Take My Breath Away

Wesley recollected the last time when Blair had gotten drunk. She had been so stubborn that he had to do everything she said. He had even slept in her bed as she had requested.

When it was past 10 in the night, Wesley thought it was pretty late, so he declared that the dinner was over.

He escorted Blair as they walked towards his car. The soldiers came to the parking lot with them too. "Blair and I are not a couple. Don't talk about us like that again. If she has a boyfriend one day, he might misunderstand," Wesley advised them.

Hearing Wesley deny his relationship with Blair, the young men looked at each other, quite surprised.

Making use of the opportunity, someone quietly asked, "Chief, since you and Blair are not a couple, can I chase her? She is so pretty."

Wesley rolled his eyes at him. "Only when you can do push-ups well enough."

The young soldier was frustrated by the condition kept before him. 'I'm a newbie. But I'm already able to do it correctly. I'm just not fast enough. Why is Chief so hard on me?' he grumbled to himself.

Another soldier mustered up his courage and asked, "Chief, I can do push-ups fast enough. So, can I try my luck with Blair?"

"You're too honest and docile. She will bully you," Wesley replied thoughtfully. On the outside, Blair looked tender like a lamb, while on the inside, she was lively with various mischievous ideas. That was why she topped his list of the most troublesome people.

Two down.

Talbot was pushed outside the crowd. He suddenly was face to face with Wesley. He had no choice but to ask, "Chief, I like Blair too. I'm good at martial arts, and I'm well-built. I've passed all the tests on the base. Can I?"

Wesley glanced at him. "No!"

"Why not?" Talbot asked in curiosity.

"She speaks English, German and Arabic, besides Chinese. But you don't. You two will have trouble communicating."

Talbot was left speechless. He felt Wesley was like a strict father testing and picking out a perfect son-in-law. Three down.

Lenard decided to give it a try too. He grinned proudly as he spoke. "Chief, I'm good at English. And I'm willing to learn German and Arabic. Can I give it a shot?"

"Hmm. Well, she likes drinking milk which you're allergic to. I wonder how things will work out between the two of you," Wesley observed calmly.

Lenard said nothing more after that.

Finally everyone's hopes had died down. Wesley opened the door and sat in the driver's seat. Blair was busy reading the messages one of her former colleagues had sent her. She told her that after she quit and left, some people who claimed to be Percy's wife's family, came to the office of Jin Group. They beat the crap out of Filberta while Percy was busy dealing with the people from the fire department.

Before leaving they threatened Filberta that Percy's wife would come home the next day and she would kill the bitch then.

Frightened to the core, Filberta left the office earlier than usual. The other employees assumed that she might be too scared to come to work the next day.

No sooner had Wesley started the engine than Megan called. The car GPS displayed her name. Blair didn't utter a word. She put her phone away, rested her head on the back of the seat and looked out the window.

The ringing stopped after two rings. Blair thought Wesley took the call. But there was silence in the car. He wasn't speaking. She turned her head curiously. The car GPS window showed that the call had ended.

A moment later, his phone rang again. This time, she knew why. Wesley hung up on Megan.

Blair felt relieved and happy. "Why did you hang up?" she asked.

"I'll call her back later." He knew that if he took Megan's call at that moment, Blair would get mad again. So he decided not to answer Megan's call in Blair's presence.

"Maybe you should answer it. She has called you twice. What if something has happened? Or maybe there is some emergency," Blair said.

Wesley looked at her and said, "If you say so, then I'll answer it."

"O...okay," she stammered. The moment he uttered those words, the happiness in her heart vanished.

Wesley smiled. "I changed my mind," he said. "I'm afraid if I take Megan's call, someone will throw a tantrum and insist on moving out again."

Blair realized that he was making fun of her.

Flushing with embarrassment and anger, she grabbed his arm tight. "If you ridicule me again, I'll pinch you hard," she threatened. In fact, he was wearing thick clothes, and her pinches wouldn't hurt that much. So her threat didn't have the effect she had expected.

"I think I know what kind of boyfriend you should have."

A boyfriend? That wasn't something she wanted to hear about, especially from him. She only wanted him. Still, she asked, "What kind?"

"You need someone tough. The kind that can endure pain, enormous pain," he teased. She would raise her hand at Wesley whenever he said something wrong, hitting him and pinching him. He was afraid that if her future boyfriend wasn't tough enough, he wouldn't be able to bear it.

Blair withdrew her hand, pouting. "You sound like Hartwell when it comes to me choosing a boyfriend. Strict and demanding." There was sarcasm in her tone.

The smile on Wesley's face faded. "You think it shouldn't concern me?"

Blair snorted, "It hardly seems to matter what I think. Tell me, will you butt out if I say so?"

"No! I'm a man of my word," he said immediately in a stern and authoritative voice. He had already told her that he was responsible for her until she found a reliable boyfriend. Till that time, he would take care of her.

Blair suddenly became upset. Her mood had been changing all night, swinging like a pendulum. Happiness, thrill, excitement, gratitude, gloom, annoyance, anger. She had experienced it all in the span of one night.

She tried to change the subject. "So, what do you plan to do tomorrow?"

"What's your plan?" he asked, instead of answering her question.

"I'm out of job now. At first, I planned to sleep for two days before I begin my quest for a new job. But now that you have some days off, I want to have some fun with you." She liked him. She didn't want to conceal her feelings for him.

"Any particular place where you want to go?"

"I'm thinking about Happy Valley. Actually, I want to ride a roller coaster, but I'm too afraid to do it on my own. I feel that if you're with me, I might be able to do it." Blair always felt that as long as Wesley was by her side, she could do anything. All the fears and inhibitions would go away when he was with her.

'What? Aren't amusement parks like Happy Valley for children? Will I have to do these childish things with her?' he thought with a frown on his face.

Noticing his silence and frowning face, Blair reasoned out, "If you don't want to go with me, it's fine. I'm not so eager to go anyway. Do whatever you want. I'll just stay at home, sleeping in the daytime and looking for a job at night." Her voice suddenly turned low and sad.

'Here we go. Another trick of hers.' Wesley sighed. "Okay. I'll just take Megan to Happy Valley tomorrow then. Enjoy your sleep."

'Take Megan to Happy Valley?' Blair thought she heard it wrong. She looked at him in disbelief, too mad to utter a word.

Wesley, though, was stone-faced. There was no trace of sarcasm or teasing. He seemed extremely serious about his plan. Just then, they reached the parking lot.

He got out of the car once it rolled to a halt, and came to her side. As if not sensing her mood at all, he unbuckled her seat belt and was going to carry her out of the car as usual.

"No!" she rebuffed angrily. "I can jump. You don't need to be so concerned."

Wesley stared at her for a few seconds and then asked, "Did I ever say that I don't want to go with you?"

"You didn't, but you didn't say you wanted to either." Back then, she had given him a few seconds to think about it, but he didn't reply.