Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
Shirley was shocked at how much Leia had affected him. “Xavier, you…” She tried to go over to check on him.
“Don’t touch me!” Xavier scowled and turned away in disgust. Although Leia frustrated him, he would not let any woman badmouth her and manipulate him.
Shirley clenched her fists in humiliation, then sneered, ‘She humiliated you, but you’re mad at me. I thought you both were loyal to each other, but it seems like your relationship is a house of cards. I don’t know what you’re holding onto.”
“Someone like you could never understand,” Xavier said condescendingly.
Xavier’s lip curled in anger as he growled, “You’ve done enough damage already. Can you get lost now?’
“Why, you!” Shirley stamped her feet and walked out of the office furiously, her agent and assistant quickly following her.
As soon as they left the office, her agent said anxiously, “It looks like Master Xavier is serious about Miss Osborne. No wonder he agreed with the board of directors to suspend you. It’ll be very troublesome if things went on like this.”
“Enough talking… You know what to do,’ Shirley said cryptically as she calmly touched up her makeup.
“You’re saying…’ The agent trailed off when Shirley glanced at her meaningfully, and she soon realised what she meant. The agent sighed, her heart sinking.
When she first made her debut, Shirley was a naive and gullible young woman. At that time, she never complained even if things were hard because she wanted to earn money for her mother’s illness and her brother’s gambling debt. She worked hard to get to where she was now, and her journey had been very inspiring. Unfortunately, she had lost herself in the pursuit of fame and fortune in the entertainment circle, and had now become a vain and cunning person. She did a lot of bad things for the sake of her own image and popularity, and this time wasn’t going to be any different.
Flossie held the business card Xavier had given her as she stood in front of Quinton’s room.
After a long time, she finally knocked on the door.
“Come in.” Quinton was playing chess with Haze to try to forget about his fight with Flossie.
He seemed calm whenever they met, but he was having a harder time than her. Though he’d never admit it, he felt like he was going crazy from all this.
Quinton never gave up hope that Flossie would come to make peace with him, so he played chess with Haze until late every night for fear so he’d be awake if Flossie came. When he heard her knock on the door, he was overjoyed, but pretended to not care. He kept his head low and pretended to be focusing on the chess match as he said calmly, “Why are you coming to me instead of your ex-husband? I cant entertain you.”
“Ahem, ahem!’ Haze suddenly coughed and said, “You can’t take back your pawn once you’ve put it down, so… think carefully.’
Quinton collected himself after he heard that, and his attitude became better. “There’s a gift box on the table. See if you like it.”
Haze groaned inwardly. Although he still sounded bad, it would have to do.
Flossie’s eyes lit up. “Are you giving me a gift?”
“No, I didn’t say that… It’s just that we have too many treasures in Carmine Pawnshop, so I’ve got no place to keep it,” Quinton lied smoothly. This gift was very valuable and could be regarded as the signature treasure of Carmine Pawnshop.
Flossie opened the gift box carefully, and became confused when she saw what was inside.
“This is…”
Flossie saw a dark red jelly-like thing in the box that resembled a mushroom. Although Flossie didn’t know what it was, she couldn’t tear her gaze away from it.
“That item is an ancient mushroom. Generally, it’s very rare to find a thousand-year-old mushroom, and even if you do, most of them are white. But this is a ten-thousand-year-old mushroom, so it’s dark red. It’s said to be able to bring people back to life, so many noble families around the world would pay any price to get it to live longer. I didn’t expect it to be here in Carmine Pawnshop though… Well, it’s certainly the most valuable treasure in this shop,’ Haze elaborated enthusiastically. He liked studying codes and reading books about treasures, so he was happy he managed to see such a rare item today.
“Wow, Quinton, you’re pretty generous. You spent a fortune because of your sister. I’m afraid all men will come in pursuit of Phoenix if you announce this as her dowry… I must get her for this mushroom alone!” Haze said jokingly.
“Very funny!’ Flossie shot Haze a fierce look then stared down at the mushroom in awe.
“Quinton, it’s too much. You should keep it if it’s the most valuable treasure here. It’s a waste if you give it to me,” she said hesitantly. A valuable item like that should be kept in the right place. Carmine Pawnshop was equipped with great security and exceptional skills in storing things; it was the best place to store such a treasure.
Quinton waved his hand dismissively. “I told you already that Carmine Pawnshop owns a lot of treasures, so giving you one of them is fine. Keep it safe. If anyone gets sick in the future, it may be of use.”
