involved.

"All right."

After mulling it over a bit, Baldwin suddenly said, "Niles has been really quiet recently. I suddenly have a bad feeling about this. I need to talk to Dad."

"I'm sure Niles is stewing. I bitched him out over Blair, and they weren't even dating." Cecelia felt sorry for her two sons and Blair.

Baldwin shook his head. "Things weren't as simple as you thought. It's late. I'll visit Dad tomorrow. I hope Niles isn't plotting something."

"Yeah, it's late! Let's hit the hay."

Wesley, on the other hand, went to the army base. When he got out of his car, he suddenly remembered the desserts Blair made for him. So he took them out, went to his office and placed them on his desk before leaving the office.

Before long, a group of people came in. "Chief, you're finally back!"

"We have a meeting tonight?"

"Er? Where is he?"

"I just saw his car. He must be here somewhere," Talbot said in confusion and scratched the back of his head.

"Hey look! Food! Chief must have brought this for us!" Lenard found a disposable paper bag and took out two lunch boxes and a thermos.

The rest approached him. "Chief is so nice to us. He always brings food. But this is hardly a snack. There's not enough for us." Wesley always bought food or drinks for his men when he was off work.

"Don't complain. It's better to have a little than nothing." Bowman opened one of the lunch boxes and saw eight mung bean cakes. They looked rather inviting.

"Wow, there are also mooncakes! They look delicious! Give me one!"

Everyone grabbed a mung bean cake and a mooncake. There were only two mung bean cakes and a mooncake left. Talbot suggested, "They're still wrapped. I guess he hasn't eaten yet. We'll keep these for him. There's milkshake in the thermos. Want some? We've got disposable paper cups."