"A lot of people said that. Everyone doubted our chief's sexual preference after he turned down Blair's proposal. We all thought he was gay. But, look at what the man's doing now? Tsk, tsk, the girl's scared by his passionate kiss," one of the men remarked, smiling mischievously.
"The girl he's embracing right now is Blair, for your information. She was trapped by the flash floods which came in South Mountain. You know, our chief rushed to save her himself."
"Hey I heard that story too. They said that our chief risked his life and jumped into the rushing river current to rescue a woman. Once he had carried the woman to a safe place, he himself was washed away by the flood. So was the woman Blair too?"
"What's our chief thinking? He loves Blair. We all can see that. But she had proposed to him once in a high-profile manner, and he said no at that time. Why? You know, if I were Blair, I wouldn't even give him a single glance now, not to say let him kiss me."
"You only say that because you have no idea how much Blair loves our chief."
"Tsk, tsk, listen to you! Do you think you are an expert at love?"
Lenard touched his chin and concluded amidst their fervent discussions, "Our chief is the typical breed of man: aloof on the outside, but soft as a squishy brain on the inside."
This group of gossiping men were Wesley's subordinates. They had come there to find Wesley and ask him to join a get-together. They hadn't expected to witness such a romantic and thrilling scene.
Wesley treated them like good friends in private, so they all knew everything about Wesley's estates in Y City, including this apartment. They also knew that it belonged to his brother.
Before Wesley had left the platoon, he had told his men that his family had come, and he was going to go to his brother's apartment that night. That was why Lenard and the other soldiers had come to this apartment to wait for him to show up.
They thought that they'd hidden themselves well and wouldn't be found easily. But suddenly, Wesley opened his eyes and let go of the woman in his arms. He tilted his head to look in a direction, a dangerous look in his eyes. In the dark, Talbot felt like Wesley's eyes were staring right at him, merciless and cruel. If he were to take them as robbers, god help them!
He held his breath and hissed to the others, "Don't move. Chief has discovered us!"
"Normally, our leader should've discovered us the moment he stepped out of the car, but he's a few minutes late this time. Seems like he's overly tempted by the beautiful girl," a soldier whispered in a husky voice.
When Blair finally opened her eyes, she saw Wesley staring in some direction. She followed his gaze and found a car. The car looked like a military car just like Wesley's. 'Anybody in that car? Are they here for Wesley?' she thought.
Wesley strode towards the bush near the car. Blair realized that there might be some people hidden near it. Who were they? Why were they hiding? As the footsteps approached closer and closer to the bush, the group of soldiers held their breaths and tried to hide themselves among the plants.
"Come out now!" Wesley stood by the military car and ordered loudly. Without a second's delay, some four or five men obediently emerged from the bush.
"Hi, Blair, long time no see," Lenard greeted, flashing a smile to Blair.
"Blair, we're all Mr. Li's men." The man who was talking to her was a new face to Blair.
"Chief, B-Blair… Good evening!" Bowman greeted them too. He seemed a bit nervous.
Blair exclaimed in her mind, 'Oh my goodness! Did they all just see Wesley kissing me so passionately?'
Her face was as red as a tomato now. That was so embarrassing. She flashed an awkward smile, quickly nodded to them and broke into a quick run. She went into the elevator straight away without giving them a second glance.
Back inside the apartment, she changed into her slippers at the entryway. Cecelia was sitting on the sofa in the living room, watching TV but her head was down. She looked sleepy. The noise at the doorway jarred her awake. She opened her eyes wide and looked towards the door. "Blair, you're back? Where's Wesley? Did he come with you? Did he give you a ride?" Cecelia asked, looking around.
"He… He met a few colleagues downstairs. They were talking, and I was a bit tired so I came up," Blair replied without raising her head. She put the shoes on the shoe rack and slowly walked into the living room.
"Colleagues? They are here to find him at this late hour? Maybe there's something urgent," Cecelia guessed.
Blair nodded, pressing her lips tightly. She didn't want Wesley's mother to notice her red and rapidly swelling lips due to the passionate kiss. She turned her back towards Cecelia and told her quickly, "Aunt, I'm going to take a shower now."
"Uh huh. Go on. I'll wait for Wesley here."
Soon after Blair went into her bedroom, Wesley opened the door and entered the apartment with the shopping bags in his hands.
He scanned the living room, only to find his mother there.
Cecelia laid the shopping bags on the table and began to sort the things out, while asking Wesley a flare of questions. "Blair said you met some colleagues downstairs. Do you have anything urgent to do?"
"No. Nothing urgent. A comrade-in-arms has come to Y City and they asked me to join the get-together."
"Oh, then off you go. Don't stay up too late."
Wesley stole a glance at Blair's closed bedroom door and nodded, "Okay, Mom. I should get going."
"Bye. Don't forget to come pick us up tomorrow," Cecelia reminded him, craning her neck to look at the leaving man.
"Got it."
After Wesley had left, Cecelia was left alone and continued putting the groceries in order.
Inside the bathroom, Blair had been holding her breath, carefully listening to the noise outside. She didn't know why she was so scared of facing Wesley.
Maybe because she felt a little guilty. After all, Cecelia believed that she was Niles' girlfriend, but she and Wesley had just kissed each other downstairs.
Later that night, much to Blair's surprise, Cecelia insisted on sharing a room with her. She really was childish.
Blair felt helpless. She could do nothing about this childish lady. In the end, she had to share a bed with her.
In retrospect, Blair hadn't slept in the same bed with anyone in a long time. Back when she was at the university, she had occasionally had a sleepover with Joslyn but apart from that, she liked her bed to herself. After the graduation, she had been sleeping alone all the time.
Seeing that Blair had rolled to one side of the bed, leaving most of the bed empty, Cecelia thought that the girl was so cute. "Don't be nervous, dear. I won't roll around in my sleep. You can move closer to my side."
Blair meekly moved a few inches closer to the middle of the bed. "Aunt Cecelia, since you love girls so much, why didn't you give birth to a third child when you were young? Maybe you would've had a daughter." She suddenly posed a question.
Cecelia had once said that she loved girls, and that she regretted not having a daughter when she could.
The mother lay down beside her. "Wesley's dad didn't want me to have a third child." She sighed, "He saw how much I had to suffer to give birth. I told him many times I wanted a daughter, because daughters are always warm and considerate.
Then he told me that I would have two warm and considerate daughters-in-law in the future, so why do I have to give birth to a daughter and suffer pain myself?"
After a pause, she looked at Blair and continued, "You know, there are always problems between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law. I'm worried that the young aren't usually willing to live with the elders, or we may have difficulties communicating with the young."
Blair nodded in understanding. Indeed, the relationship between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law could be sensitive sometimes. It was social phenomenon that occurred more than often. "But you're a nice person. I think you'll surely get along with your future daughter-in-law. There won't be a problem in your case," she comforted the anxious mother.
On hearing her words, Cecelia was thrilled. She turned her body around and looked at Blair. "You said the same things as my husband. He always says that my personality is like a child. I'm good with people, so I won't have problems getting along with anyone. If I treat my daughter-in-law like my own daughter, she will surely treat me as a real mother. Blair, is that what you think too?"
Blair suddenly felt baffled. Why was she asking her that? She wondered if she should take this opportunity to explain her relationship with Niles. But then she decided against it. She'd better off finding a more suitable opportunity to tell the happy mother. If Cecelia knew the truth now, she might end up having a sleepless night. So she nodded, "Yes, I think so too. People should have mutual respect towards each other. Heart to heart, that's the basic rule."
