Chapter 22 Got Slapped

What Jack said made Rachel red with rage, as if somebody had slapped her. Both of them hung up at the same time.

She took a deep breath trying to calm down, but instead let out a forced laughter. 'What is wrong with me? Why should I get involved in this sort of thing in the first place?

This is insane!' she thought.

After all she had done for him, his mistress felt wronged and he immediately called her to lash at her. Rachel regretted offering to help him.

Her sullen mood made her want to just doze off. She was about to lift the quilt when her phone lit up, breaking the darkness in her lonely room.

The sound of the unending vibration and the sight of a familiar phone number made Rachel's heart beat faster. She slid the screen and answered the call.

From the other end of the line, a gentle voice she hadn't heard for so long filled in the silence of the night. "Rachel, were you asleep?"

As if the sound of his voice put her in a daze, Rachel blinked her eyes twice to make sure she wasn't dreaming. "Not yet," she quickly replied.

"That's great. I was afraid I'd woken you up." His gentle voice hinted of listlessness. "It's three o'clock in the afternoon here. I just got off work."

"You sound really busy," Rachel remarked, noticing the tiredness in his tone. "Please take care and get some rest."

He chuckled, "I'm fine. I had a surgery today, that's why I'm a little tired.

By the way, I will be back in a week."

Rachel's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Hmm." The joy and surprise in Rachel's voice lighted him up, as if all fatigue in his body had suddenly escaped. "Give me one more week."

Devoid of any emotion, Jack instructed his secretary to buy an air ticket for him as soon as possible so he could go and check on Celine. He had been calling her repeatedly, but her phone was off.

He closed his eyes as his fist clenched around his phone.

Cooling down, he once again rang his secretary to take his order back. "Forget it. Don't book the ticket. The schedule is still arranged as usual."

The calmness in his tone surprised even Austin Lin, his secretary. "Have you already...?" Austin Lin started but soon trailed off. After all, this was Jack's private matter.

"I'll call off the air ticket now."

"Austin." Jack raised his hand and rubbed the crease between his eyebrows. "Is it true that I often behave like this lately?"

"What?" Flustered, Austin didn't know how to respond to his boss's sudden question.

"Have I been like this lately? Is it because of her?"

Austin kept silent for a while, trying to weigh in his words and how dangerous the topic could get. "Mr. Fu, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Have you been having quarrels with Miss Duan?"

Jack fell into silence. Celine had been stirring up his anger lately, and he would inevitably bring his anger to work.

They had been having such fights for the past six months and it was always him who would compromise.

As if losing his balance while on the height of these thoughts, he pounded the handrail of the stairs with his fist, careful not to make any sound that Austin might hear from the other side of the line. After seconds of silence, Jack managed to answer in a low voice, "I have brought my personal emotions to work recently. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Mr. Fu. There's no need to apologize," said Austin, sensing the heaviness of the atmosphere.

After a long chat with her friend, Rachel was about to lie down and sleep when her mobile phone buzzed again. A message came up.

"I'm sorry for tonight's phone call. I was emotionally unstable. Please forgive me."

Rachel gripped her phone tightly, squinted, and stared at it closer. She checked the message's log once more to make sure that she was not having illusions. Indeed, the message was from Jack.

As much as the message surprised her, she had no idea what he was thinking.

After what happened, an apology was totally useless. Rachel always thought that people should always think thrice before acting.

Jack apologizing after hurting Rachel's feelings made her feel ridiculous. She decided to ignore the message.

She made up her mind. She would no more interfere with the relationship between Jack and his woman. If he decided to make trouble for Eric, she would find another way to deal with it.

After returning from his four-day business trip, Jack asked the driver to send him back to his apartment.

Celine sprang up from the sofa and rushed toward the door as soon as she heard someone coming. She had been drunk and home alone ever since she decided to break up with Jack on impulse.

Her

phone had since been off because she knew that he would call. That night, she didn't want to see him. She didn't want to hear his voice either.

