Later that night...
At midnight, Zoey woke up from the loud ringing of her phone. To make it stop, she sprawled her arms to the small bedside table, reaching for her phone, and then answered without checking it. "What?!" she greeted annoyingly.
However, silence answered her which made her frown. She hadn't been sleeping properly ever since she returned back in time after time traveling. After all, she needed to study about the Feng Estate and to conspire theories about the loopholes she found in the scandal in her previous life.
Now that she had finally taken her first step, Zoey wanted to reward herself with proper sleep. Yet, she was getting calls in the middle of the night! Who wouldn't be frustrated with that?
Zoey drew the phone away from her ear, her face squeezed together as she checked who dared to disturb her sleep. "Hey," His faint voice reached her ear. Zoey blinked her weary eyes and saw it was Kenneth's number.
"What?" When she returned her phone back to her ear, she asked once again. Her tone was still the same, looking so grumpy just like how normal humans felt whenever they were disturbed in their sleep.
"Ahem," She heard him clear his throat. "I heard what happened and…" He paused, contemplating what to say to her.
Kenneth was treated differently earlier. His career as a racer was applauded by his father who often used his passion for driving as his flaw. But now, General Bai had a different view about his son and his driving -- that it has its use in bringing justice.
Still, that didn't mean General Bai fully supported it. Even so, it was enough for Kenneth that his father didn't see his passion as a weakness but one of his strengths. The problem was that the person who changed his father's mindset indirectly was Zoey.
She was the person driving that car; Kenneth saw glimpses of the surveillance and was told how he managed to escape. He took all the credit to the extent that he felt guilty about it.
"And..?" She repeated, snapping him back from his deep thoughts. "Don't say 'thank you', there's no such thing as a free meal in this world anymore." Her words were laced with sarcasm, shaking her head as she crashed the side of her head against the soft pillow.
"I know," A disconsolate noise came from her phone, yet Zoey was too sleepy to bother herself from saying motivational words to him.
'He is rather emotional and appreciative being a young adult.' Her mind commented, closing her eyes as she waited for him to express his gratitude. Well, she's not heartless to hang up on him when he's clearly blessed by her kindness.
"I mean, do you know about the man in the warehouse?" To Zoey's surprise, unlike her expectations, Kenneth mentioned something she automatically set for tomorrow's discussion. "If you did, I can arrange for you to meet him." He proposed, not beating around the bush as he wanted to return the favor.
"Ohh��" Zoey replied.
"Yes," He nodded, "I asked Chief Leng if I could meet him when he woke up. You can come with me." Kenneth proposed, his tone stern.
For a minute, Zoey blinked her eyes as she remained silent. "You've never changed, huh?" She murmured without realizing it.
"Huh?" His brows furrowed, tilting his head to the side because what she said was weird. "What are you saying?" He asked, arching his right brow.
"Nothing, I mean let's visit him tomorrow." Zoey shook her head, shrugging her slip of the tongue because it was not that she was keeping her time-travelling a secret. It's just that no one believed her, so no need for her to explain.
Moreover, she was just glad that Kenneth got the grip of her train of thoughts. Just like in her previous life, Kenneth had this hidden talent of observing, concluding theories which were almost accurate.
This was one of the reasons why he was a huge help to Zoey in her previous life. Who would have thought that he'd always been like that? Perhaps, that's a natural talent and not something he picked growing up.
"Tomorrow?"
"Yes, or else, I wouldn't be able to see him." In a matter-of-fact tone, Zoey remarked.
"Oh, okay…" Surprisingly enough, he agreed without another question.
For the next thirty seconds, the line was suddenly silent as neither of them talked. "What?" Zoey queried, guessing he had more to ask or say.
"Nothing,"
"Alright, I'm hanging up." She rolled her eyes and was about to toss her phone to the side. Alas, she heard him speak once again, stopping her hand from taking away her phone from her ear. "What?"
"Uhm…" He hummed, pondering about his next words. "Thank you." After a while, Kenneth expressed.
"I told you…" Her words trailed off as he interrupted her before she could finish.
"I know, but I still want to thank you." Kenneth said, mustering his courage expressing his emotion to a person who was a stranger that he now considered as a friend. "Anyway, goodnight!" With that being said, he immediately hung up the call.
Zoey smacked her lips as the corner of her lips curled into a smile. "What a baby." She murmured, shaking her head to the side.
Just as Zoey was about to take her phone away from her ear and then continue her sleep, it rang again. Since her phone was directly on top of her ear, Zoey was nearly deafened. She instantly grabbed her phone, taking a glimpse of who was calling.
Upon seeing Matthew's contact name, her brows twitched. "I can feel the ominous aura just by the ring… no wonder." She mumbled, her thumb trembled as she answered the call.
After she cleared her throat, Zoey picked up the call. "Yes, Mr. Landlord? What's so important you need from your poor tenant that you needed to call her in the middle of the night and disrupt her sleep?"
*SILENCE*
Zoey's spine shivered just by the cold silence as his answer. 'Is he mad?' She wondered, retracted her phone slightly as she peered at it in disdain before placing it back. 'He wouldn't get triggered simply because of my greeting, right?'
"Uhm, Mr. Landlord?"
"You were on another call. Thus, I didn't disrupt anything." His cold voice caused her hair to rise in horror. It was as if she was caught red handed! Why did he sound as if he caught her cheating?
"Oh," Rendered speechless, Zoey pursed her lips as she winced silently, thinking of how to rebut him.
"I called because I'm raising next month's rent by 30%. Goodnight, Miss Zhou. Please continue your late night talk with whosoever." After saying his piece, Matthew ended the call -- leaving her speechless.
"..." Zoey blinked her eyes in surprise, trying to absorb his last bitter words before ending the line. "Hey! Are you jealous?!" However, the line was already cut. So, her words didn't come through!
"Ughhh!! I just want to sleep!" Frustrated, Zoey grunted in distress as she pinched the space between her brows.