Chapter 20 I Will Never Forget Her
"No, no. Please, don't listen to her talk of nonsense," Isabella hurriedly tried to explain with tears in her eyes, but every word she uttered was completely useless at the moment.
Because the palm print on her face was a concrete evidence and would not lie.
James had been nearly deceived by Isabella just now. Fortunately, he was not completely stupid to still believe her words after what Nina showed him.
Without refuting, Nina pointed at the palm print on her face and reminded, "Evidence."
Right after, she left without looking back.
With a scornful look apparent on his face, James looked at Isabella disgustedly, and patted the hem of his shirt disdainfully. All the while, she was still pretending to be the innocent party. What he hated the most in his life were women like her.
At breakneck speed, he ran to chase after Nina. He took no more notice of Isabella and left her roaring her heart out.
"Senior, please wait for me!" James strode over, caught up to Nina, and together, they walked side by side.
Nina stopped for a while and looked intently at James who was smiling brightly. Looking at him, she couldn't help but think of John and was suddenly lost in thought.
"What did you just call me?" she asked after coming back to her senses. It was the first time that Nina had been called like this.
"Senior." What was wrong? Had he addressed her wrongly? He was, after all, a freshman, and Nina was a sophomore. It was just right to call her "senior."
Nina nodded delightedly. "It sounds good."
It was the first time for him to see someone having such kind of a pleased reaction, so James felt a little embarrassed and had no idea what to say next.
Unexpectedly at a loss for words, he touched the back of his head bashfully and flashed a foolish smile, making him look like a shy boy.
Nina sized up the simple boy and she smiled softly. She concluded that James was a lot more pleasing to the eye than John.
"John is your uncle?"
"Yes." James thought that she would scold him for being meddlesome in other people's affairs, and he hadn't expected that their topic of discussion would turn to his uncle.
Why was she suddenly asking him about John? Could it be...?
"Are you planning to hit my uncle again?" Just the thought of it was enough to scare James.
Nina looked a little embarrassed. As the gentle breeze blew her hair, her embarrassment gradually dissipated.
The sole reason why she had hit that man was because he spoke too harshly and did unforgivable and terrible things to her.
"I don't attack anyone randomly unless I have been attacked first. This is my life principle," she replied earnestly. Raising her eyes to look at James, Nina was more patient with him than she was with his uncle.
James understood what she meant and felt guilty for having misunderstood her a while ago.
To cover up his discomfiture, he deliberately changed the topic, and asked, "Are you perhaps looking for my uncle?
You can just say so if you are." According to their agreement, she had to meet him one more time for John to delete the video he had taken in the hotel.
Only after he had deleted the video recording would Nina have nothing to worry about anymore. She could then coax her husband to divorce her as soon as possible and everything would be just fine.
"If I were to tell you the detailed whereabouts of my uncle, will you forgive me for what I did wrong just now?" James was witty and cheerful, and was also a naughty man.
Nina was unable to shoo him away. For those people who had been good to her, she would treat them in the same manner and she would always be very kind in return.
"Okay," she agreed without hesitation. It was not such a bad deal after all.
They chatted amicably all the way. Most of the time, it was James who was, in fact, chattering endlessly. Nina was just passively listening in silence.
She picked up on the fact that just like Michelle, James was also too talkative! Fortunately, Nina had been hanging out with Michelle for a long time now, so she was able to listen to a lot of James' nonsense chatter with patience.
Michelle had always been nice to her, so she asked James out of curiosity, "What happened between you and Michelle?"
In fact, Nina still wasn't able to figure out the relationship between James and Michelle. She only vaguely remembered hearing that they fell in love on the Internet. It puzzled her why Michelle didn't show any sign of anger or jealousy every time she heard about James' affairs with other women. If she really liked him, that wouldn't be the case, would it?
On the other hand, if she didn't like James, why would Michelle always mention that they enjoyed the flowers, the moon, and the sunset together?
At the mention of Michelle's name, James felt his scalp tingling in apprehension. Never before had he ever met such a serious girl.
"We just played the same computer game and we became a virtual couple in the game," James confessed, feeling unjustly wronged.
A computer game?
"Then the sunset, the flowers and the moon you enjoyed together..."
"They were tasks for couples to complete in the game," James said helplessly.
