Vivi turned her car around a corner and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her apartment building. She parked her car before checking her watch. It was almost ten at night.
She was just about to turn off the car when her cell phone suddenly rang. Vivi hurriedly took out her cellphone. She saw the name of the caller and automatically frowned. The woman then rejected the call emphatically. But three seconds later, the cellphone rang again. The same person stubbornly called her again.
Vivi put her cell phone in the passenger seat and let it ring. She rolled down the window before turning off the engine. The only sound in the silent parking lot was her cell phone ringing. Vivi then took out a box of cigarettes from the car drawer. After hesitating for a moment, she finally lit a rod.
Vivi rarely smoked. She tried to break the habit in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but smoking helped calm her down. She only smoked when she got stressed or tired. The aroma of her cigarette was very light and interspersed with the fresh mint scent.
The woman leaned out of the car window and flicked her cigarette, knocking the ashes on the ground.
"Huh?! You smoke?!"
The loud scream made Vivi jump. She accidentally dropped her cigarette on the ground. The woman just realized that her cellphone had stopped ringing. Vivi leaned her head out the window and glared at Tom Wibowo. The man who was wearing a floral patterned shirt leaned to the side of Vivi's car casually.
"Why are you here?" Vivi asked, pocketing her cellphone. She got out of the car and faced Tom with a suspicious gaze.
"Am I not allowed to come here? This is a public facility, right? Everyone can come here!" Tom replied fiercely. Then his gaze fell on the cigarette butts on the ground, "Hey, what brand of cigarettes do you usually smoke?"
Vivi took a deep breath while repeatedly reminding herself, 'Killing is against the law.'
She stepped forward, her heels stepping on the cigarette, "That is none of your business!" Vivi replied curtly, "If you hadn't bothered me, I wouldn't have dropped my cigarette!"
Tom shot Vivi an annoyed gaze while rubbing the back of his neck, "Alright, who cares about your business? Now tell me, why didn't you pick up my phone?"
"I didn't hear you calling!" Vivi replied loudly. Her patience with the man was running low.
Tom squinted, his expression showing that he didn't trust her. He straightened up, then crossed his arms, "You really are ungrateful! Do you know how hard it is to arrange a blind date for you?"
Vivi tightly clenched her fists. So Tom was here to talk about all that stupid blind date?
"I have to invite all the single programmers in my company! But you just ran away and refused to appreciate my kindness! You think I'm someone who has that much free time?! Where's your thanks?!" Tom demanded.
Vivi's lips started twitching as she desperately held back her anger. She couldn't get carried away with emotion! Killing was and would always be against the law!
Vivi pursed her lips tightly as she took another breath. After a while, she finally felt calmer, "Mr. Tom, thank you for your help." Growl escaped from her mouth through gritted teeth.
Vivi turned and walked away. She was afraid that if she stayed there, she would be even more tempted to break the law and commit premeditated murder!
"Wait a minute!" Tom suddenly grabbed Vivi's arm and pulled her to a stop.
The movement made Vivi lose her balance. She staggered and her heels stepped on Tom's sneaker-clad feet. As Tom screamed in pain, Vivi's cellphone was thrown out of her pocket and slammed onto the pavement.
A heart-breaking cracking sound made the two of them fall silent.
Vivi slowly lowered her gaze to the ground. She could see shards of glass scattered around her poor cellphone. She didn't dare imagine how much damage the cell phone would have.
"Tom Wibowo, what have you done?!" Vivi pushed Tom aside and picked up her cell phone carefully.
Tom was jumping up and down on one sore leg. He opened his mouth to swear at the woman, but his voice disappeared when he saw the broken glass of Vivi's cell phone screen falling to the ground. At least Tom knew himself enough to realize he made the phone fall. But his pride wouldn't let him admit it.
The man coughed while averting his gaze, "It's not my fault— your phone sucks, that's all!"
Vivi's face turned bright red when she heard that. She pointed her crushed cellphone at Tom shouting, "Tom Wibowo, what the hell is your problem? Do you have a grudge against me, huh?!"
Tom looked at Vivi with an expression of disbelief. Wasn't this woman the one who originally started the trouble with him?! Why was he blaming himself now ?! But Tom reminded himself that this woman was Lilia's best friend. If he got into trouble with them again, Jean would definitely skin him alive!
Tom coughed lightly and changed the subject, "It doesn't matter. I'm just here to ask if you want to go on another blind date."
