Chapter 378 Madly Angering Francis
"I can't beat you," Efren said angrily, "but you bullied Elissa, so I had to find a way to help her. Hope was my only option."
Francis wanted to say something, but Elissa came out and interrupted him. "Mr. Peterson, please leave my house."
Francis walked up to her and tried to shake her hand, but she avoided him.
"Elissa..." He opened his mouth to apologize, but Elissa interrupted him again, "Mr. Peterson, your constant pestering is really annoying me."
"I have something important to tell you." Jerry pulled Francis outside.
Francis shook him off, and Jerry clicked his tongue. "What's the matter, don't need my help anymore? You begged me before, and now you treat me like this."
Francis lit a cigarette and said indifferently, "You didn't help me."
Jerry snapped, "I didn't? I've been swamped these past two days. You're so ungrateful!"
Smoke spilled from Francis's lips, blurring his cold eyes. He stood silently, smoking.
Jerry leaned against the wall, arms crossed, looking at him. "What do you mean, Mr. Peterson?"
Francis stayed silent, taking a deep drag on his cigarette before walking down the stairs.
Jerry told Simon to follow as he exited to the stairwell, sent a Facebook message to Hope, and took the elevator.
In the garage, Francis's car was still there. Jerry checked the time and leaned against the car to wait.
Francis emerged from the stairwell and unlocked the car. Seeing Jerry, he said, "That's a lousy idea."
If Jerry didn't realize he was in a mess, he would have cursed him out. "At least I had an idea. If you're so smart, why didn't you come up with a solution? I just made a suggestion. Whether to get married or not is up to you. You could've waited a month for the DNA test. But you couldn't wait and wanted an answer sooner."
Francis stood by the car for a long time without opening the door.
Jerry had already opened the passenger door, leaning lazily on it, watching him.
Suddenly, Francis lifted his leg and kicked the tire and cursed.
Jerry raised an eyebrow. Since meeting Francis, he'd rarely seen him so reckless. The issue with Jessa and family pressure was really getting to him. Despite his annoyance, he'd never acted like this before. "Want to grab a drink?"
Efren silently went to the kitchen to cook.
Elissa and Hope were talking quietly in the bedroom.
"Are you serious about breaking up?" Hope asked.
Elissa lay on the bed with a pillow under her stomach. She shook her head and said, "There are two reasons. First, if I don't break up with him, Francis will keep thinking about me and Jessa will stay suspicious. Second, I need to break up to see how much he really means to me."
Hope sat on the carpet, leaning on the bed, smiling at her. "You clearly had thoughts of marriage before, knowing about his family. Why now do you want to see how important he is to you? Did Elysia talk to you and scare you?"
Elissa sighed, "I shouldn't be considering important matters at a time like this. It's a special period, and my emotions are too unstable."
Hope didn't press further. Matters of the heart, even the best friends shouldn't interfere too much, or it would only get messier.
She asked, "What's up with Efren?"
Elissa said, "I think he has something to say to me. Last time he took me to the hospital, it seemed like a coincidence, but why did he suddenly call me? We had a falling out in Oceancrest City."
"Does he want to apologize?" Hope guessed, "He still seems to like you."
Elissa raised an eyebrow slightly. "That's the point. He likes me, feels guilty, and wants to apologize. So, by the same logic, he wants to tell me the truth."
Hope nodded in agreement. "But given the current situation, Efren's testimony alone is not enough. Jessa and Efren's statements must match to deal with Jessa."
"But at least we have a direction for the investigation."
"That's true."
Elissa got up. "Let's ask during dinner."
Hope also got up, glanced at her phone, and said, "They went for a drink."
Elissa simply replied and opened the bedroom door to leave.
Efren came out of the kitchen, showing a gentle smile. "Dinner is ready."
Hope looked at the table full of well-balanced, delicious dishes.
She whispered to Elissa, "He still cares about you, but unfortunately, feelings are uncontrollable."
Elissa handed her a fork. "Let's try it first."
Hope wasn't very hungry, but she didn't want to spoil the mood, so she symbolically picked up the fork and ate some vegetables.
Elissa was hungry and directly took a chicken leg to eat.
Efren sat across from them and served them soup.
He said to Hope, "Hope, Elissa likes light flavors, so I put less salt in the soup. If you find it bland, I have some salt here, you can add some yourself."
