My Darling, My Dearest
Chapter 40

Rachel looked around but didn't replace Jack. She saw only the other men.

Francis walked up to Wendy and put his hand around his fiancee's waist. Then he started introducing Rachel to the others. "This is Jack's wife."

A subtle change appeared on all of their faces, but they greeted Rachel in a friendly manner.

Rachel nodded to them with a smile and asked Francis softly, "Where is Jack?"

"Jack has just stepped outside. I will ask a waiter to search for him. Fiave a seat inside."

Rachel was about to decline the offer, but then Wendy pushed Francis away and walked up to Rachel. She held Rachel by the hand and said with a smile, "We don't want to just sit here and watch you play mahjong. I will go outside now with Mrs. Fu."

Francis' eyes lingered on his hand that Wendy had pushed aside. Then, he tried to appear unconcerned, turning his face away casually with a smile on his lips. "All right. Mrs. Fu, I hope my fiancee doesn't bother you too much."

"It's not a bother at all. I'm glad to have a companion," answered Rachel.

"Well, I understand you women can't bear just sitting around here." Despite his attempt to seem cheerful, Francis seemed to be talking to himself, ■3

looking slightly wounded and downcast.

"Then let's go outside now." Wendy couldn't resist urging Rachel on. Her behavior was unusual, but she couldn't control herself.

When Wendy leaned closer to her, Rachel could feel that her body was a little tense. Francis suddenly said in a low voice, "Vincent is here. Why don't you say hello to him?"

All of a sudden, Wendy's body went rigid. She lowered her eyelids and shook her head, looking very reluctant.

Francis suddenly extended his arm and pulled her close to him, with a languid smile on his face. He paid no attention to the Wendy's feeble resistance. He said, "Let's go and say hello him. After all, he is my brother-in-law."

He turned around and said to his friends behind him, "I'll take Wendy out for a while. Enjoy yourselves here."

There was a murmur from the crowd in the background. Rachel, who was standing by the door, stepped out quietly. She saw that Wendy was in Francis' arms. Her face was pale and she was looking down. Those two behaved rather strangely before, and Rachel didn't know why.

After Francis walked to the door with his fiancee in his arms, someone said with a chuckle, "Jack's wife is so beautiful."

Wendy appeared uncomfortable and unnatural in the arms of her fiance, but Francis seemed to not notice it. While holding Wendy, he said to Rachel, ■3

"Mrs. Fu, please have something to eat in the VIP room. I will ask the waiter to replace Jack."

"No thanks. You can go ahead with your business. I'll go and replace him myself," Rachel replied.

"We are just going to greet my brother-in-law. After all, we haven't met for a while. Right, Wendy?" He bowed his head and caressed his fiancee's cheek tenderly.

His love for Wendy was obvious, but she obviously wasn't enjoying his attention.

Rachel felt awkward to be standing beside them. She just wanted to veil her eyes and not witness this embarrassing display of public affection.

Fortunately, the awkward moment was brief. Francis soon came to his senses, and led his fiancee to the main hall, holding her hand.

Rachel followed them silently. The three of them met two other people at the corner.

One of them was Jack. The other was the brother-in-law of Francis.

They two of them approached at once, and both were very handsome. In his formal suit, Jack looked elegant and cold. With a subtle smile on his lips, he approached Rachel. "Where did you go? I couldn't replace you," he asked her gently.

Since she was wearing a dress and hadn't brought any purse, Rachel naturally didn't have her cellphone with her.

While Rachel was surprised that Jack was ■3

showing such affection to her, Wendy turned her eyes on the man in casual clothes.

She shook off Francis' grasp and said to the man timidly, "Vincent."

Vincent Wen nodded, glanced at Francis, and then turned to Wendy. Fie showed no sign of familiarity. It was as if they were strangers.

Was he really Wendy's brother?

Before Rachel could react to Jack's unexpected intimacy, she saw that Vincent suddenly turned around and said in a rather gentle voice, "Celine, why are you walking so slowly?"

'Celine? Celine Duan?

What the hell?' Rachel cast a sidelong glance and looked at Jack, who was still calm and composed.

Celine was dressed in a long red dress. When she heard Vincent's voice, she approached him with a smile.

With a faint smile on his face, Vincent took a step forward to bring her over.

Wendy's face turned pale. She bit her lips, but she didn't say anything.

Francis' eyes darkened. Fie looked back at Jack, and then at Celine. What he saw made him fall into a deep silence.

'What is going on?

It's so bizarre and bewildering,' Rachel thought.

