"Mrs. Huo… ran out of the hospital," Tristan stammered on the phone.
"How?!"
Watching the hospital surveillance footage, Tristan cleared his throat and answered, "Mrs. Huo asked me to grab some real food for her. After I left, she snatched a nurse's uniform, changed into it and ran off."
Carlos closed his eyes with resignation. He felt as if the old rebellious Debbie was back, always giving him a headache.
"Where did she go?" asked Carlos. His voice betrayed no emotion.
"The camera shows she hailed a cab at the entrance, and the cab drove towards Skyline Road. You know, she lost your wallet in the river. With no money on her, where do you think she went, Mr. Huo?" Tristan wondered how Debbie paid the fare, since she didn't have a penny on her.
Carlos stood up from his seat and left the venue quietly.
Portia grabbed her handbag and followed.
The manager of the fashion show had kept an eye on Carlos the whole time. The moment he saw Carlos leave the show, he tagged along.
"Tell Emmett to call Kasie. Tell her to stay put until I get there!" Carlos ordered on the phone.
Portia trotted after him. She almost sprained her ankle, thanks to a strap on her heel coming loose, but she didn't dare complain. She followed him all the way to the parking lot. Seeing Carlos hang up the phone, she asked, "Taking off, Mr. Huo?"
He glanced at her and said, "Yeah. Zelda will drive you home after the show."
Portia refused thoughtfully, "Thanks, Mr. Huo. No worries. I'll call my brother."
Carlos got in the car. Without one more look at Portia, he ordered Zelda to start the car.
When the manager of the show came out to the parking lot, Carlos' car was already gone.
Cautiously, he asked the woman standing there with an awkward expression on her face, "Miss Gu, Mr. Huo left because…"
Portia regained her composure and answered, "He had to leave for work."
"I see," the man replied. Then he pried, "Miss Gu, are you a close friend of Mr. Huo's?"
Portia cast him a cold look. The manager grinned and shut up.
Since Carlos had left, Portia decided not to go back to the show. She called the driver and asked him to pick her up.
When Debbie arrived at the gate of Kasie's block of flats, she told the driver with embarrassment that she didn't have any money.
The cabbie was annoyed. "Are you screwing with me? Nurse, don't you know you have to pay for the ride?"
Debbie smiled awkwardly. "Just a minute. Can I borrow your phone? I'll call my friend and ask her to meet me here. She can pay you."
Left with no other option, the cabbie reluctantly handed Debbie his phone. It was either that, or risk not getting paid. At this point, he still wasn't sure if he would.
"Kasie, where are you?" she asked, once Kasie answered.
"Outside. Glad you're awake. What's up? Kristina and I went to the hospital to see you this afternoon, but you were snoozing, so we left without waking you up."
Hearing that Kasie wasn't home, Debbie was flustered. "You're outside? Where? I took a cab to your place, but I have no money to pay the fare. I'm at the entrance to your block."
"What? Emmett and I are having dinner outside," Kasie replied. Then Debbie heard her say to Emmett, "Emmett, don't answer your phone yet. Tomboy went to my place. Let's head back now." When Kasie answered Debbie's call, Emmett's phone started ringing too.
Debbie asked, "Have you eaten yet? If you're not finished, I can find you at the restaurant— if you don't mind me being the third wheel."
There was a moment of quiet on the phone. Then Emmett said on Kasie's phone, "Mrs. Huo, we're on our way back. Tell the cabbie we'll be right there."
Without giving it too much thought, Debbie said, "Okay, hurry please. Bye."
She gave the phone back to the driver and explained, "My friends are coming. You'll have to wait a moment. But I'll pay you double the fare."
At that, the anger disappeared from his face, and he visibly relaxed. He even chatted a little with Debbie. He had quite a few questions, but she must have presented quite a sight. She didn't have time to gather up winter clothing, and some of her clothes were lost in the accident, anyway. Her scalp had stopped bleeding, but she still had the bandage on, which people's eyes were naturally drawn to. And of course, with nurse's scrubs, you couldn't really tell where she worked. Debbie had eschewed the name tag when she donned the nurse's outfit. "Which hospital do you work in? That looks like a nasty wound. It's freezing cold. Why are you not bundled up? Aren't you cold?"
Debbie looked at the clothes she was wearing and feigned embarrassment. "I spilled water on my own clothes. These clothes belong to my friend. And I came to borrow some clothes from another of my friends."
"Oh, you should be more careful. You could catch a cold dressed like that."
Ten minutes later, Debbie saw someone approaching. It wasn't Kasie, but Carlos.
When Zelda got out of the car and paid Debbie's fare, her first thought was, 'Holy Crap! Run!'
She opened the back door quickly and ran away from the Emperor like crazy.
Watching her fleeing figure, Carlos took out his phone and ordered, "Mrs. Huo is running down Riverside Lane. Stop her!"
Soon enough, a Bentley pulled up in front of Debbie, blocking her path. She almost ran into it, and had to put her hands on the door to steady herself.
Two bodyguards walked out of the car and stood in her way. "Good evening, Mrs. Huo," they greeted her respectfully.
'Good? Nothing good about this evening, ' Debbie thought in frustration.
She turned her head. The Emperor rolled up alongside her.
The car window was rolled down. Carlos looked at her and asked, "Where do you think you're going?"
Clad in only the nurse's oufit, Debbie trembled from the cold, but still, she rolled her eyes at Carlos and responded stubbornly, "None of your damn business."
'Gosh, why is it so cold? I'm freezing.'
Zelda stared at the shaking woman with mixed emotions. Recently, she had learned that Debbie was Carlos' wife.
She had seen Carlos with Megan. And word had it the Huo family and the Li family were going to form a bond by marriage. So shouldn't Mr. Huo marry Megan or Stephanie? Why did he marry Debbie Nian?
Lifting her head high in defiance, Debbie walked past the Bentley and the Emperor and continued walking down the road towards Kasie's building.
Carlos opened the door and got out.
Even though her teeth were chattering from the cold, the stubborn girl didn't intend to yield.
Steady footsteps came from behind her. Suddenly, she was scooped up and fell into familiar arms. "Hey… Let…go of…me. Now…" 'So damn cold.'
"If you don't want to freeze to death, shut up!" Carlos scolded.
Debbie's anger flared. "You're the one…fooling around …with another…ugh…woman while I was in the hospital suffering. You don't get to be mad, Mister. Put me down," she said, struggling with him, while he held her fast. Although she was furious, due to the cold, her words sounded weak. She felt as if her lips were not hers anymore. She had lost command over them.
Carlos was at a loss. He had only gone to a fashion show. Why was Debbie accusing him of fooling around with another woman? 'This woman is unbelievable!'
He came to the Emperor and put Debbie down. The woman, however, gave the car a heavy kick. "No, I won't g-get in. I'd rather f-f-freeze to d-death out here". Her teeth clattered as if they were composing a special symphony. She was far from shivering now. Great convulsions rocked her body.
