Carla was shouting and pointing her finger at Sean in absolute desperation. This just infuriated Sean further and he yelled back at her, "No! I am telling the truth! He is my brother-in-law! Terence An is my brother-in-law. I am telling the truth!"
Sean was screaming so loudly that his high pitched voice bore into everyone's brain. He wanted to smack the smirks off everyone's face that was making fun of him.
The scream was deafening and so ear piercing that it nearly made your ears bleed.
Sean wouldn't give the phone back to Carla. He held onto it as if his life depended on it. Instead, he screamed even louder and glared back at Carla with a defiant look.
Terence felt partly to blame as he might have encouraged Sean, so he decided to step in, "I heard you, Sean. Stop doing that. It's bad for your vocal cords. I know you are a good boy, so you won't disobey your sister." Terence smiled proudly to himself. It felt good to be a hero in front of Carla and it felt even better knowing that Carla was freaked out.
"Fine," mumbled Sean. "I'll do as you say and apologize to Carla. Hey Terence, do you want to speak to my sister? She's sitting right next to me. Wait a minute! Actually, no... She's not sitting next to me. She's standing next to me. And I bet I will be getting two big bumps on my forehead in a minute!"
Now that Sean had gotten everything out of his system, he got to prove that he really was good friends with Terence to the ignorant people on the bus. He got to speak with Terence again and he screamed his little heart out, ridding all of the built-up frustration that he felt inside. Sean was feeling pretty good. Even if Carla were to choke him to death or knocked him unconscious, it would all have been worth it.
He would not put up with bullies anymore.
Today was the day that he was going to take his revenge!
From now on, he could proudly hold his head up high and say that he was an honest person. Everything he had ever said was true. It felt amazing.
Carla was so disappointed with Sean that her body was trembling. She didn't raise him to be like that. She couldn't understand why Sean would become such an unpredictable brat. Carla felt like cursing but she bit her tongue and refrained from using foul language in front of the kids, especially her own brother. Considering the way that Sean had been disobeying her of late, she seriously doubted whether her previous talks to Sean about their relationship with Terence was all for nothing. Otherwise, how would Sean choose a outsider over his own sister?
Terence was silent for a moment and then said in a calm voice, "No, Sean. I'm good. Thanks. Just wait for me at JA City. When I get back, I'll contact you." The conversation had ended at that point.
Sean stood still and silent for a moment as if he was thinking about something.
Then he regained his senses and hung up the phone. Carla let out a deep sigh now that it was all finally over.
But all of a sudden, she heard hushed whispers around her that simmered with excitement.
And then the bus was brimming with the hubbub of voices everywhere slowly getting louder. "Did you hear it?" "Oh, gosh, I can't believe it's real!" "Was that really Terence An, the third son of the An family?" "Did you hear what he said?" "Maybe that man was an impostor?"
"I have no idea. Maybe he was. It might have been Terence. Who knows." "But the man did say that he was in Dubai. That pans out with what his brother said before. I bet it was him."
"Yes, I couldn't agree more." "Oh, did you hear how that boy Sean was screaming?" "He couldn't have been acting." "That Carla girl, Sean's sister, she is really something." "I bet Carla and Terence hooked up before."
"I agree with you." "Did you hear how her brother called Terence An his brother-in-law?" "And the best part is that Terence didn't deny it."
"Hey, yeah, I didn't know that!" "So now you're all going to believe a ten-year-old boy? Come on, look at him. Sean is basically just a crying sissy. Listen to me, Terence An was just being kind to ordinary folks. He probably couldn't bear to hurt him. That's all. End of story! He just feels sorry for them. That's all. It's just sympathy talk."
Gossip could be a fearful thing.
Terence was already engaged to that woman. The precious daughter of the Hua family. Her name was Bonnie, the future bride of Terence. The only woman who could stand beside Terence by right and by title. All other women, if there were any with such a magnificent stature would have to simply step aside and make room.
Bonnie had taken the moral high ground. Carla stood no chance and could never dream of competing with someone like that. And even if she did, people would treat her like a home wrecker. She didn't have anything to hold on to.
So what if she proved her relationship with Terence to everyone?
People would laugh in her face. Even though she came earlier than Bonnie, people would say that Terence was just having an affair with her, nothing serious.
Because nobody would believe that golden boy Terence An would marry a commoner like Carla. She felt that she was pathetic and hateful and wouldn't dream of destroying someone else's marriage. She didn't live in fairy tales. It was just impossible between them.
For the rest of the long and tedious journey, Carla and Terence became everyone's topic of conversation. The endless drive didn't seem all that bad to the others. But, to Carla, it was a living nightmare. All they did was talk, talk, talk and never shut up. All day and all night, even while they slept.
They were mumbling about her in their dreams, snoring and drooling.
Then finally, after the prolonged torturous journey, they had arrived at JA City.
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