Seeing her family's excitement, Violet took out her phone, called Austin and put him on speaker.
Everyone waited with bated breath for Austin to answer from the other line.
On the third or fourth ring, thereabout, he picked the call and lazily began, "Hello, my darling, why are you calling at this hour?" His voice sounded a tad more husky.
"Austin, tell me honestly, where are you?" Violet immediately said firmly.
"Would you believe, if I told you I'm sleeping right now?" Austin replied.
"Are you alone?" asked Violet on purpose.
Bursting into laughter, Austin asked, "Darling, what do you think?"
Without trying to guess, they knew that Austin must be up to something that he wasn't ready to talk about. Instead of answering the question directly, he kept going around in circles.
Once more, she asked, "Austin, tell me. Where are you? Which country?"
"Actually, I don't know, either." He paused for a second and then continued, "But tomorrow I'll go to Paris. One of my friends has a show there, and I'll be in his entourage," Austin replied.
Unable to control herself anymore, Selina finally cut in and asked, "Austin, for heaven's sake, can you get serious please?"
Austin was astonished and asked, "Mum, you mean you're listening on all this time I was here joking?" Surprised by what going on, he asked, "Are you in Hong Kong now?"
"Oh, sorry, Austin, I forgot to tell you that I was back home. Guess where I am now?" Violet told him the truth.
Thrown off balance, Austin asked, "Are you at home now?"
At that moment, Cherry also asked, "When are you coming back Austin? I've missed you so much."
Austin was stunned, "Oh my God! Aunt Cherry, you're also there? Are my uncle and brother also with you?"
Finally, Violet declared, "Not just them. Your father is also with us." Then she turned to her uncle and said, "Uncle Wilson, say something to your son."
"I don't want to say anything to him," Wilson replied. Then he turned around, looked aside and paid no attention to Violet and the rest who were all glued to the phone.
That didn't sit well with Austin. Sounding withdrawn now, he asked, "Violet, how could you do that to me?"
Nonchalantly, Violet simply said, "Okay, then goodbye. I will tell all the people here that you have been flirting around. Grandma and grandpa are sitting next to me." With so many family members around her, Violet wanted to stamp her authority.
Feeling helpless, Austin stammered, "You..." But then he thought of something else and asked, "Oh, am I still on the speaker? Can everyone hear me?"
"Of course. What do you think? My brother, my husband and all our family are here, listening to you. If there was some little respect anyone here still had of you, you can count it gone now. There's nothing to make you deserve any respect. Zilch!" Violet added with a smug. She then took a look at Lawrence, before turning to look at Greg.
Getting worried, Austin blurted his disgust, "Oh my god. Please don't bully me like this. I can't dare get on the bad side of Lawrence and Greg."
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