At ZL Group, Carlos was listening to one of his secretaries, Zelda, do a report in his office when his phone rang. The caller ID said it was his mom.
"Mr. Huo, that's all. I'll leave it at that." When Zelda realized it was a personal call, she put the file on the desk and excused herself.
Once she stepped out and closed the door behind her, Carlos took the call. "Hello, Mom," he greeted.
"Son, did I catch you at a bad time?" Tabitha Luo asked in a gentle voice.
"No, not at all. What's up?"
"Your father and I saw the news this morning. Did you…" Tabitha Luo didn't finish her sentence.
Carlos knew what she was trying to ask. "Yes, Mom, it's true," he admitted.
"Then bring her home, please. Your father and I would like to meet her. Or, even better, I can come over in the two days I'm taking off duty." Something important occurred to Tabitha Luo. She urgently needed to meet her daughter-in-law-to-be.
"Okay. I'll have Emmett book an air ticket for you." For Carlos' part, he wanted to wait until his mother arrived to tell her that he and Debbie had already gotten married.
"Okay then. I'll let you go back to work. Take care of yourself. Okay?"
"Sure. I will, Mom. Bye."
Hanging up the phone, Carlos looked out the window, deep in thought. Not long after he and Debbie had registered for marriage, his grandfather had fallen into a coma.
Therefore, till now, his parents still hadn't known about the marriage.
At the Economics and Management School
Out of the bathroom, Kasie suddenly dragged Debbie in her arms and asked in a whisper, "Tomboy, tell me, last night, did you and Mr. Huo…Huh?" Instead of finishing her sentence, she gave Debbie a mischievous wink.
Hearing last night mentioned, Debbie yanked her hand free and rolled her eyes at Kasie. Her face turned red. "You know it all, don't you?"
"I have some clues, sweetie," said Kasie in a naughty tone. "Well, I can tell when a woman has had sex. You walk differently. In addition to the news this morning, I can put two and two together," she whispered.
Debbie was so embarrassed she pinched Kasie's arm, held her neck, and threatened, "Shut up! Keep it to yourself, honey."
Kasie started laughing hysterically. Then she noticed the hickeys on Debbie's neck. "Oh my Goodness! What a crazy night it must have been for the two of you! Look at those marks. I can imagine the passion. Tsk-tsk." She made funny clicking sounds with her tongue.
Flushing with embarrassment, Debbie pulled the zipper of her down jacket up quickly and wrapped herself tight. "Shut the hell up!" she growled. Then lowering her voice, almost to a whisper, she said, "Remember that $100, 000 you took from your dad and spent on a toy boy? Well, I too can snitch on you. Right?"
Straight away, Kasie slapped her shoulder and protested, "You ungrateful girl! I just treated you to a nice lunch and now you want to blackmail me? Our friendship is over!" "To hell with it!" retorted Debbie.
"You thought you could buy me off with a meal? Well then. Take me to Starbucks this Saturday. Their new French Le Flan, and Salted Caramel and Nuts Cake, two shares each," she teased.
"No problem. But since when did you become a fan of Salted Caramel?"
Debbie propped her hands against her chin and said slowly, "I don't. But since it's you who is paying, I'll eat it anyway."
Kasie pushed her away. "What kind of friend are you? Go fly a kite."
To which Debbie replied with a teasing smile, "Good. Then Kristina and I are going hiking on Saturday without you."
"Kristina is with Dixon every day. How is she going to have time for you? Poor Tomboy. Considering your husband is hideously busy, you're stuck with me on Saturday. Can't you see?" Kasie joked, feigning an air of indifference. "Now, say something nice to me, or you will be going hiking alone," she coaxed.
"Cool. You wanna bet?" said Debbie with a playful wink.
"On what?"
"I'm going to call Mr. Handsome now. If he agrees to go hiking with me on Saturday, you will buy me lunch for a month. If he doesn't, I'll buy you lunch for a month. Interested?"
Kasie clapped her hands excitedly. "You got yourself a deal," she exclaimed. But on second thought, she said, "Wait. You and Mr. Huo are hot for each other right now. You two are now officially on your honeymoon, I guess. Why would I have that kind of bet with you? I'm not stupid. No, uh-uh."
Debbie wouldn't let her bail. She dialed Carlos' number, cockily shook her phone in front of Kasie and said, "You said yes. Besides, I've already dialed Carlos' number. It's a little too late to buckle."
"Devil!" Kasie cursed.
Debbie put her phone to her ear. Soon the phone was connected. "Honey," came the greeting from the other end.
The sudden sappy form of address almost made Debbie choke on her own saliva. "Ugh…well, Mr. Handsome, are you busy?"
"Not really. Why? Miss me?" asked Carlos.
Kasie pushed herself towards the phone to listen to the conversation. "Um, are you busy this Saturday? I'm thinking of going hiking together, you and me."
"Saturday? We can't. Your mother-in-law's coming this Saturday."
'Huh? ? Mother-in-law ?'
Debbie totally freaked out. For a long moment, she couldn't think straight. "My mother-in-law…No. Why is your mom coming all of a sudden?" she asked nervously.
"She wants to meet you. Isn't that normal?"
Realizing she had overreacted, Debbie cleared her throat and replied, "Well, I guess it is."
"Her plane will land on Saturday noon. Let's pick her up together then."
"O-Okay," Debbie responded numbly. All she could think of were the words "mother-in-law" and "coming."
'What does she look like? Will she like me? What if she doesn't…' Her mind traveled miles away.
"What do you want to have for lunch? How about you come to my office so that we can have lunch together?" Carlos continued.
"What? Lunch? Oh, lunch…" The word "lunch" brought Debbie back to senses. She looked at Kasie, who was talking to her friend on WeChat, and complained, "It's all your fault. Now I have to buy Kasie lunch for a month. I can't have lunch with you anymore."
Hearing that, Kasie knew she won. Cockily, she held up two fingers and made a victory gesture.
"Huh?" Carlos was confused. 'Why is it my fault?'
Debbie bent over the desk listlessly and told him, "I had a bet with Kasie and I lost…"
"A bet on going hiking?" Carlos guessed and he was right.
"Yes," she answered.
Carlos was amused. "Come to my office for lunch later. I'll sort it out with Kasie. Okay?"
"No. I lost the bet, so I'll buy Kasie lunch for a month. We had a deal," Debbie declared.
"Deb, I was kidding. It doesn't matter you buy me lunch or not. Don't take it too seriously," said Kasie.
They were good friends. Even if Debbie broke her word, Kasie wouldn't mind.
"Put Kasie on the phone. I'd like to talk to her." Carlos knew how much friendship meant to Debbie. And her word was her bond. He decided to help her out.
