Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
“No woman can resist a man like Mr. Q. However, I have self-awareness. I know I’m already lucky enough to be his assistant.”
Rosie had also relaxed a bit. She downed half a bottle of beer with great fervor. She did not hide her admiration for Mr. Q at all.
“Nice. You’re not pretentious. I like making friends with straightforward people like you. We’re sisters from now on.”
Flossie bumped her bottle with Rosie’s. She was starting to take a real liking to Rosie.
She actually had very few close friends outside of Liam.
Rosie and her were both single mothers. When they started chatting, they realized that they had many similarities. They shared many stories of hardship and helplessness in taking care of their children alone.
“So you’re saying that you’ve already decided on Mr. Q and was going to marry him to start a family, but in the end… the person you became married to was the scumbag ex-husband who hurt you?”
Under the blurry light, Flossie downed bottle after bottle of beer with Rosie while Rosie listened to her story with Mr. Q and Halston Guajardo.
She did not understand why Mr. Q would do something like that either.
“Mr. Q isn’t someone who would break his promise for no reason, and he’s definitely not a bad person. If I had to guess… your scumbag ex-husband must have done something shady which forced Mr. Q to back off!”
Rosie was filled with righteous indignation.
“I think so too. That’s why I shouted like a madman earlier. I hope that Mr. Q will give me an answer. He suddenly disappeared. I don’t know what to think.”
Flossie closed her eyes and spoke with pain in her voice.
“Actually, now that it’s come to this, I think you should just treat Mr. Q as someone who never existed. He asked you to reconcile with your ex-husband, right? Then maybe you should do that. After all, your ex-husband is your children’s biological father. No matter how good of a father an outsider is, he can’t take the biological father’s place. For the sake of the children, maybe you shouldn’t be too stubborn.”
Rosie sincerely advised Flossie from the perspective of an outsider.
“Heh. Everyone thinks I should get back together with that guy for the sake of the children. In fact, I’ve considered it myself. But that means I’ll have to spend my whole life getting tangled up with him. Think about it… If you have to act like a loving couple and run a happy family with someone who once hurt you, wouldn’t you feel disgusted?”
“I can understand how you feel because my ex was a scumbag too. He abandoned me and my son in order to be with his mistress. My son was seriously ill, but he completely ignored him. He was busy enjoying himself with his mistress and celebrating his new son’s birthday…”
Recalling her painful past, Rosie clenched her fists tightly, and her eyes were filled with hatred. “Sometimes I don’t understand how the bad people can live so happily while the good people are trapped in hardship. If he were to come back to me and ask to reconcile, I would spit on his face and tell him to f*ck off!”
“Yeah, you understand, right? A broken heart isn’t easy to mend – even if it was fixed, there’d still be cracks…” Flossie said softly as her beautiful eyes teared up. She held her head up high, not wanting to let her tears fall. She refused to cry over that man again, especially when so many years had passed. It would be too humiliating.
“Honestly, for the longest time, I felt like my heart had crumbled to dust. I didn’t want marriage, I didn’t want love, I didn’t even want any type of relationship. I just believed that I would never become a bride again… until I met Mr. Q. For once, I felt like marriage could be a good thing…” Flossie started thinking about their brief time together. Although it had been a mere facade orchestrated by her children and she had never taken it seriously, every minute she spent with the man had been blissful. No other man had made her feel that way before.
Hence, she really didn’t want her judgment to be wrong again.
“Yeah, Mr. Q does have a certain charm to him. He might not have had the best reputation back then, but I feel like he had his reasons. Especially four years ago, when he lost to Halston Guajardo, which left a scar on his face… That’s when I found that he was more like a victim of circumstance. He has a big heart, so he really does seem more suitable for marriage compared to Halston Guajardos…” Rosie shared many stories from Mr. Q’s past, having known him for a longer time.
“Everyone sees the Carmine Pawnshop as some kind of hellhole, and thinks we would sell anything for profit, even human lives. They just assume that we are immoral people, and that Mr. Q is the infamous ‘Night Demon’, the leader of this horrible place.”
“Some have even said he would resort to murder if it profited him, but I’ve never seen him commit any crimes, even after I joined the pawnshop. In fact, he’s actually helped a lot of others who were suffering like me…”
“I remember one night, we all heard loud wails in the front yard, and we were terrified. Rumors said that the ‘Night Demon’ ate babies, after all, and yet… Heh, did you know what he was actually doing?”
“What?” Flossie stared at her curiously.
