Chapter 29 Earrings

Steven busied himself in the kitchen for a while, and when he heard the sound of the door in the living room, he put down what he was holding and went out to take a look. Monica's shoes were already gone from the entrance.
She had run away.
He stood in place for a moment before lightly laughing.
Monica ran out of Steven's house, facing the noon sun as she walked until she ran out of energy. She found a bench under the shade of a tree on the side of the road and sat down, calling Uncle Li to pick her up.
She didn't know why she ran. It was completely impulsive, a moment of hot-headedness. By the time she realized it, she was already in the elevator.
Last night could still be considered fulfilling their bet, but this morning's incident had clearly exceeded the boundaries of a normal relationship. Although she had slapped Steven in the end, seemingly salvaging some face, it felt more like a helpless struggle.
She had noticed that lately she was always preoccupied by him, her thoughts always in chaos because of him. From kissing to being willing to sleep with him, within a short period of time, he had invaded her personal space to this extent.
She was too passive. She needed some time to calm down.
Monica opened her phone and glanced at WeChatFacebook. She saw a message from Lawrence:
"Monica, do you have a boyfriend?"
In her mind, Steven's face instantly appeared, but she was shocked by her own absurd thoughts, and she shook her head in confusion as she replied, "Why do you ask?"
Seeing Lawrence's name, Monica had a moment of confusion.
The Liang family and the Perez family were old acquaintances, and the two grandfathers used to visit each other when they were still alive. SoSo, Monica had known this brother, who was only two years older than her, since she was very young.
Unlike StevenEric, Lawrence had a gentle personality and always accommodated her. At that time, Monica was in her phase of loving fairy tales and fantasizing about her prince charming, so it was inevitable for her to have a good impression of this prince-like figure in her mind.
However, it wasn't until Lawrence went abroad to pursue his dreams that this layer of illusion remained intact.
As she grew older and became more mature, she increasingly felt that there was something missing in her feelings for Lawrence. It wasn't the uncontrollable feeling that she had imagined.
Intuition prevented her from taking that step.
The last time the two of them chatted was last month. Lawrence was in Africa filming wild animals, and the signal was very poor, often unable to reach him.
Due to the significant time difference between Africa and the domestic region, it was difficult to find a time to rest together. Therefore, he said that he would contact her when he returned to the country.
Unexpectedly, all she received was this vague statement.
After a while, Lawrence called.
"I have returned to the country, Monica," Lawrence's voice was filled with laughter. "I just arrived in NingchuanSiena this morning and called you as soon as I landed, but I might have disturbed you."
He said it tactfully, but Monica immediately understood the implications. She had been fast asleep in the morning, completely unaware of this, so it must have been Steven who answered the call for her.
She felt a mix of emotions.
As there was no response from the other end of the line, Lawrence asked again, "Is he your boyfriend?"
The afternoon sun was glaring, and Monica squinted as she looked at the trees across the road. After a pause, she replied, "No."
"I see," Lawrence chuckled. "That's good then. Otherwise, I would have been afraid of him misunderstanding and thought about explaining it."
"It's fine," Monica replied briefly.
Silence fell between the two of them once again, and Lawrence spoke up again, "Do you have any plans for tonight? Xuwen Mark and the others have arranged a welcome party for me. Would you like to come?"
Uncle Li'sThe car slowly pulled over by the roadside, and Monica got up and walked towards the backseat. She held her phone to her ear, and before getting in the car, she turned to look at the tall building of Steven's house and replied to Lawrence, "Okay."
In the evening, Monica got dressed and prepared to go out when she encountered Eric who had just returned.
He had just flown back from the United States, looking tired with a weary expression on his face. However, when he saw MonicaMonica, all dressed up and ready to go out, he raised an eyebrow teasingly.
"You're dressed so beautifully. Who's the lucky person you're meeting tonight?"
"Lawrence has returned to the country. There's a party tonight," Monica descended the stairs.
"Lawrence has returned?" Eric was somewhat surprised but quickly revealed a knowing smile. "No wonder."
"No wonder what?" Monica snapped.
"Nothing," Eric walked towards the living room in his slippers. "Just making a remark. I just got off the plane, haven't adjusted to the time difference yet, and already being dragged to drink."