Tom wondered what went wrong with his arrangements for yesterday's blind date. He had told the single men to wear matching red and white shirts. Plus, they were all really good men! What else was lacking in preparation?
But Vivi replied with a look of disgust. She turned around and started walking away. But suddenly, she was stopped before turning back to look at Tom.
"Since you asked about it, let me tell you something about myself. I really hate people who work as programmers!"
Tom's eyes widened when he heard that, "Huh? So you purposely ran away from that date because you looked down on those programmers?! What kind of guy do you like, hm? Do you like flabby guys who are secretly gay like your previous date?" Tom deliberately infuriated Vivi with his words.
Vivi opened her mouth to reply, but she just turned around and rushed away in the end. Vivi was so blinded with rage that she didn't even notice she was stepping on the grate of the sewer. The heels then fell between the bars. Vivi forcefully pulled her pinched leg, but her action actually broke the heel of her shoe!
Vivi swallowed a curse that almost escaped her mouth when she saw the sad condition of her favorite high heels.
"Your cellphone fell off before, then now your heel is broken? Why do you like wearing low-quality things like this?" Tom commented as he approached Vivi.
Vivi glared at Tom. Didn't that man realize that not everyone can buy expensive things like him?!
Tom studied Vivi's high heels and clicked his tongue, "Do you need help?" Tom tried to show his courtesy. Even if he asked that, the man showed absolutely no sign of helping Vivi.
"No need!" Vivi pulled off her two shoes and carried them in her hand. Then she shot Tom a look of disgust, "I just need you away from me! Goodbye!"
Without waiting for Tom's answer, Vivi ran to the entrance of her apartment barefoot. The woman disappeared into the apartment building without even looking back.
Tom watched Vivi's figure disappear before letting the corner of his mouth lift into a wide smile. He turned and walked back to his car, playing with the car keys. "What an unsweetened woman!" Tom muttered, but his expression showed that he didn't mind Vivi's rude attitude.
*****
When Lilia and Jean arrived home, it was already half past ten in the night. Along the way home, Lilia's husband leaned his head on Lilia's shoulder while closing his eyes, looking like he was fast asleep. The man looked very tired, with a frown on his forehead and a strong cigarette smell from his body.
Lilia looked at Jean worriedly, but she didn't know what she could do to help the man. Lilia felt frustrated that she could only let Jean spoil her.
As their car pulled up outside the gate, Kenny glanced at the two from the rearview mirror. He was hesitant to disturb the peaceful atmosphere between Lilia and Jean, but they couldn't stay in the car overnight until Jean woke up!
Luckily, Jean slowly opened his eyes when he felt the car stopped. He straightened himself and gathered the documents he brought home. Then he got out of the car, holding Lilia's hand.
When they had only walked a few steps from the car, Lilia suddenly pulled her hand away.
"Ah, wait a minute." Lilia turned around and ran back to the car.
She tapped on the passenger seat window, making Kenny lower the window.
"Did you miss something, Mrs. Lilia?" Kenny asked, confused.
Lilia glanced at Jean, who was standing and waiting for her in front of the gate, before looking at Kenny, "Tell me honestly, has Jean been busy lately due to the collaboration project with the Pangestu Family?" She bluntly asked.
Lilia's guess first appeared when she heard Jean and Kenny's conversation in the office. Then the suspicion grew stronger when she happened to see the contents of the document that Jean was reading in the car. The document contained plans for cooperation between the Pangestu family and the Widjaya family.
Hearing that, Kenny was stunned and his face turned pale. He automatically glanced at his boss, who stared back at him with icy eyes. Jean's assistant caught the boss's intention and just nodded without saying anything.
Lilia wanted to question Kenny further, but the man's pale face made Lilia feel sorry for him. So she just thanked Kenny before returning to Jean's side.
"What were you talking about, Kenny?" Jean asked while wrapping one arm around Lilia's waist. He was trying to sound casual, but the man couldn't hide his jealousy.
Lilia looked up to look at Jean's frowning face. She chuckled as he replied, "Nothing, I just told him to be careful on the road."
"Hmm…" Jean muttered, but he didn't ask Lilia any further. In his heart, Jean was determined to interrogate Kenny about this tomorrow at the office.
Meanwhile, Kenny who was driving suddenly felt goosebumps on his back.. He had a bad feeling about coming to work tomorrow, so he began to consider taking time off work instead.
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