“You didn’t get any hot water, huh? Told you this airport’s too big.” Nora noticed she wasn’t holding anything.
I looked at Hannah awkwardly, but she only smiled and took out a grey coat. “Good thing Chandler didn’t take them out.
I thanked her before going up to Hailey with the coat. She smiled at me. “We meet again, Scar.”
I handed her to coat. “Looks like it.” She was the only one who’d call me that.
Nora looked at us in surprise. “You guys know each other?”
I nodded. “We met before.”
She pouted. “What are the odds of that!”
After the simple introduction, Chandler put their luggage in the trunk before coming back into the car. “Where will you go now, Ms. Stanhope?”
I told him the villa’s address, then he revved the car up again. But then Nora quipped, “Oh, I rented a place in the city center, so it’s fine. Hailey and I will be staying there.”
I pouted. “But the servants have already cleaned the house, and staying by yourself is going to be a hassle.”
“Don’t worry, it won’t. I have a ton of stuff to deal with, so staying at your place is going to be a hassle for you instead. And the place is really more convenient for us too.” Nora was still as talkative as a child.
I wanted to convince her, but Hailey said, “We’ll stay at the place Nora rented for now. She told me you have a lot on your plate now, so let’s not add more to that, okay?”
I stopped persuading them after that. Chandler sent them to the place they rented in the city center. It was an apartment with two bedrooms. It wasn’t big, but the decor was nice.
Since she had nothing to do, Hannah and I helped the girls tidy up the place before going to the mall to purchase a lot of winter apparel.
Nora wanted us to stay over for a barbecue that night, to which Hannah agreed readily. “No prob. Chandler can cook. He’s a good chef.”
Chandler blushed from the praise. Since everyone agreed to it, we went to get a mountain of ingredients and prepared for the barbecue, and it didn’t take too long to get the food ready. Nora said, “Call Anthony over, Sienna. It’s quite late, so he’s probably done with work.”
Well, it was getting dark, and everyone was here, so I thought I’d invite him. It was a good chance for them to get to know each other. Then, I called him. It went through a moment later, and I asked, “Are you done, Anthony?”
“He’s still in a meeting, Mrs. Featherstone. It might take a while,” a woman answered instead of him. It sounded familiar, but it took me a while to realize that it was Stella.
“I see. Tell him to call me back once he’s done.”
“Yes, Mrs. Featherstone.” She hung up after that.
I frowned. Nora, who was washing the veggies, noticed it. “Oh, is he still working?”
I nodded. But he usually brings his phone with him. So why was Stella the one who took the call?
“Aw, and I thought we could have held a gathering. I just called Armond, and he said he’d come over since he has time,” Nora mumbled.
I gasped reflexively. “You guys came back from Moranta together?”
Nora didn’t seem to know what happened between Anthony and Armond in Moranta. She nodded and puckered her lips. “I don’t want to talk about it. I was going to stay here for a bit after Moranta, but he got on my nerves so much that I decided to go back.”
I stared at her. “Did you guys get into a fight?”
She shook her head angrily. “It’s worse than that. I thought he’s a gentle man, but he’s just a hypocrite.”
I froze, thinking that she might have seen his darker side, but then she said, “When we were still in A City, he promised me he’d take me to his parents when we came to K City. I got really nervous over it, but he fooled me and told me to go back after I have enough fun here. What a rascal!”
I frowned. So he’s still pretending to be a mild-mannered man in front of her, huh?
“I’m going to whoop his arse when he shows up. He sucks as a boyfriend. You know him well, so please lecture him for me, will you? He’s really too much!” Nora was a straightforward lady. Once she was done complaining, she went to chat with Hannah and Chandler.
I looked at her quietly and sighed. So Armond didn’t tell her about the incident in Moranta. But she should have met Holden, shouldn’t she? Didn’t Holden tell her anything? I texted Holden, asking him if he had told her anything about the fight between Armond and Anthony in Moranta.
The doorbell rang after I texted him, and Nora went to take it happily, despite the fact that she had just complained about Armond earlier. Even so, when she saw Armond standing outside, she snorted. “Well, look who has decided to show up?”
He looked at us before smiling at her. “I see you have a whole group here. Getting ready to beat me up, I assume?”
Amused, Nora pouted. “As if. Get in. Annoy me again and you’ll never hear the end of it.”
I was standing at the kitchen’s doorstep as he came in with her. He squinted at me coolly before putting on his warm, fake smile. “Rowdy night, I see.”
Nora snorted. “Of course, it is.” The, she introduced everyone to him.
I was still looking at him, but all I could see was that dark, eerie man in the café. That thought alone chilled me to the bone.
“He’s evil,” Hailey whispered, much to my surprise. When I snapped out of it, she had paled a bit, perhaps from shock.
I gave her a concerned look. “What is it? Are you feeling unwell?”
She shook her head and took a deep breath. “I’m fine.”
Nora came with Armond to say hi. “Why don’t you girls take a break and let him do it? He’s being punished for coming late, so I thought this is a good place to start.”
Armond was beaming brightly. He looked at me, then at Hailey. “You got a new friend, Nora?”
Nora nodded and held Hailey’s hand with a smile. “I almost forgot. He’s the boyfriend I’ve been talking about. His name’s Armond.”
Hailey still looked pale, and she nodded at Armond stiffly. She seems scared. Is it because of him?
Nora was a bit of an airhead, so she didn’t notice Hailey’s expression. She turned to Armond. “This is Hailey, my friend. She lives in A City, just like me.”
Armond smiled gently at her. “Hello. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Hailey was trembling slightly as she shook his hand. “Hello,” she whispered almost inaudibly.
Thinking that Hailey was just being shy around strangers, Nora smiled. “She’s a shy one, so socializing’s not her forte. Alright, let’s start the barbecue. We’re starving here.”
Armond smiled and went into the kitchen, followed by Nora.
I grabbed Hailey, then she dragged me out of the kitchen. Her hands were as cold as ice, obviously shocked from the meeting. She then downed a glass of water to calm herself.
Instead of asking her straight off, I waited for her to get a hold of herself. A short while later, she looked at me. “He’s evil.”
I paused for a moment. I knew she was talking about Armond, so I asked, “Do you know him.”
She nodded, then sat on the sofa and looked at the kitchen. “I’ve seen him before, but it has been quite a while since then,” she whispered.
I was going to ask more, but Nora and Armond were already back with the kebabs, while Hannah and Chandler made sure the flames were still roaring. Since everyone was going to dig in, I held my question.
I observed Armond while we were barbecuing, but he didn’t seem to know Hailey. How does Hailey know him and she’s even terrified.
“You’re spacing out again. What’s up with you?” Hannah handed me some food. “You have lost some weight. Here, have some kebab.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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