"It's fine." Hope smiled politely. "I've been eating bland food since I had my baby, I'm used to it."
But Elissa found it bland. "No flavor."
Efren gave her some vegetables. "Then eat more vegetables, Elissa."
Elissa didn't beat around the bush, she spat out the chicken bone and said directly, "You have something to say, right? I'm giving you this one chance. Although you saved me, you indeed schemed against me before."
Efren put down the fork.
He came today to tell Elissa the truth.
But since she and Francis had broken up, saying it would only entangle them again.
As for Jessa, if Francis didn't handle it properly, he couldn't say anything.
Otherwise, it would only put Elissa in danger.
"I have to go see my grandma, enjoy the meal." After saying that, he got up, walked to the entrance, changed his shoes, and left.
After the door closed, Elissa and Hope looked at each other.
"He's leaving just like that?" Elissa couldn't believe it, the meat in her mouth hadn't been swallowed for a long time.
Hope finished her soup. "Did he have concerns after hearing you broke up with Francis?"
Elissa shook her head. "With my years of experience, that's not it. This is the perfect time for him to take advantage of the situation. Telling the truth would be the best solution."
Hope didn't understand men as well as Elissa, so she couldn't give her any advice.
"If he doesn't say it, there's nothing we can do." Elissa didn't bother to think about it and focused on eating.
Suddenly, she remembered something and asked, "Will Jerry ask you to pick him up after drinking?"
Hope smiled helplessly. "He'll probably pretend to be drunk."
Elissa also laughed. "I bet he'll ask Steven to pick you up."
Hope nodded. "Absolutely."
Elissa suggested, "How about we watch a movie?"
Hope replied happily, "Sounds good!"
At the bar.
From the moment they entered the private room, Francis drank nonstop.
Jerry swirled his glass and teased him, "Even if you drink to the point of a stomach bleed and end up in the hospital tonight, Elissa won't come to see you."
Francis gave him a cold look but said nothing.
Jerry still cared about their friendship and thought of comforting him.
At this moment, the private room door opened.
A cheerful voice rang out, "Hey, my friends! You guys are drinking without inviting me." Jared, always chill and a bit slow to catch on, clinked his glass with the others, looking carefree. "Hey, are you guys freezing me out?" he joked. "Jerry, I get it, you're married. But Francis, what's up? Haven't seen you drinking lately. Got new friends?"
Francis didn't even give him a glance, just silently drank his drink.
Jared finally sensed something was wrong and asked Jerry, "Did his first love dump him again?"
Jerry leaned back on the sofa, his long fingers holding the glass, making it look like a piece of art. His voice was lazy. "No, that's not it."
Jared sat next to Francis, putting an arm around his shoulder in a friendly manner. "Your first love is still around, so why do you look like you're heartbroken? I wasn't even this bad when I was heartbroken."
Francis still didn't speak and even knocked Jared's arm away.
Jared couldn't help but sigh, "Looks like your first love means a lot to you."
Jerry thought of something and asked, "When did you get heartbroken?"
Jared said resentfully, "You don't know? I mentioned it in our group chat."
It seemed like that did happen. Jerry totally missed it.
Jared was used to it and didn't push. He continued, "Elissa likes younger guys. Compared to him, I'm definitely older."
This made Francis feel even worse. And Jerry couldn't stop him in time.
"What young guy?" Francis asked.
Jared stood up immediately. "Oh, you finally spoke."
Jerry took a sip of his drink, watching the show.
Even drunk, Francis's eyes were cold and intense when he got angry. "Who are you calling old?"
Jared didn't get it and scratched his head. "We're just older than those young guys, that's a fact. Why are you getting mad?"
Francis slowly stood up, swaying a bit. Jared tried to help, but Francis pushed him away.
"What's wrong with you today? Is that first love really that important to you?" Jared said.
Francis clung to the age issue. "You mean, girls now all like those immature guys?"
Jared thought Francis wasn't that mature anyway. He turned to Jerry, "Hey, what's up with his first love? Didn't she come back to patch things up? Is his family against it?"
Jerry casually said, "I don't know. After all, I'm married and don't have time to pay attention to other things."
Jared thought, 'Bringing up marriage now is only going to make Francis angrier, isn't it?' He was about to speak when Francis yanked him back by the collar, making it hard for him to catch his breath.
