Khalid didn’t intend to continue with the topic, “It’s getting late. Time to sleep.”
Cora nodded with her lips pressed. Then she waved at him to say goodbye.
Khalid drove away.
But Cora was standing still while staring at his car fading away.
Khalid fixed his eyes on the rear mirror, in which her shape was fading away from his sight as well. Not
until quite a while later did he return to his coldness.
What she said just now sounded more like a kind of pressure than a compromise, which annoyed him a
bit. He felt like being blamed for ruining her fancy to get rid of loneliness.
As sophisticated as Khalid had been, he could naturally tell what she meant.
Marshall then drove himself back home. But when he arrived, both Marshall and Katherine still hadn’t
returned.
And Grandma Grant had already gone for sleep.
Khalid sat down on the couch in parlor. He ripped off his tie and threw it aside.
Struggling for a while, he still took out his phone to dial Marshall’s number.
Meanwhile, Marshall was playing poker with them in great fun.
When he answered the call, Khalid could hear Frances exclaiming out of excitement while Kyle
grumbling loud.
“Come on! Not again!”
Frances smiled, “Boy, you need more practice!”
Marshall echoed with chuckle. When they fell into short silence, he turned to ask Khalid, “What’s the
matter?”
Khalid could hear what they were doing clearly, “Still playing?”
Marshall nodded, “Yeah, just play for a few rounds.”
Then the sound of shuffle could be heard.
Frances said with a smile, “Hey, give me the money! Don’t tryna run away.”
Katherine patted on Marshall, “Pay the stake for me.”
Marshall hurried to nod, “Alright, no problem.”
Kyle huffed, “Now I see! I got bullied by a family!”
Khalid was rendered choked when hearing them frolicking. He even forgot what he was about to talk.
Marshall asked while thinking for a while, “You are still working in the office?”
“Nope. I am at home now.” Khalid’s voice sounded low and deep.
Marshall nodded, “Alright, just go to bed. We will be back late.”
Khalid only replied with a ‘yes’.
After hanging up the phone, Katherine smiled, “He can’t wait, huh?”
Marshall shook his head, “I don’t know. But he sounds a bit upset.”
Since now the topic about Khalid had been brought up. Katherine then asked Marshall about how
Khalid felt after the lunch time today.
Marshall replied after thinking for seconds, “He looks as usual. But I know about my dad. He always
remains composed on the surface. He won’t be likely to show great emotional fluctuation.”
Katherine smiled, “So you are the same type just like your dad in this aspect, right?”
Marshall paused and turned to look at her, “Haven’t I shown enough emotional fluctuation? I feel like
dying because of you.”
Kyle suddenly yelled loud, “Hey, hey, hey, enough. Stop your PDA! You are getting me annoyed.”
Marshall raised his brows and pinched on Katherine’s cheek, “Alright, alright, I will take your feelings
into consideration. After all, we got a single pitiful guy who got punched by another lady here.”
Hearing him mention about the punch, Kyle was rendered quite awkward.
He kept yelling to explain, “That was because she is a woman! To be honest, I could have beaten her
up easily!”
Katherine nodded perfunctorily, “Alright, alright, I know. Just get back to the game.”
Poker appeared to be quite addictive.
A few rounds later, Marshall felt like smoking.
He stood up, “Hold on. I wanna get out to smoke.”
Actually, Katherine didn’t show much repellence against his smoking. But Marshall needed to avoid
smoking next to her in case it did harm to the baby.
He took out a little pack of cigarette and walked out of the box. After some consideration, he walked
downstairs.
He lit up a cigarette and walked out.
As he took a whiff, he happened to reach the gate of the club, near which there was a spacious area
where he parked his car.
Marshall took a glimpse but he suddenly paused.
He saw a man walking away from the rear part of his car.
As there wasn’t any car around his, nor did he park his car in front of a shop, he found that man weird
and fishy.
So Marshall walked over with the cigarette stuck between his lips.
He walked to the trunk of his car to bent over to check. But he found nothing wrong.
He squatted down to grope around chassis. Then he touched something.
He scratched to get it off.
Then he stood up and then entered the lobby. He checked it through under the light, noticing that it was
a bug, which appeared to be quite tiny and elaborated.
He pinched to check again. Then he walked upstairs.
He put it in a distance as he wasn’t sure if it was on. Then he walked away to make a call.
After the call, he returned to the box.
The three of them were having fruits while chitchatting about the poker game just now.
Katherine sat up straight when seeing him enter, “Alright, time to quit. I am getting so tired down my
waist.”
Marshall nodded, “Okay, we will get home after a few minutes of rest.”
Katherine had been sharply sensitive enough to tell any subtle changes from the surface, “What’s
wrong? You look disturbed when you return. What’s going on outside?”
“Nothing.” Marshall replied with a smile, “I happened to notice that I missed something urgent about the
business. So I made a call to Peter to get him here. And I am gonna leave it to him.”
Katherine replied with silence.
After a while, Peter arrived. But Marshall didn’t ask him into the box. Instead, he walked out to meet
him.
Katherine frowned while seeing Marshall close the door, “He looks weird.”
Frances smiled, “Don’t worry. It’s just a common talk between men.”
Well, indeed.
Then the three of them stayed in the box and started to talk about Rossie. Marshall soon returned to
notice that it was time to go home.
Frances supported Katherine up, “Just drive yourselves home and take care during the long distance. I
can hail a taxi myself. It’s okay for me.”
Marshall didn’t insist to persuade her this time, “Okay, take care. Do remember to text me when you
arrive home.”
Frances was the first to leave. Then Marshall and Katherine slowly walked downstairs. Meanwhile,
Peter had left.
Marshall waited beside the road and then there came a car to pick them up.
Katherine paused, a bit surprised, “What’s wrong with your car?”
“I just tried my car and there seemed to be a hitch. So I decided to leave it here tonight. And I have got
someone to move it away to fix it.”
Katherine didn’t show much suspicion. She nodded, “Okay then.”
She followed Marshall into the other car. Then she looked at that car from the rear mirror.
But it didn’t look like being bothered by a hitch.
Marshall just drove it here for dinner hours ago. It was parked still. How came such a sudden hitch?
So confusing!
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