“Lily!” Absalom roars angrily as he raises his hand, “What kind of attitude is that?”
Before he can slap her, his hand is suddenly grabbed by someone.
Lily never expects someone to intervene on them. When she takes a good look, she freezes when she realizes that it is Louis.
“President Smith.”
Louis mumbles a response while asking her, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Even if you didn’t make an appearance, he won’t be able to land a slap on my face.” Lily replies as she stares coldly at Absalom. “Absalom, if you have that much time to pester me, I would advise you to spend some money to look for a suitable candidate before your son’s condition worsens. You could probably get what you want if you do that.”
Absalom replies angrily, “I admit that I am in the wrong in the first place. I shouldn’t have abandoned you guys, but in the end he is still your younger brother. Blood is always thicker than water!”
“My only younger brother is Coffey.” Lily rebukes with indifference, “Besides, my mother was divorced since a little more than twenty years ago. We have no relationship whatsoever, mind you. If you are so great you can try suing me to the court.”
“You, you…”
This witty yet cold-hearted daughter of his has succeeded in causing his anger to flare up with a hideous expression on his face. He feels like he is going to have a heart attack soon as he is speechless for a while.
“The security guards in this area is not doing a good job at all since they just simply let anybody in. I am going to lodge a complaint tomorrow.” Lily says sarcastically before turning around to leave the scene.
Louis tightens his grip on Absalom’s wrist, and he warns in a low voice, “Never come here again.”
Absalom is being pressured by someone his junior, and his face is writhing with pain as the pain in his wrist intensifies. He doesn’t have any choice but to nod before Louis lets go of his hand. Then, he leads Rich into the apartment.
Lily is waiting for the elevator.
After a moment, Louis follows her into the elevator. A German shepherd is being led by him.
“Is this puppy only a month old?” Lily curls the corner of her lips as she discovers that the German shepherd is somehow afraid of Louis, judging from the way it is keeping some distance from him. “Nowadays, who would walk a puppy like that?”
Louis answers, “It is too weak, I’m just bringing it out to train.”
“…”
The German shepherd is barking while wagging its tail. It is also rubbing itself against Lily. Although it is quite dark in colour, Lily still thinks it is quite cute, so she can’t help caressing it in her embrace.
“You smell so good! Did you just have a bath?” Lily coos while rubbing it and planting a kiss on its head without any reserve, “You are so cute!”
Rich is cute?
Louis is doubtful of her perspective on such things.
When he sees Rich rubbing itself against Lily’s breast, he suddenly feels a little uncomfortable. With a pinch of his fingers, he picks the puppy off Lily’s arms and puts it down on the floor coldly.
In order to prevent Lily from carrying and hugging Rich again, Louis tries to change the topic, “Is that your dad?”
Lily mumbles a response as she begins to explain, “He’s a selfish and arrogant bastard. He abandoned us a long time ago because he couldn’t get himself to love us. After he remarried, his son was contracted with leukemia not long after, and my bone marrow matches his son’s. He proceeded to come look for me and pestered me for a few months in order to get me to donate my bone marrow. He’s even harassing me in my apartment now.”
Louis’ eyes are shrouded in darkness.
He can see that Absalom is full of hostility and bad-tempered. If he’s desperate, it is highly possible that he would do something terrifying.
“I will inform the security to tighten their inspection for non-residents coming in and out of your apartment.” Louis promises her, “Remember to prepare some self-defensive tools in your bag.”
“I know that.” Lily nods in response to his worries.
“Don’t you have anything to tell me?”
“What about that?”
Louis shoots her a sideway glance as he replies noncommittally, “I have seen the morning news. It seems that you have met Daniel’s mother, and she has given you a present.”
“That is no present, the whole fiasco was disastrous!” Lily recalls the events this morning as she somehow feels a throbbing pain in her wrist, “His mother is too scheming. She even planned for the reporters to wait outside.”
Louis asked, “Why did you want to see Daniel a while ago?”