“But Quinton, I…”
“Just take it. You’re my sister-you’ll have all my belongings in the end anyway. I just chose to give this to you in advance. I… want to apologize for the harsh words I said to you before. If you don’t take it, I’ll assume you haven’t forgiven me, and we’re still going to be arguing,’
Quinton said seriously. He was a male chauvinist who would never admit to his mistakes, and Flossie was the first person he had apologized to. He had even given her a gift to make it up to her; hee truly valued their sibling relationship.
“Oh, okay. I’ll take it then. Thank you, Quinton.” Flossie was greatly moved, and tears filled her eyes. “I’m sorry, Quinton. You’re so nice to me, but I ignored you and angered you for the past few days… I’m so bad!”
“No, I was the bad guy here! I’m a man and your brother, but I acted like a child and argued with you. I was wrong. Whoever you favor is your choice- I shouldn’t have forced my opinions on you and scolded you,” Quinton admitted.
Haze was moved by their sincerity, but couldn’t help but day cheekily, “Both of you made a mistake, so you should just slap each other once and move on.”
Both Flossie and Quinton turned to glare at him at the same time. “I think it would be better to slap you instead.”
“Err… forget what I said.”
Haze immediately kept his mouth shut and stared at the chessboard intently.
Both Flossie and Quinton had a heart-to-heart talk with each other for a long time. After that, Flossie recalled why she went to him in the first place. She asked tentatively,” Quinton, is it uncomfortable for you to wear this mask for long?”
“It’s fine. I found it heavy in the past, but now I’ve gotten used to wearing it.”
“I saw your photo before your face was ruined on the Internet, and you’re so handsome! Your eyes resemble Mom’s and your features look just like Dad’s. Your aura is like Grandpa’s. You’re indeed my brother… You’re so perfect!”
“Of course. I’m not bragging, but if my face hadn’t been ruined, I could’ve made a great living in Beach City. I established my business by relying on my charms back then. ” Quinton was very confident in his charisma. In the past, he could kill anyone and do anything he wanted without any obstacles because of his charm. It was also the reason why he hated Halston so much. He wanted nothing but to hack Halston into pieces everytime he took off his mask and saw his ugly face.
If Flossie was not stuck in between them, he would have risked everything to fight Halston and get his revenge.
“Umm… Actually, I can help you regain your past look… Well, maybe not a hundred percent. But at least, we can get back ninety percent of it. What do you think?” Flossie asked carefully.
Unexpectedly, the amiable Quinton immediately turned hostile, and he growled, “You want me to have plastic surgery, don’t you?”
“Err… It’s not plastic surgery, it’s just recovery… It’s because you had a perfect face that became slightly less perfect because of an accident. We’re just trying to minimize imperfections. Isn’t that reasonable?”
“I don’t want to!” Quinton firmly refused. “I have avenge myself.”
Flossie swallowed, her body tense. She had thought of the possibility of his refusal and stubbornness before she went there, but she didn’t expect it to be this bad. “Why not? You can lead a better life. Why would you refuse?”
Flossie couldn’t understand.
“The scar is a reminder of my pain and suffering. If it’s healed, I might let my guard down. I need this scar to always remind me of the humiliation I suffered,” Quinton said seriously.
“But I think you shouldn’t let a scar affect you if it can be healed. Maybe that humiliation isn’t as serious as you think. You just bury yourself in it and refuse to come out. You’re the one who’s suffering,” Flossie said gently, trying to persuade him.
“You’re not me. You don’t know what humiliation is to a man!
“I don’t care. You must sign up for this recovery surgery. If not… I’ll keep ignoring you!” When that didn’t work, Flossie had no choice but to provoke him using extreme means. “I don’t want to have a monster as my brother… Even if you’re not doing it for me, you should do it for Adie and Abby’s sake!”
Naturally, Quinton couldn’t refuse after Flossie mentioned Adie and Abby.” Well… just do whatever you want then,” he said awkwardly.
Flossie’s eyes lit up, and she asked excitedly, “Quinton, do you mean it?’ “Of course.
I just don’t want you, Abie, and Addy to leave.
I love the kids very much, and I don’t want them to be afraid of me, so… I’ll give in, even if it hurts my pride.” Although he sounded pitiful, his face was full of happiness.
To him, the children represented hope and a new beginning.
He considered Adie and Abby his descendants, so he was willing to sacrifice anything for them; a minor face recovery surgery was nothing.