I wasn’t paying attention to her. “Hey, could you help me take a few pictures?”
“Huh? What do you suddenly need pictures for?”
“Help me get a nice shot of the three of them, thanks!”
I had a sneaking suspicion that Mr. Harrison’s friend was Jackson, and the baby was Macy’s kid.
Stacey gave me her word before hanging up the phone. I gave a call to Macy, but no one picked up.
After thinking for a while, I decided to call Nick instead. To my surprise, the call went through. “Ms. Stovall, my dear, how did you suddenly think of contacting me?”
“Mr. Harrison, are you in J City right now? One of my friends has gotten into a spot of trouble over there. Could you help me sort it out?”
There was a pause on the other side of the phone. Nick replied warily, “I’m in M Country right now. Is it very urgent? I’ll get my men in J City to go over instead.”
“Oh, it’s alright then. I’ll give my other friends a call. I’ll hang up now! Let’s catch up another time.” Why was Nick lying to me?
Stacey’s text message came very quickly. The picture she sent was taken in a building in J City’s city center. Nick was wearing a brown coat, with both his hands stuck in its pockets. He looked both dashing and very bored. The image was a little blurry, but that was Nick in the picture—there was no doubt about that.
Jackson was standing right next to him, wearing a dark-colored sweater and a casual pair of shorts. Both of them were pushing a pram about. The entire picture was so strange that it was bound to draw some attention from passers-by.
I gave Stacey another call. She was probably on her phone again, because she picked up instantly this time.
I jumped straight to the point. “Stacey, I need your help again. Can you help me find out where they’re living? Pay special attention to the man and baby who are with Nick. Also, I need you to find out if Macy is with them.”
Jackson had told me they were in M Country. The weather in J City was too cold, he claimed, and it wouldn’t be good for the baby. They were going to return after the new year, but unbeknownst to me, they had arrived in J City ahead of time.
With Macy’s personality, she would probably give in and contact me eventually. In fact, according to my calculations, she should’ve called me to ask after the baby by now.
However, it had been some time, and Macy still hadn’t contacted me. In fact, I had seen neither hide nor hair of her. Every time I gave her a call, I had a distinct feeling that she was avoiding me on purpose.
“Alright, I’ll be keeping tabs on them. Don’t worry!” However, as I hung up the call, I couldn’t help but worry even more.
I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen.
…
The next day, I discovered for myself that John was extraordinarily efficient at his job. Just as Ashton left for work, I received a call from him.
“Come down to Joy Luck Boutique for your gown fitting! Do you want me to send a car over to fetch you?”
I shook my head, climbing up from my bed as I did so. Still feeling rather sleepy, I replied blearily, “It’s alright, I’ll drive there. Can you give me the address?”
John rattled it off to me. Rather sternly, he said, “Don’t take your own sweet time. I’ll be waiting for you there.”
“Okay!”
He did have quite a blunt, abrupt personality.
After hanging up, I washed up and got ready to leave the house. Afraid that I might be hungry on the way there, Mrs. Eriksen stuffed a few chocolate buns into my hands, clucking her tongue anxiously.
I used to drive a Cadillac back in J City. After Jackson sent it to the car repair shop, I hadn’t used it since.
After I arrived in K City, Ashton had gifted me a Cayenne. However, I couldn’t get used to driving it—the bottom of the car was too high, and that made it very awkward for me to drive it around.
However, in a place like K City, which was flooded with all sorts of luxury cars, even an expensive car like the Cayenne seemed pretty low-key.
I was planning to go down to Joy Luck Boutique straight-away. When I drove past a pastry shop in front of the city center, however, I couldn’t help but remember the delicious pastries I had once enjoyed there.
Before I could stop myself, I pulled up in front of the pastry shop. After my miscarriage, Marcus had brought me here to cheer me up. The pastry shop was very popular— dozens of people queued up to get their hands on freshly-baked pastries and buns almost every day.
However, there were usually less customers on a weekday. When I arrived, the shop had just opened, and there wasn’t a queue to be seen.
After going around the entire shop once, I selected a few of my favorite pastries, all of them mocha-flavored. As I paid for my purchase, the shop assistant grinned at me and said, “Miss, our first customer of the day gets a free pastry on the house. Please select another pastry.”
I felt delighted. What a pleasant surprise! “Oh, is that so?”
Although I couldn’t possibly finish all the pastries, a free gift was always welcome. My mood became much better immediately. I felt as though I had just picked up some money on the sidewalk! Although it was just a pastry, it was enough to lift my spirits. Today was going to be a great day.
I walked out of the shop in high spirits. While I was searching in my bag for my car keys, a harried-looking pedestrian bumped into me while he was trying to cross the road.
“I beg your pardon!” he exclaimed. However, since the traffic lights were about to turn red again, he took off in a hurry almost immediately.
I looked down at the squashed box of pastries in my hands, feeling a little sorry at how out of shape they looked. I decided to find somewhere to sit down and finish the pastries.
I watched the city crowds pass me by, shivering as the cold winds of K City chilled me to the bone. After a few bites, I lost my appetite.
There were still so many pastries leftover. I paused for a moment, feeling a little guilty for wasting food. In the end, however, I stood up and made my way to the nearest rubbish bin.
Suddenly, a voice rang out from some distance away. “Mr. White, we’ve booked your hotel for you.”
I flung the box of pastries into the rubbish bin and turned around to look hastily.
