Filed to story: Sweetheart Do You Still Love Me
Elspeth suddenly became interested in the topic. Seeing him talk about the subject with ease, she couldn’t help but laugh, asking,
“So you mean you can’t forget about your first love, too?””Yes, of course-“Suddenly, a hostess was shoved to the ground from the adjacent booth.The man who shoved her to the ground swore,
“What the hell are you doing here, working at a bar without letting people touch you? You think you’re still a f*cking virgin or something? Who the f*ck do you think you are?”The young lady burst into tears, looking particularly disheveled as her maid costume was creased all over.The man shot a look at those around him, who immediately came up and grabbed the young lady’s hands. He yelled,
“Get her! I’ve got to see today who such a stubborn chick is!”The young lady cried while attempting to run away, but she was alone and outnumbered against the man and his lackeys. They held her in such a firm grip that she couldn’t move at all. Elspeth was just about to go over and offer help to the young lady when Harper, who was beside her, rushed forward and kicked away the hoodlum who was clutching the lady’s hand.
“How dare you make a scene at Luna Bar! Who do you think you are?”Seeing how his lackeys suffered at the hands of another man, the man swore angrily,
“F*ck you! Who the hell do you think you are? How dare you lay a hand on one of my people!”Harper waved his hand, after which five men dressed in security uniforms immediately showed up around him.
“Throw these people out of here for me,”
he ordered.The security guards here were all well-trained. Moreover, most of them were ex-soldiers with Herculean strength, so it didn’t take long before they chased all the men out of the bar.In the end, the man glared at Harper and threatened with feigned audacity,
“I’ll come back again!”Elspeth kicked him in the butt.
“Just get the hell out of here!”Scared sh*tless, the man fled from the scene for fear that he might get hurt again.The young lady trembled all over with fear. After the danger was over, she sat on the couch and gingerly thanked Elspeth and Harper, saying,
“Thank you for saving me just now. If it weren’t for you two, I’d have been bullied by that guy…”
She wasn’t especially pretty, but she exuded pure innocence from her every pore, which did easily attract those who had evil designs on her.Harper had always behaved like a loafer, but strangely, he didn’t say a word at this very moment. When Elspeth looked up at him, she realized that he seemed to have tears in his eyes, as though he were trying hard to suppress some strong emotions.Seeing that he was silent, the young lady also looked up at him, only to be stunned instantly.
“Harper?”Harper nodded with a polite smile.
“It’s me, Brianna.”Brianna was speechless with emotion; this was the first time she met Harper in the country, after all.
“What a coincidence! Why are you here? You’ve come home from overseas?””Yeah, I just came back recently. What about you? Why are you…”
Why are you working at such a place?Brianna could tell clearly what Harper hesitated to ask, and her smile faded. She knew how unsavory her job was.Having basically figured out who Brianna was, Elspeth feared Harper might say something that would frighten her. She said immediately,
“Miss Brianna, if you need cash, you can borrow from me. It doesn’t matter whether you can pay it back or not.”
As a young woman like Brianna, she naturally understood that the only reason for her to wind up in such a situation was that she was desperately in need of money.A light flickered across Brianna’s eyes.
“Really?”
she asked before hesitating for a moment.
“Well, never mind. You don’t have to. I can earn money by myself.”What a gentle young lady who stands on her own feet. No wonder Harper would like her, thought Elspeth. She quickly suggested,
“Still, this isn’t a job for you. What about this? You can work as a receptionist at the bar. It’ll pay higher than working as a hostess.”
In reality, the paycheck of a receptionist wasn’t much, but she could raise Brianna’s paycheck a little. As for how much the raise was, it was entirely up to her.Learning that she could earn even more money without working as a hostess, Brianna was delighted. She instantly accepted Elspeth’s offer.Elspeth knew that Brianna and Harper must have a lot to say to each other upon their first encounter in the country. Seeing that Harper had almost calmed down, she suggested,
“If there’s nothing else, I’m going somewhere else. Have a nice chat, you two.”Harper nodded with a look of gratitude in his eyes.Leaving the space for them, Elspeth went alone to the bar counter and ordered a glass of wine. While waiting for her drink to arrive, she suddenly saw Callum sitting in a booth nearby with Emma seated next to him.Seeing how close together they were sitting, Elspeth suddenly felt a burst of anger surging from the bottom of her heart. Holding the glass of freshly made drink in her hand, she slowly walked over to them.
Leaning coquettishly against Callum, Emma looked no longer like when she was in her college days.
“What would you like to drink, Callum? Let me order it for you.”
Callum slightly closed his eyes while looking rather weary.
“Just go back.”Unwilling to let him go, Emma leaned even closer to him.
“Callum, I’m only here to have a little fun with you. Don’t tell me you’re so mean.”Callum opened his eyes.
“How did you know I’m here?”A smile appeared on Emma’s face.
“It’s because we’re telepathically connected, of course… Alright, I was just joking. It was Arthur who told me that you’re here.””How did Arthur know that I’m here?”
Callum narrowed his eyes; for some reason, he felt kind of uncomfortable deep down.Thinking that Callum was finally paying attention to Arthur and changing his attitude toward him, Emma hurriedly replied,
“That’s got to be because he cares about you. You’re his eldest brother, and besides, he’s very sorry about the previous conflict between you two. He told me last time that he was looking for an opportunity to apologize to you in private.”Naturally, Callum didn’t buy her story, but before he could ask her about it, he noticed Elspeth coming toward himself.”Well, if it isn’t Elspeth! What brings you here to Luna Bar as well?”Callum never expected Elspeth to come to the bar, nor did he expect her to find him here. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say.Elspeth let out a sneer.
