Chapter 14

Chris did not expect Charmine to be so dull; he thought he would have impressed her with what he said about Anthony. He wanted to say more, but Charmine merely carried him and put him aside. “Momo, go back to your father. I have some important things to attend to,” she spoke. “Go home, will you?” “Mommy…” Chris looked up at her with his puppy eyes, in an attempt to change her mind with his pitiable look. Charmine would be lying if she claimed this had no effect on her, but she was reminded of the reason why she made her return. With her focus returned, Charmine hopped onto her motorbike. Poor Chris was pouting so much that his lips might reach the sky; his plan had failed. He had to think of another way. He swung his meaty hands carefreely as the engine ignited. Click! The tire at the back was deflated, slanting the front. “Mommy, your tire was shot by a dart!” Chris yelled as though stricken with fear. “Someone tried to attack you!” Charmine quickly got down from the bike and, sure enough, saw a silver dart embedded in the tire. Who would play with darts these days? With a dart, no less. This seemed strange to her. When he noticed she was growing suspicious, Chris hastily went up to her and held her hand. “Don’t worry, Mommy. I’ll ask Daddy to send you home!” With that, he yelled into his phone, “Attention, Daddy! Attention!” Her suspicion grew even more, but it still did not add up. Chris was just a five-year-old, and he could not have thrown that dart… Or so she thought. His convincing ‘terrified’ expression made it less likely that he was even involved. A black, low profile-looking van pulled over. Rolling the window down, Nial quickly spoke, “Miss Jordan, Momo, get in the van!” Chris opened the door to the passenger’s seat and got in quickly. “Mommy, get in! We’ll give you a ride, nothing else. I promise!” Charmine noted that only Nial was in the van and, if that was not enough reason, her bike needed repair anyway. Without thinking too much of it, she went into the van. She regretted her decision the second the door closed. Anthony was in the van, too. ‘What can I do now? Can I still get out?’ she thought. Seeing her expression changing by the rear-view mirror, he hastily stepped on the accelerator before she could change her mind. ‘Alright, it’s now too late,’ she sighed internally, staying as far away from Anthony as possible. Luckily, Anthony was reading his newspaper and did not seem to pay any notice to her. As usual, he exuded aristocracy laced with indifference and coldness, an aura so uncommon yet so unperturbed by its surroundings. Everything seemed fine. Perhaps she overthought things. Suddenly, the van made a sharp turn. Caught off-guard, Charmine fell against Anthony. Rip! The newspaper Anthony was holding onto got ripped apart as Charmine fell against him. “...” Awkward silence blanketed them. It was as if the entire world went quiet. Damn the angle. Anthony had such handsome side features, so much so that her heart started beating loudly against her ribcage. Thump. Thump. Thump. This was not right. Why was her heart beating so quickly? She hastily held onto the front seat as she tried to get up. Just as she was about to get up, the van made another sharp turn, and Charmine fell right back onto Anthony. This time, she fell right into Anthony, face-to-face with his clothed rock-hard abs.