"Ugh, Jared, you are making me sick," Debbie complained. Kristina and Kasie burst into laughter. Kristina blew on her soup and took a sip.
Debbie took off her apron and told her friends apologetically, "Sorry, guys. I'd love to hang out with you, but Carlos is still in the hospital. I need to bring him this soup. You guys leave after finishing the soup. I'll treat you to dinner some other day. Deal?"
Carlos' wound had still been bleeding when she had left the hospital. She was really worried about him.
Kasie, Kristina and Jared exchanged knowing looks. Recalling what Carlos had told them, Jared suggested, "Tomboy, don't worry about Mr. Huo. My brother is there, and the nurses will take good care of him. Have some fun with us tonight, and go to the hospital tomorrow. I'll drive you there myself, okay?"
Kicked by Jared under the table, Kasie echoed, "He's right. Tomboy, we've missed you a lot. Come with us, please! We've already booked a private booth."
Kristina ate her soup silently. After a while, she said in a low voice, "Dixon has been gone for more than a month. We've never been separated for so long. Debbie, keep us company tonight."
Debbie felt weird. It seemed like people around her all wanted to drag her away from the hospital and keep her at the manor.
'Something is off. Or is it just my imagination?' she thought. But she shook off her strange thoughts and said, "I'm really sorry, guys. Carlos' shoulder was still bleeding when I left the hospital. I can't leave him behind and have fun with you. I need to bring him some food. Guys, you're my best friends, and I know that you won't blame me for not keeping you company tonight. When his situation is stable, I'll treat you to a sumptuous meal."
Not daring to look Debbie in the eye, Jared continued to persuade her into staying. "Damon just called me. He said Mr. Huo was all right. Tomboy, don't worry too much."
Jared was confused about the whole situation too. He remembered Carlos telling him over the phone, "Make Debbie stay at the manor, or any other place. Stop her from coming to the hospital at all costs."
Jared's words made Debbie even more confused. 'Why do they keep trying to make me stay away from the hospital?' she wondered. "How about this? I'll take the soup to the hospital and then meet you guys at the private booth?" Debbie offered.
"Why bother? You have so many housemaids. Why not ask one of them to send the soup to him?" Jared blurted out. He lowered his head, fearing that Debbie would see through him.
Debbie was too overwhelmed by Carlos's situation to notice Jared's guilty face. She shook her head and said, "I want to watch him eat the soup with my own eyes. I'd been practicing to make this soup under Ethel's guidance for a whole month in order to cook it for him, and I'd been eating it for a whole month."
She was really sick of the taste now. All she wanted was to cook for Carlos.
Her friends had run out of excuses.
Left with no choice, they had to leave the manor before she did.
As soon as they drove off, Jared called Damon. To his disappointment, his phone was off. He summoned up the courage to call Carlos, but his phone had been switched off too.
Looking at his phone screen, Jared murmured, "Their phones are both off. This is really weird."
"Er… I have Mr. Lu's phone number. Should we call him? Mr. Huo's wounded. I believe Mr. Lu will be visiting him." Kasie unlocked her phone to look for Curtis' phone number.
Jared shook his head. "Even if he visited Mr. Huo, he wouldn't stay there all day. I'll call Damon's wife."
Adriana's phone was connected after a few rings, but she didn't know where Damon was either.
Meanwhile, Kasie called her boyfriend, but Emmett had been away on official business in the past few days and knew nothing about Carlos' whereabouts.
They could only drive as fast as possible so that they could arrive at the hospital ahead of Debbie and tell Carlos that they had failed to keep her at the manor.
Jared sped all the way and successfully reached the hospital before Debbie did. But to their surprise, they were welcomed by an empty ward.
The nurse who was responsible for taking care of Carlos told them that he had left the hospital for some private reason.
They knew that Megan was admitted in the hospital because
Debbie had wounded her.
So, they went to Megan's ward.
Luckily, she was there, accompanied by another girl, who seemed to be her classmate. When they saw Jared and his companions, the two girls stopped chatting.
Megan's smile froze for a while. Then she put on a fake smile and greeted, "Good evening."
Being in no mood to exchange greetings, Jared asked bluntly, "Where's your uncle?"
"Which one?" she asked.
'Come on! No need to show off all your amazing uncles!' Jared rolled his eyes and snapped at her, "Carlos Huo!"
"Isn't he in his ward?"
"No! If he was, why would I bother asking you?" Jared's tone was impatient.
Megan didn't care at all. With a sweet smile, she asked, "Did Aunt Debbie tell you to ask me about him?"
Jared didn't want to talk to her anymore, so he just asked rudely, "No. Do you know where he is or not?"
"I don't," she answered honestly.
"Damn it! Why didn't you just say that sooner? This was such a waste of time," he grumbled.
The three of them left the ward without saying their goodbyes to her.
Megan was left speechless.
In the parking lot
Jared, Kasie and Kristina sat in the car, staring at each other helplessly. He had called Carlos and Damon several times with no luck.
They really didn't know what to do next.
When Debbie arrived at Carlos' ward with the soup, she saw the empty room. She called him, and of course, it was futile.
While she was wondering where he had gone, Tristan called her. "Mrs. Huo, Mr. Huo asked me to tell you that he had to go to Z Country for some urgent business. He's on a plane now. I was too busy to inform you about this. I'm really sorry."
'Z Country? For urgent business?' "Why didn't he tell me when I was with him? Is it that urgent?" she asked. 'It must have been really important because he had to rush to Z Country at night despite his wound.'
Tristan paused for a while to think about how to make his lie more convincing. He then answered, "It's not that urgent. But only Mr. Huo can deal with it. Before he left, he asked me to contact your friends so that they could keep you company. Mr. Huo will be back either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."
'Oh! So it was Carlos who told Jared, Kasie and Kristina to go to the manor, ' Debbie thought.
She could sense that something fishy was going on. Everyone around her had been acting really weird all day.
After hanging up, Debbie looked at the soup and sighed. She opened the lid and ate it herself.
She couldn't figure out what was happening, so she decided to let it go for now and wait for Carlos to come back. She would ask him about it then. She called Jared to ask where they were.
The four of them hung out together until it was very late. When she came back to the manor, she dozed off as soon as she hit the pillow. She didn't wake up until the next noon.
She called Carlos for the hundredth time, but his phone was still off. She was really anxious because she could tell that he was hiding something from her.
