The moment that marked us
Chapter 99

Chapter 99:

Susan hurried out.

Sherry chased her out of the restaurant and said, “Sue, are you okay? Celia always speaks before she thinks too much, but she didn’t mean to say it. Please don’t take it personally.”

Susan shook her head and saw a car coming toward them. She said to Sherry, “It’s okay. Sherry, my car is coming. I have to go.”

Just then, a black BMW pulled up and rolled down the window.

Sherry saw that a handsome middle-aged man was in the car. She must have met him before. She blanked for a moment to try to think where she had met him.

The man said, “Let’s go.”

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Susan was going to do it right now and said, “Sherry, goodbye.”

The night was dark. Sherry couldn’t see the man clearly, she just said, “Sue, I’ll see you.”

After the car left, she was still thinking about something.

In the BMW, Susan sat in the passenger seat next to the driver’s seat, quietly.

The man merely checked, “Who’s the woman?”

Susan replied, “My friend.”

“How do you know her?”

Susan said, “Are you interested in her? I suggest you don’t work her. She’s William Rowland’s girlfriend.”

The man was in his fifties, mature, but still handsome.

“That’s good to know. But what’s her name?”

“I don’t know!” replied Susan in chagrin.

The man asked again, “How about you make a deal with me? You can leave me forever if you agree.”

Susan asked with great surprise, “You’ll let me go?”

“You know me! Ha ha…”

Who was he? Susan seemed to be afraid of him. Sherry thought again in her mind; she didn’t understand why Susan and Leon were having such a hard time, even though they obviously loved each other deeply.

And what did that man have to do with Susan?

As Sherry stood there thinking, William appeared to ask, “What are you doing here?”

“You’re back too soon.”

William said, “I didn’t go home and just called Samuel.”

He was worried that he would have a fight with Dad if they went home at that time; that would certainly irritate him. Besides, he wasn’t about to leave Sherry here alone.

Sherry asked carefully, “Is he okay?”

“He’s not happy. But I told him he’s a good boy and I’ll pick him up soon. He’s feeling better now.”

Sherry was also upset. She said, “Samuel must be sad. I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”

William said, “Don’t take all the responsibility by yourself. I’m hungry. Let’s get something to eat.”

Sherry hadn’t eaten anything the day before, nor had she prepared anything on the flight. So she was anxious to eat something.

Sherry said, “Great! I didn’t have anything. I just said goodbye to Susan here.”

William was curious, “She was here too?”

Sherry asked worriedly, “Do you know what happened with Leon and Susan? They probably had a misunderstanding.”

“It’s none of our business. They’re old enough to deal with it. Now we just need to take care of our travels; let’s talk about where to go.”

“Samuel is with your father. I’m afraid…”

“Don’t worry. My dad might think again these days. He loves having lots of children at home. He’ll be much happier if we can have more babies. It’s his urgent job.”

Then the smiling William hugged Sherry, then went to a restaurant.

What William said startled Sherry, whose face turned red. She didn’t know what to say, and merely asked, “Are you serious?”

William said jokingly, “Of course. I’d love to.”

“You…” She was too dumb to say anything.

They took the elevator to the second floor. Sherry looked up to see Leon, who was cool and unconcerned about everything.

He was sitting with Ashley next to a table; Ashley was talking to him.

Leon looked unhappy.

Ashley looked over at William and called out, “William Rowland?”

Then Ashley looked at Sherry.

Leon turned to look at William and said, “Sit down, please.”

The waiter helped arrange the china for the five customers at a table.

Ashley said cheerfully, “Why, William, is this your girlfriend?”

Sherry put her head down and tried to deny it, but William said, “Yes.”

He didn’t understand why Ashley was also here to be with Leon.

So Leon and Ashley met at that dating dinner?

Leon seemed to be disconnected at the time.

Sherry saw him smoking a cigarette; he was too depressed to concentrate on the table talk.

William glanced at him and asked, “Leon, was Susan here?”.

Leon was smoking unable to answer soon. The smoke in the air covered part of his face, leaving him looking more somber.

After a while, Celia said, “Hey, Leon. There are a lot of choices for you in the world. Don’t take it so seriously. It’s over.”

Leon grimaced, “None of your business.”

Sherry winked at Celia to stop him from saying more.

Ashley asked, “Who’s Susan?”

Everyone in the room fell silent.

Leon’s smoke covered himself.

Finally, he gave an answer causing everyone to gasp in surprise, “An old friend.”

Celia glanced at Leon and said, “I hope so.”

He turned to look at Ashley doubtfully; Ashley was really pretty and sweet.

