Alexander, now irritated by Marcus’ confrontation, turned around and scowled, “Who the hell are you?”
An intense fight was about to break out because Alexander was on the verge of losing his cool after Marcus warned him to stay away from me.
After Marcus checked on me and ensured everything was fine, he answered, “I’m her friend. What about you?”
“Oh! What a coincidence! I’m her friend too!” As a foreigner, Alexander was slightly taller than Marcus. He tucked his arm and announced with his chest held high, “I’m her best friend’s boyfriend! I don’t need to introduce myself anymore, right?”
Marcus narrowed his eyes and replied indifferently, “She’s my fiancée.”
“Y-You…” Alexander’s cheeks reddened in wrath. He could barely suppress his emotions anymore. “Stop lying! I have never heard of Scarlett being engaged to another man!”
“I’m pretty sure there are plenty of things you have never heard of. I think I should inform you that I have been keeping her company over the past few years.”
Marcus spoke nonchalantly, yet he made himself clear he was superior to Alexander in terms of his relationship with me.
I was sitting in between the two men, so things quickly grew awkward for me. I couldn’t see why they started getting worked up over a trivial issue.
“Y-You—” Alexander was rendered speechless by Marcus’ reply. Hence, he asked me, “Scarlett, is he telling the truth? Have you been spending time with him when you were gone all this while?”
Although I was confused by the reason he had gotten overly worked up, I nodded and said, “Marcus has been taking care of me.”
Alexander furrowed his brows in silence, obviously having a hard time accepting the truth.
“I—”
“It’s time for her to have her meal because she’s currently not in her prime. If there’s nothing else, please keep everything you have in mind for the next time you see her.”
I was about to carry on with the conversation, yet Marcus chased him away.
The spacious restaurant seemed to be relatively stuffed because of them as things got increasingly intense.
One of Alexander’s companions approached him and queried with a vicious smirk, “Alexander, is this your girlfriend?”
“No! She’s an old friend of mine!” Alexander replied in a petulant manner and warned the woman, “Hold it right there, Mom! I know what’s going on in your mind, but no! Nothing is going on between us!”
“If nothing’s going on, why have you gotten so worked up? You just behaved as if your girlfriend had turned her back against you.” His mother directed the rhetorical question at him, yet she had her eyes glued to me.
It was evident that it was a warning to get me to stay away from her son. She must have driven countless women away from her son in a similar manner before.
“Mom, you need to stop stirring things up! Please leave us alone. I’ll explain everything once I’m back.”
Alexander was embarrassed by his mother’s confrontation. He had no choice but to bring her back to their table. Prior to his departure, he stated pointedly, “Scarlett, please get in touch with Emery soon!”
Emery? That sounds like a woman’s name. Is she a close acquaintance of mine?
I thought Alexander would share the details with me, but he stopped interacting with me throughout our meal. Perhaps it was because he didn’t want his mother to overthink things.
When we departed, the Zimmerman family was merely halfway through their meal.
After we returned to the parking lot, Marcus paused and started running his hands across his pockets.
I asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I think I might have left my keys behind. I’ll head upstairs and retrieve it. Stay right here and wait for me.”
Not wanting to be alone and bored, I suggested, “I’ll go along with you.”
“Nah, I’ll be back before you know it.” Marcus tapped on my shoulder and sprinted in the direction of the elevator the moment he finished his sentence.
It took him twenty minutes to return from a trip that was supposed to be made within five minutes. By the time he showed up, I had long leaned against the car, trying to keep myself awake.
I had recovered, but the insane amount of prescribed medication I had to consume every day made me sleepy from time to time.
Marcus rushed over and chided me gently, “We’ll be home in a short while. Try to keep yourself awake until then because it’s not good for your neck to sleep in the car.”
“Mmm…” I nodded and forced myself to stay awake. When I recalled the incident at the restaurant, I asked, “Is Alexander a close acquaintance of mine?”
