Chapter 9

But the sound of the voicemail sobered him up a little. Julie had blocked his number. How could she? What now? Then, he heard knocking on the door, followed by Doris Bivins' voice. "Mr. Peyton, Mrs. Peyton had me bring the hangover tea over." Zayn became extremely annoyed. Facing the door, he shouted, "Leave!" Doris turned her head toward Martha helplessly. Martha stretched her arm out to Doris. "Leave it to me. It's already late. You may rest now." With the hangover tea in her hands, Martha opened the door and entered the room. When she saw Zayn lying on the bed with the clothes he had worn earlier, she reprimanded, "Get up. You can sleep after you've showered. Look at how sloppy you're being." He retorted sarcastically, "Yeah, yeah. What you want is a puppet for a son, someone who's soft-spoken and subservient. That's not me." Looking at how miserable her son was, Martha sighed and could only switch to a gentler tone. "Why don't you drink the hangover tea first? You're going to continue feeling terrible if you don't." Zayn got up reluctantly and stretched out his arm to take the mug from Martha. The mug had just reached Zayn's mouth when Martha began her speech again. "Zayn, why do you think a marriage of alliance is common among affluent families? They're marrying within the circle because they have to prioritize the family's legacy. "I just don't want to see you marrying some girl who wouldn't benefit you in any way and watch you regret it in the future." Zayn paused for a moment without saying anything. Martha continued, "In terms of family background and education, Anna is the perfect match for our family. I don't see why you have any reason not to date her. And if the two of you do end up getting married, I won't even stop you from taking Megan or Lily as your mistress. It's common among wealthy families. As long as the main marriage remains intact, extramarital affairs are often overlooked." Hearing this, Zayn sneered, "Just like my father, huh?" Martha's face froze. Zayn continued dismissively, "Don't worry. I'll go on the blind date. It's late. You should go to bed." … Julie returned to the dorm and saw that Amaya was already packing her things. She briefly glanced at her luggage. "Are you moving out?" Amaya nodded. "Yeah. It'll be more convenient for me to go to work. Besides, now that I'm already in my fourth year, I don't have many assignments either." While she was talking, her gaze fell on the coat that was hanging from Julie's wrist. She rolled her eyes and gave her a look that said, "I knew it." "You and Zayn are on good terms again?" Julie was taken aback momentarily before she calmly replied, "Nope." Amaya pointed at the coat that was on her wrist. "What's with that, then?" Julie was stunned for a moment. She thought of Lucian and how he had gotten married. Her heart skipped a beat. "Jules, still here with me? Did you hear what I said?" Amaya gave Julie a light nudge on the arm. Julie snapped out of her daze. "It belongs to a guy I used to know." When Amaya heard this, she immediately perked up with interest. "What guy? I bet he's no ordinary guy." Julie was stunned for a while. "What?" Amaya pointed at the coat. "This is a very expensive tailor-made coat that costs over a million dollars." Julie was somewhat surprised. "It costs that much?" Initially, she planned to keep the coat as she thought that it would not hurt Blaine to lose one. But she never expected it to be this expensive. Amaya caught her expression and asked, "Don't tell me you didn't know." Julie nodded awkwardly. Amaya smirked slyly. "How about… you get to know this guy first?" Puzzled, Julie said, "Huh?" "Don't you see? It's a coat that's over a million dollars and he just gave it to you like it's nothing. He must have feelings for you." When Julie heard this, she became conflicted. Even though she might not be particularly close with Blaine, she had heard of his scandalous affairs before. She was concerned that Blaine actually had feelings for her. Julie would not let it happen. She had to return the coat to him as soon as possible and make things clear to him. Right when she was thinking of how she could contact Blaine, her phone rang from inside her purse. Julie took her phone out to see. It was an unknown number. She hesitated for a while before pressing the answer button. "Hello?" "Hey, Jules, it's me. Your bud, Blainey." Blaine's uninhibited voice could be heard from the other end of the line. Julie's eyebrows raised a little as she answered in a low tone. Blaine asked out of concern, "Have you reached the university yet?" What Amaya said earlier crossed Julie's mind. She skipped the question about how he got her contact number and asked in an indifferent tone, "Thank you for the coat, Mr. Chandler. Do you have time tomorrow? I'd like to return it to you." When Blaine heard how distant Julie sounded, he raised his eyes to briefly glance at the man seated next to him in the car. The man just nodded his head slightly. Only after the signal was given did Blaine say, "Alright. Let's meet at Fragrance House tomorrow at 12:00 pm." Julie nodded. "Okay. I'll be there on time." When she hung up the phone, Amaya came over and asked, "Is it the coat's owner?" Julie nodded. Amaya laughed and teased, "I'm rooting for you. Go get him." "Stop playing. He's not my type." Amaya side-eyed her and asked, "What's your type anyway? Someone like Zayn? Just give up already. You've already wasted three years on him. Why do you even bother?" "Don't even mention it. We've already broken up." "I don't believe you. Remember how you claimed to have broken up with him one time before, but the moment you heard that he had gotten injured, you just sprinted right over to him?" Julie choked a little. She could not even refute as what Amaya said was true. When Amaya saw the hurt expression on Julie's face, she put her arm around her and smirked. "Oh, right. Do you still remember Zachary?" Julie raised an eyebrow and looked at Amaya. "Why?" "He's back in town. He'd even asked about you." Julie did not show much of a reaction and just muttered indifferently, "I see." Amaya nudged her teasingly. "Zachary's a pretty fine guy. It's a mystery how you weren't the least bit interested in him back then." Julie lowered her eyes and said nothing. When Amaya caught her expression, she continued providing enlightenment. "Jules, heed my advice. It's an ocean out there, and you're a fisherman; if this one's not a good catch, just get yourself another man." Julie lifted her gaze and looked at Amaya. "Did you get yourself another man?" Amaya giggled coyly and said, "I did." Julie was speechless. If she remembered correctly, Amaya had just started dating her boyfriend for a month. He was seven to eight years older than her. Amaya had even said that older men provided a sense of security. "Where's your old man? You don't want him anymore?" Amaya winked at Julie. "Older men aren't as sweet as younger men." These words caught Julie's attention and piqued her curiosity. "And how old is this young man of yours?" Amaya giggled and half-jokingly said, "As long as I still look good, they can be as young as they could be. I'm going to make a move now and go look for my boyfriend." She was already dragging her suitcase out of the room as she said these words. Julie could feel how eerily empty the room was once Amaya was gone. It seemed that she also had to quickly find herself a new place to move to. … When the next day came around, Julie arrived at the restaurant where she would be meeting Blaine. As she pushed open the door of the VIP room, she stopped in her tracks when she saw the man sitting inside. It was Lucian. She did not expect to see Lucian here. For many years, she had pined after him. However, she could no longer stand the sight of him anymore. Whenever she was reminded of how he was already a married man, her chest would feel constricted and painful. Julie stood at the door and exhaled softly. After she gathered her wits, she began walking toward the two men.