Sherry wasn’t looking at Ashley at all; she wouldn’t want anything to do with anyone in the Jones Family.

Ashley would like to know more about Sherry, so she asked frankly and casually, “Hi, what’s your name?”.

Sherry didn’t expect Ashley to ask her that. It occurred to her that Ashley had asked her name the same way they had met last time.

Today she didn’t avoid the question and answered, “Sherry Murray.” Sherry spoke her own name with such ease that William was also surprised.

He knew Sherry didn’t talk like that very often.

William gave Sherry a look of uncertainty.

Sherry just gave a smile and said, “Let’s eat. You’re very hungry.”

Ashley could tell that Sherry didn’t want to talk to her, but she didn’t know the real reason.

She frowned and stopped talking to Sherry, starting to say, “Leon, shall we have something to drink after dinner?”

Leon took a drag on his cigarette and nodded, “Sure.”

He was so upset that he needed a drink as soon as possible.

Celia said with a sigh, “Where are you going? I’d like to go with you.”

Ashley didn’t expect her to join in, “You’ll go?”

Celia replied annoyed, “Yes. You’re both single; I’m afraid you’ll have some drunken mistake. I have to go with you.”

Celia’s words astonished everyone at the table.

It made Ashley cringe; she said, “Celia, are you kidding me?”

William acted as serious as ever, although in his mind he was laughing out loud. Not expecting Celia to be so witty, he just said, “I agree. She should go with you to drop you off at home after the drink.”

Leon was in no mood to joke, he was simply absent minded.

Celia knew better than to take out her anger on Ashley; she tried to explain herself and asked William and Sherry, “Certainly, I’m kidding. How about we go together?”

Just then, Liam interrupted them, “Oh, they’re all here, why didn’t they call me?”.

Sherry gave Liam a look.

She stood up to say, “Hi, Liam.”

William tried to hold her close to him.

Sherry soon sat back down.

Liam saw her sitting next to William, whose hand was holding Sherry’s waist.

He said with a smile, “Sherry, long time no see.”

The waiter poured a cup of coffee on the table; Liam also ordered the food for himself. He took a seat at the same table as them.

He asked William, “My dear Mr. Rowland, when do you plan to apologize to your father and get back to work?”

Lately, when William was absent from the office for a week, Liam always worked overtime.

William replied, “You can quit your job, too.”

Liam was surprised at his words and then said, “Good idea! I can quit my job. I’m exhausted now.”

Everyone was happy to have Liam join their chat.

Ashley asked Liam with a smile, “Mr. Brooks, let’s go for a drink later, will you come with us?”.

“Sounds good! Where will you be going?”

Celia said wearily, “To a bar where we’ll have a lot of fun!”. Indeed, she was worried about her older brother, but she couldn’t do everything for him.

She was also quick to relax from the annoying situation.

Ashley gave another suggestion, “Or shall we go to a KTV? We can sing and drink there.”

William hesitated to follow them.

He had just returned from the United States without any rest besides working out for a day. So he was too tired to party with friends.

What he would like to do was spend some quiet time with Sherry. But Liam told him in advance, “Will, don’t turn it down. I’ve spent a lot of time working now. I’d love to have a chat with you. Please come with us.”

William had to promise, “Okay, I’ll come.”

After dinner, they went to KTV together.

Celia and Ashley sang the songs while Sherry listened to their singing.

Leon seemed very lonely in his heart, just drinking some wine.

William and Liam were outside the room.

Liam asked, “What happened?”

William said, “Susan was here. But I don’t know what happened to them. Leon is always like this.”

Liam set out to call Susan, as he grabbed the phone, he said to William, “I’m calling Susan to come back. We have to help them now. They wouldn’t have a long-term relationship outcome if we don’t give them a hand.”

Then he spoke into the phone, “Hi, Susan, it’s Liam, would you like to meet at a KTV?”

William smiled at Liam’s call.

For the first time, he realized that Liam loved setting up a date for the prospective couple.

But Susan tried to hang up the call quickly, “No, thanks. Liam. I’m busy.”

“Hey…” Liam stopped her, “Please…”

Susan hung up the call soon.

William said, “She’s not coming. I know they’ve had the problem for years. It’s not easy to solve it in a short time.”

“I see. Susan hated to answer the call. Her problem is getting worse. But did they get along last time when the new restaurant was open?”

William sighed and said, “They’re like strangers, they don’t catch up with anything about each other.”

“Yeah, they don’t care about each other. It’s terrible. Those of us on the outside feel sad about their problem too. I have to talk to Leon.”

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