Take My Breath Away

"Good friends?" Wesley jeered at Blair, giving her a contemptuous look. "As far as I can remember, the two of you have never even interacted with each other that much at all. How would you be friends?"

Obviously, Blair felt so upset about it, but Wesley was only telling the truth. There was no way for her to deny any of that. With a soft smile on her face, Debbie tugged her a bit closer.

"We should actually be thanking you for being the reason why the two of us became friends, Colonel Li. You acted as the bridge. It seems to me that you don't really know much about women. We can become friends as long as we enjoy each other's company, even if we've just met. Isn't that right, B?"

And on cue, Blair instantly nodded and added, "Certainly." Then, she went ahead and told Wesley, "Adriana and Colleen are also here with us. Why don't you just leave us alone?"

Giving her a sullen look, Wesley couldn't do anything else but warn her, "Make sure not to let your guard down. Try not to fall for her tricks. Contact me if ever anything happens."

"Alright, alright, just go ahead and find the others," Blair insisted. Wesley had been keeping an eye on her as though he had been so anxious that she might end up flying away, much like a bird would. Seeing this as an opportunity for her to spend some time for herself, she did whatever she could to make sure that it was going to happen.

"They're still at Orchid Private Club right now," Adriana promptly informed him.

"I know. I'm gonna be heading there right away." Niles had actually told him about that on the phone already. It was just that he was still hesitating to leave Blair to herself. For that reason, he had been playing for time before he went to the club.

Be that as it might, when he was least expecting it, these three women had appeared and presented Blair a reason to be away from him for the time being. 'Oh, you bet I'm going to make her pay for this tonight!' Wesley thought.

Upon giving Blair one last good hard look, he exited the mall carrying a couple of shopping bags in his hands. Blair had been surrounded by the three other women.

Finally, she was able to let out a sigh of relief the moment Wesley had gotten out of sight. There weren't really many chances for her to go out on her own these days. So, she tried her best to grab onto the opportunity the second it presented itself. The other girls actually felt a bit sorry for her after seeing it personally.

"Blair, has Wesley always been like this? I mean, is he always keeping you in check?" Colleen asked her directly.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Blair replied in complete honesty, "Yes, he has always been like that, poking his nose into all of my personal affairs. It feels so suffocating. To tell you the truth, I've actually attempted to run away several times already. Sad to say, he found out about it and since then, he has gotten even stricter, wanting me to always be within his watchful eyes. As a matter of fact, he won't even let me go shopping on my own, let alone with other people. I have to wait until he's free to come along with me. Being an officer in the military and all, he always has his hands full with something and rarely has any time to go shopping with me, if at all. For example, I've had to wait for more than a month before we could visit the mall today."

Truth be told, Blair had been so desperate to talk to someone and vent out all of her frustrations regarding Wesley. She could hardly take it anymore, and she was beginning to get depressed.

"Holy Moses! Could it be possible that Wesley is keeping another girlfriend behind your back and he doesn't want to risk letting you two find out about it? Maybe that's why he wouldn't allow you to go outside?" Colleen blurted out.

Debbie was so eager to figure it out as well. "Does he force you to stay at home for weeks on end? If that's how it normally goes for you, then he's treating you like he would a prisoner!"

Upon hearing their questions, Blair refuted them by waving her hand. "No, it's not that I'm never allowed to go anywhere. He lets me go outside, but only at certain times, like when I go to visit him in the army or when I go to work. Apart from that, he just literally takes up all of my free time."

Wesley's subordinates would routinely pick her up at her office as soon she got off work. And as they headed back over to his place, his men would always have her within their lines of sight to make sure that they could stop her on the off chance that she got any weird ideas and tried to make a run for it.

"Oh, my God. Is that how you've been living all this time? Then, Wesley sure is frighteningly controlling, just like Carlos tends to be," Colleen remarked, pitying, but at the same time, feeling sympathetic to both Debbie and Blair. It was then that she came to the realization that she had been so lucky to have a husband like Curtis, who wasn't only handsome and very talented, but thoughtful and kind as well.

To that statement, Blair had to agree, "To be honest, I truly believe that Wesley is actually sick in the head. When we were together, he cared about me even less than about that Megan, but right now he just wouldn't let me go at all."

For a couple of years, the two of them had been on and off from time to time. In fact, even now, the status of their relationship still seemed so complicated.

Debbie couldn't hold back her laughter as she listened to Blair's complaints. "I think you're just being silly. He probably acts that way only because he's so in love with you."

