Chapter 362 I Will Learn to Bark Like a Dog
The air was quiet for a few seconds. Before Katniss could ask him what was wrong, Tristan suddenly hugged her tightly.
His hands held her with astonishing strength, as if she would disappear if he loosened his grip even a little.
Katniss held his waist, her ear pressed against his chest, listening to the frantic beating of his heart, motionless.
It wasn't until the fear gradually subsided that Tristan loosened his grip on her a bit.
"Had a nightmare?" Other than that, Katniss couldn't think of anything that could scare him like this. "What? Dreamt that Evie got married?"
Tristan said in a muffled voice, "Dreamt that you were gone."
Katniss's heart trembled. A dream scared him like this?
"If I were gone, where could I go?" She gently patted his back. "I've already given birth to Evie, where could I run to?"
It wasn't that she ran away, but that she just disappeared.
Her disappearance... might not be something she could control.
The words stuck in Tristan's throat made him feel very uncomfortable, unable to speak for a long time.
"Not to mention running away, even if I died, we could still meet in heaven..."
That word made Tristan's breathing painful. He covered Katniss's lips, stopping her from continuing.
Tristan kissed her so deeply that she was deprived of breath, her face flushed, and she was dizzy.
Only then did Tristan let her go. "Don't say that."
"Okay." Katniss panted, but she couldn't help herself. "Then let's make a promise, neither of us will leave, whoever leaves first is... a thief, a puppy."
He couldn't help but laugh, the gloom in his heart dissipating a bit. It was clear she was teasing him.
He raised his pinky and hooked it with hers. "Okay, whoever leaves first is a puppy, and when we see each other again, we have to bark like a dog."
"I can bark like a dog." Katniss looked at him seriously.
He said, "Nonsense, who can't?"
"But my barking is different from others." Katniss said confidently.
Tristan became interested, raising an eyebrow. "Then tell me, how do you bark?"
Katniss cleared her throat. "Then tell me, how do you bark?"
"What?" Tristan's brow furrowed instantly.
"What?" Katniss mimicked.
The next second, Tristan's warm hand slipped under Katniss's clothes, his fingers gently pinching a sensitive spot on her stomach, making her curl up in laughter.
He teased her until she had tears in her eyes, begging for mercy, but he remained unmoved.
As a result, they woke up Evie. Evie was already sitting up, her sleepy eyes a bit red, looking at the two of them and shouting a few times.
Katniss quickly pushed Tristan away, and the two of them sat up, looking at Evie. The family of three stared at each other.
Evie's tone was always unexpected, making Katniss laugh and cry.
As evening approached, Matilda and George arrived at the restaurant for their meeting.
George locked the car and put the keys in his pocket, holding Matilda's hand as they entered the restaurant.
As he got out of the car, a girl dressed in hip-hop style with braids raised her hand and called out, "Mr. Russell."
Seeing him holding Matilda's hand, the girl's voice stopped abruptly, watching them go inside.
After a pause, the girl followed them in, not keeping any distance, looking George and Matilda up and down.
"You wait for me next door, don't wander around. I promise to finish the meal quickly, and then you can come over, and we'll talk to my mom properly."
They arrived early, and George had booked a room next to the one Odette had reserved.
He took Matilda inside, casually closing the door but leaving a crack.
"You've already promised me many times, I know, I won't go anywhere."
Matilda couldn't help but shake her head at his repeated reminders.
"I'm just worried you might get impatient." George poured her a glass of water, checked the time, and said, "It's about time. I'll go next door and wait, so they don't see us together."
"Go ahead." Ever since they decided to come in the evening, George had been worried she might be mistreated by Odette.
He kept reminding Matilda that he would handle Odette, and not to take any harsh words to heart.
He had only ever loved her in his life.
Matilda had heard similar words so many times that her ears were calloused.
But she had to admit, her anger had mostly subsided.
George left the room, closed the door, and went next door.
As he looked up, he met the gaze of the girl with braids.
He was silent for a few seconds, then greeted her, "Hello, are you Fiona Sharp?"
Fiona nodded. "Yes, didn't you see my photo?"
She had seen recent photos of George, so she recognized him immediately.
Odette had sent George Fiona's photo, but he hadn't looked at it.
But out of politeness, he said, "I did, but it's good to confirm."
Then he sat as far away from Fiona as possible.
Suddenly, Fiona said, "My dad and the others should be downstairs. As a courtesy, we should go down and greet them."
"Alright." George's face remained serious, following Fiona downstairs as if just going through the motions.