“He was helping a cat give birth! Can you imagine a grown man like him squatting in that pitch black yard, cheering for the mother cat? The cat was agitated though and scratched his hand, which made him cry out in pain. But people spread rumors saying he was so excited about eating children that he was crying out in glee… It was so ridiculous that we secretly laughed at him for a whole year!”
“It really is hard to imagine him helping a cat give birth!” Flossie couldn’t help giggling. As the two continued to drink happily, Flossie soon became drunk.
On the contrary, due to her background, Rosie had quite a high tolerance, and was still sober. “Miss Ellsworth, you’re drunk. We should head back.” She was worried Flossie might not be able to walk later, and tried convincing her to stop.
“Head back? Nuh uh, we’re drinking like there’s no tomorrow… Waiter, get me another two bottles of beer!” Flossie stumbled over and pushed Rosie back into her seat, slurring her words. “Come on, tell me more about Mr. Q! That guy’s such a comedian!”
“Well…” Just as Rosie was wondering what to do, she noticed that Flossie’s phone was ringing.
“Who the hell is calling?! So annoying!” Flossie snapped as she stumbled around. She was rather frustrated by the constant ringing of her phone, and just threw it away as a solution.
“Hey, why did you throw your phone away?” Rosie groaned, trying to keep Flossie steady as she picked up her phone from the ground.
The person on the other end of the line was quite stubborn as well. They kept calling, especially since Flossie was not picking up.
Helpless, Rosie had to answer the call instead. “Hello? Who is this?”
“You’re not Ellsworth.”
“Umm, I’m her friend. She’s had a bit too much to drink, so she can’t come to the phone right now.”
“She’s drunk?” The voice sounded extremely icy. “Where are you?”
“I’m at this pub in Water Dock. Who are y-“
“Take care of her, I’ll be there in a minute!” The man ordered harshly as he ignored Rosie’s words, hanging up right after.
“Ah…” Rosie was utterly stunned, still holding onto the weak Flossie. She didn’t know if she should leave or wait for the man. He had sounded quite intimidating, so she didn’t dare leave, even if she wanted to.
“Miss Ellsworth, wake up! Do you recognize this number? He’s coming over soon.” Rosie hesitated for a while, and decided that it was best to ask for Flossie’s opinion on this matter.
“This number…” Flossie stared at the screen groggily. “I don’t know who that is, he must be a bad guy! We can’t let him come over!”
“A bad guy? Let’s leave right away then, we can’t let him find us.” Rosie was alarmed, and quickly dragged Flossie towards the exit. As they were making their way out, she nearly bumped into a tipsy, muscular man.
Seeing how gorgeous Flossie was, desire immediately flashed in the man’s eyes. He smirked at her and said smoothly, “Hey there, beautiful! What a coincidence, huh? We’re both drunk! You’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen, you know? Since fate clearly brought us together, would you like to have a glass of wine with me?”
“Please, have some respect, sir! She’s not that kind of person!” Rosie warned as she blocked the man with one arm, her expression cold. She had worked many different jobs to pay for her son’s medical bills previously, and had been in many pubs and clubs like this.
With her experience, she knew exactly what kind of intentions these types of men had.
“Shut it. I’m not talking to you, so don’t get involved!” Max forcefully pushed Rosie aside and turned to his friend. “Ed, you’re into chicks like this right? Take her then, and make sure she doesn’t get in my way!”
“How dare you hurt my friend?” Flossie sobered up slightly when she heard the perverted man’s words. Despite being dizzy, she was still able to send the two-hundred-pound man flying with one kick.
“Oh my god! It’s a fight!” The entire pub instantly erupted into chaos, with excited screams coming from the crowd.
After all, this was the infamous Water Dock, a place notorious for lawlessness. Additionally, the bar they were in had a lot of shady characters around. A fight was considered entertainment to them, so the crowd was very much looking forward to it.
The bar owner wasn’t even trying to stop them, and instead, egged them on. “Come one, come all! It’s time to place bets on who will win this fight…”
“I bet on that fat guy!”
“Me too!”
“That pretty chick seems like quite a fighter though, I’ll bet on her!”
Everyone crowded around Flossie and Max, as if they were in an underground boxing arena. All of them were more than happy to gamble.
Rosie immediately panicked, afraid that these big burly men would actually fight them, putting both her and Flossie in grave danger.
Trying her best to settle things calmly, she flashed a desperate smile at Max and his group. “Sir, you took us too seriously. We were just joking, you know? Please calm down, and forgive my friend and I… We’re modest people, so I think it’s best if you find someone you can have more fun with. We don’t have to go to such extremes over a small matter like this. People are going to laugh at all of us, you know?”