“What does my coming to a bar have to do with you?””It has nothing to do with me, of course, but no decent lady would come to a bar alone at such a late hour, no? Not to mention you have to watch yourself as Callum’s girlfriend… Back when I was going out with him, he never allowed me to go to a bar,”
Emma replied. Recalling the sweet moments that she had shared with Callum back then, she covered her mouth and giggled, looking all bashful.Elspeth smiled a faint smile.
“Callum has never restricted me on this. Perhaps it’s because you look especially adulterous to him?””How dare you!”
Emma’s face turned livid with rage. This Elspeth lady really has a caustic tongue that puts people at a loss for a retort!
“Look at your girlfriend, Callum! She’s got such a fiery temper; she’s not gentle at all.”She had wanted to act coquettish in front of Callum, only to find him saying nothing; he had no intention of sticking up for her at all.Elspeth didn’t want to continue listening to Emma babbling. She turned to look at the man right away, asking,
“Callum, are you going home?”Callum didn’t answer her. Not only that, he even slowly closed his eyes.Emma taunted,
“Say, Elspeth, are you blind or something? Callum is obviously in a bad mood. Aren’t you upsetting him by pushing him to go home right now?”
Thinking she knew Callum very well, she spoke in a voice full of consideration for the man.Elspeth looked daggers at her.
“It’s not your place to interrupt when I’m speaking to Callum!”She had a pair of pretty eyes that were full of tenderness, but when they were ablaze with fury, even Emma had the daylights scared out of her, to the extent that she shuddered with fright.Only then did Callum slowly say,
“You go home first, Elspeth.”He was openly chasing her away.Elspeth took a step forward. Seeing how Callum’s eyes were as calm as a stagnant pool of water, she could hardly suppress the bitterness in her heart.
“Callum, are you telling me to leave?”Callum said nothing while looking as usual.Elspeth took a deep breath. Then, she said impassively,
“I’m staying.””Don’t you know what’s good for yourself, Elspeth? Callum already asked you to leave, so why are you insisting on staying?”
Emma was inwardly pleased with herself. She was understandably delighted, for Callum had defended her without hesitation in front of Elspeth. As expected, as long as I keep at it, Callum will fall in love with me again sooner or later!”Talk nonsense again and I’ll have you thrown out of here, Emma!”
Elspeth wished she could stitch up Emma’s lips when she saw how Emma kept going on at her.Emma let out a snort of laughter.
“You want to have me thrown out of here? Who do you think you are? This place isn’t yours!””This place is mine.”
Elspeth stood while looking down at Emma, being a head taller than the latter.Emma’s countenance changed at once.
“What do you mean?””This bar is mine. Don’t you worry that I’ll have you thrown out of here after you yelled at me on my turf like that?”Elspeth loved to see the look on Emma’s face when the latter was displeased with her yet unable to do anything about her.Just when the atmosphere between the three grew somewhat awkward, Harper came over after having gotten Brianna settled. When he saw how Emma clung to Callum, who didn’t turn her down right away, his inner dislike for the man grew. Then, looking at Elspeth beside them, he let out a whistle, saying,
“Elspeth, why are you here? Everyone’s looking for you. The young man in a basketball jersey just now liked you a lot. He even asked me for your phone number, so I gave it to him.”Callum’s hands balled into fists in secret when he heard this.Harper continued,
“I was sorry about that at first, Mr. Winthrop, but judging from the way you look, I guess you won’t mind it. After all… you’re having another lady in your arms.”
Although he addressed Callum respectfully as Mr. Winthrop, his words were full of ridicule and disdain for the latter.Seeing no change in the man’s expression, Elspeth was disappointed deep down.
“Let’s go.””Yeah, come on! They’re all waiting to toast you.”Just when Harper held Elspeth’s arm and was about to leave with her, Callum suddenly stood up. Then, his voice rang.
“Let’s go home.”Startled, Elspeth curled her lips into a smirk.
“Callum, I thought you weren’t going home, weren’t you?”Harper let out a snorting laugh.
“Aww, what a spoiler.”Seeing that Callum would still be visibly moved by Elspeth, Emma was incredibly displeased.
“Callum, why are you going home now?”Callum quietly looked into Elspeth’s eyes without paying attention to anyone else.
“Let’s go home together.”Elspeth didn’t let him have his way, though. She asked with a smile,
“Say, Callum, are you being jealous?””It’s bad for a lady to have drinks out there at night.””So, you’re not being jealous?””No, I’m not.””Why?””Harper is one of your people.”The smile on Elspeth’s face vanished at once.
“Leave me alone, then.”
She turned to smile charmingly at Harper.
“Come on, let’s get a couple more drinks and drink ourselves drunk before going home.”
With that, she turned around and left without even sparing Callum a side glance.Emma looked at Callum’s face; it didn’t show any strong emotion, but she could nonetheless sense a hint of dejection from it.
“Callum, don’t be upset over such a woman. I’ll always stay by your side,”
she said, assuming a kind and understanding demeanor while looking at him with eyes full of pity.Callum’s voice was full of indifference.