“Mr. Smith, do you have too much time on your hands?” Lily snickers coldly, “Back then, you had announced your marriage with Chloe in front of those big shots. I never even uttered a word that time. Do you have any right to be concerned with who I want to meet?”
Louis’ mood is already improving, but his upbeat spirit is crushed by Lily’s mocking words, “My marriage with Chloe is just an arranged marriage. How many times do you want me to repeat that fact to you?”
Lily scoffs, “The public wouldn’t be interested to know about whether that is a fake marriage or not, and neither do I!”
“Are you being jealous?”
Lily freezes momentarily before shifting her gaze onto the door of the elevator while ignoring him.
A smile is slowly formed on Louis’ face as he perches his hand on the handlebar in the elevator. He inches closer towards her, “Last time, were you trying to tell me about…”
The elevator doors slide open abruptly at this moment.
“Huh? It’s you guys, Louis and Lily?” Chloe is standing outside the elevator and she is dressed in her pyjamas. She has a shocked expression on her face especially when she senses an ambiguity surrounding the two of them.
She suddenly understands what is going on as she stretches her hand towards the elevator buttons, “Do you guys want to continue what you’re doing?”
Lily immediately shies away from Louis and she tries to keep the door open, “Mr. Smith, you have reached your floor.”
She shoves Louis and the puppy out of the elevator after she says that.
“…”
Louis stares at Chloe with an icy gaze, “Where are you going as it’s so late at night?”
“I’m hungry so I’m going to buy some snacks.” Chloe complains with pity, “It’s your fault that I don’t have a boyfriend now. I’m almost starved to death.”
“He didn’t contact you?”
Chloe nods as she pouts, “It’s been a month since then. He never picks up his phone, so I really don’t know about his whereabouts.”
Louis is slightly angry after hearing that, “He’s really a conceited one.”
“It’s because you have deceived Lily.” Chloe chooses not to side with him, “Your actions have led to Lily getting high fever for a few days. If I were him, I would be angry too.”
“If you have so much to say about me, let’s not see each other anymore.” Louis declares, “You always want to seek something better out there, and my presence must be a nuisance to you.”
Chloe sticks out her tongue as she retorts, “I don’t want to!! I want to see you getting old while staying lonely so that I can inherit your massive wealth. I will buy an island to confine him so that we can enjoy ourselves there.”
Louis can’t help but chuckle, “You are planning to use my wealth to pay off another man’s daily expenses?”
“That’s right! I am willing to do that!” Chloe rolls her eyes at him before suddenly discovering Rich who is by his legs, “Don’t you always hate cats and dogs? Why are you rearing a puppy now?”
As she recalls the scene in the elevator, she laughs at his misfortune, “You always look good when you are acting cool and all that, but you look really embarrassed when you are sucking up to Lily!”
“Do you want to have your acting jobs ceased?”
“I would love that idea, acting is really a tiring job.” Chloe complains, “You can keep me hidden if you wish, anyway you’re the one who’s going to suffer losses!”
Louis pinches her cheeks hard as he refutes, “It’s really a waste for me to take you in and raise you!”
Chloe flings her arms around to stop him.
The elevator doors open again, and Coffey who is wearing a grey workout attire appears into view. He’s dangling an insulated bag, and he presses his lips into a line when he sees those two having fun with each other.
Louis gets a glimpse of Coffey from the corner of his eyes as he says, “The person you plan to confine is here.”
Chloe turns around and immediately dashes into his embrace after laying eyes on Coffey. She’s hugging him so hard that he feels as if his bones are going to break, “Where have you been the past month? I thought you never want to see me anymore.”
“…”
Louis is not interested in watching their interaction, so he enters another elevator.
“Tell me, what happened? Don’t look elsewhere now.” Chloe snaps Coffey’s head downwards to face her as she complains miserably, “Why didn’t you pick up any of my calls? Have you fallen for someone?”
“I had some matters I needed to settle at school, so I was busy for a while. You should let me go now.” Coffey wants to pry off her arms, but Chloe abruptly kisses him as she jumps off the floor and wraps her legs around his waist.