Chapter 182 Katniss Missed Tristan
"They're engaged. What’s that got to do with me?" Saskia snapped, sounding like an angry cat.
Realizing she was overreacting, she added, "You haven't even cleaned up your own mess, and you still have the nerve to meddle in my business?"
Katniss circled the desk, fiddled with a potted plant, and slipped something into her bag. "All this drama during the holidays is such a buzzkill. Wanna go grab a drink?"
Saskia, thinking Katniss was worried about the education institution, grabbed her coat and headed out. "Let's go. We're not coming back until we're hammered."
Even though Katniss had been in Nightfall City for a year, she wasn’t as familiar with the place as Saskia.
They hailed a cab, and Saskia gave the driver an address. About half an hour later, they pulled up in front of a diner.
It was close to New Year's, so the place was packed.
Saskia knew the owner, who managed to find them a small table.
Various grilled seafood dishes and two dozen beers were brought to the table. Without saying a word, they started eating and drinking.
But Katniss didn’t drink much, while Saskia, who was drinking freely, soon got tipsy.
She started ranting, "What is Nicholas? Just a coward, completely controlled by his dad. I've seen men overly dependent on their mothers but never on their fathers."
"I've never seen that either," Katniss chimed in.
"He thinks I can't see through him. He keeps saying he was embarrassed because I ran away, but isn't it just because he likes me? What's he afraid to admit?" Saskia was straightforward. When Nicholas came, she had once asked if they should be together.
But Nicholas had actually rejected her!
Thinking about it made her angry.
She drank a lot more, and seeing this, Katniss sent a Facebook message to Ryan, sharing their location.
She couldn't get a drunk Saskia home by herself.
Twenty minutes later, Ryan arrived.
Saskia's emotions had peaked, and she was ready to call it a night.
But just as they were about to pay the bill, Saskia received several Facebook messages from Isla.
In fact, she and Isla hadn't talked much since adding each other on Facebook, especially now that she had left the Stuart family. They were close to unfriending each other.
[Originally, I didn't plan to tell you, but for old times' sake, I'm inviting you to Nicholas and my engagement party.]
[Oh, silly me, you're not in Velvet City, so it's a bit late to tell you now.]
[But even if you were in Velvet City, you probably wouldn't come. After all, you're not doing well, and Nicholas and I are out of your league.]
[Heard you're with Katniss now. Birds of a feather, huh? All a bunch of lowlifes.]
The messages kept coming, leaving Saskia and Katniss stunned.
Seeing the last one, Saskia shot back at Isla: [The man I ditched is now your treasure; what's there to show off?]
She hit send and then blocked Isla.
Katniss was about to tell her not to get worked up over people like that when she noticed Saskia booking plane tickets.
A flight to Velvet City in an hour, two tickets.
"Why are you booking tickets?" Katniss realized and tried to stop her, but it was too late.
Saskia paid decisively, then pulled Katniss along and instructed Ryan, "Drive us to the airport!"
"I'm not going," Katniss said firmly, "and you shouldn't either."
"What's Isla showing off for? I have to give her a hard time. I'm going, it's just tomorrow, we can make it!" Saskia forcefully dragged Katniss into the car.
Ryan got in too, looking back at Katniss, clearly waiting for her instructions.
"Go home," Katniss had just said.
Saskia started causing a scene.
An hour later, on the plane.
Despite being drunk, Saskia knew she couldn't board the plane reeking of alcohol, so she bought a bottle of perfume at the airport and sprayed it to cover the smell.
However, she was sober enough to book tickets and board the plane within an hour, bringing only her driver's license and phone.
Katniss didn't even have time to message Tristan; her phone was on airplane mode with only ten percent battery left.
Several hours later, it would probably be dead by the time they reached Velvet City.
She rubbed her temples, looking out at the dark sky, her head throbbing.
She dozed off and woke up to daylight.
The flight attendant awakened both her and Saskia. "Ma'am, we've arrived at our destination. You can disembark now."
Saskia, having drunk a lot, wrapped herself in a blanket, her hair a mess.
She looked at Katniss in confusion, her memory returning, a look of regret crossing her face.
Katniss nudged her, "Don't just sit there. Even if you regret it now, we have to get off the plane and book new tickets."
Under the flight attendant's slightly surprised gaze, they got off the plane, not needing to pick up any luggage, and headed straight for the exit.
"My phone's dead," Katniss said, looking at Saskia, "What about yours? Can you still call a cab and pay?"
Saskia scratched her head and coughed, "It's dead too."
"Let's borrow a phone to make a call," Katniss said, pulling Saskia towards the exit.
