I chuckled lightly and brought her into the villa. Mrs. Eriksen brewed some tea. Stacey stared at me for a while before she said, “I heard Nancy got into trouble.”
I was taken aback as it had happened quite some time back. I lightly nodded and asked, “How have you been doing in J City?”
She smiled and replied, “Thanks to Mr. Fuller, I’ve been promoted to be the regional manager. I’m doing pretty well.”
Thinking about it, she was already in her thirties. She paused for a while and continued, “However, I have nothing much going on in my love life.”
If I had calculated correctly, Felix’s death sentence was held in early autumn.
She took a sip of the tea and said briefly, “I went to visit him. He had slimmed down a lot. I thought I’d be glad to see him in a mess since I used to hate him so much, but I did not.”
No matter how much she hated him, they used to share a loving memory after all. As time passed, she was left with a soft spot for him.
She paused and diverted the topic. “Oh! There’s an auction tonight. Do you want to join me for it? I heard that the Murphys from K City organized it.”
“You know me. I don’t like crowds.” I shook my head and replied with a smile.
She pouted and continued persuading me. “We’re not going there for the crowd. I have a friend that’s working for the Murphy Corporation. I’ve seen the item that they’ll be auctioning. It’s a sandalwood box – similar to the one that grandma left for you. I heard it’s a puzzle box that could only be opened when put together with another box. Remember how you asked for my help to open your box? I think it’s worth trying.”
I took a while to react and repeated, “A puzzle box?”
She nodded. “Do you want to join me? Who knows, we might be able to open the box.”
I got curious, so I nodded in response. “Sure, I’ll attend the auction with you.”
I wondered if the Murphys from K City referred to the family of the renowned expert in the oil industry.
If they were, it would not be easy to gain access to the auction. I could not help but ask, “Do you have an invite? It would not be easy to get into an auction organized by the Murphys.”
She smiled and nodded. “I was prepared before I invited you. Thanks to the strong presence of Fuller Corporation in J City, whenever the Murphys organize something in J City, they would invite Mr. Fuller along. He had given me the authority to handle this invite.”
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: In Love, Never Say Never (Ashton Fuller and Scarlett Stovall)