Carlos kept losing to the other three men. His mood went from bad to worse faster than a cat lapping chain lightning.
His face contorted in displeasure as he finished up his red wine with one gulp and tossed the chips on the table.
Niles looked at him in utter disbelief. "Carlos, this is at least three hundred thousand dollars. Are you out of your mind?"
Carlos cast a cold glance at him and said, "What are you—a chicken?"
He tried to goad Niles into playing, and it worked. Without wasting another second, Niles tossed the chips on the table and said, "Count me in."
Damon rolled his eyes at them and complained, "Are you guys out of your minds? Carlos, you better be careful. What if Pepper Nian reports you to the authorities again for organizing a gambling session?"
Wesley kicked Damon's leg hard under the table almost immediately. Shrugging his shoulders, Damon gave him an embarrassed smile and shut his mouth.
"Wait! Debbie reported that I organized a gambling session before?" Carlos asked curiously.
Damon put on a fake smile and answered, "Yeah! We were just hanging about like this, but then your ex-wife called the police on us for gambling."
"Wow! Debbie seems great! At least she was brave enough to treat the four richest young men in Y City with disrespect!"
Niles exclaimed
Wesley kicked him as well, and Niles fell silent unwillingly.
Carlos' eyes darkened, his disdainful expression frozen in place. Suddenly, he stood up from his seat and threw his glass to the wall with all his might as if trying to vent his frustration.
As soon as the glass hit the wall, it was shattered to pieces, scattering shards across the floor. No one dared to utter another word after that.
Niles stroked his hair to conceal his nervousness. He had known Carlos for many years, but this was the first time he had seen him like this.
Carlos had a long face even before he entered the private booth. And now, he looked like a ferocious lion about to tear its prey apart.
Wesley got off the phone and stopped Carlos from kicking the table in anger. "Carlos, calm down!"
Carlos shook off his arm, pulled out his tie and threw it onto the sofa. He then grabbed Curtis' glass and gulped it down in one go.
Curtis looked at his empty glass in Carlos' hand and thought, 'Carlos, aren't you a germophobe?'
He grabbed a bottle of liquor and waved it before Carlos.
Carlos nodded, cast a freezing glance at his friends and said, "No one will be allowed to leave today."
The others rolled their eyes secretly and cursed inwardly, 'Carlos Huo, do you have to be so bossy?'
Damon nudged at Curtis with his elbow and whispered, "Why would you ask him to drink liquor? Now we'll have to drink with him. Don't you know that my wife won't let me touch her if I go home drunk? Damn it, man!"
Curtis chuckled and patted Damon on the back. "Seriously? You're just boasting in front of him because Carlos won't be able to hug his woman regardless of whether he is drunk or sober as a nun."
Damon snapped, "Well, if he wants to hug his woman, I'll call Stephanie over so that he can hug her as long as he wants."
Curtis poured a glass of liquor, suppressing his urge to kick Damon, and put it on the table. "You think he wants to hug Stephanie?"
"Not Stephanie? He's missing Pepper Nian? That's nonsense. He's already engaged to Stephanie," Damon retorted in disbelief.
"Damon Han!" Carlos called out his name in anger.
"What's up, dude?" Damon casually turned to look at Carlos, as if he had no idea of what was going on.
"Our Singapore branch is in dire need of a regional president. I think your wife will be perfect for that position," Carlos said in a calm voice.
"What? No! Carlos, no, Mr. Huo. You know I can't leave Y City right now. You can't separate us like that." Anxious, Damon stood up, picked up the glass of liquor Curtis had just poured, and sat next to Carlos.
Carlos had his eyes shut tight.
Damon took a deep breath and decided to do something to make Carlos happy. "Bro, we're going to be drinking to our hearts' content tonight. Okay?" After saying that, he emptied the contents of the glass rapidly and told Curtis, "Hey! This is good liquor! Curtis, pour me another glass, please!"
Carlos finally opened his eyes. He looked at the two bottles of liquor in front of Curtis, and hinted to Damon with his eyes.
After shifting his eyes back and forth between Carlos and the bottles of liquor, Damon understood what he was trying to say.
'Oh God! I shouldn't have mentioned Debbie or Stephanie. Now, I'll have to appease him for the sake of my wife.'
Carlos and Damon grabbed a bottle respectively and started chugging away. The other three tried to stop them, but they didn't know what to say. After all, this was Carlos' private affair.
The two of them finished three bottles of liquor each. Before long, Damon succumbed to the effects of alcohol and dozed off on the sofa.
However, Carlos wasn't going to stop there. He reached out to grab the fourth bottle, but Curtis stopped him. "Carlos, you are still taking your medication. How about we call it a day?"
Carlos shook his hand off and continued drinking without a care in the world.
In a desperate act to save his friend, Wesley took the bottle away from Carlos and chugged it all down. His eyes turned red as he burped, and he then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "We've run out of liquor now. Let me send you home."
As if he didn't hear Wesley, Carlos pointed to the wine bottles in the wine cabinet. "We have wine."
The others were rendered speechless.
Niles offered, "How about we call Stephanie? We can't let him drink like this. But he won't listen to us. Maybe he'll listen to Stephanie."
Carlos cast a warning glance at him, so cold it could freeze hell over within minutes.
Niles trembled when he saw Carlos' murderous eyes and he decided to shut his mouth.
Curtis shook his head in disappointment. 'Niles is such an idiot. He doesn't have the slightest clue about what Carlos needs right now. Alas! They all have to count on me.'
He turned to look at Niles and casually said, "I wonder if Debbie is asleep right now."
Niles' look of concern slowly melted away to be replaced by a somewhat puzzled look. 'What does he mean by that? Why did he mention Debbie all of a sudden?' He shook his head at Curtis and said, "I don't know. Why are you asking me?"
"I'll call her and see. Just hold on," Curtis said.
No one responded to that.
Curtis pulled out his phone from his pocket and asked Niles, "Should I call her or send her a video-call request?"
Niles looked at the others as he felt even more confused. 'How am I supposed to know?' "Send a video-call request?" he stammered.
"I better call her. Maybe she's asleep," said Curtis as he scrolled down his contact list.
Niles suddenly noticed that Carlos' eyes were fixated on Curtis' phone this whole time, and he immediately understood where Curtis was going with this. "Why not call her first? If she's awake, you can send her a video-call request," he said.
Curtis nodded in agreement.
He dialed Debbie's number and put his phone on speaker mode. "Hi, Uncle Curtis!" Debbie greeted him from the other end of the line.
It was around 11 p.m., and she was still at work.
"Debbie, did you go to bed already?" Curtis stole a glance at Carlos, who wasn't drinking anymore.
"Not yet. I'm still at work. Why? What's up?" Curtis seldom called her at this hour.
"Do you mind if we have a video chat? I feel like I haven't seen you in ages. The guys are drinking. Niles and I are very bored."
Niles' jaw dropped to the floor faster than he could say Jack Robinson. 'Seriously? I can't believe he's using me as an excuse, ' he thought to himself.
'A video chat? Uncle Curtis is really strange!' Debbie thought. However, she was too embarrassed to turn him down, so she agreed reluctantly. "Okay."
