Damon put his arm around Carlos' other shoulder and said, "Count me in. We'll let him have a taste of the strength that's behind Gwyn—a team of badass men that can beat him to death! He'd better behave himself."
Wesley's lips curled into a sneer. "We're not the only men in the team. Remember, I have an army. I alone can call in thousands of men to kick his ass if he does anything wrong by Gwyn."
Damon nodded, "Damn right! Gwyn is like a granddaughter to you. That's the least you could do to protect her."
Carlos finally smiled. "Let's get out of here. I don't have time for him now. I need to go home to Gwyn."
"Okay, let's go!"
The three men got into their cars and left the parking lot.
As he leaned against the wall, Sheffield thought about Carlos' creepy smile. He had no idea that he had just escaped a beating from an army.
He and Joshua were left alone in the corridor. The deafening music from the booths filled the air. Both of them stayed silent for a while, and then, an ominous presentiment came over Sheffield. "Old Fan, I have a bad feeling about this."
"Could you please stop calling me that?" It sounded like Sheffield was calling him an old fan. Despite the fact that his surname was indeed Fan, Joshua didn't like being addressed that way.
"Carlos has never smiled at me. Ever! But he just did, and there was something weird about that smile. It was creepy as hell. He's probably cooking up something to mess with me," Sheffield said, ignoring Joshua's protest. He stared at the path through which Carlos had left, deep in thought.
Joshua disagreed. "You're just overthinking. Maybe he was in a good mood because of Aunt Debbie's call. Besides, even if he really is trying to get you into trouble, I don't think you have much to worry about. You're smart and strong—a survivor, who always bounces back."
"Well," Sheffield mused. "You do have a point…" But the ominous feeling did not leave him. Carlos' smile meant something; he believed there was a hidden meaning behind it.
It was like the old man knew that something was about to go down, and he was secretly glad that Sheffield had no idea what was going on. He felt like Carlos was enjoying as he, knowing nothing, walked into a trap. He was laughing at his helpless situation. The thought made Sheffield restless.
"Why didn't you explain to him that you were only flirting with the woman because you had lost a bet? What if he tells Evelyn? Did you even think about that? Since when have you become so careless?" Joshua was worried.
Still leaning casually against the wall, Sheffield looked at his friend and said, "If I stopped flirting with other women, would Evelyn come back to me?"
Joshua had no answer to that. He wanted to cheer Sheffield up, but he had no experience in the matters of love and relationships, nor could he think of any encouraging words to say to him.
Heaving a sigh, Sheffield put his arm around Joshua's shoulder. "Let's go home."
Joshua didn't move. "I can't go home. My father kicked me out, saying that I couldn't go back until I either got promoted or got married." He was very morose.
"Oh. Then, come to my place," Sheffield offered.
"I don't want to stay with your family." The Tang family manor was enormous, but there was always a civil war brewing amongst the family members. Joshua couldn't stand being around those people. Sheffield Tang was the only sane person in that family.
"Good, because I don't want to stay with them either. Let's go to my apartment." Sheffield's heart screamed. It was his and Evelyn's apartment. Their home.
"All right!" Joshua had no problem with that. In fact, he welcomed the idea.
Sheffield was still thinking about Evelyn. He said, "I'll purse Carlos' daughter and I'll marry her. I will make her serve me, dress me up and cook for me. I will reward her with sweet words if she makes me happy, and I will punish her if she upsets me. Yes! That feels so right!"
With a scornful look at him, Joshua said, "Yeah, sure! Like you would dare. Keep bragging."
He knew Sheffield loved her too much to do that to her.
'I'll have to keep this in mind, so that I can tell Evelyn about this the day this idiot marries her. Things will be very interesting, ' he thought to himself with a smirk.
In the Huo family manor
Carlos and Evelyn reached the manor at the same time. When they went upstairs to check on Gwyn, the little girl was still up, holding her doll. Debbie was with her.
Evelyn checked the time on her wristwatch; it was already past midnight. She asked with concern, "Sweetie, it's late. Why haven't you gone to bed? Come here."
Gwyn stretched her little arms and Evelyn held her daughter. Leaning her head on Evelyn's shoulder, the little girl closed her eyes without saying a word.
Debbie sighed helplessly. "I've been trying to get her to sleep for hours, but she just wouldn't. And the moment you walk in, she decides to sleep."
Carlos touched the little girl's head and felt bad that his granddaughter had to stay up so late because neither he nor Evelyn was around. He said to Evelyn, "One of us should stay home to take care of her. We can't both be away at work."
Evelyn nodded, "Yes."
She swayed her body gently to rock her baby to sleep. Soon, the doll in Gwyn's hand fell to the floor.
Carlos bent down to pick up the doll and patted it clean. When Debbie saw the scratch on his hand, she grabbed his wrist and asked, "What happened to your hand?"
He looked at the scratch and answered casually, "I had a fight with that brat. It's just a scratch, don't worry."
"Brat?" Evelyn asked, confused.
He nodded, "Yeah, the powerful Mr. Tang. He thinks that just because he has the Theo Group as his backer now, he is some kind of a big deal. When I hit him, he even dared to fight back!"
The words, "Mr. Tang," dripped with sarcasm as they fell out of his mouth.
Debbie and Evelyn looked at each other. Neither of them knew how to respond to Carlos' remarks.
Finally, Debbie sighed. "Wait here. I'll get the first aid kit. We should disinfect the wound."
Carlos didn't object. "Yes, we should definitely disinfect the wound. What if I get infected? Call the doctor and ask him if I should get a shot against rabies."
Debbie rolled her eyes and snapped, "Are you done? Sheffield is not even here. Whom are you aiming your words at? Me?"
"No. I meant for Gwyn to hear them." He looked at the little girl; her eyes were tightly shut.
Evelyn patted Gwyn's back and asked in a hushed voice, "What happened, Dad? Why did you two fight?"
"There was a media report claiming that he was in some nightclub and hadn't come out in two hours. I went to see what he was doing there, and he was flirting with some woman!" Carlos fumed.
He kept his voice down, considering that his dear granddaughter had just fallen asleep.
'Sheffield was flirting with another woman?' Evelyn didn't respond. She adjusted Gwyn's position in her arms and sat on the edge of the bed.
Debbie came back with the kit. She made Carlos sit on the couch and grumbled, "Could you at least consider Evelyn's feelings when you speak?"
With a snort, he said, "I only want her to know what that guy has been doing so that she can forget that jerk."
"Forget him? And then what?" Debbie gently pressed on his wound, warning him to watch his mouth.
Carlos, however, didn't feel the pain at all. It was just a minor wound after all; nothing he couldn't handle. "I'll introduce Evelyn to a better man," he declared.
Debbie and Evelyn sighed at the same time and said in unison, "So, you're trying to meddle again?"
Debbie disinfected the wound for him and then took a band aid to put on his wound. "Do you have too much free time on your hands? Or do you think Evelyn doesn't have enough on her plate already?"
Carlos stared at the band aid in his wife's hand. "If you get rid of that band aid, I won't bother introducing Evelyn to another man," he haggled. 'Just get that lame band aid away from me!'
Debbie stopped peeling the band aid at once. "What if you get infected while taking a shower?"
"I can take care of myself."
