Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Arya felt her face turned slightly red. She quickened her steps thinking to move ahead of him and found her hand was clasped in Jack’s hand.

When she pulled her hand away, she turned back to sneak a look at him.

Perhaps it was because he had drunk some wine, there was a lazy smile on his face and he looked somewhat relaxed.

Feeling angry, she said. "You’re really something. If it had been me, seeing my friend is worried about me, I would definitely feel very guilty and will not feel so proud like you. What is there to be so proud of?”

She was very fierce. Jack did not mind, only gave a humph and replied. "Are you referring to that time when you canceled your cell phone number and hid in the hospital? That time when no one could find you and made your friends worried about you…..did you feel guilty?”

She choked.

This person is really remarkably agile with recounting old debts.

"Let me tell you, I have a good reason for making those phone calls to you.”

"Uh.” He nodded and walked lazily alongside her.

"You’ve forgotten to give me Director Liu’s note.”

Jack seemed to be surprised, then he nodded his head. "Oh…..it’s that.”

"Right, it’s that.” Arya finally found a good topic. "Quickly give me the note, or else you’ll forget again. I’ve already told Jay and it will not be nice if I can’t produce the note.”

Suddenly Jack quickened his footsteps and Arya who had short legs had to speed up her pace to follow him. "Dr. Jack, give me the note now.”

"It’s in the car. Later I’ll give it to you.”

Arya pouted and when Jack saw her expression, he made as if to go back the way they came. "Okay, okay……let’s not eat. Now, we’ll go back and I’ll get it for you.”

"Oki…” When she looked at her surroundings, she realized that they had walked quite far. It was not good for him to go hungry and she quickly pulled him back. "Wait, why are you so petty? Let’s eat first before we go back for it.”

"Then you’ll have to remind yourself.” He had an expression which seemed to say ~ don’t blame me if you forget ~ which made her want to give him a punch again.

When they finally reached the small shop, they found it was not opened for business.

Arya was flabbergasted and bit her lip while Jack looked at her without speaking.

"I didn’t know they were closed today. Normally, they are opened for business every day.”

"My luck is very good.” Jack lifted his eyebrows and rubbed his stomach.

"There’s a McDonald’s at the corner of the street. It is open 24 hours and we just have to go a bit further.”

"I feel a pain in my stomach. I want to have a hot soup.”

"You feel a pain in your stomach and you still want to drink.” She wanted to scold him and say he deserved it but after thinking it over, she swallowed back her words.

Jack looked at her without any guilt. Arya recalled how worried she was tonight and really could not stay angry with him.

She still seriously helped him to think of where he could have a bowl of hot soup but after a long time, she still could not think of any place.

"It’s so late. I really don’t know where we can get a bowl of hot soup nearby. Otherwise, we can go back and I’ll cook you something for you. I’ll have to inform Soph first. Is that alright?’

"No. What will she think if I were to go to her house late in the night? What if she wears a transparent lingerie and dances in front of me? Will I have to swallow or vomit the food! I don’t want to go! !”

The unpleasant words that were spat out from this man’s mouth made Arya helpless.

Although Soph really likes to wear transparent lingerie around the house, she does not act inappropriately and also……..

Well, Arya could conjure up in her mind the scene of Jack eating with Soph in her transparent negligee conversing with him while she stood beside them with an embarrassed expression on her face.

Okay, okay……it’s up to him.

"Then you’ll have to go home and cook for yourself.”

Before Arya could finish speaking, a taxi passed by and Jack lifted his hand to flag down the taxi.

He grabbed her hand and said. "I know of a place where we can get hot soup. Come, let me take you there.”

Without another word, she was stuffed into the taxi and they were off.

It was a while before she realized she was abducted.

Arya was taken to a Oriental style small eatery. He said the shop serves delicious soup and a variety of dishes but he did not only ordered those, but he also ordered wine and satay and other side dishes.

"You still want to drink alcohol?!” She reprimanded him in a low voice.

"Wine is not that much alcoholic drink.”

"As long as the word alcohol is there……it is alcoholic.”

"Long Island Iced Tea has the word tea…….but it is not a tea.”

"Leave Long Island Iced Tea out of this! Now we’re talking about wine! It is an alcoholic drink!” Arya said fiercely.

