Take My Breath Away

Joshua wished he could slap Sheffield—hard. But he couldn't. He was held fast by the drunken doctor, who had him in a bear hug. So he called out, "Evelyn, please don't go. Gifford and I are taking off." He winked at the man near him.

Gifford got his subtle hint and walked to the balcony where his clothes were drying. "Yeah, Evelyn. Glad you're here. But we are just leaving." He picked up his still-wet clothes and gathered them in his arms without folding them.

It took all his strength, but Joshua finally broke free of Sheffield's arms. He kicked the drunken man hard before he left. He murmured, "Next time you won't be so lucky. I'll settle accounts with you next time."

He walked towards the door together with Gifford, still in pajamas. Gifford turned to Evelyn and said, "Thanks for taking care of him. Hey, if he gets in your face again, call me. I'll come right over and beat the crap out of him!"

"And me, you can call me too. I'll help you kick his ass," Joshua added. Although he could not take Sheffield in a one-on-one bout, he could try and hurt him if the doctor were distracted by another foe

Evelyn was struck speechless. Did these two guys want to beat up Sheffield that much? "Yeah, you should go," she nodded.

Then the two men vacated the apartment in no time.

At the gate of the community

"Any idea what to do now?" asked Joshua, as he looked at a pajama-clad Gifford. He knew they were going to end up drinking, so Joshua had asked his driver to drop him off here and not wait around.

"I thought that would be obvious. We'll go to your place. I need to crash, and your couch is comfy. You don't mind, right?" Gifford had come by taxi.

Joshua rolled his eyes at him. "Listen to you. If I didn't know better, I'd think you were poor. You and Sheffield are loaded. I'm the guy short on pocket change. Why are we even friends?"

Gifford put his arm around his friend's shoulder, grinning from ear to ear, and said, "I'll sleep wherever you want. I'm easy!"

"Awesome. There's a bridge a couple blocks away. You can sleep under that."

"At least go there with me so I have some company!"

Joshua felt so cold he gathered his coat about him more tightly. "You wish!" he snapped.

"Cut the crap, dude. Just get me out of here," Gifford smiled.

Grudgingly, Joshua hailed a taxi and took Gifford back home. He had to psych himself up for it, because his parents were home. He really didn't feel like dealing with them.

His parents actually liked Gifford, so there was no problem there. But they insisted on comparing them. There really was no way he could match up to his friends, so all it did was cause problems. The more Joshua thought about it, the more he felt his head ache.

And he was right.

As soon as he got home and went upstairs, he ran into his father, Darius, who had just emerged from his study. Gifford respectfully greeted him, "Hello, Uncle Darius!"

Darius nodded to Gifford kindly. "Hi Gifford. You're in Y City? When did you get in? And why are you in pajamas?" Darius wrinkled his nose as he looked at Gifford. "You're drunk, huh?"

"We knocked back a few at Sheffield's," Gifford answered respectfully.

"So let me guess—you need a place to crash," Darius said.

"Yeah, I think so. Sorry to bother you, Uncle Darius."

Joshua cast a stern glance at Gifford, who was acting like a well-behaved child. Sheffield was the same. The two cunning guys knew exactly what to say to make his dad happy. It was an act, of course, but Darius didn't know that.

"Naw. My house is yours. Joshua, make yourself useful and get some blankets and pillows."

"Okay, Dad."

It was then that Darius finally turned his eyes to his son, with a burning gaze. "Why can't you be more like him? He's already a colonel. He's as amazing as his dad. You...you're just a playboy. Can't you make your old man proud for once?"

"Sheffield's worse than I am. That guy goes out all night, and can't be serious for longer than 5 seconds. Why do you always bag on me?" Joshua retorted, unconvinced.

Gifford was not an outsider in Darius' eyes, so he didn't mind lecturing his son rudely in his presence. "At least, your friend is a doctor, developing a high profile drug. He's set to make millions. He has every reason to be proud of himself. What about you? You're content to be a low-level procurator. Can't you work harder? Maybe you'd make something of yourself."

"Yes, sir! Will do!" Joshua dug into his ear with his finger, impatient. "I'm tired, I'm going to bed now," he added. His dad was relentless. Everyone else's kids were great, but he was always a disappointment.

"Humph!" Turning his eyes to Gifford, Darius relaxed and his expression became friendly. "Good night, Gifford. You need anything, just grab Joshua," he said.

"Got it. Thank you, Uncle Darius," Gifford nodded.

After his father left, Joshua kicked Gifford in the shins and said, "Do you have to be so ingratiating? I swear, Dad treats you and Sheffield like kings and all I get is crap!"

Gifford massaged his bruised shins. Then he raised his eyebrows proudly and said, "Let's go, dude. I'm beat!"

"Fuck off!" Joshua took him to the guest room.

As soon as the door of the guest room was closed, Gifford asked in a low voice, "How long have Evelyn and Sheffield been dating, anyway?"

Joshua cast a sidelong glance at him and said sarcastically, "Why? I thought the proud Colonel Li had no interest in gossip."

"I'm shook, okay?" It never occurred to Gifford that Sheffield had won over the lovely Evelyn, and Evelyn had conquered Sheffield's frivolous heart.

He remembered that they vowed not to get married before thirty. The one who broke the rule had to have sex with another gal the night before the wedding. But this was Evelyn, and that changed everything. Maybe he could relax that vow, for her.

"I told you. When Sheffield was in D City, gathering materials for his research project," Joshua replied

"Oh yeah, I remember now. How'd that go, anyway?"

"Pretty well, as I recall. And that's where he met Evelyn." Joshua casually lay down on the bed.

Gifford asked him a few more questions to clear his doubts before allowing him to go back to his own room.

Looking around Sheffield's apartment, Evelyn wanted to clean up the messy living room, at first. But then she realized that she wasn't good at housework, so she gave up on the idea. She squatted down in front of Sheffield and gently called his name, "Sheffield."

In his drunken state, Sheffield could barely stay awake. But he heard Evelyn's voice. He pulled her into his arms and nuzzled her neck. "Evelyn, I'm sorry..."

Evelyn choked with sobs. 'I'm the one who should be saying that. I came here to apologize to him. Why did he apologize to me, then?' she thought to herself.

She pressed her cheek against his lips. "It's me who's sorry. For everything. You don't have to apologize."

"No..." With his eyes closed, he shook his head. "Evelyn." He wanted to take her now. But there was no way he was going to do that in his state. Therefore, he let go of the woman in his arms and tried hard to sit up. The softness of the sofa fought him.

Evelyn held his arm and made him lean against the couch. He was trying to clear his head, and this wasn't helping.

He smelled like alcohol, but it didn't make Evelyn uncomfortable. Maybe it was because he drank some high-end, luxurious wine.

"Evelyn..." He slowly opened his eyes.

But then he closed them again. 'If I knew she'd be here, I wouldn't have drunk so much, ' he thought.

"I'm here."

"I'm sorry." He felt bad she had to go through the ectopic pregnancy.

Thinking of this, he held the woman in his arms again. He rested his chin on her head to express his guilt. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have had to go through all that. You almost died..."

'So, he does know, ' she thought.