David reluctantly maintains a smile on his face. “Because I love to work. I don’t want to date anyone.”
“TSK. TSK. Stop lying!” Raising his eyebrows, Leigh grins. “We wouldn’t comment anything even if you told us you were a gay. I can introduce a few nice men to you if you like.”
David is speechless.
“Leigh, shut up.” Louis replaces the brandy in front of Leigh with a glass of juice. “We all can drink alcohol tonight except you. The juice is for you.”
Leigh is unhappy and he says, “What’s the fun of drinking juice? I enjoy drinking liquor.”
As he speaks, he wants to grab the glass of brandy back.
Louis casts a cold glance at him, full of murderous look, as if saying, “I dare you to move your hand another inch!”
“Alright. Drink the juice.” Jessie grabs his hand back. “You have a gunshot wound. You need quit drinking and smoking within these two months. OK?”
“Okay. Baby, whatever you say.” Leigh stops making a fuss obediently.
After a minute of silence, he takes out the sunflower pendant from his collar, showing off to everyone at presence. “Look! This is the Christmas gift from my fiancée. Daniel, Louis, I don’t think you’ve received gifts, have you?”
“Yes. I gave Louis a scarf,” Lily retorts him in a light tone, “A scarf is much more useful than your necklace. It will keep Louis warm.”
“My gift might be a bit non-mainstream,” Stella says, pulling Daniel’s hand and raising it up.
Everyone can see there’s a woven red bracelet on Daniel’s waist, with a bead on it.
Stella smiles slightly. “I think it’s too girlish for a big man like him to wear a necklace or a bracelet, so I made a bracelet for him. It’s not so expensive, but it’ll keep him safe.”
Daniel suddenly says, “This gift is priceless to me.”
“Of course. I dare you to dislike it.” Casting a glance at him from the corner of her eyes, Stella turned to Leigh and says, “Leigh, based on the necklace style, I guess it’s from Van Cleef & Arpels, isn’t it? It’s really expensive. You need to be careful.”
Pursing her lips, Lily jokes, “I can’t tell if he would treasure it. Based on his characters, I’m afraid the necklace would appear on a certain actress’ neck someday.”
“Yeah, it’s possible indeed.”
“Fuck! I just wanted to show off my Christmas gift. I didn’t offend you, did I?” Under the two women’s verbal attacks, Leigh feels as if he’s suffocated. “Why did you say that to me?”
“How can you talk in that way to Stella and Lily?” Jessie slaps him on the forehead. “They didn’t say anything wrong. You’re so experienced in romance. You also like to collect photos of those supermodels’ bosom and leg.”
Leigh feels wronged. “I’ve changed. Baby, why did you take others’ side?”
Jessie rolls her eyes at him. “I’m willing to. What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing? Then shut up and drink your juice.”
Leigh has totally lost in this argument. With an aggrieved look, he picked up a glass of juice and drank it in silence.
Others laugh at him gleefully.
It’s getting late and there are more guests gathering in the hall of the nightclub. Almost all the booths are occupied.
For Christmas Eve, Christmas songs have been played in the hall. The youngsters are dancing on and off the stage. The booth area is also crowded and lively.
Leigh soon becomes active again. He complains that it’s boring to sit still, so he asks a waiter to bring him poker to play. With the rule that the loser will drink, they starts playing the game of ‘Fight the Landlord’.
Louis doesn’t want to join the fun, so he just drinks while sitting next to Lily. Occasionally looking at her card, he will give her some guidance.
After playing for a dozen of rounds, Leigh is defeated.
“Jesus! You guys are too much!” Leigh complains with a bitter face, “Each of you have a consultant. In my side, only Little Fairy and I take turns. And I’m the only one drinking juice if I lose. I’ve drunk almost nine glasses. I’m about to throw up. Daniel, Louis, where is your moral?”
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