Chapter 202 - 5: Is She Crazy?

Curly-hair's given name was Edward, but he didn't like it. So he called himself Ed. He drove the car steadily on the road and listened to his earphones at the same time. He felt puzzled at a sound, and he took the earphones off and handed it to old Chapman, who sat on the seat beside him, "You listen to it."

Chapman was not happy with it, but after he listened, he was shocked.

The two looked at each other speechlessly. Ed said casually, "Her father died?"

Chapman pressed his lips in a line and shook his head.

Tristan Fox, who was sitting at the back and closing his eyes, asked, "What happened?"

The two didn't know how to explain, so Chapman took off the earphone and asked, "You heard it yourself?"

Tristan took the earphone and put it on suspiciously. He didn't react much to it. He just raised his eyebrows and turned to look out of the window. The car happened to pass the side gate of the hospital, and at the narrow lane between the two buildings, a person was squatting on the snow. She was in blue and looked familiar.

Chapman reacted first and said, "That is her, Kate."

Ed saw her too and was about to speak but was hushed by Chapman.

Tristan listened expressionlessly, but his heart was a little shocked. Kate was crying so hard, choking and blowing her nose. From a distance, you could see her jerking, and it looked like she might fall onto the snow at any time.

The scene of Kate shedding tears silently flashed into his brain. She didn't give in or scream. She was so calm that he thought she was abnormal or stupid. It was only because he didn't touch her bottom line.

Curly-hair murmured in the front, "Is she crazy?"

He heard himself reply in a voice only he could hear, "Because she betrayed herself."

The feeling was familiar to him.

He seemed to see a lanky teenager, angry but helpless, walked in a lonely street at midnight, kicking a tree trunk on the roadside and bumped the trunk with his head…And that teenager said from now on, you had to be a bad guy.

It was a long time ago, and he was no longer weak or helpless. He had honed himself to be ruthless and cold. He drew back his eyes from the blue figure and said indifferently, "Let's go."

The money for the surgery was paid. Everything proceeded smoothly.

For the source of the money, Kate explained that she borrowed from her boss and colleagues. She was known to be honest, and her family didn't suspect anything. They were happy for the help from the kind people she mentioned.

The surgery was successful, and so were the after-treatments. Just before Christmas Eve, her father was dismissed from the hospital. They had a quiet Christmas and were grateful that the whole family could be together for the New Year. Nobody could know better than this family the meaning of Christmas.

Their happiness, indeed, was something her neighbor two houses away could never expect. Of course, they were not aware of it. They just worried that Caroline was wilder now. Not even a phone call.

Nobody knew where she was now. They asked Kate when they met her on the porch. She kept silent. Her parents knew that they had quarrels and thought they didn't hang out together now. Kate was tortured by the guilt inside a day worse than the day before. She could not eat or sleep well.

To add salt to the wound, the neighbors talked her parents into introducing boys to Kate. It was true that in a small place like their town, girls got married at 20-23. Her parents thought it was the time.

The boy introduced to her was her classmate at elementary school, the guy who bullied her and wanted to copy her paper in the tests. That guy looked at her with bedroom eyes, and Kate felt a headache, wondering what their offspring would be like if she married him.

As her father was getting better, Kate escaped home after two months. She took the train back to Los Angeles. At least she could see if she could do anything for Caroline in Los Angeles. She could probably only pray that Caroline was happy in heaven. Kate looked bitterly at the bleak winter scenery outside of the train.

Kate reached Los Angeles at dusk. After she got out of the train station, she found the street was decorated with roses and balloons. Lovers were showing affection in public. She realized that it was Valentine's Day. The huge screens outside the mall were showing commercials of diamonds, jewels, roses, and chocolates. Yearning girls were looking up at the screen with envy.

Kate smiled at the scene while avoiding the crowd. She shoved her way to the bus stop. This had nothing to do with her. She came to this city to make a living and caught sight of the evilest side of this prosperous city.

Now the neon lights and luxurious shops could not distract her any longer. She felt that everything was costly, and sometimes people paid in blood. She was in the same city but in a different place.

Tristan was sitting in his car, flipping through a finance magazine. There was an interview with him. He didn't spend much time on the lengthy and flattering article but rested his eyes on a picture of himself wearing sunglasses and a golf cap while holding a golf club. That image looked like a stranger to him.

