Charlotte happened to look up when the two kissed and caught sight of it. “Ah!” she exclaimed as she covered her eyes. “How shameful!”
Everyone hadn’t noticed as their eyes were all on the camera. Upon hearing the little girl’s cry, everyone immediately shifted their gaze to Jolly. and Leroy and started chanting, “Kiss, kiss, kiss…”
Rachel didn’t want to join in on the fun, so after teasing the couple along with the others, she grilled up some skewers while everyone else was still focusing on Jolly and Leroy, then returned to her little table.
Justin was coming out of the villa with a bottle of red wine just then, and as though he had foreseen her returning to her table, he even came out with two red wine glasses in his other hand. “Wine?”
“Sure.” Rachel wrapped herself with the throw, smiling as her baby hairs danced to the breeze. However, upon landing her gaze on Leroy, she froze for a moment while her gaze turned complicated.
Justin handed her a glass, which she swirled while asking, “When are you planning on telling him?”
“Sometime later when everyone has left, I guess.”
“Why don’t I join you then?”
“Are you planning on outnumbering him?”
“Who do you think you’re kidding?” Rachel rolled her eyes at him. “You know his background better than I do. Do you think we can even lay a finger on him?”
Leroy’s issue had been lingering in Rachel’s mind for a long while.
If they missed this chance, who knew when they would be able to open up about this to him the next time? He was a busy man, after all; he had all sorts of projects, shows, and events to attend all year round.
“Honestly, I don’t get it,” said Rachel. “Why would he choose to enter showbiz when he has that kind of identity? If I remember correctly, he has been in the industry since he was young. The first time Jolly met him was when she was still in college. She said he was still gigging in bars, right?”
Justin furrowed his brows at that. “Someone wiped his profile clean in the past. It’s untraceable, so we can only ask him.”
“To be honest, his identity is no big deal, right?! mean, they’re just dating.”
“In Riverdale, maybe. However, if he decides to
return to Enistan in the future, I’m afraid…”
Justin left his words hanging.
Rachel had a good hunch as to what he wanted to say. “I get that.”
With that, she lifted her chin and sipped on some red wine. With cold wine streaming down her throat and into her belly, coupled with the cold wind blowing against her, she couldn’t help shivering.
Meanwhile, Gloria and Victor were stargazing on the balcony. “Say, do you suppose the stars up in the hills are brighter?”
“Probably.”
“In that case, what do you think about having our honeymoon up in the hills?”
“There are wild boars in the hills.”
“Buzzkill.” Gloria rolled her eyes at her soon-to- be husband. “Are you allergic to romance? I bet you’d never find a wife if you hadn’t met me.”
“I wouldn’t marry at all if I hadn’t met you.”
Gloria blushed, taken aback by his words.
Nonetheless, Victor was still hopeful of being cured of his ‘allergy’ to romance, for she actually couldn’t catch his every-now-and-then affectionate blurts.
“I feel kind of sad for President Sutton.” At that, she gestured downstairs with her lips. “See, hist eyes are practically glued to Jolly. Why does he want to torture himself like this?”
“Ryan’s a deeply artful guy.”
“Huh?” Gloria looked at Victor with bewilderment. “How do you know?”
Victor never had much contact with Ryan, and knowing Victor, he would rarely judge someone, let alone one with such negativity.
“He donated some stuff to our school.”
“When? How come I’ve never heard you talk about this?”
“That’s because the school turned him down later,”
Gloria turned grave. “Tell me the details.”
Victor hadn’t intended to say it since it was already in the past. But since Gloria asked, it wouldn’t hurt to tell.
It actually happened quite a few months back, a little after Ryan found out Samuel was his son. Seeing that he was going nowhere with Jolly, he turned his attention to the school.
“He made a request at that time. He wanted to select a batch of students and take them on a cruise.”
“A cruise?” Gloria’s eyes sharpened a little. “Was Samuel on the list?”
“He was.”
Forget about a cruise; the potential of an accident happening could arrive on any trip, not to mention when there were so many children involved. If his plan actually came to fruition, Samuel might actually disappear without reason.
A chill ran down Gloria’s spine as the thought crossed her mind. “How was it settled, then?”
At that, Victor grew hesitant to speak. “It was Justin. He donated a block unconditionally. His only request was that the school could not have any ties with Ryan.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“Well…” Victor scratched his head, at a crossroads. “Justin forbade me from talking about it.”
“Are you saying that Jolly and Rachel don’t know about this either?”
“They don’t.”
“You really are a blockhead.”
Tm sorry, but the thing is, I couldn’t figure out what Justin was trying to do at that time either.”
“What else can he do other than wanting to protect Rachel and the kids? Ask yourself this- ever since he regained his memories, he has been making his best efforts, hasn’t he?”
He was the great Justin Burton, the former CEO of Burton Group in Riverdale. As a young and promising man, he took over Burton Group while others were still in high school and was a notable name in Forbes’ The World’s Billionaires ranking for several consecutive years.
But now, all he had left was a shell of the Burton Group and this increasingly bleak summer villa. At the young age of forty, the man was now living like a widowed elderly, growing produce, cooking up meals, and taking care of the kids apart from doing occasional charity.
“Don’t get upset. I can tell as well.” Victor wrapped his arms around Gloria’s shoulders to comfort her. “You can’t rush everything. Things have gotten a lot better between them now, hasn’t it?”
Gloria finally cooled off when she saw Rachel and Justin drinking and chatting away in a corner on the second floor.
“Anyhow, back to President Sutton. I don’t know why, but I’ve always found him odd.” Gloria frowned, unsure why she kept thinking the man was rather odd. “Victor, I just remembered something!”
“What is it?”
“Remember the time we went to Triburg Valley?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“I caught sight of Julian when I got separated from you guys, but he didn’t see me. I overheard his conversation on the phone, and I think he was talking to President Sutton.”
“Well, if I remember correctly, Rachel previously mentioned that Julian and Ryan have business dealings with each other.”
“Not that.” Gloria shook her head, looking somewhat hesitant. “I heard Julian mentioning Leroy.”
Leroy? Victor’s heart skipped a beat. “What did he say?”
“He said Leroy won’t be able to make it to Triburg Valley.”
Victor’s countenance changed in an instant. “Are you sure you heard it correctly?”
“I-I’m not sure. I wanted to ask him back then. I thought Julian got word that an issue would prevent Leroy from coming, but later on…”
Later on, Leroy had gotten into an accident on the mountain roads and nearly lost his life. there. The veins on Victor’s temples throbbed as he looked toward the man in question with absolute incredulity.