But the entrance of the restaurant was empty. Fiona frowned and said, "Why isn't anyone here? How about this, I'll call my dad, and you call your parents to see if they've arrived."
George wasn't particularly interested in this meeting and didn't care when the parents would arrive.
But then Fiona said, "We're just doing this to appease our families, let's get it over with quickly. Otherwise, if they drag it out for half an hour, it'll waste half an hour of our time."
"Alright." Thinking of Matilda waiting next door, George took out his phone and walked to the water fountain at the restaurant entrance. Before he could make a call, something knocked his elbow, and his grip loosened instantly.
The phone fell into the fountain.
The phone screen flashed twice and then went black.
"Fuck!" George cursed, rolling up his sleeves to retrieve it, but a security guard quickly intervened.
"Sir, the deep part of this fountain is 5 feet. You can't go in without permission."
George's foot was already wet, but he was pulled back. He got anxious, "I'm way taller than 5 feet!"
The security guard looked troubled, "Even so, it's not appropriate. If you lose your balance in the water, there's still a risk of drowning!"
As he spoke, the security guard had already called for professionals to retrieve the phone.
Over there, Fiona saw this and smirked, speaking to the person on the other end of the phone, "Dad, just go to the other restaurant as I said. We'll be there soon."
She hung up and walked over to George, saying, "My dad said they changed the location last minute. Your parents are already there. It's just us left, let's go."
"No, my phone is still here." George watched the slow-moving retrieval team with displeasure.
His phone contained many important competition videos that took a long time to compile. Losing them would be a hassle.
"Have them retrieve it and send it to your home. Waiting here could take forever."
Fiona took out a pen and paper, asking George, "Where do you live? Give me a backup phone number."
"Don't worry about it. Step aside and don't interfere with me retrieving my phone." George pushed her away and snapped at the slow-moving staff, "If you keep going this slow, the phone will be ruined. What's the point of retrieving it then?"
As long as the motherboard wasn't fried, he could take it to a repair shop to recover the data.
The staff sped up, retrieved the phone, and said, "We have a hairdryer in the store. Let's disassemble the phone and dry it first."
"Okay." George hurriedly followed the staff back to the restaurant to find a hairdryer.
Fiona glanced upstairs, her eyes flickering, and called over a waiter.
The restaurant's private rooms were well soundproofed, so Matilda had no idea what was happening outside.
She was fiddling with her phone, handling some matters for the educational institution, when she suddenly heard a knock on the door and looked up.
"Miss, would you like to order?" The waiter handed over the menu, asking politely.
"Sorry, no. We already..." Matilda and George had made it clear when booking the private room that they wouldn't order but would pay a service fee.
This season, the restaurant wasn't very busy, so they were happy to earn some easy money.
But unexpectedly, the waiter's face turned sour and he took the menu back.
"What's the matter? Just like the guests next door, you book a private room and then leave. This service fee isn't enough to support our staff."
Matilda felt a bit embarrassed, but before she could say anything, she realized something was wrong. She asked, "You said... the guests in the next room left?"
The waiter replied with obvious annoyance, "Yes, they left. That girl arrived, called the gentleman, and they left together in a car."
Hearing this, Matilda stood up abruptly, walked out of the private room, and looked into the next room, which was empty.
Two chairs had been pulled out, showing signs of being sat on, but there was no one there!
Her heart tightened, and she took out her phone to call George. Within seconds, she heard, "The number you have dialed is currently unavailable."
Her face turned pale, she bit her lip tightly, and her eyes reddened as she turned and went downstairs.
George's car was still parked in its original spot, but the keys were with him. Matilda had to take a taxi.
She couldn't understand why George would leave his car here and take hers. Was it to create the illusion that he was still here?
It was rush hour, and she stood by the roadside, waving her arm until it was sore before finally hailing a cab to go home.
Meanwhile, George had dried his phone and was preparing to take it for repairs.
"My parents are still waiting. Can you fix your phone tomorrow?" Fiona stood in the lobby, waiting for him with her bag.
Without looking up, he said, "No, I'll be honest with you, I'm already married. My wife is upstairs. Today, I came to explain this to you. Didn't you say they changed the location? You go alone and pass on the message for me. I need to get my wife and go fix my phone."
He turned and went upstairs, his mind focused on the phone.
But when he reached the private room, he found the waiter cleaning used glasses.
"Where are the people?"
"They left," the waiter said.
Countless thoughts raced through George's mind. Did Matilda not want to talk to his mom anymore?
Or did she remember something and get upset again?
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