He walked and pretended to ponder. "Do we still have vinegar at home? Should I bring a bottle of vinegar back?"
Monica was confused by his words. "Are you going out for a drink tonight?"
"Yeah," Eric stopped beside her and looked down, casually asking, "Did you forget to wear earrings today?"
Monica touched her ear and realized something was amiss. She hurriedly went back upstairs.
She searched her dressing table for a while but couldn't find her favorite pair of earrings. She tried to recall and remembered that she had taken them off while showering at Steven's house last night, but in her haste to leave at noon today, she completely forgot about the earrings.
What should she do now?
She found another pair and put them on, thinking about a solution as she walked out again.
As she was deep in thought, the car was approaching its destination. She bit her lip, unsure.
The message from Monica to Steven said, "I left my earrings at your place, please have someone send them to my house, I will cover the expenses."
After sending the message, she was constantly anxious, afraid that Steven would tell her he had lost the earrings.
As she was about to push open the door to the private room in the bar, her phone screen lit up with a reply from Steven: "Come get them yourself."
Monica pushed open the door to the private room, and all eyes in the room instantly focused on her, some amazed, some admiring, which improved her mood.
"Monica, long time no see," Lawrence stood up from the couch and walked towards her with a smile, opening his arms to give her a hug.
It had been a while since they had last seen each other, and he had become slightly tanner and more solid, but the one thing that hadn't changed was the smile at the corner of his lips, identical to the one she had seen when she was a child.
She walked over and gave him a gentle hug before quickly separating, saying, "Long time no see."
The aura of this a man overwhelmed her, but at this moment, Monica inappropriately remembered another hug.
It was a completely different feeling.
She maintained a polite smile on her face, not letting herself lose her composure in front of everyone, but in her heart, she couldn't help feeling like she had seen a ghost.
It must be because she was irritated by Steven's unreasonable reply just now, that's why she was so preoccupied with him.
This gathering was to welcome Lawrence back, and many of his friends were present, whom Monica didn't know very well. Lawrence introduced her to each one, and some mischief-makers teased, "Future sister-in-law?"
Monica felt a bit embarrassed and quickly waved her hand, while Lawrence laughed and said, "Be careful with your words, don't scare her away."
After meeting everyone, Lawrence brought her to a corner of the private room and took out a box from his pocket, handing it to her: "This is a souvenir I brought for you from Africa, would you like to take a look?"
Monica took it and opened it, finding a bone bracelet with a distinctive African tribal style inside.
"This is from a local tribe I encountered when I was photographing wildlife in Africa," Lawrence explained, "It's not very expensive, but the style is unique. I asked them to custom make this, and you can't buy it in China." Lawrence chuckled.
Monica carefully examined it for a while and smiled, saying, "Thank you, Lawrence."
Looking at her smile, Lawrence couldn't help but smile as well, his voice becoming softer, "Monica, this time I'm back, I will stay in NingchuanSiena."
She didn't understand, "Hmm? Aren't you going abroad to take photos?"
"Those are just business trips. This time, I will set up a studio in NingchuanSiena and settle down for good."
In the dim light, he lowered his head and looked at her, "Monica, actually, I..."
"Lawrence!" someone shouted, interrupting his words, "You're the star of the night, why are you hiding in that corner? Come over here, quickly!"
He sighed and apologized to Monica, then turned around and walked towards the crowded area.
Monica leaned against the window alone, lost in her own thoughts.
Looking at the bracelet, she felt her phone vibrate, indicating a message. She lit up the screen, and it was another message from Steven:
"I am not a storage facility here. I'll give you three days. If you don't come to take it, I'll give it to Eric and let him bring it to you."
On the surface, it seemed like he was considering her and providing a solution to retrieve her earrings. But upon closer examination, it was clearly a threat. Monica couldn't possibly let Eric know about this.
How was she going to explain to Eric that her earrings were left at Steven's house?
She angrily turned off the screen, put the bracelet in her bag, and had no mood to participate in the gathering. She gritted her teeth in her mind:
How could Steven be such a despicable man?!
Just wait and see! She plotted her revenge.
**Chapter 30: Plotting**