"Alright, it’s an alcoholic drink.” Jack leaned back on the chair and said. "But, I still want to drink.”

Arya stared at him for a long time and finally squeezed out a sentence. "Later you’d better not drive home. Just take a taxi.”

He tilted his head sideways and looked at her with a sparkle in eyes, then he said. "Alright.”

"Give me the car keys.” She stretched out her hand towards him. This was to prevent him from secretly driving off with the car after she had returned home.

This time, Jack laughed out loud. He took out his car keys and placed them into her palm.

She twitched her mouth, kept away the car keys and then stretched out her hand again.

"Give me money for my taxi fare home or else if you run off later, I’ll have no money to go back.”

Jack laughed loudly again. This time, he simply pulled out his wallet and put it into her hand.

She took the wallet and pulled out a banknote before returning the wallet to him. "I don’t owe you for this. It was you who brought me here and so you should be responsible for sending me back. You will have to pay for my taxi fare.”

"Um…….right.” Jack kept smiling and did not refute.

When he gave his reply, Arya felt rather embarrassed and mumbled. "It should be like this.”

"I didn’t say it should not.”

Arya glared at him and really regretted that she had worried about him today.

Jack smiled widely when he saw she had nothing to say and suddenly it was very quiet.

Just as it was turning into an awkward situation, the wine had arrived.

Jack poured out two glasses and pushed one of the glass to her.

She said. "If your stomach still feels painful, don’t drink on an empty stomach. Wait for the soup and food to come and then eat before you drink.”

"Arya, do you have younger brothers and sisters?”

She was surprised and said. "How do you know?”

"You control a lot.”

She blushed and did not speak again. Jack was very obedient and did not touch the glass of wine.

He did not drink his wine and sat there watching her.

Arya felt her face getting redder and regretted not letting him drink.

What is the matter? Why is the service so slow?

Just as she was contemplating to make an excuse to go to the restroom to avoid the situation, Jack spoke up. "Arya, after your ex-boyfriend dumped you, did you hate him?”

She thought for a long time. "I don’t think I hate him. It doesn’t matter anymore. Why should I waste effort on hating him?”

"If he comes back to look for you, what will you do?”

"I haven’t thought of that.”

"Why not think about it now?”

She thought for a while and answered. "I don’t know. If it doesn’t happen, I can’t think about it.”

"At that time, what did you like about him?”

"Actually, he is very good. He is polite to everyone, serious in his work and very patient.”

"You like this type of person?”

"If I don’t like him, why would I be together with him? That time, I even decided to marry him.”

"When he didn’t want you, did you bash and cursed him?”

"No. At that time, I really felt very sad and in addition, something else happened. Later when I no longer felt sad, I was already not bothered with him anymore. Then, I left and came here.”

The soup was served and following that, the satay and side dishes were also served.

She urged him to quickly eat and Jack handed over a fork to her so she could also eat the satay and side dishes.

She did not expect that those dishes were ordered for her and felt a little happy.

Thinking of this, it could be considered as compensation for her dinner.

"Do you feel happy just to have something to eat?” Jack looked at her happy expression.

"What did you eat at night?”

"I made sandwich for myself and I scolded you for two minutes in front of my house.”

Jack laughed and nearly choked on his soup.

"Why did you scold me?”

"Not telling you.” She swallowed two pieces of satay and she was in a good mood. She sniffed the wine which had a light fragrance. Not bad……..and she drank up the glass bottoms up.

Jack must be really hungry. In just a short while, he had finished his bowl of soup and started to eat the rest of the dishes and drank his wine.

"What about you? If your ex-girlfriend comes back to look for you, what would you say?”

"I thought I would have a lot to say but in the end, I didn’t say anything.”

Arya was surprised. What did he mean by that? The matter of forgetting his cell phone was all because he had met his ex-girlfriend?

Arya drank a sip of wine to steady herself.

"Did she want to get back with you?”

"She had this intention but she didn’t say it directly. She only said she wants to be friends.” Jack knew she had guessed who he had seen tonight and she did not avoid talking about this topic.

"Then what did you tell her?” Arya’s ears were standing straight up.

Jack suddenly smiled. "Not telling you.”

Arya glared at him.

But she was really curious. She could not help but ask. "Why did she break up with you in the first place?”

