Carlos frowned at Debbie's words. 'Looks like she is really mad at me. It was her dream to go to the Maldives, yet she cancelled the trip.'
He stroked her cheeks gently and said in a soft voice, "Well, if you say so. When we both settle down abroad, I'll take you anywhere you want."
Debbie didn't respond. She thought, 'I'll give you one more chance. If we don't fight over Megan again, I'll go anywhere with you.' Soon after, she dozed off again.
When the car arrived at the manor, Carlos scooped Debbie up in his arms, not wanting to wake her up from her nap.
But she blinked her eyes and rubbed her cheek against his chest. She murmured, "Where are we?"
"We are home." He walked towards the villa with Debbie in his arms.
Her eyes widened, and she looked around. They were indeed home. She struggled in his arms. "I'm awake now. Put me down."
Carlos obliged, and they walked to the villa together.
When they entered the living room, Debbie saw several shopping bags on the couch and asked casually, "What is this?"
A housemaid answered respectfully, "Mrs. Huo, Mr. Huo had them delivered from the expo."
Carlos took off his suit and gave it to the maid. He loosened his tie and said to Debbie, "Watches and jewelry. Why not undo the wrappings yourself and put them in your jewelry cabinet?"
It was Debbie who had once told him that women enjoyed the process of unwrapping presents. For this reason, Carlos had even asked his men to pack all those things.
Debbie immediately remembered what Sasha had told her at the expo, so she turned to Carlos. "You bought all the things that I took a fancy to, didn't you?"
She had planned to corner Carlos at the expo, but Kasie had stopped her at that time. Then she had totally forgotten about the matter.
"Hmm," Carlos replied shortly. He turned to the maid and said, "Put them in her closet."
"Yes, Mr. Huo."
"Wait!" Debbie stopped the maid. She asked Carlos in a serious tone, "Can I have them returned?"
"No." Carlos caught her waist and led her up the stairs. "They are all limited-editions. Once they leave the store, they cannot be returned."
Debbie was shocked. "Carlos, you are such a squanderer! Why did you buy all of these? Are we having some sort of collection?" she asked.
Instead of answering her question, he said, "I'll send them over to our house abroad."
'Fine, whatever. Since they cannot be returned, there's no point in arguing with him, ' she thought.
She pulled out her phone from her purse as soon as she entered her bedroom, and began to inspect her messages. Not until then did she realize that she had become the talk of the town.
So many people had followed her on Weibo and Facebook. Many had sent her messages on WeChat too. Her phone was full.
She had only had about a thousand followers on Weibo earlier. But now, there were more than a million people following her.
And it was all because her identity as Carlos' wife had been exposed.
Debbie's attention was wholly on her phone, and she accidentally pushed her purse down from the bed. It fell to the floor, and the contents scattered all over the place.
She squatted down to pick them up one by one. That was when she saw the ear studs.
Before she could pick them up, Carlos scooped them up and looked at them carefully.
Debbie was confused and shocked. 'When did Hayden put them in my purse?'
Carlos' face soured. He recognized them—he had seen Hayden's secretary buy them at the expo. It looked like Hayden had bought them for Debbie.
He looked at his wife and said coldly, "I need an explanation."
Debbie put her phone aside and tried to figure out how Hayden had put them in her purse. Then she realized that he had snatched her purse from her when she was on the swing.
'Carlos looks pissed. He must already know that Hayden bought the ear studs, ' she thought to herself. 'Damn it! Why is Hayden stirring up trouble between me and Carlos all the time?' She gulped and answered honestly, "They were bought by someone else. I said I didn't need them. But I didn't know that he had put them in my purse."
"Who bought it?" he insisted.
"Hayden," Debbie stammered nervously. "I did turn him down. I don't know when he put them in my purse," she repeated anxiously.
"You don't know?" Carlos held the ear studs tightly in one hand, and raised her chin with the other to make her look him in the eye. "Don't lie to me."
Frustrated, Debbie explained, "I AM telling the truth. If you don't believe me, I can call Hayden and ask him to explain."
"You haven't deleted his number from your phone yet?" he asked.
'Seriously? We are talking about the ear studs. It has nothing to do with Hayden's phone number!' she cursed inwardly.
"Don't you have Megan's number in your phone? Olga's? And Portia's?" she retorted in a loud voice.
"I don't have Portia's and Olga's numbers. I do have Megan's, but she's different." 'Portia and Olga mean nothing to me, but Megan is my niece, ' he thought angrily.
"Megan's different? You mean she's your one and only?" she taunted.
"Oh? Then what about Hayden? Is he your one and only? He bought you ear studs worth more than a million dollars. Don't tell me he buys this kind of expensive gift for everyone. Debbie, throw them away." Carlos didn't want to argue with her over Hayden. He opened his palm and gave her the ear studs.
'More than a million dollars? Hayden is crazy!' she thought.
Debbie took them from Carlos' hand and was about to throw them in the trash. But she suddenly realized that they were still in a fight and that she hadn't forgiven him yet. To get back at him, she took off the studs on her ears instead and said, "I'm not throwing them away. I'll put them on, and I'll have you watch with your own eyes as I wear them."
She put one of them on and complained, "Men are all two-timers! Hypocrites! You were apologizing to me only a while ago, and you start arguing with me already. I shouldn't have trusted you."
Carlos couldn't believe his ears. 'Who is the one throwing a tantrum here?'
He grabbed her arm and demanded, "Take it off."
"Fine! I'll take it off!" she yelled. Instead of taking the ear stud off, she removed the watch which Carlos had put on her wrist, and gave it back to him.
Looking at the watch in disbelief, Carlos asked in a cold voice, "You prefer the studs to this watch, don't you? Or is it because you'll love anything as long as it is from him? You didn't even put on the diamond ring I gave you on such an important occasion. Why?" The very thought broke Carlos' heart.
Debbie didn't know how to respond. She was a bit taken aback by his question about the ring. She calmed down and lowered her voice saying, "You've gotten it wrong. The ring is just too valuable for me. Give me the watch. I'll wear it every day." She reached out to take it back, but Carlos dodged.
He put it in his pocket and turned around to leave, without saying another word.
Debbie got flustered. "Carlos!" she called out.
He paused for a second, but then kept walking towards the door.