The atmosphere in the room was extremely stiff and embarrassing. The cold awkwardness of ■3

the situation was enough to make a person's scalp tingle.

Rachel sat next to Jack and glanced at his cold, expressionless face. It was impressive how unaffected he was by his surroundings. She wondered what he was thinking. Seeing Celine sitting opposite her and having a good time with Wendy's brother, Rachel picked up a corner of her handkerchief, leaned back on the chair, and smiled with interest. Rachel knew how much Jack cared for Celine. Now Celine was using another man to make Jack jealous again. But this time, the man was Francis' brother-in-law.

Rachel suddenly wanted to know what Jack was going to do about it. Would he order someone to press the man to the floor and chop his hand off, just like how he dealt with Eric? As Rachel absorbed the situation and tried to pull herself together, someone on the side picked up a piece of fish with chopsticks and put it in her bowl.

She turned her head to see that it was Jack. Then he asked her calmly, "What do you want to eat? Tell me."

Rachel looked down at the fish in her bowl. After a few seconds, Jack brought his chopsticks over again.

Then he took the fish in her bowl and exchanged it with another piece of meat. Jack opened his mouth and ate the first piece of fish.

After a moment of silence, Rachel took her ■3

chopsticks and ate up the food Jack had given her. This scene was observed by others at the table.

The awkward atmosphere in the room became weirder. Although Celine was talking with Vincent, she kept glancing at Jack and Rachel occasionally. She frowned with displeasure. Wendy, meanwhile, was simply absent-minded. Rachel, Jack and Francis were the only three who were truly at ease.

Francis only cared about playing with the wine glass in front of him, without minding anything else. Everyone else there had a hard time sustaining the conversation.

After the preliminary drinking and chatting, everyone at the table eventually fell silent. They just passed brief glances at each other, put their glasses down, and felt speechless.

At that moment, Celine suddenly picked up the glass in front of her, stood up with a smile, and said to Francis, "Francis, you are engaged today. I want to propose a toast to you and Miss Wen. I wish for you a lifetime of mutual love and happiness."

With a lazy smile on his lips, Francis stood up and raised his glass to accept her toast. "Thank you." Flaving said that, he drained his glass in one gulp.

Celine's eyes twinkled, and she drank up the wine in her glass.

When Wendy heard Celine's words, she didn't say anything until Francis sat down and held her hand, slowly squeezing it. She came back to her senses from the discomfort of his hard strong grip. ■3

For a moment, Francis had a gloomy look on his face. But then he resumed his gentle expression and asked her in a low voice, "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Fie loosened his grip on her, and Wendy lowered her eyes and shook her head. She simply replied with a soft voice, "My foot hurts."

Francis lowered his head and kissed her on the forehead. "I'm sorry." he said.

In this awkward moment, Wendy's brother, Vincent, was sitting across from them. His eyes went cold for a moment when he saw his brother-in-law acting intimately with his sister. Fie lowered his eyes and played with the lighter in his hand.

In addition to Francis and Wendy, Jack and Rachel, and Celine and Vincent, there were four other people present. They were all young members of important families.

Rachel found the whole situation too unpleasant to be bothered with, so she pretended to be unaware of the nervous tension in the air. She just continued calmly eating the food in front of her. Flowever, she was curious about Jack, who sat next to her. It was so obvious that Celine even didn't acknowledge his presence. She was talking and laughing with another man so blatantly. It was impossible for Rachel to believe that Jack didn't care!

In the meantime, Jack really did seem to be unconcerned about Celine. Without uttering a single word, he put more food into Rachel's bowl.

Rachel calmly accepted all of it. Francis ■3

changed the topic of conversation, chatted with Vincent, and the other four men started to join them.

It was not so embarrassing in the end. Then, all of a sudden, Rachel's dress was accidentally stained by some oil. She said in a low voice, "I want to go to the bathroom."

Jack nodded. Rachel gathered her dress and got up to go out.

The restroom was located at the end of the corridor, and a light incense was burning in the washroom. Rachel walked in, and came out a moment later. In front of the washbasin stood a woman dressed in red. It was Celine.

Rachel paused for a moment and went to her side and began to deal with the stain on the hem of her dress.

Celine was fixing her make-up in front of the mirror, but she was obviously not as patient as Rachel. After a while, she put her powders away. She couldn't hold her temper any longer, and turned her head to stare at Rachel up and down with her sharp eyes.

Suddenly, a sneering accusation came out of her brightly painted lips. "Have you no shame?"