She looked at the woman, quickly realizing the situation, and responded with a similar smile.
“Oh, what a coincidence, Ann. What brings you here?”
Ann involuntarily turned to look outside and said, “I made an appointment, having a meal here. I didn’t expect you to be here too. Are you here with friends?”
Jane shook her head and said, “It’s a company dinner. As the boss, of course, I have to treat everyone.”
“Oh, I see. You’re impressive,” Ann smiled. She looked at Jane, then lowered her head to take out an exquisitely packaged lipstick from her bag and handed it to Jane.
“Since we happened to meet today, I’ll give this to you. I hope you don’t mind.”
Jane looked at the lipstick with some confusion. “What is this?”
“It’s a lipstick I really like to use abroad. It’s plum-colored, and with your fair skin, it should suit you well. Putting it on will brighten your complexion. Consider it a thank-you gift for the last time you took me to the hospital. I wanted to give it to you whenever we met, but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon.”
After saying that, Ann playfully winked.
“Oh, this is just – ”
Jane looked at the lipstick and still felt that accepting such a gift for no reason wasn’t quite appropriate. As she extended her hand to refuse, the woman pushed her hand back.
“Come on, take it. I consider you a friend, that’s why I’m telling you this. Alright, I’ll go out first; they’re still waiting for me.”
Ann smiled and then walked away.
Jane watched her leave and furrowed her brows slightly. For some reason, she felt that Ann’s enthusiasm was a bit excessive. Although she had just returned from abroad, there was no need to be so generous to someone she had just met.
Inexplicably, she unwrapped the lipstick and opened the cap.
The red paste came out, and even a strange fragrance, different from the intentional scent of perfumes or lipsticks made by some businesses, could be sensed when getting closer.
Jane paused for a moment, sniffed again, and couldn’t help but frown. She thought of something, scraped off a bit of the paste with her nails, and rubbed it on the silver necklace around her neck.
As for the part that got on her hands, she washed it off.
“Jane, why are you so slow in the restroom? The director has already gone through two rounds of their game.”
When Jane returned to her seat in the hall, her colleagues happily chatted with her. Unexpectedly, after more than half an hour, a colleague couldn’t help but exclaim upon seeing her necklace.
“Jane, did your necklace rub against something? Why is it turning black?”
Jane looked down and saw that a section of her silver necklace had indeed turned black. Her heart sank.
It seemed like the lipstick she used earlier was the culprit.
Jane forced a smile and tried to brush it off. “Maybe I accidentally got it dirty earlier. It’s okay, I’ll clean it when I get home. Sorry about that, let me message my friend first.”
When no one was looking, Jane took out her phone and messaged Anthony, “I recently met a woman named Ann who just came back from Korea. Can you help me look into her?”
He quickly replied, “Got it.”
The dinner lasted until 9 pm despite the doctor’s orders for Osborn not to drink too much due to his recent illness. However, he couldn’t handle his liquor and ended up stumbling around while leaning on Jane.
“You guys go ahead without me; I’ll drive him home,” Jane said as she bid farewell to her colleagues.
It wasn’t easy getting Osborn into the passenger seat of her car but eventually they made their way back to his villa where she fished out his keys from his jacket pocket before half-dragging him inside his bedroom.
“Jane…” Osborn slurred as he lay on the bed with redness creeping up on his face due to alcohol consumption. He spoke incoherently while emitting strong alcohol fumes which made Jane pause momentarily before finally managing to move him onto the bed properly.
Just as she was about to check if there were any yogurts in the fridge for Osborn’s hangover cure, he suddenly grabbed hold of her wrist.
“Jane…”
Osborn’s consciousness was hazy but he recognized that Jane was beside him so he held onto her hand tightly and placed it over his chest while mumbling unintelligibly.
“Jane, I really like you… Don’t leave me please? Can we be together? Patrick isn’t good enough for you…”
Perhaps due to being drunk or maybe because of some other reason altogether, Osborn spoke disjointedly but clearly enough for Jane understand what he meant.
She frowned slightly wanting desperately to break free from his grip but found herself unable to do so since he only tightened further whilst continuing with more audacious words.
With gritted teeth however, she managed pull away forcefully then grabbed hold of one side of blanket which she shook open before covering him completely with its warmth. She then spoke calmly yet firmly, “You’ve had too much drink tonight; go sleep now.”
After she finished speaking, Osborn muttered something under his breath, but Jane didn’t really want to deal with it at the moment. After all the commotion earlier, she was feeling pretty embarrassed and increasingly aware that Osborn’s feelings for her were a tricky situation.
Jane breathed a sigh of relief and glanced over at the bed. It seemed like Osborn had fallen asleep quickly.
Finally feeling completely at ease, Jane walked out of the bedroom only to hear her phone ringing in her pocket.
She pulled out her phone and saw that it was Patrick calling.
“Patrick, what’s up?” she answered.
His voice sounded different than usual, more serious than warm. “Where are you? Why aren’t you home?”
“Oh…” Jane deliberately lowered her voice.
“Osborn got discharged from the hospital today so I picked him up and we went straight to shoot on set. To celebrate his release tonight, we’re all going out for dinner at Foxglove. Are you home?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Patrick frowned as he watched the news on TV. They were showing footage of reporters catching Jane picking up Osborn from the hospital earlier that day with headlines insinuating they were dating now.
He felt uneasy about it all but didn’t say anything yet.
Jane could tell something was off in his tone so she covered the receiver with her hand and lowered her voice even further so as not to wake up Osborn who had already dozed off in his bedroom, “Wait for me at home; I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay…”
Unconscious murmurs from Osborn echoed in the bedroom. Jane instantly hung up the phone and left the villa quietly.
Patrick put down his phone, involuntarily interlocked his fingers, and rested the part from his wrist to his elbow on his knees – an instinctive defensive posture.
The sound of the key turning echoed.
As Jane just entered the room, she saw Patrick staring at her without moving.
She paused for a moment, gave a slight smile, casually placed the keys on the shoe cabinet at the entrance, took off her coat, and hung it by the door.
“Patrick, why did you come here… doesn’t Queena know?”