Then Debbie learned that Carlos was Prof. Marc Dou's student too, which came as a surprise. And Emmett turned out to be Prof. Marc Dou's stepson.
When Emmett was 13, his mom remarried Marc. And Emmett had lived with his mom in the professor's house afterwards.
As Emmett's stepfather, Marc didn't spoil the boy. On the contrary, being an educator, he was strict with him, especially about his education, which turned the rebellious adolescent against him. Emmett vowed that he would never call Marc "Father," nor would he ever use Marc's family name. To this day, Emmett kept his family name Zhong. Therefore, despite being father and son, Emmett and Marc had different family names. That was why the connection between them had never occurred to Debbie.
But as Emmett grew up, he realized that Marc cared about him a lot. When it came to Emmett's marriage, he was even more concerned than Emmett's mom.
He had sent Emmett on more than thirty blind dates within a couple of months. If Emmett hadn't been so busy, Marc would have made it three blind dates a day for him.
When they walked out of the VIP passage for first-class passengers, Carlos took out his phone and called Marc just as he had said. "Prof. Dou, Emmett has been so idle lately he has even started to sabotage my relationship with my wife. If you run out of candidates for his blind dates, I can have Tristan send you the name list of all the socialite divas and rich girls in Y City. You're welcome, Professor. Yes, my wife is with me right now. We're flying to New York. We'll visit you after the New Year. Please send my regards for your wife and wish her a 'Happy New Year!' for me. We're boarding. Bye, Professor."
When the call ended, Carlos turned his phone off.
"Mr. Huo, are you sure you haven't gone too far? Aren't you worried that Emmett might rise in revolt?"
"Not far at all." Carlos had kept his cool in Debbie's presence. If she weren't around, he would have humiliated Emmett with useless errands, just to remind him who was in charge here.
For getting too close to Debbie, Carlos would use every opportunity to put that man in his right place.
Seeing how jealous her husband was, Debbie was lost for words.
On the plane
Since Carlos' private jet was in New York, the mighty CEO had ordered Emmett to charter the entire first-class cabin. Two flight attendants led them through the bar full of refreshments and into the first-class cabin.
Megan had a separate seat with a curtain, while Carlos and Debbie had a private booth with a sliding door that could be locked from inside.
The booth was large enough for the two of them. It was a pleasant surprise for Debbie that she could have some alone time with Carlos on the plane.
Before getting on the plane, she had been troubled. She was thinking, 'What if Megan insists on sitting next to Carlos? Should I go ballistic or put up with it?' Thankfully, she didn't have to worry about it anymore.
Although Megan's seat was near their booth, the privacy of the booth was priceless.
It was twelve hours later that the plane touched down. In New York, it was evening already.
To pick them up from the airport, Carlos had some of his staff from the company offices in New York on standby. After some pleasantries, everyone got in the car.
They went straight to the Huo family's offshore manor.
When they arrived, the gates were wide open, in a traditional Chinese decor, with lanterns on either side, heralding the arrival of the New Year.
It was past 7 p.m. Knowing that Carlos was coming with his wife, the whole family was waiting to have dinner together.
As soon as the car stopped in front of the main building, a servant came immediately to open the door for them. Debbie gripped Carlos' hand nervously and followed him into the house.
Nevertheless…
Bang! A porcelain teacup was smashed into pieces at Debbie's feet. It would have smashed her if Carlos hadn't pulled her away.
Everything in the living room turned silent all of a sudden. It was not until then that Debbie noticed that more than ten people were sitting in the living room. Even "Mr. Jerk" Lewis, who was always frivolous, was now sitting nicely with a serious look on his face. When he saw Debbie, he seemed excited.
Debbie's eyes eventually fell on the middle-aged man in front of the table. His face was red with rage. When her eyes met the man's, she could see that his eyes were filled with nothing but disgust.
'It was him. It must have been him who smashed the teacup. Who is he? What a head-on blow at our first encounter!'
Carlos' menacing presence seemed to grow. Unknowingly, he squeezed Debbie's hand.
Ignoring the broken teacup, he took Debbie to a distinguished old lady with silver hair. "Grandma, I'm back with Megan and Debbie. This is Debbie Nian, my wife," he said to the old lady. Then turning to Debbie, he said, "Deb, greet Grandma."
The grandma wore a long garnet cashmere sweater, top-notch pearls around her neck and her wrists. She had been gazing at Debbie, stone-faced, since she walked in.
Just sitting there quietly was enough for her to intimidate everyone. Both her stern face and sharp eyes were telling Debbie, "Don't mess with me!"
Debbie had to keep herself calm by all means. She took her hand out of Carlos' hold and smiled at the old woman. "Good evening, Grandma. I'm Debbie. Nice to meet you."
Valerie Cheng only smiled at her perfunctorily and said nothing. But when she saw the two people behind Debbie, she blossomed. "My dear grandson and little Megan, let me have a look at you. How have you been?"
She smiled, she cared, she stroked their faces affectionately. It seemed all of a sudden she had turned from the icy cold witch into a cordial, loving grandma. It struck Debbie that the Huo family didn't care for her. Neither the dad nor the grandma.
It sucked.
The old lady's smiles lightened the atmosphere in the living room. Megan ran to Valerie Cheng and hugged her tightly. "Valerie, I missed you so much! I've been thinking about coming to visit you all along, but Uncle Carlos had been busy, so we weren't able to come until today." It was the lunar New Year's Eve in China.
Gradually, everybody lightened up. Lewis, the chatterbox, began, "Megan, Grandma has missed you and Carlos. She just couldn't stop talking about you. Grandma, now that they are here, can we eat? I'm starving."
Valerie Cheng nodded, holding Megan's hand. "Carlos, Megan, after a long flight, you must be hungry and tired. Let's go eat," she said.
Carlos didn't respond. He pulled Debbie, who had been slighted and embarrassed, close to his side. His eyes swept over the others in the room. "Wait!" he said coldly.
His icy tone brought everyone to a halt. Nobody dared to take one more step.
Valerie Cheng, who had just gotten up, slumped back into the couch at Carlos' command. Everyone could see that the dad and grandma didn't like Debbie. Watching Carlos, they all wondered what he was going to say.
