Chapter 115 - Strangers Again

Jackson stuck out his hand and smiled at Halia, "Nice to meet you, Miss Feng."

Halia froze and stared at the man's hand in confusion. They obviously knew each other, but why did he seem so foreign.

At that moment, a blond-haired woman suddenly ran up to Jackson and started speaking in French as she ran her hands across his chest. Jackson quickly retrieved his hand and spoke back to the woman in French. The woman was tall, her body was curvy and she had sparkly blue eyes. Who was she?

Emerson looked at the two and chuckled. He then whispered beside Halia's ear, "That's my brother's girlfriend. They just returned from France together. I heard my brother was injured and she saved his life..."

Halia's eyes grew wide in shock as she felt her heart sink. Was this why she hadn't heard from Jackson for an entire month? Did he find himself a hot French woman and forget about her? Was this why he was pretending not to know her?

As Halia glared at the man, she watched his arm wrap affectionately around the woman's slim waist. "I'm sorry, please excuse us, we need to return to our room. We are a little jet-lagged. It was nice meeting you, Miss Haili," he said as he walked off with the blond-haired woman.

Halia clenched her fists. What was happening? Shouldn't he, at least, give her an explanation?

Halia wanted to chase after the couple, but just as she took a step forward, she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her body. "It's nice to see you again," Emerson whispered beside her ear. "Did you change your mind and come looking for me?"

...

Meanwhile, Jackson entered the connected hotel and stepped into the elevator with the blond-haired woman in his arms.

Emerson was right, this woman had saved Jackson's life in France.

That day, when she rushed into the barn and found Jackson lying in a pool of blood, he was already on the brink of death. He had received a bullet in the chest and he was losing blood fast. She immediately removed her jacket and applied tension to his wound while she called for the ambulance, but they were in a rural area that wasn't easy to get to. While she waited, she noticed Jackson's breathing weaken and his body turn cold. Eventually, his breathing even stopped. She was a highly trained Interpol agent, so she immediately applied the CPR methods she had learned. For an unfit person, 10 minutes of CPR was a person's limit before they got tired and their efforts were no longer effective, but this woman was fit and determined. "Don't die on me, Jackson," she cried as she pushed down on his chest. It took 30 whole minutes before the ambulance arrived, but this woman did not give up for a second, exerting all the energy she had to save her friend's life. Even when the paramedics walked in, she still refused to give up. Finally, at the 31-minute mark, Jackson jumped back to life and the ambulance rushed him straight to the hospital.

This woman was none other than Amelie Roux.

The couple soon arrived outside their hotel room and Jackson went to open the door. As soon as the door flew open, Amelie leaned in for a kiss and the couple tumbled into the room in each other's arms.

...

Back at the casino, Halia and Emerson decided to sit down at the bar to catch up. It had been almost a month since they last saw each other, so Emerson almost thought he had scared Halia away with his confession.

"Why are you here?" Emerson asked.

"I told you, I've never been to a casino or Macau before, so I decided to visit," Halia replied with a forced smile even though her heart was breaking from the scene she witnessed earlier.

"Well, you came at the right time. My entire family is in Macau this weekend and we are having a meal at the casino's Michelin-starred restaurant tonight. Would you like to join?" Emerson offered.

"Your entire family?" Halia hesitated. Originally, she wanted to reject Emerson so he wouldn't get the wrong idea, but she was desperate to speak to Jackson again. After all, she needed to clarify things with him. So, she nodded her head, "Sure, I have nothing planned anyway."

A smile immediately appeared on Emerson's face. Did this mean she was giving him a chance?

Emerson grabbed Halia's hand excitedly and dragged her out to the connected shopping mall. Halia was a little surprised. She hadn't wandered to this part of the building yet. "Wow, this place has everything. A casino, a hotel, and even a shopping mall," Halia commented.

"Oh, there's much more to discover," Emerson winked when he realized Halia hadn't explored the entire complex yet. "But first, let's get you an outfit for tonight. Do you have a preferred brand?"

Halia looked at the branded stores and shook her head. "Just whatever's comfortable," Halia replied.

Emerson immediately dragged her into a store with some dresses and picked out a few for her to try. "Here, I think these would be suitable for tonight," he smiled.

Halia glanced at the price tags and tried to contain her shock. One dress was equivalent to a quarter of her police salary! Sure, she was meant to be a director at her father's company, but it was merely a title that she refused to get paid for. How was she supposed to afford this?

At that moment, Emerson pushed her into the change room. "Just try them on. If you don't like them, you don't have to buy them," he said.

Halia sighed and looked at the dresses. In the end, she decided to try them on and pretend that she didn't like any of them. After all, she had to play the part of a rich heiress; she couldn't let him know that she couldn't afford them.