Marshall went back to the hotel with Khalid. Before getting back to his room, Khalid turn over and
asked, "Did you make the phone call?"
Marshall paused and stopped opening the door. "No."
Khalid seemed to have realized something. He said, "You'll have to make the call anyway. Sometimes it
would be better if you have it handled sooner. People may forget about this if you quit, but if you stick to
it you may succeed."
Marshall looked at Khalid in surprise. He thought Khalid was talking about the old house.
It seemed that he wasn't.
Marshall put his room card down and walked over to Khalid. "Let's get to talk."
Khalid smiled and opened the door of his room.
Their rooms were next to each other and had the same layout. There was a sofa in the living room.
Marshall sat down and said, "I thought you didn't like Katherine."
Khalid said as he took off his coat, "I didn't like her because she was too prim and proper, but she really
impressed me on your uncle's birthday. Maybe your mother has restrained her too much. Now that she
and you have been divorced, she doesn't have that much to care about, thus she could be who really
is."
Khalid came over and sat opposite Marshall. "Just between you and me... I like Katherine more than
Clara. I'm not saying that Clara isn't good enough. It's just... maybe she's just too perfect, and there's
always something missing."
He sighed, "Clara's got a big family and their relationship is entwined. They've taken advantage of your
divorce last time. I looked down upon them. It's fine by me if they play tricks in business, but not in their
opponent's life."
Marshall nodded slowly. "That's right, but I thought you used to think little of Katherine because she
was born in a humble family, just like Mom."
"Her family..." Khalid thought and continued, "I've thought about it when your mom and I got divorced.
There's no established definition for 'rich', but obviously, our family has got enough money. We wanted
you to find a rich girl, but it was not because we wanted to benefit from the marriage."
Khalid seemed to have lots of emotions. He continued, "Marriage is a lifelong test. We should care
about more than her family background, especially when we're rich and capable enough by ourselves.
When our life is hardly possible to be shaken by external factors, inner feelings may become our only
measurement of love."
Marshall looked at Khalid. He had changed a lot, because that wasn't something he would say before.
That might be his insights after the end of his last marriage.
Marshall replied as he nodded slowly, "I think Grandma likes her, too."
Khalid chuckled, "Your grandma still likes her now. She says Kathrine has the liveliness which no other
family member does."
Marshall suddenly realized something. He asked, "I saw Lydia introduced several girls to Lucas and
tried to be the matchmaker. Is Lucas really that desperate? What am I missing?"
Khalid seemed unsure about it, either. He said, "I heart it was your Uncle Carson's idea. He asked
Lydia to do this. I didn't ask them why... but it is time for Lucas to keep an eye out there, he's not getting
any younger."
Khalid pondered and added, "You could've been fathering children now if you hadn't divorced. No
wonder Uncle Carson gets worried."
Marshall pursed his lips and then sighed, "Yeah, I could've been a father... if everything had gone well."
Then they discussed the mission of this business trip. Marshall seemed to be counting the minutes to
go back.
Khalid laughed, "I brought you here to help you collect yourself, but now it seemed that I should've
thought twice because you don't seem willing to be here."
Marshall smiled and went back to his room without redundant talks.
There was nothing for him to do. He took a shower and then lay on the bed, checking his phone.
He remembered that Hector had the first knockout round.
He dropped his jaw at the research result on his phone.
Hector was such a drama queen. He confessed his love a few days ago, and now he was displaying
his relationship in public.
"You Are My Destiny."
The name of the song was such a cliche. The name of Katherine's shop, Destined for Nothing, was
really a suitable answer to his song, Marshall thought.
Marshall had been counting the days to go back, and he really couldn't wait to go back when he saw
Hector's match.
He knew Katherine well enough.
She could be quite muddleheaded sometimes. What Hector had done within such a short period might
have irritated Katherine already.
Hector wasn't confessing his affection to her, he was doing that in public for displaying.
Katherine was too nice to refuse him.
Marshall couldn't stand by and watch.
He checked the air ticket online and booked the last flight tonight.
Then he got off the bed and packed up. He walked to the next door.
Khalid was still asleep, only to be awakened by Marshall's heavy knocks at the door.
Khalid frowned. "What's wrong with you?"
Marshall said with the suitcase behind, "I've booked the air tickets and I'm leaving right now. It's about
Katherine, and it's urgent."
Khalid leaned against the door. He laughed when he heard him. "I knew you would lose your patience
to stay here after we had the conversation."
He then continued, "Fine, just go back. There's nothing important here. I can do it alone."
Marshall laughed and waved to Khalid. Then he left with his suitcase behind.
Katherine stayed up very late in the shop.
Margaret had already left. She was calculating the operating profit from the opening day to the present.
It was twice as much as she thought.
But she knew the surplus was from her friends. They wanted to help her.
Most of it was from Marshall and Kyle.
Katherine put the calculator aside and sighed.
She wanted to be independent, but it turned out that she still needed support from her friends.
It took a while before she packed up and went home.
She didn't want to take a cab. She grabbed her purse and paced back home.
She blacklisted that woman's phone number, but she still felt uncomfortable.
It was like a thorn pricking in her heart. She was trying to avoid touching that place.
It was not getting any better, and it would never disappear by itself. She was lying to herself, pretending
that the throne didn't exist or hurt if she didn't look at it.
It was late when she got home. She made herself a sandwich.
She was not even in the mood to watch TV. Having washed up, she went to bed.
She didn't sleep well that night. The strange and exotic dreams haunted her. She saw lots of messy
scenes.
That made her feel tired, and her head dizzy.
She tossed around and opened her eyes.
The curtains were opened. The moonlight sneaked inside and lit up the room.
She saw a man standing by her bedside.
It was so terrifying that she forgot to scream.
She froze like a deer.
Marshall knew she was awake. He sighed, "I told you to close the window on your balcony."
Katherine sat up slowly as Marshall sat down on the bed. He asked, "Is everything alright? You weren't
sleeping well."
Katherine took a look at Marshall. Suddenly, she got up and pounced on him. "Marshall! You scared the
hell out of me! You know how much I hate surprises! That may actually scare people to death, do you
know that?"
She pressed Marshall on the bed and rode on his waist, arms raised to beat him.
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