Chapter 4 Yet Another Reversal
1515 Words
It was said that a wise man should submit to his circumstances.
Paul was anything but wise but he had been well-educated by his family. He knew when to submit in the off-chance that he had offended someone that he should not.
When in Rome, it was better to do as Romans do and bow to the forces there.
But he could not bring himself to do so!
So many of his classmates were here and the new semester had just begun. If he was humiliated here, he would never be able to raise his head in front of his classmates anymore.
He had no idea how that Floyd managed to get Bob to take his side and even address him so politely, but he trusted Heidi's words. Floyd must have tricked Bob!
He hesitated for a second before saying, "Bob, can we have a word? Privately."
Bob glanced at him. Taking into consideration his meager friendship with Paul's faster, he decided to let him down lightly. "Nah, just say it here. There are no secrets here."
Paul gritted his teeth.
Letting go of his clenched fists, he said, "Bob, I can apologize to him for your sake, but you have been working here in Wimborne for many years. It wouldn't be nice if word gets out that you have been tricked by an i***t, would it?"
"What do you mean?"
Bob frowned.
"The one you call Mr. Floyd, I know him. He's just a poor kid in my class. He's not from a rich family at all."
Paul added, "Look. This girl is his high school girlfriend. She says that Floyd is an orphan. He distributes flyers, washes dishes, waits tables for a living."
The more he spoke, the more natural he sounded. His words seemed so earnest and plausible.
Bob's expression was serene; no one could read anything from it. "You sure?"
He was not addressing Paul, but the young woman beside him.
Heidi was nervous that Paul had shoved her into the limelight without any warning. She had never met anyone like Bob before.
"Yeah, I'm... I'm sure. Simon is so poor that he can barely feed himself. You can tell by the way he dresses. Even his shoes were a gift from me last year."
A look of mockery appeared on her face.
"Those shoes are so beaten up that they're almost unwearable, and yet he still won't buy new ones. There's no way he's rich. He has tricked you."
Simon did not say anything. He stood against the door frame with his arms crossed and watched Paul and Heidi echo each other. There was a slight smile on his face.
"Um..."
Bob looked at Simon and Katya with a hesitant expression. There was underlying anger on his face.
Had these people tricked him?
Truth to be told, he had no idea who they were but they had seemed so scary downstairs. And no ordinary person would bring a foreign female guard with them.
He had worked in the underworld for so long that he knew to distinguish women who were playthings and women who were capable aides.
However, he could not tell how capable they truly were.
Were they pushovers or were they people he could not afford to provoke?
All he needed was definite proof or word.
The other classmates in the private lounge had become the backdrop of the whole fiasco. They sat quietly, watching the show with complex feelings.
While hoping that Simon was a fool who had tricked everyone, they wanted to see a new twist in events that could shock them.
"Katya?"
Simon raised an eyebrow and said, feigning calm, "I will give you half an hour to settle this. Can you handle it?"
He had yet to grasp the true capabilities of the uncle-in-law that he had not met for a few years.
Even if his uncle-in-law was truly one of the richest men in Osharin, no one knew if he held any substantial influence in Carran.
He did not have the nerve to blatantly show off at the moment. It was better to just leave it to Katya.
"Mr. Floyd, I don't need half an hour. I can settle this with just a phone call."
Katya smiled at him.
Bob was expressionless as he waited for her next move.
Katya ignored him. She took out her phone and made a call. "Mr. Floyd has run into some trouble at Rock Box in Wimborne. Inform our people here. I don't want this to happen a second time."
She hung up straight after, not giving the person on the other end of the line the chance to speak.
This surprised Paul but he swiftly laughed out loud. "Girl, you're quite a good actress. Hahaha! Hey, Floyd, you found yourself a pretty hot babe. I will pay you $1,000 for one night with her. What do you think?"
His final frivolous question was directed to Katya.
Paul had slept with many women over the years but he had never tasted a foreign woman.
A look of surprise appeared on Katya's pretty face. Then, swift as lightning, she reached between her thighs with her right hand.
A sharp, dazzling dagger was pressed against Paul's lips.
"One more word of nonsense from you and I will cut off your tongue."
The cold sensation against his lips as well as the taste of metal freaked Paul so much that he sweated. He smiled sheepishly. "It was just a joke. A joke, I promise."
He held up both hands and backed off carefully.
Fortunately for him, Katya did not receive any hidden instructions from her master. She stopped threatening Paul's life.
Still, what happened spooked everyone. They could not believe that she would pull out a dagger at the slightest hint of conflict.
It was completely crazy.
Looks of shock and fright rained down on the foreign woman who seemed so tall and aloof under the spotlight. The others looked at the men in suit and their bulging muscles, and then at Simon, who was leaning against the door with a serene expression.
Holy sh*t!
They knew it was an act, but what an act it was!
Little did they know, Simon's heart had skipped a beat as well. He did not see Katya's reaction coming either.
Like the rest of the spectators, he was stupefied as well.
But unlike them, he could not let it show.
Yeah, he thought, he expected nothing less from Katya!
The quick thinkers finally realized what was happening. Whether these people were Simon's bodyguards or hired actors, he was not someone that they could trifle with.
No ordinary person would be able to employ such people!
Now more than ever, it seemed likely that Simon came from a rich family. The problem now was if his status was enough to overwhelm Paul's father.
Dixie Rhodes was one of the people who had realized this. She stood among the crowd, watching Simon carefully as her brain worked overtime.
She was one of the three prettiest women in the class. Her beauty was of the pure and sweet type. It was merely her 5'7 feet height that made Paul look for someone else.
But the rest of her classmates were still in a state of confusion. They were certain that Heidi was right: Simon was just a poor orphan.
Most people were only willing to believe what they wanted to believe. It would make them feel sick to the stomach to see someone that they had once looked down on turn out to be someone they could not even hope to touch.
Bob narrowed his eyes.
Time passed, second by second.
Everyone was harboring different thoughts but they were all waiting for the outcome.
Paul's face was ashen. "What now? Bob, they're pulling out knives in your territory. Are you just going to take this lying down?"
"F*ck off. Don't try and play me."
Bob remained unmoved.
But his eyes were narrowed and had a dangerous glint in them.
Just as Paul wanted to open his mouth, the ringing of a phone broke the silence inside the private lounge.
It was Bob's phone.
"Boss? Yeah, I'm here... What?"
Less than a minute after Bob answered his phone, he looked at Simon in shock. The conversation on the phone continued for a little longer before coming to an abrupt end.
He put away his phone with an ashen face.
No one noticed that his back was drenched with sweat.
In his head, he was cursing Paul out for nearly fooling him.
"Bob, is everything okay?"
Paul had a sudden bad feeling. He prayed that the phone call was a mistaken phone call and had nothing to do with Simon.
Unfortunately, life was tricky that way.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Floyd! I was a fool, I shouldn't have doubted you. You can punish me as you please!"
Bob Pearson—the man whom most rich businessmen in Wimborne did not dare to offend—jogged up to Simon, lowered his head, and pleaded for forgiveness in a trembling voice.
- Writer
