Chapter 377 A Dinner Party
Chapter 377 A Dinner Party
Celia looked around and felt horrible. All the shoes in the shoe rack had scattered on the floor, and all the drawers were opened. The whole living room was turned upside down.
'Were there thieves?' she thought to herself.
With eyes wide open, she ran to her bedroom to check. When she finished, her shoulders sagged as she cried, "Rachel, what should I do? These thieves are so heartless. Why do they come to my house at this time?"
Rachel frowned and replied, "They are not thieves."
"Then who could do this to me?"
Rachel raised a document in her hand and said awkwardly, "I think it's Bertha. I've found this divorce paper she left here."
When Celia went to check her bedroom, Rachel found the document under the coffee table in the living room. It was probably blown to the floor by the wind.
Celia glanced at her and sneered, "My father surely made the biggest mistake when he married her. Back then, he even beat me because of her. Now that he is dying and needs money for his hospital bills, she immediately left a divorce paper and ran away. What a good wife!"
Rachel sighed. She knew that no one would want this kind of situation. But for her, it wasn't really a bad thing that Bertha left.
However, she was only an outsider to this family. It was not easy for her to say these words in front of Celia.
A few moments later, Jack's car parked outside. As soon as he came in, he frowned and said slowly, "I asked someone to bring something to eat here. You need to have some food in your stomach first before you have a good rest."
When she heard what Jack said, Rachel turned to Celia and said, "While we are waiting for the food, go and clean your room first."
Jack could see that Celia was absent-minded, so he was sure that something unpleasant happened while he wasn't here yet. So when she went to her room, he asked Rachel in a low voice, "Where is Bertha?"
Rachel shrugged her shoulders and showed him the document. "She left this divorce paper and ran away." She then looked around the messy living room and started to clean it up.
He held her hand to stop her and said, "You don't need to do that. I'll hire two cleaners from the agency to clean up this mess."
Without saying anything, she gently removed Jack's hand from her arm and continued putting the shoes back to the shoe rack. After fixing all the shoes, she looked at the direction of the bedroom and walked to the kitchen. That was the only time she asked him, "What happened to Marcus? Where is he now?"
"He's okay." Jack, who followed her to the kitchen, smiled and stroked her soft hair. "I heard Celia calling you just now. Go and check on her in the bedroom first."
She nodded and walked to the bedroom quietly.
Looking at her back, Jack silently took out a cigarette and lit it. His deep-set eyes showed an indescribable sense of fret.
Before he came here, he received a call from Marcus, who only said, "Please take good care of Celia for me."
His heart skipped a beat, and he wanted to ask why, but Marcus had already hung up.
Rachel raised her hand and knocked on Celia's bedroom door. "Celia, did you just call me?"
"No, I didn't."
Celia took out a photo album from a corner, wiped off the dust on it, and looked through it one by one. All the photos there were taken in the park with Dylan when she was still a child.
She raised her head and looked at Rachel. When she was about to show the photo album to her, she noticed that she was in a daze. "Rachel, what's wrong?"
"Nothing,"
Rachel answered and looked back at the kitchen uneasily. Pursing her lips, she thought if Jack deliberately sent her away to avoid the topic about Marcus.
She couldn't help wondering if he was hiding something from her.
But then, she tried to put the thoughts away. She walked up to Celia and asked with a smile, "What is it that you want to show me?"
In the Ji family residence, the dining room looked warm and beautiful as the dim light cast down on the table.
All of a sudden, a wine glass fell to the floor, breaking the sweet atmosphere in the room.
Eden took out a stack of tissue and hurriedly handed it to Marcus. "Marcus, wipe your hand."
However, Marcus didn't even raise his eyes to her. Instead, he took a towel from the other side of the table.
Embarrassment was written all over her face as she pulled her hand back and smiled helplessly.
Seeing how Marcus had treated Eden, Larry pulled a long face and yelled, "Are you still a little boy? You can't even hold the wine glass properly. How clumsy!"
Eden's father hurriedly mediated, "It's normal for people to make mistakes. Marcus, why don't you go upstairs and change your clothes first? I don't think a towel is enough to wipe the wine stains."
The Chen family visited the Ji family for dinner tonight. Both elders of the two families agreed to talk about and settle the relationship between Marcus and Eden.
Without saying a word, Marcus turned around and went upstairs expressionlessly. His actions angered Larry more. If it weren't for his wife sitting beside him and kept on pulling his shirt hard, and the Chen family who sat opposite him, he would have probably gone upstairs and scold Marcus. Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.
But now, all he could do was smile at them apologetically.
He raised his glass and said, "I'm so sorry. Marcus sometimes loses his temper. That's one of the reasons why we want to ask Eden to take good care of him in the future."