He saw from the corner of his eyes that the glass door of the apartment building was pushed open, and a slender figure came out. He put away the magazine and opened the car door.

A tall and gorgeous lady wearing a black mink cashmere coat and a red dress underneath came near. Her long sleek golden hair was braided into a bun. Her makeup perfectly enhanced her natural beauty. When she opened her mouth, a sweet and amiable voice said very pleasantly, "Sorry for keeping you waiting."

"It's OK." Tristan opened the car door for her and took care that her head didn't bump the top of the car. When he got into the car, he produced a bouquet of red roses from the trunk. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

The woman was surprised with joy. She took it and made fun of him, "I thought a busy guy like you wouldn't notice this holiday."

Tristan started the car and replied carelessly, "The merchants won't let you forget it. The ad deluge could wake up the dead."

The woman changed her face imperceptibly. She wasn't happy with the reply, but she bent down her face to smell the scent of the flowers and touched the full petals, and said with a little delight, "From Ecuador?"

Tristan nodded. "You have sharp eyes."

The woman curled her lips and smiled. These are exclusive roses for the wedding of the Spanish crown prince. They had deep significance.

The party was held at the Shangri-La Hotel by the city chamber of commerce. The decorations were stylish and high-end.

As Tristan stepped into the hall, some people recognized him and smiled, trying to catch up with him. In just a moment, he was surrounded by people and became the spotlight of the hall. Tristan kept low-profile most of the time, and he rarely attended these kinds of events.

He was in a black suit and a white shirt. He appeared young and graceful among the crowd, made up of mostly middle-aged CEOs. His manners and speech were intelligent and gentle, which attracted admiration from most of the females there.

There were quite a lot of rumors about him. Single so far, some said his wife died years ago, some said he had a dozen mistresses. But the prominent ring on his fourth finger added mystery to their conjecture.

However, this was no obstacle for modern ladies who pursued true love. What really stopped them was the lady in red dress beside him.

The pretty lady in the red dress had her own admirers too. As the hottest hostess of the finance channel, Jessie Henderson was highly educated, smart, and experienced in handling this kind of event. It definitely could boost a man's vanity to have a woman like her by his side. And what was not to be forgotten was her family background.

Their family had an old history and had powerful and wealthy members in the past generations. Her father was rumored to be running for mayor of Los Angeles. This made her social status go up dramatically.

One was the sworn enemy of men and the apple of the eyes of women, and the other one was just the opposite. This made a pair of them.

Tristan, however, as the protagonist of the story, didn't think much of their relations. Instead, he was a little absent-minded tonight. He didn't know why, but when he saw Jessie's inexpensive clothing and jewels, he thought of the girl in blue squatting on the snow. It was a totally different world from here…She must have felt cold.

And then he wondered how old she was.

Judged from her pale but innocent face, probably less than 20. She was still a kid.

Jessie's refreshing voice brought him to reality from his mental vagrancy. Someone walked up to him, probably a person whom Jessie had interviewed in her show. She introduced him to Tristan, and after some flattering on each side, they chatted on some hot subjects.

As for Tristan becoming the spotlight of tonight's event, another reason was his Chasin Group had just invested in a big project, a landmark building-World Trade Center, which would be the financial center of Los Angeles. Now everything was ready, and the project was going to kick off in March. People in this business wanted to pry for more detailed information and see if they could get something from it.

Tristan had been in the business for years, and he knew the tactics. He made no substantial promises but always left some room for hope to others. He wasn't as relaxed inside as he seemed to be. Besides, this investment cost Chasin Group a great deal; as a landmark building, the city government kept a close eye on it, which put great pressure on Tristan.

Some gossip said that one officer in municipal government even lost his job for this project. Of course, this was just gossip, and if it was true or not could be verified. Anyway, he was under great pressure.

Somebody wished him success and a lot more hope for his failure. And not long ago, the incident of that disc was quite a headache for him. Fortunately, it was just an issue of money, but he was again reminded that he needed to take care of all sorts of matters, big and small.

After the party, Tristan sent Jessie back home. Downstairs in her building, she asked if he would like to go up and have a cup of coffee. He thought for a second and said yes.