That night, she felt nothing but resentment. She hated Rachel. She couldn't forgive Jack. It was hard for her to believe he loved her after putting her in such position.

When she saw a dozen missed calls the next morning, resentment turned into regret, but nobody called again. Not even a single message from Jack.

Regret turned into panic. She called Jack to apologize, but his indifferent attitude made her worry.

Nobody would tell her when Jack would come home, so she decided to wait for him in his apartment.

As he saw her standing right before him, Jack's eyes glittered. With pursed lips, he asked, "What brings you here?"

Celine had been holding back a lot of words she wanted to say, but Jack's cold glare and nonchalant words made her tears rush down instead. "I can't come?" Her voice cracked as she tried to hide her pain. "Okay, I'll leave now."

Jack reached out and held her by her shoulder. "Stop it." He let out a deep breath and continued, "I didn't mean that. When did you come?"

Seeing Celine's tears, Jack couldn't help but feel his heart ache. He could never endure seeing her grief.

Celine knew this very well. She carefully lowered her attitude and tried pleasing him. She graciously ran into the kitchen to make him a bowl of noodles.

The wound on Eric's hand finally healed a few days after. It was time for him to check out from the hospital. Coincidentally, today was the day Lea was coming back.

As soon as Lea set foot on her motherland, she couldn't wait to call Rachel.

The sight of a beautiful airline stewardess dragging her suitcase and laughing while on a phone call made passersby turn their heads.

Lea's tall figure and gorgeous face were enough to catch everyone's attention. She did not care, though, as she was too deep into the call. She only hung up until she left the airport.

Lea hailed a taxi and put her luggage into the trunk. After telling the driver her home address, she called Rachel.

Rachel and Eric were picking up his daily necessities in the supermarket when Lea called. Rachel asked Eric to check what he needed and excused herself.

As soon as the phone was connected, a series of loud kisses came to Rachel's ears, nonstop and cheerfully. Lea flooded her eardrums with cheesy words that made Rachel smile and giggle.

"Honey! Sweetheart! My love! I'm back! Did you miss me?" Lea's voice was loud, full of vitality like sunshine.

Even her cab driver was surprised, secretly glancing at her through the rearview mirror.

After the first round of exclusive love confession from Lea, Rachel couldn't stop laughing. "You're back? Where are you?"

For two months, Lea had been abroad limiting the times they could meet. They missed each other very much.

Like a bird out of a cage, Lea kept talking nonstop along the way. Rachel did, too, considering how she seldom like talking.

As soon as Lea arrived at her house, she got out of the car and took out her luggage. She shuffled over her things trying to find her keys, her phone tucked in the middle of her left ear and left shoulder. "Anyway, we should go out for dinner tonight."

On the other line, Rachel glanced at Eric and said, "I'm helping Eric to move out so I'm going to have dinner in his house tonight. Would you like to come over?"

"Where are you?" asked Lea.

"Around the Times Square."

"It's not far. There are many restaurants over there. I just got back from holiday, can't you let me have a good meal?"

Rachel chuckled, "Fine, come here."

Lea opened the door and came in dragging her suitcase. "Tell Eric to come with us. I haven't seen that handsome boy for a long time."

After the girls hung up, Eric, who was clueless, couldn't help but ask, "Who was that?"

"My friend, Lea."

His eyebrows raised as he heard the name from Rachel. "That beautiful airline stewardess?"

Rachel nodded. "You're lucky. She asked us out for a meal," she said.

"That's exactly what I wanted!"

The three agreed to meet an hour later in an elegant restaurant around Eric's residence estate. Sitting there waiting for Lea made him nervous. He raised his head and looked around from time to time. "Would she be here soon?"

Rachel leaned against the wall, picked up a glass, and took a sip. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

But as soon as Rachel finished her words, Eric suddenly stood up from his seat, stretched out his neck, and pointed into the direction in front of her. "Lea! That is her, isn't it?"