Take My Breath Away

"Mrs. Huo? Haha! Women are lining up to be the next Mrs. Huo. How about we get a divorce and I give someone else the privilege?" Debbie taunted.

The car screeched to a halt with a piercing sound, which startled the girl in the backseat.

She swallowed and stroked her chest to calm herself down. 'I'm such a fool! Why did I have to piss off the guy behind the wheel? "Car crash victim" isn't a good look for you, Debbie, ' she told herself.

Carlos parked the car along the roadside. A few seconds later, he unfastened his seat belt, grabbed several bags in the passenger seat and left the car.

Then he pulled open the back door and got in.

Instantly, Debbie scooted over to the next seat to stay away from him. She was frightened. What was he going to do?

Without saying a word, he set the bags in her lap. She looked down and saw the shades of lipstick he had bought for her earlier. Even the carton of lipsticks whose packaging had been opened by Megan was in one of the bags.

'Did he buy me a new set? Or did he take the old set back from Megan as I said?' she mused.

As if Carlos could read her mind, he explained, "I got those lipsticks back from Megan except the carton she already opened. To replace it, I simply went to the mall and bought the same one again."

A myriad of thoughts flooded Debbie's mind.

Words left her as she stared at the bags.

She didn't know whether she should just give in and forgive him, or persist in ignoring his gestures. After all, she was still mad at him because he said she wasn't a virgin. How could he?

Carlos suddenly moved like a pouncing cat, and ended up hovering above her. His face was so close to hers that she could feel his warm breath against her cheek. Looking her in the eye, he said sincerely, "I'm really sorry. I had no call to say that." What he said was disrespectful. No wonder she was mad at him.

He came back home with the lipsticks early this evening, but Julie was the only one there to welcome him. Julie told him Debbie moved into her dorm. Somehow, he was suddenly struck with a deep sense of loss. He never knew what he had until it was gone.

When he finally regained his composure again, he was already at the gates of her university. He called her more than ten times, but she rejected all of them. He had no other choice but to threaten her.

She had even pulled her hood up before getting into his car. 'Is it embarrassing to be with me? Why doesn't she want people to know that I'm her ride?' he wondered.

Thinking about this, he removed her hood and was much more satisfied when he saw her girlish bun. He reached out his hand to smooth some stray hair.

Debbie wasn't sure how she felt, but his sincere apology left her in a trance. 'He apologized to me? A proud man like him would apologize?

She was too shocked to utter a single word. Carlos was amused by her reaction. It wasn't every day that he managed to shock her, but not for lack of trying.

He kissed her softly on the forehead and whispered in her ear, "I don't want to fight anymore. Let's go home."

'Fight? Does wanting a divorce count as fighting?' she thought inwardly.

When they reached the villa, Carlos got out of the car and opened the back door. He took the bags and helped Debbie out of the car.

He was so considerate and careful that Debbie felt like she was a pregnant woman.

Inside Debbie's bedroom, Carlos pulled the wrappings off a box of lipsticks and put the lipsticks on her dressing table. "Hey, old man, stop!" Debbie blurted out.

Women liked shopping, and also enjoyed undoing the wrappings. Sometimes it was a game, like how intact could I leave this if I just undid some corners? The struggle was real.

Carlos was confused when she said that. 'Why is she mad at me again?'

When he didn't stop, Debbie ran toward him and took the other lipsticks away from him. "Aren't these all mine? I want to take the wrappings off. So stop doing it!"

Carlos finally got the point and couldn't help but chuckle. He pulled her into his arms, kissed her on the forehead and said, "Alright. Have fun then. I'm going to take a bath."

After saying that, he let go of her and walked towards the door.

Watching Carlos leave, Debbie pouted and snapped, "Don't think I'll forgive you just because you apologized and got me a gift!"

His harsh words still stung.

Carlos turned around and his face softened. "I know," he said. He knew she was a stubborn girl and would not forgive him that easily. But he believed that she would eventually forgive him if he treated her better. Maybe someday soon her heart would yield to him and she would be back to the lovely girl he used to know, the one he fell for.

Silence blanketed the room after he left. There was nothing left to say, and no one around to say it to. Unable to resist the siren call of the lipsticks, Debbie sat in front of the dressing table and began to unpack the boxes. She took every shade out and organized the collection.

She divided them into two piles—those she liked and those she didn't.

She decided to send those she didn't like to her friends. 'Kasie prefers bright colors while Kristina loves soft ones. And auntie will love this pale mauve one! Perfect!' she thought to herself.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Carlos in a long nightshirt entering her bedroom. The plaid stripes couldn't hide the contours of his body. She put the containers of lipstick on the table and asked, "May I send these to my friends?"

Carlos' face soured at her question. "You don't like them?" he asked.

"Don't get me wrong. These particular ones just aren't me. It would be a waste of money keeping them," she explained.

His face took on a more normal expression. "That's up to you. They're yours now." He walked toward the dressing table and opened the delicate box where she used to keep her lipsticks. The ones she had kept had similar hues to those she had bought before.

Carlos could tell that she loved lipsticks with colour like red, marple leaf red, blood red, wine red, ruby red... She also had two shades of pale mauve that she used when she didn't wear any other makeup. She was going to send those rose red, orange and purple ones to her besties.

After closing the box, Carlos suddenly remembered something. He went back to his bedroom and came back with a bad in his hand. "This is our company's latest bath and body line. Hope you like them...Never mind. Just wait for me."

After a couple of minutes, Debbie entered her bathroom to find Carlos pouring some bath oil into the tub.

Her jaw dropped as she asked in utter disbelief, "Tell me, you did something wrong, right? And this is your way of saying sorry?" 'Why is he suddenly being so good to me?

He apologized to me earlier. And now Carlos Huo, the bus CEO of a multinational corporation, is even drawing my bath!' she mused. She wondered if she were dreaming. This was absolutely unreal. It was not like she was a queen or even rich without his money; she was jus Debbie. Where was this coming from?

"Yes," he answered briefly. He shouldn't have said those harsh words.

However, Debbie was now intrigued. She started to ask, "What did you do? Did you just happen to sleep with Megan when you went to her house to fetch the lipsticks?"

"Debbie Nian!" Carlos interrupted her as his face soured. He looked hurt and outraged, and it could be heard in his voice. Well, what was done was done. She couldn't take it back now.

Debbie shut her mouth at once. As Carlos turned back to add the bath oil, she opened her mouth again. And again, she pressee him. "If you really slept with her, you don't need to feel guilty. After all, out marriage is in name only. If you two really love each other, I'll just bow out--Owwww! You...what are you doing? Let go of me!"

Debbie pulled her sweater tighter to her with both hands. Thanks to Carlos, her jacket now lay on the floor.

"If you keep nagging, I'll bath you myself! he threatened.