Take My Breath Away

Carlos was relieved when he saw his daughter had recovered. He stroked her hair and asked, "Hi Eve, everything go well in America?"

The Huo family had moved from New York to Y City more than ten years ago. There were no relatives in New York anymore.

"Yeah. Hey, Dad, can I ask you something?" When Evelyn looked him in the eye, the expression in his eyes changed. Carlos sat down on the couch and smiled, "Go ahead."

"His leg..."

"I had someone do it," he said calmly.

"Why?" Evelyn was upset.

The smile on Carlos' face vanished. He looked at his daughter, who had lost control of her emotions.

Realizing how agitated she was, Evelyn took a deep breath to collect herself. "You promised you wouldn't do anything to him."

"I only promised you I wouldn't kill him!" 'The bastard wanted to get away without paying the price for what he had done to my daughter? He must be high!' Carlos sulked, fury in his eyes.

Evelyn was rendered speechless. Finally, she said, "Okay. Dad, you can go to bed early, if you want. I need to unpack." Her father already figured out who the guy was. She knew that if she continued to argue with her father, the proud man would have Sheffield killed.

Carlos nodded. "He's just a doctor. He isn't right for you. Nor is Calvert. But you must be jet lagged. Get some rest. I fixed you up with a blind date. You can see him when you get some time."

Sheffield's position as a doctor wasn't why Carlos didn't want his daughter dating him. He was a known womanizer, and he was pretty tight with the dean's daughter.

"Okay, Dad. I'll go on the blind date," Evelyn replied flatly.

In Sheffield's apartment

By the time Joshua and Gifford arrived, Sheffield was drinking alone.

He was petting an Ashera hybrid cat. The cat had leopard-like spots all over its body. Lying there peacefully, the pet looked just like a cat. But if it stood up, many children would be scared away, because it was already one meter high before it reached adulthood.

Gifford waved to the cat and said, "Bailee, long time no see!"

The feline named Bailee stood up and walked slowly towards Gifford. Joshua kept a distance away from the cat and looked at Sheffield in disgust. "Why did you bring that back again?"

"Of course I took it back. I just kept it at the pet store for a little while. Not forever." Sheffield threw a glance at Gifford and added, "Besides, I don't think the name 'Bailee' fit it. So I renamed it 'Eve.'"

"Eve? That's not cool. Why not..." Joshua's voice trailed off when he met the warning in Sheffield's eyes.

Gifford gently touched the cat, and the animal lay down beside him at once. Its docile behavior did not match with its domineering, leopard-like appearance.

Gifford asked, "Why did you suddenly change the cat's name?"

Joshua cast a glimpse at the huge pet and said, "Like he said, it was better to change the name. I was sick of calling it 'Bailee, ' anyway."

Sheffield and Gifford had nothing to say.

Grimacing at the reek of alcohol in the room, Joshua sat down and kicked the man who kept gulping liquor like it was going out of style. "Your leg's still in a cast, but you insist on drinking like this. Pain meds and liquor don't mix. If you want to die, get out of here. Don't die in front of us."

Gifford looked at Joshua, and asked doubtfully, "You know what happened to him?"

"Who knows!" Joshua repeated his old joke. "Here is a guy who always cracks dirty jokes, dates different girls, but is still a poor little virgin..."

Sheffield rolled his eyes at him and snapped, "That joke's so old it farts dust! Will you quit it already? Listen up. I got de-virginized. Twice, by my count. So you can just shut your pie hole!"

Joshua and Gifford looked at each other in astonishment. Gifford stopped playing with the cat. Finally, he concluded, "That's why you're in that cast. You were so bad at it she broke your leg!"

Joshua suddenly understood. He took out his phone from his pocket and touched the screen. "Hey. I got a great idea. I know some girls who can teach you a lot about yourself. They can probably show you a few things. What do you think?"

Gifford raised his eyebrows and sided with Joshua. "He's so drunk he couldn't even get it up. We better leave the girls to us."

The patient threw the empty glass aside, clumsily lifted his leg in plaster and put it on the coffee table. Then he crossed his other leg over it.

Joshua smiled as he fiddled with a string of Buddha beads. "You were always so full of piss and vinegar. This is pathetic. So if it wasn't her, who broke your leg?"

Sheffield was staring blankly at a bottle. When he heard Joshua's words, he hugged the bottle in his arms and looked at his two friends with a sad face. "My future father-in-law," he said gloomily.

"Oh, I see." Joshua tried not to laugh and looked at Sheffield as if he were thinking about something.

Gifford, on the other hand, burst into peals of cruel laughter. "Every father becomes a valiant warrior to protect their daughters. That's fucked up! Must be payback for being a jerk." Gifford remembered that wherever the doctor went, there was always a woman on his arm, except that when he was at work or doing something important.

"That's not why I'm depressed," said Sheffield with a sigh.

"Do tell. Okay, why so glum, chum?" Gifford patted the cat and the cat stood up at once. He then walked to the fridge to get a bottle of water and opened it.

Sheffield decided to swallow his pride and pour his heart out to his friends. "She was a one night stand. She slept with me, then left me. I found her again and gave her my number. But it's been two months, and she hasn't called yet. I just saw her today. You know where?"

Sheffield felt so unlucky. Although he had been out with Dollie many times before, he never took her to a lingerie shop. It was his first time in such an establishment. However, Evelyn, who had disappeared for two months, showed up all of a sudden and saw him in that shop with a woman. Of course it looked bad.

"In a hotel, in bed with some other dude?" Joshua replied without hesitation.

"Fuck off!" Sheffield rolled his eyes at him.

Gifford thought for a while and answered, "On the operating table."

"Yeah, right. Don't curse her, okay?" Sheffield really wanted to stand up and slap them.

Kicking the table, Joshua said, "Then just spill it. Don't keep us guessing."

Sheffield let out another sigh. "I saw her in the lingerie shop in Shining International Plaza, and I was with Dollie."

The apartment was quiet for a few seconds.

Then, there came a fit of wild laughter. "Hahaha..." Joshua was the first to burst into guffaws.

Gifford also grinned.

After a while, Gifford seriously looked at the man holding a bottle of wine in his arms and asked, "So who do you like better—Dollie or this other girl?"

"What do you mean?" Sheffield leaned against the sofa with his eyes closed

"Don't you have a woman you like now? Why are you still with Dollie?" Gifford was confused.

"She's still of use to me. Sidell thinks that I get close to him because I have a crush on his daughter. This way, he won't suspect me," Sheffield replied casually.

Raising his eyebrows, Joshua said, "You know that Dollie has a thing for you. You don't like her? Why are you playing with her feelings?"