"Francis, why are you taking it out on me? I just mentioned your age. You never cared about it before. And I didn't say all girls like young guys. I just said Elissa rejected me for a younger guy." Jared was indeed naive and clueless. Every word he said made Francis angrier.
Francis grabbed Jared by the collar, and only then did Jared see how red his eyes were.
"Jerry, help me!" Jared shouted.
"I don't have the strength," Jerry finished his drink, "I'm drunk."
Jared was speechless. When had Jerry ever been drunk?
He could only save himself.
Jared said earnestly, "Francis, it's just a breakup. You won't have trouble finding another girlfriend. We shouldn't just like one woman. Besides, with your family situation, it's normal for girls without a family background not to date you. They can't waste their youth just to end up as a secret lover."
He added, "Look at me, Elissa rejected me. I was sad at the time, but I'm fine now. Recently, I met a few young beauties, all very nice. How about I call them over to keep you company? I guarantee you'll feel better."
Francis pressed Jared onto the table, holding a bottle to his head. "What nonsense are you talking about? Where did I get a first love?"
Jared moved the bottle away with his finger. "Isn't Jessa your first love? You almost broke ties with your family for her when you were young. When she came back, you personally picked her up and were quite happy. But Francis, don't be sad. She probably realized she couldn't marry you, so she rejected you. It's not because you're not good enough."
Francis did pick up Jessa, but he wasn't happy about it. It was more out of guilt since she had left her hometown and almost got raped because of him. He treated Jessa like a little sister; there were no romantic feelings involved. The affection was as pure as family.
So when his family insisted they had a romantic relationship and wanted to send her away, he was determined to prove them wrong by breaking ties. He never imagined she would scheme against him like this.
"Is this what you say about me outside?" Francis snapped.
Jared was completely confused now.
He had mentioned the first love thing before, and Francis had been cold and indifferent, not refuting him.
Why did it seem like Francis wanted to kill him now?
"I do talk a lot, but I don't tell everyone. I only mentioned it to Elissa when she asked," Jared replied.
Jerry's hand, which was turning his ring, paused. He thought, 'Jared is in big trouble now!
"What did you say?" Francis lifted Jared, even though he was drunk and unsteady, his strength was terrifying.
Jared was about to cry. "Francis, you're really stressed. How about I take you to the hospital? I can't take a beating. Don't hit me. I'll take you to the boxing gym to blow off some steam."
"You told Elissa that Jessa was my first love?" Francis interrogated him.
Jared swallowed, his voice trembling, "Uh, is that not allowed? She asked, so I told her."
"When?" Francis asked.
"Before Jerry proposed, Elissa was helping Jerry and Hope find a venue. At that time, Jessa had just come back," Jared answered cautiously.
Francis thought Elissa distanced herself from him just because he spoke harshly at the airport.
He didn't expect there was this matter too.
No wonder Elissa didn't even pretend to be polite when Jessa was around.
"He's clueless, but Jerry, you should know better." Francis let go of Jared and turned to Jerry, his voice hoarse and slightly cold from the alcohol. "Didn't you have Hope explain to Elissa?"
Jerry smiled. "You weren't planning to date Elissa, so what was there to explain? Later, when you were together, couldn't you explain it yourself?"
Francis clutched his aching stomach, his brows furrowed. "I didn't know at the time, but Jared kept calling Jessa my first love, and you heard it."
In fact, Hope went out of her way to ask Jerry, and he told her the truth.
"This isn't something you should hold onto now. Elissa broke up with you to make you deal with the troublesome matters quickly," Jerry said.
Francis went mad, kicked over the coffee table, spilling liquor everywhere. "I can't break up with her," he said.
Jared was puzzled. "What are you talking about? Who broke up with Elissa?"
*************************
（I highly recommend a captivating book that I couldn't put down for three days and nights. It's incredibly engaging and a must-read. The title of the book is "Easy Divorce, Hard Remarriage" You can find it by searching for it in the search bar.
Here is the synopsis of the book:
My husband fell in love with another woman and wanted a divorce. I agreed.
Getting divorced was easy, but getting back together won't be so simple.
After the divorce, my ex-husband discovered that I am the daughter of a wealthy family. He fell in love with me again and even knelt down to beg me to remarry him.
To this, I had only one word: "Get lost!"）
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