Take My Breath Away

Carlos scoffed at the excitement on Debbie's face. A housemaid came to the table with a plate of roasted lamb chops in her hand. He made a mockery of Debbie's tone and said, "Calvert, this is the New Zealand mutton chops. Freshly roasted. Have a taste!"

Everybody sat in stunned silence, baffled to see the man, who was infamous for his arrogance, act in such a childish and immature way.

What Carlos said made Calvert feel less awkward. "Thank you, Uncle Carlos," he said politely.

While cutting the meat with his knife, Sheffield thought to himself, 'Calvert, what a coward!'

When a small portion of lamb chops was placed in front of Calvert, Sheffield glanced at the lamb chops and came up with a joke in his head. He leaned towards Calvert and whispered, "Did you know that roasted lamb chops help to improve bodily functions and treat impo... Ahem! You should certainly eat a lot of it!"

Sheffield's voice was so low that the people sitting on the other side of the table couldn't hear him. However, Evelyn, who was sitting next to Calvert, managed to hear what he had said and she almost choked on her juice.

'Sheffield can be so mean!' she mused.

The others turned to look at them. Calvert's face darkened at their look of confusion. 'Would it kill this guy to be a little nice to me?'

Although Carlos couldn't hear what they were talking about, when he noticed the dispirited look on Calvert's face, he guessed that Sheffield must have said something to him. Casting a cold glance at Sheffield, who was busy eating, Carlos asked, "What? Dr. Tang, is the food not up to your satisfaction?"

Sheffield's heart skipped a beat when he heard Carlos. He grinned and said, "Of course not! How could all this delicious food not satisfy anyone? I was just feeling a little jealous of Calvert."

"Jealous? What for? Are you not happy with the dish my wife asked the housemaid to bring to you?" Carlos didn't hesitate to attack Sheffield, cunningly exploiting the loophole in his words.

"Of course, I am. Look, I've already emptied my plate. That was delicious!" Sheffield said, flaunting his plate at Carlos with a serious look. Then in order to further support his statement, he turned to the servant near him and said, "May I have some more please? One more serving for me, please. Thank you!"

"Yes, sir. Please wait a moment."

Infuriated, Carlos clenched his fist under the table, while glaring at Debbie and wondering what she ever saw in a man like Sheffield.

Sensing the sidelong glance from Carlos, Debbie put down her fork and with an innocent smile on her face, said, "Honey, is there a problem?"

Debbie pretended as if she had no idea of what was going on, but she was determined to teach Carlos a lesson later for not telling her about Sheffield before. How dare he keep the truth from her and have the audacity to give her angry glares?

Carlos' disposition did a complete U-turn as if he understood what Debbie was thinking about just by the tone of her voice. Immediately, he smiled and said, "No, of course not. Everything is fine."

The man was smart enough to remember the three basic principles of the Huo family: his wife was the boss; nothing could be more important than his wife's happiness and no matter what, his wife was always right.

The rest of the dinner-time went smoothly. Shortly after, it was time to cut the cake.

Evelyn's birthday cake was a five-layered piece of culinary art, with strawberry and vanilla icing, and a rich custard filling. At the top was a lovely little doll of a princess dressed in pink. Every year, Carlos would order the same kind of cake for Evelyn's and Terilynn's birthdays. It was his way of telling them that they were his princesses.

Carlos switched off the lights so that Evelyn could make a wish in front of the beautiful cake bearing lit candles, while everyone sang the birthday song. 'May my friends and family be happy and healthy and may Sheffield and I end up together.'

Sheffield's eyes conveyed a heartfelt warmth as he tenderly watched the woman blow out the candles and make a wish. The man was truly smitten, clapping his hands and humming the birthday song joyously with the others.

'I wish for my dear Evelyn to be happy, beautiful and healthy forever.'

Evelyn cut the cake into squares and passed them around to everybody in a handsome plate with doily. The custard filled dessert brought a smile on everyone's faces as they marveled at how delightful it was.

Meanwhile, Sheffield had been looking for a chance to talk to Evelyn. When Calvert walked away to answer a phone call, Sheffield immediately approached her and said, "Evelyn, you look stunning today."

Blushing, Evelyn cast him a sideways glance and asked, "You mean I wasn't stunning in the past?"

After a short pause, Sheffield replied with a smile, "Of course not. In my eyes, you will always be the most beautiful girl in the world. And you look extraordinarily beautiful today. You take my breath away."

Evelyn couldn't help but burst into laughter. "You're such a smooth-talker!"

"No, I'm just telling the truth!"

Evelyn grabbed a cookie from the table and jammed it into his mouth. "Here you go. Stop talking," she said.

Sheffield spat out the broken pieces from his mouth and smirked roguishly before he leaned in towards her and said, "Shall we eat it together?"

Evelyn giggled, however, rolling her eyes at him, and said, "You wish!"

Meanwhile, leaning against the wall by the window and swirling his wine, Matthew ponderously watched Sheffield tease Evelyn.

The incident of Evelyn's unplanned pregnancy made a lot of people in the Huo family angry at Sheffield, including Matthew. Although he didn't want to ruin everyone's mood by demanding an explanation from Sheffield at Evelyn's birthday party, it didn't mean that he would easily turn a blind eye to it.

Just then, Miranda walked up to the happy couple and engaged Sheffield in a conversation.

"Hi, Sheffield. What are you two talking about?"

"Oh, Grandma. Evelyn was just saying that the cookies are really good. Would you like to have some?" said Sheffield.

Miranda laughed, humbly denying his offer. "I'm an old woman. I can't eat sweets like I used to, but you should enjoy them while you still can."

Sheffield shook his head and said, "Grandma, you look too beautiful to worry about such things. There's an old saying that I think applies to you right now?"

It didn't matter to Miranda whether what Sheffield had said was true or not, because she felt very comfortable talking to him. Especially when he smiled, it would warm her heart. "What saying?"

"True beauty never ages! I didn't realize how true it was until I finally met you. Time can take away everything, but a beautiful temperament lasts forever and cannot be eroded with time!" There was not a trace of frivolity in his tone, which made everyone believe that his praise was sincere.

In the course of her lifetime, Miranda had heard many compliments from people, but hearing such sweet words come from a handsome young man like Sheffield certainly lifted her spirits. "Boy, you need to stop it with the flatteries!"

"Grandma, don't be so modest. I wouldn't lie to you. Evelyn, please tell Grandma that you agree with me."

Evelyn smiled and nodded her head. When she saw how nicely Miranda and Sheffield got along, she earnestly prayed so that someday her father and Sheffield could also get along in the same way.

Miranda was so happy that she chuckled at everything he said. "Okay, that's enough for now. I was actually hoping to ask Sheffield something." Turning to face the young man, she continued, "Sheffield, I heard from Debbie that you are doing a research and development project at the moment. How is it going?"

"Yes, Grandma. It's almost finished. I'm looking forward to launching it early next year." Next year was less than a month away, and Sheffield was going to get very busy very soon.