Hearing his explanation, Nina finally understood with r
elief and nodded knowingly.
It turned out that Michelle wasn't interested in James himself. She was after the role he had in the game.
"I admit that I'm so handsome and attractive that girls are always around me, but cute girls are really not my cup of tea," James smugly said as he smoothed his hair back and raised his head conceitedly. He put his left hand in his trouser pocket, and stood there showing off like a playboy.
Of course, he was actually a playboy.
"Don't take it wrong. She's not in love with you," Nina retorted, trying to defend her friend.
"If she didn't like me, why did she chase after me every day then?" James felt that his charm was way too enchanting and could not be doubted in this way. Obviously, Nina was just trying to salvage what was left of Michelle's dignity.
Nina remembered the game that Michelle had told her about. The entire time, she was pestering James because she was trying to break off their virtual relationship. After that, she needed to marry another person in the game to complete the tasks. She really wanted the prize.
"You haven't logged in the game for a long while now, have you? Michelle just wants to break off the virtual relationship she has with you in that game."
"Yes, I haven't been online for two months now. I usually play a game for one or two times and won't play it again anymore," James casually said and waved his hand dismissively.
Nina finally understood the real reason why Michelle went to the hotel to catch him. She just wanted to ask him to break off the virtual relationship with him. That was also the reason why she had chased after him on the campus.
A person like James, who would only play a game for one or two times, wouldn't be able to play games that well. Michelle might have been tricked by him in the game for her to agree to the relationship. It was now his duty to give Michelle an explanation and give her freedom.
Later, Nina would speak to Michelle and tell her these conjectures. Sure enough, she was right.
After walking with James for a while, Nina had lost all her patience with his never-ending twittering. She thought of a lame excuse to leave. James had no more reason to bother Nina again. Before leaving, however, he coaxed Nina for a long time until he finally got her WeChat account. As justification, he told her that It was more convenient to reveal his uncle's whereabouts for her through WeChat.
All the while, James already had a grand plan brewing in his mind. As far as he knew, there must definitely be something fishy going on for his uncle to put up with Nina after she had hit him not just once, but twice.
Even his assistant had given him a meaningful hint that if he fawned on Nina, he might gain John's favor.
As he pondered about it, James hummed a tune happily and entered the CEO's office of Time Group.
When Henry saw James, he couldn't help but feel surprised by his visit. "James, don't you have classes at school? Why are you here?"
"I have no classes this afternoon." James was a pro at lying shamelessly. He poked his head into the office calmly and asked, "Is my uncle in the office?"
"Mr. Shi is talking about business with Mr. Glenn Zhang right now."
"Isn't that Isabella's father?" Thinking of Isabella's shameful conduct earlier that day, James couldn't help but hate her and her whole family.
It could be concluded that for such parents to have produced a calculating daughter like Isabella, they must be rotten themselves.
With a burst of laughter, Glenn kept nodding in a patronizing manner and bowed obsequiously. "You are right, Mr. Shi. I will do as you said. It's really lucky for me to be given the chance to cooperate with you."
"Yes, indeed," John answered in a careless voice and raised his hand dismissively to ask him to leave.
As soon as Glenn came out, he met James outside, who was looking at him in an unfriendly manner. Glenn was a little stunned, but maintained his composure and smiled to fawn over him. "Nice to meet you, Mr. James Shi."
"Hi," James answered perfunctorily with loathing visible in his eyes. As expected, all their family members were of one and the same virtue.
"I heard that you are studying in L University, and my daughter Isabella also attends college there. Have you met her perhaps?" Glenn thought if Isabella could marry James, he and his family would really become prosperous and rich.
With a faint sarcastic chuckle, James answered, "Yes, I have. I just met your daughter this noon. She left me with a lasting impression and I will never forget her."
True enough, James would never forget that she tried to make a fool out of him as if he was an idiot.
"Oh, then that's really fate." Glenn evidently misunderstood James' words and thought his daughter was so charming that James would never forget her.
Without saying anything further, James pushed the door open and entered the office.
John was leaning against the chair with his back to the door, a cigarette in his hand. After hearing James' footsteps, he slowly inquired, "You said you will never forget her?"
He had always thought that there was something wrong with James' taste in women, but he never expected that he would be as blind as a bat.