“Oh my! What a guileful man!” In utter disbelief, Joan shook her head exasperatedly.
Holding her hand, Larry caressed the back of her hand with his thumb. Caspian snorted coldly. “But I believe we should never sin if we don’t want to get caught.”
Just when he was about to say something else, Larry lifted his foot and stepped on the man’s slippers. With a smile on his face Larry said, enunciating every word. “Shut your mouth.”
Clearing her throat, Joan answered him solemnly. “Caspian, we’ve been friends for years, and our relationship is comparable to that of siblings. If there’s any misunderstanding, we should talk it out, so that the one who is at fault can make things right. But now I don’t even know why you’re mad at me…”
Right after she spoke, Larry added, “Caspian, you’re usually very cautious. Why don’t you give this incident some thoughts? Why did S send those photos to me on purpose? Don’t you think that the anonymous person has an ulterior motive?”
Right then, someone opened the door, and a sweet voice sounded, “I’m back! Did you miss…”
Nancy didn’t expect to see Joan and Larry here. The woman was dumbfounded the moment she saw the couple sitting on the couch. The handbag that she held up in the air dropped onto the floor.
“Why? Are you shocked to see us again after a few days?” Larry joked.
Nancy could tell that situation had changed. “No, I’m excited to see you and Joan.” With much enthusiasm, she skipped toward them and held Joan’s arm. “I’m so sorry, Joan. I shouldn’t have treated you that way previously…” The woman gave Caspian a death stare. “It’s all Caspian’s fault. He mistreated Joan.”
In the meantime, Caspian was seething with rage. Larry’s fury was replaced by a smile at the sight of his irritated face. “Alright, let bygones be bygones. Misunderstandings are inevitable between friends. It’s good that we’ve cleared the air. Don’t worry about it. We’re still buddies.”
“Hmph! Did you hear that? Larry is the best. Oh, by the way, I heard that Leslie was sick and hospitalized last night. How’s he doing now? Was it very serious?”
Joan recollected herself and replied, “Nothing too serious. It was just acute gastroenteritis. He’ll be fine after some time if we take good care of him.”
Nancy’s eyes curled into a crescent shape. “Okay. Since we’re on good terms again, I’ll treat all of you to dinner tonight at Paramount Hotel, except him.” She pointed at Caspian while speaking.
As Joan and Larry exchanged glances, they understood each other and smiled meaningfully in unison.
Meanwhile, Jory was watching a footage of the surveillance camera at the entrance of Caspian’s place. Closing the laptop in front of him forcefully, he punched the wooden table with his fist.
When Dustin walked in with two cups of warm tea, Jory was lying on a couch with a pillow over his face.
“What happened? Why are you so annoyed?”
He took the pillow away from his face. “I’ve never failed before. Yet, my plan boomerangs, and it actually works out well for them. They had a stroke of luck and escaped it too easily.”
Dustin took a sip of the warm tea silently. Looking at the man’s calm face, Jory became all worked up. “Aren’t you angry? How can you not lose your cool?”
“What’s the point of getting angry? Rage doesn’t solve any problems. I won’t give up on my loved one, and I believe that God has a plan,” Dustin said impassively. However, he was the only one who felt the raging emotions and indignation within him.
Glancing at the contact on his phone, he made up his mind to speed things up to reach his goal. On his phone screen was a text from Gabriella. He didn’t even try to hide it.