Eden's cheeks flushed. She looked down at the bowl in front of her and stammered, "I promise that I will take good care of Marcus for the rest of my life."
Marcus' mother smiled at her, showing the wrinkles around her eyes. She said, "If Marcus does anything bad to you, don't hesitate to tell us. We will help you teach him a lesson."
Marcus could hear the conversation downstairs from his room. He was so enraged that he couldn't help punching his bedroom wall heavily. For the first time in his life, he felt so useless.
It was already midnight when Jack and Rachel left Celia's house.
The moon was flickering through the dark clouds, and the dim streetlamp produced the shadows of the two people walking together.
Rachel turned her head and asked, "Why did you lie to me just now? What are you hiding from me?"
Jack subconsciously rubbed his nose. "What lie?"
She stopped and said seriously, "Don't pretend to be confused."
He bent over and planted a soft kiss on her nose. "Can you not be so smart sometimes?"
He took her hand and put it into his pocket. He then sighed and said, "Marcus called me and asked us to take good care of Celia for him, but he didn't tell me the reason.
I didn't tell you earlier because I'm afraid that you wouldn't be able to control your emotions."
A sudden gust of cold wind made Rachel shiver. She couldn't help looking back at the house with lights still on. A trace of sadness flashed across her eyes.
The next day, Rachel was awakened by the ringing of her mobile phone very early in the morning. It was from the hospital and informed her that Dylan had already woken up. He wasn't in a good mental state yet, but he was out of danger.
Since she had only slept a couple of hours,
she vaguely responded to the person on the phone. She was about to fall asleep again when she suddenly sat up upon realizing the news.
Jack was also wakened by her movement. He turned the bedside lamp on and asked in a hoarse voice, "What's wrong?"
She quickly changed her clothes and replied, "The hospital just called. They said Dylan was already awake. Celia must have gone there now, and I'm a little worried. Let's go and have a look."
The street in the early morning was usually empty and quiet. Only two or three street cleaners were sweeping the street. Jack maneuvered the steering wheel with one hand and covered his yawn with the other hand. The dark circles around his eyes showed his fatigue. The stubble had already started to grow on his chin.
Staring at him, Rachel felt sorry. "Jack, I'm sorry. Instead of having a good sleep at home right now, I need to drag you to the hospital at this hour."
"I am your man," he replied with a smile.
After parking the car in the parking lot, he wrapped his arm around her neck, and kissed her gently on the lips. "I am willing to be your driver anytime."
When they arrived at the ward, Celia was already there sitting beside Dylan's bed.
Rachel walked up to her quietly and put a hand on her shoulder. "How is he?"
"He was awake for about ten minutes and fell asleep again. He was not in good spirits," Celia answered.
"Don't worry too much. I'm sure, everything will be fine." Rachel could only say some comforting words. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Austin arrive with two other men, and Jack motioned for them to walk out of the room. He had a grim expression, and his eyes darkened. To distract her attention, she pulled a chair and sat down in front of Celia to chat with her.
She had been too nervous these past two days.
Ever since she knew Celia, she had never seen her at a loss like this before.
Celia had always been full of energy as if nothing could beat her down.
They had been chatting for quite a while now when Celia suddenly held her hand tightly and said, "Rachel, I can't contact Marcus. His phone is always off. Does Jack know what is going on with him now? Can you ask him for me, please?"
Rachel was stunned. She patted the back of her hand to hide her embarrassment and said, "Okay. I'll ask him later."
Celia lowered her head and murmured, "Marcus promised me that he would always be there every time I called him."
Tears streamed down her face as she cried silently. Whoever saw her would really feel sorry for her.
Rachel handed her a piece of tissue. "Don't think too much. Maybe he has something important to deal with. Now that Dylan is already out of danger, you should have a good rest."
Indeed, Celia was exhausted. She whispered a few more words before she bent over the edge of the bed, used her arm as her pillow, and slowly fell asleep. There were still tears in the corner of her eyes.
Rachel took off her coat and wrapped it on her shoulders before she walked out of the ward. She found Jack leaning against the wall outside, smoking. As soon as he saw her, he stubbed out his cigarette and threw it into the trash can.
"I've asked for a day's leave for you. You can stay here and accompany Celia until tomorrow."
Jack's voice sounded a little hollow in the empty corridor.
Looking at her watch, she said, "I still have two hours to rest. I don't need to ask for leave."
Jack didn't counter anymore. He just held her hand and said lightly, "I now know what happened to Dylan. He got addicted to gambling recently and the people who beat him up were his opponents. They discovered that he cheated on them, so they ended up beating him."