The cold wind pierced through their clothes. The temperature in Nightfall City always stayed around the fifties, and they were only wearing trench coats.
It was snowing in Velvet City, with snowflakes clinging to the bare branches.
Katniss shivered immediately. "You've really gotten us into trouble."
Just as she finished speaking, her eyes caught sight of a familiar figure.
Amidst the bustling airport crowd, Tristan stood out in his black wool coat, his short hair neat and his features chiseled.
Compared to the heavily bundled passersby around him, he was particularly eye-catching.
His gaze fixed on her, and his brows furrowed instantly.
Under her beige trench coat, she wore a simple T-shirt, jeans, and white flats.
As he approached, he had already taken off his wool coat and wrapped it around her.
The coat, still warm from his body, instantly made her feel much warmer.
He was a bit angry; she had recklessly come over without luggage, her phone was off, and she didn't even have any cash on her.
But seeing her standing there disheveled, he couldn't bring himself to say a word in anger.
Behind him, Nicholas came over, grumbling, "Are you two crazy? Coming here at this hour? We partied all night, and as soon as Ryan messaged saying you were on a flight to Velvet City, Tristan dragged me to the airport. We've been waiting here for hours, freezing!"
He wrapped his cotton coat tighter around himself, glanced at Tristan, who had given his wool coat to Katniss and was left in just his suit, and raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you cold?"
"No," Tristan said angrily.
"I..." Katniss wanted to explain that there was a reason for their hasty arrival.
But Saskia spoke first, "Yeah, I thought it was crazy to come in the middle of the night too, but Katniss missed Tristan and insisted on coming. I had to accompany her!"
Katniss's mouth twitched as she turned to look at Saskia, who was spouting nonsense.
As if that wasn't enough, Saskia added, "Look at them being all lovey-dovey. They've only been apart for a few days, and they're already acting like this. People in love are so clingy."
Before Katniss could react, Tristan had already pulled her into his arms, pressing her head against his chest.
"They're so clingy, and why are you here?" Nicholas asked impatiently.
Who couldn't see through Saskia's stubbornness?
Was Katniss the type to be so impulsive?
Saskia's face turned pale, and she immediately said, "I was worried about her. Now that she's here, I'll head back right away."
She turned and headed back to the airport.
Katniss panicked and tried to break free from Tristan to catch her. After all, Saskia had no money, and her phone was dead. How would she get back?
But Tristan grabbed her outstretched hand, buttoning up the wool coat one by one.
He trapped her hands inside, wrapping her up tightly, then bent down and picked her up.
Wrapped in the thick coat, she seemed small, and he carried her effortlessly. As they stepped out of the airport, a fierce wind hit them.
She shrank her neck into the coat, and within seconds, she was placed inside a Range Rover.
The car's heater was on, instantly cutting the cold in half. After closing the door and returning to the driver's seat, Tristan turned the heater up to the max.
"Is it still cold?" he asked, turning to her.
"No," she shook her head, looking at his hands, already red from the cold in just a couple of minutes, and bit her lip.
As Tristan started the engine, she asked, "Are we really not going to worry about them?"
"No, Nicholas won't leave her here." Tristan's long fingers turned the steering wheel, and the car slowly merged into traffic.
She used the car charger to charge her phone, and as soon as it turned on, a flood of messages came in.
The issue of the education institution's 'plagiarism' had caused quite a stir, attracting the attention of relevant authorities.
Matilda had sent numerous Facebook messages and made calls but was unable to reach her and getting quite worried.
She quickly replied to Matilda, explaining the situation and assuring her that she would handle it.
She ignored the rest of the messages.
After dealing with that, she looked up and saw a familiar place.
Outside the Oakwood Hills apartment, there was a small plot of land with a cherry tree.
It had grown quite tall, providing shade in the summer.
Now, in winter, the bare branches were bent under the weight of the snow.
The snow at the entrance had been cleared and piled up to about 1.5 feet high.
"This place..." she turned to look at Tristan, wondering if he hadn't sold it.
"Wait here; I'll go turn on the heat in the room." He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out, leaving the car running with the heater on.
As the windows fogged up, his figure became blurry.
She watched him enter the apartment, fiddling at the entrance for a while before going inside.
A couple of minutes later, he came out quickly, holding a bright blue down jacket—hers.
It was so bright that it had been left in the corner of the closet and forgotten when she left.
"Put this on. It'll be cold when you get out. Wait seven or eight minutes for the room to warm up." He handed her the down jacket and then fixed his gaze on her face.
The next second, she leaned over, her faint fragrance enveloping him, and the warm, moist touch on her lips made his body stiffen slightly.
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