A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 198 Straight Men

Ethan looked at Judy and Alina. "Aunt Judy, Ms. Tang, please excuse us. We need to go now. See you around."

"Yes, take care, Mr. Nan," Judy answered wryly.

The moment they were gone, Alina turned to Judy with fire in her eyes. "Just look at Maria, Auntie! I'm sure she was bluffing just now. That woman is always so arrogant." Judy's reply, however, was calm. "Well, I don't know if she was bluffing. I think you should be more concerned about whether James really said those words or not."

"Yes, of course you're right, Auntie. But how would I confirm it?"

"Don't worry. I'll ask James myself when I replace the time."

"That's good then. Thank you, Auntie."

"All right, let's go." They weren't actually visiting a wedding company; Judy had only said so in an attempt to rile Maria up.

Meanwhile, Maria was patting Ethan's head as they ducked out of their enemies' sight. "Thank you, Ethan!"

He rubbed his hands together and spoke with enthusiasm. "I do admire your acting skills, Maria."

"You should learn from me then! Who knows, you might end up as an actor one day. If you become famous, don't forget me."

"You have my word!"

Maria laughed, amused at their easy bickering. "Okay. There's nobody else here now, you can stop."

Ethan's expression relaxed and turned normal again. "Do you think they were really going to a wedding company?" "No, I don't think so. Judy probably said that on purpose to piss me off." She had failed to stop their engagement ceremony last time.

If James ended up actually marrying Alina, Maria would be too ashamed to live in this world.

"I agree. Listen, do you need me to replace out what James thinks about all this and report it to you?"

"Thank you, but you don't have to do that. You'll only be courting trouble for yourself. If he suspends your cards again, I'll be the one dealing with all your whining."

Nathan nodded. "You have nothing to worry about, Maria. You're family to me. If you end up remarrying James and holding the purse strings, please be generous to me."

Maria chuckled. "I have a question, by the way. But please don't take this in a negative light; I am genuinely curious. Why do I feel like James has been supporting you financially? Is it just me?"

"Oh, it's not you, he is indeed supporting me. I ask him for every penny that I spend." Ethan didn't hold back anything. "My salary is well enough to support me through a month. But James gave me a bunch of credit cards for fear that I'm broke."

'His words sounds strange somehow,' she thought. "But you aren't related to each other or anything. Why would he concern himself to that extent? Is it just because you're close friends?" People who knew nothing would indeed have doubts about the two men's relationship.

Ethan looked at her confused expression with a serious one of his own. "I will only tell you that he is like an older brother to me. I won't say anything else. And we're not gay either. We are both straight men. Don't think too much, Maria."

He was living a happy life now, he didn't want all those horrible things from the past to come knocking on his door again.

"Well, it doesn't matter. If you want to keep it a secret, then I won't pry further. Everybody has their own secrets," Maria said with a smile.

"You really are a rare beauty-smart, gentle, considerate. I am so lucky to know you..."

She hissed at him. "Stop it!" Goose bumps popped out all over her arms at his words.

Ethan nodded jovially. "Yes, yes, I know. I felt rather sick saying those things, too. It's good that you're not very fond of getting compliments since I don't like giving them either."

Maria gaped and shook her head. This guy was really... She racked her brains to replace a suitable word for his personality. In any case, his personality was certainly something else.

Then they went to the blind box counter and ordered all their Khaki blind boxes, as well as a few Pop Mart blind boxes. Maria took out her wallet and was about to pay the bill when Ethan hurried to stop her. "My treat! It's my treat!"

"How can I let you pay? I have money, let me do it."

He waved his hand nonchalantly. "It's not my own money anyway. It would technically be James' treat. I surely can't afford this much with my current salary." He could only buy one blind box in a month at most. He found himself swallowing in self-pity as he acknowledged the truth out loud.

Maria didn't insist anymore.

They came out of the shopping mall and Ethan helped her arrange for nearly one hundred blind boxes to be sent to Fairview Villa. Then they went their separate ways.

When James arrived at Fairview Villa that night, he didn't replace Maria in the bedroom.

A thought occurred to him almost instantly, and he walked back to the hallway and turned to another room.

Sure enough, there she was.

The room was in a mess, and Maria sat in the midst of it all, surrounded by a large pile of trash that she had extracted from the blind boxes.

She caught sight of him and asked in confusion, "Why are you here?" She had been opening the blind boxes for the longest time and was just about to lose her mind.

She was sporting a very rare expression, piquing James' interest. He motioned at the boxes with his chin. "Is that really so interesting?"

Maria nodded, then sulked. "I still haven't found the hidden design though."

'Why is she so eager to get a hidden design?' James really didn't understand.

He walked into the room and found a space among the melee. He squatted on the floor and picked one of the boxes she had yet to touch.

He opened it and poured out its contents on his lap.

As he did so, a card dropped and fell lightly on the carpet near his feet.

"Ah!" Maria exclaimed suddenly.

He turned to her with a mix of surprise and alarm.

She picked up the card, then grabbed the box out of his hands. She fished the package nestled inside and tore its wrappings open. "James, behold the hidden version of Princess Khaki! Ahhh! I've been looking forward to getting my hands on this for a long time."

James was at a loss. He had only taken a box at random.

And what was that, a doll? He couldn't understand why a person, almost thirty years old, was this delighted over replaceing a single piece of toy.

He suspected that some of Ethan's childishness might have rubbed off on her. They had been interacting with each other quite often these days after all.

"Muah!" Maria planted a big, sound kiss on his cheek, prompting James to turn to her with a blank expression. Well, this sort of happiness was lost on him.

What he was sure of then, however, was that it was getting late and she should be in bed. "Go to take a shower," he ordered.

"No way, I have to sort these out first. You go on ahead." Then just like that, her attention was once again on the dolls. She would have to classify them one by one and buy more glass showcases tomorrow.

James started to brood where he sat.

"I don't want to go shopping again tomorrow," Maria said absentmindedly. "Please ask someone to send several glass showcases here. I'll display the dolls in this room. Oh, but if you mind, you can send them to my hotel instead." She was planning to buy herself a house anyway. She just needed a place to house her dolls first.

'If you mind...' James repeated her words inwardly, his eyes darkening. He ignored her words and grabbed her wrist. "Get some rest first. I'll have these cleaned up later."

Maria took his lack of response to mean that he did, in fact, minded. She only shrugged before following him into the bedroom. "Just send them to the hotel I'm staying. The number of showcases would depend on their unit size. If a showcase can hold one hundred dolls, you can order four...no, five of them!"

"Quiet!" The man interrupted with obvious disgust.

Maria glanced at him, but she did shut up obediently.