She thought he would answer with a ‘Not telling you.’ and did not expect he would give her such a quick reply.

"The circumstances of her family are different from my family. She did not have a sense of security. That time, we were studying in the same medical school. She was in debt with her tuition fees and she was holding down two odd jobs. During the holidays, she never went home to save on travel expenses and worked to save money. In this way, she managed to complete her studies smoothly. I liked her very much and she was the most strong-minded and the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. When I gave her money, she did not accept and was only willing to take her meals with me every day in order to save money on food. She was very hard-working and every year she strived for scholarships. She rejected all my offers of financial assistance. She told me that the reason she was with me was not because of my good financial standing.”

Arya seriously listened to him. She recalled that Jack was very concerned about girls who blindly pursue him solely because of his exterior qualities. Could it be he was influenced by this matter?

"I guess she broke up with me later just to prove her point. She told me that the gap between our families was too great and her family burden was too heavy. She felt that even if we were together, our relationship would not last. And also at that time, there were a lot of rumors about us, saying that she was with me because of my family’s excellent social status. She was very concerned about this and I was not happy with her concern, so we often quarreled.”

It seems that these two people have strong characters. Arya sighed in her heart. In fact, there is some truth in the saying ~ families are well-matched in terms of social status. Perhaps, the more you love, the more inferior you feel? Even TV dramas also depict the same thing. Who is worthy of whom, who matches up with whom and also the parents who have objections……….

"Dr. Jack, did your family issue a cheque and ask her.......‘how much do you want before you’re willing to leave my son’?” She posed like the actors shown on the TV screen and pushed an imaginary cheque forward.

"You watch too much TV.”

"There is a possibility. It is also written in the novels that this does happen. Didn’t you find out from her? Maybe she had a problem?”

"My parents don’t have so much free time to issue cheques. This type of problem which practically hurts someone is not considered a problem and is not worthy of sympathy.”

Arya frowned and felt she did not agree with him.

"That year, she had told me that when she is qualified to stand side by side with me, then it will be the time we can really be together.” Jack looked out of the window and seemed to be immersed in his thoughts. "I tried very hard to figure out the problem but she put her pride before our feelings, trampled my feelings into the ground and the way she said it was so grudging and grievous. Later, after graduating, she returned to the hospital in her hometown as a doctor and I stayed here. We broke up…...”

Jack poured himself a drink and drank it in a gulp.

"Arya, that time, I realized something.”

"What is it?”

"The person who cries is not the person who is more pitiful.”

He poured himself another glass of wine and Arya lifted up her glass to drink with him.

"Today, I wanted to drive to Mark’s place. When you called me, I was just turning a corner, so I didn’t answer. After passing the corner, I stopped the car at the side and was just about to return your call when I saw her standing on the side of the road. At the same time, she also saw me and she came over to knock on my window.” Jack paused. "She did not change, she is still as beautiful.”

"And then you went for drinks?”

"That’s right.” Jack nodded his head. "She got into the car and directed me to a bar. She said that we should have a drink to celebrate our reunion after such a long time.”

"Then you went?” Arya’s voice tone sounded as if she despised him for having no principles.

Jack smiled. "Why shouldn’t I go? I want to hear what she has to say.”

"Then what did she say?”

"She said her father had passed away and she had settled all the medical expenses incurred by her family. She had finished her Master’s degree and now works in city. She had also brought her mother to stay with her. She said she had changed and she is now qualified to stand side by side with me.”

This is indeed a very obvious hint.

Arya felt very uncomfortable. "Then what did you say?”

"I told her……you have changed but don’t you think I have also changed? You came back to compare shoulders with me but I feel that I’ve already gone very far ahead.”

"Then what did she say?”

"She didn’t say anything. She only had tears in her eyes and looked very pitiful.”

"Men are really disappointing. When you see beautiful women shedding tears, you feel they are pitiful.” She twitched her mouth.

He was about to reply when suddenly Arya said loudly. "Wait a minute, wait a minute!”

"What is it?”

"She obviously knew you were driving and because she wants to reunite with you, she took you for a drink which can result in you being charged for drunk-driving! Does she want you to die or want you to go to prison?!”

Arya was very angry.

Jack was dumbfounded and then he broke out into laughter. "Arya, can you please look at the important point?!”

"This is a very important point! The most important point of the important points!”