"If that was really the case, I wouldn't really mind being with him. But why hasn't he said anything yet even after all these years of being together? If he truly loves me, then he should be saying it straight to my face. We've been together for such a long time now. I'm getting tired, and I wouldn't want to waste any more time on him." Wesley was like some sort of enigma. Blair always thought that he was so impossible to read.

Shaking their heads, her friends exchanged some confused glances. None of them had a clue what Wesley could have been thinking.

After that, the four of them hung out all afternoon. As they were having tea, Blair found out that Debbie had been living alone. With that in mind, she thought of something and asked her directly, "Debbie, would you mind letting me stay at your place for a couple of days? Just to see how things with Wesley go."

'At my place?' Debbie was caught by surprise as she wasn't really expecting to hear that. "I would love that. But there's one problem... Is Wesley gonna let you do that?"

Deep in thought for a short while, Blair made up her mind. "I really couldn't care less whether he likes it or not. Please take me in for just a couple of days, Debbie," she pleaded with her, sounding so miserable.

Debbie sincerely wanted to be a good friend to her and let her stay, but she had some qualms about doing that. "If Carlos and I were still married, I could let you stay for as long as you would like to. But sadly, I don't have anyone to rely on right now. What if Wesley goes out of control and lays waste to my apartment when he finds out?"

An idea popped up in Blair's mind. "Since Mr. Huo lives below your apartment, why not ask him to lend you a hand? Just ask him to help you out if Wesley comes at your door. And if he says no... No, he will definitely help you. I'm sure of it."

Debbie didn't have to think twice because she actually thought it was such an ingenious master plan. She was interested in testing whether Carlos would lend her a hand or not. At the thought of that, she decided that this would be a good way to find out.

"I'm in! Let's do it!" she delightedly told Blair, brimming with so much exhilaration.

Now that they'd made their decision, Blair went home with Debbie as soon as they left the tea house that afternoon. She went ahead and switched off her phone, but not before sending Wesley a message, letting him know that she wouldn't be coming home that night.

Knowing full well that Debbie had been intending to meet up with Carlos as he was walking his dog downstairs around nightfall, Blair didn't accompany her when Debbie was set to head out with Harley. After all, she never liked being the third wheel. When she finally had the apartment all to herself, she looked around and found herself a nice spot—the balcony area. She lay in the hammock, marveling at the sunset as the hammock swayed left and right. She felt free as the breeze, something she had not experienced in such a long time. At that moment, things just couldn't have been better.

Debbie stepped into the elevator holding Harley in her arms. The moment the elevator doors closed, she wondered if it would be a good idea to stop on the sixth floor and invite Carlos to head downstairs with her.

After taking a while musing about it, in the end, she realized that she probably wouldn't have the courage to even knock on his door, so she headed right over to the first floor.

She went for a stroll around the garden with Harley, but unfortunately, both Carlos and Millie were nowhere to be seen. This made Debbie feel so downhearted. Even Harley was so down because Millie wasn't there to play with him. He kept on spinning around restlessly. Bringing her phone out, Debbie searched for Carlos' contact details and was about to dial his number when all of a sudden, a car rolled up and pulled over close to them.

She realized that it was Carlos' new Emperor. The driver promptly opened the back door for the passenger, and Carlos stepped out of the vehicle.

"Old man!" With all enthusiasm, Debbie waved at him as she sat on a bench.

Shifting his gaze over to the woman waving at him and her pet dog, Carlos politely nodded and paced toward the elevator.

Watching him head straight for the elevator, Debbie ran over to him, with a tight grip on the leash. Of course, it should go without saying that Harley ran quite fast as well. "Wait a second!" Debbie called out to him before the elevator doors closed.

Carlos held the elevator for them, As soon as they stepped foot into the elevator, it began ascending. Upon noticing that Carlos had loosened his tie a bit, "Are you going to come downstairs to take Millie out for a walk?" she asked him softly.

"Yes," he briefly answered. That was the reason why he had returned much earlier than he usually did.

"Oh, that's great. Then, Harley and I will wait for you to get ready."

"Alright." He didn't seem to have any problem with it.

Moments later, the elevator arrived on the sixth floor and the doors slid open. Carlos and Debbie proceeded to get off one after the other.

With the fingerprint scanner, Carlos opened the door to his apartment. But before coming in, he recalled that there was someone behind him.

He turned his head to check on them. Both Debbie and Harley had their gazes fixated on him. Given that he didn't have it in him to leave them there and keep them waiting outside, he was left with no other choice but to say, "Come in."

"Okay, thank you," she replied gladly. That was exactly what she had been hoping to hear him say.

The second she entered his unit, Debbie was astonished as she discovered that in spite of living within the same building, Carlos' apartment was much too different.

It was significantly more spacious compared to hers, probably about three times as huge.