Chapter 16 Followed
That morning, Wesley had announced early in the group chat that the department would be going out for a team dinner that evening, and family members were welcome to join.
While in the treatment room, Matilda thought about Wentworth and felt he wouldn't fit in.
Besides, team-building events were something older people enjoyed. Young people didn't like them—they'd rather go home early to watch shows or play games.
"My boyfriend isn't free tonight," Matilda said.
"Oh? What does he do?" Wanda asked.
"He's..." Matilda knew he had a military officer's ID, but didn't know his specific rank or position.
"He's in the military."
Wanda said, "That's great! At his age, he's probably not just a regular soldier. Maybe he has some rank. His salary must be higher than ours. I heard that when they retire, they even get housing assigned to them."
Matilda smiled.
Even if that were true, it would be his. She still needed to rely on herself.
...
At lunch break, Matilda received a message from Wentworth: [Matty, why didn't you drive to work?]
Matilda replied: [Don't dare to drive. By the way, I won't be coming back tonight. The department is having a dinner.]
Wentworth: [Where are you eating? Can you tell me?]
Matilda couldn't figure out what he meant. She assumed he was just asking casually, so she replied: [Near Willow Creek Park.]
...
The dinner location was a barbecue restaurant near Willow Creek Park.
Their department had booked a large private room that could hold 30 people.
Adalyn came too. Irene had brought her along.
Adalyn was an ultrasound doctor at the hospital. Because she was the director's daughter, she was close with all the departments, and they all liked to invite her to their activities. Irene felt quite proud that she could bring Adalyn today.
Doctors generally had reserved and steady personalities and didn't talk much, but Adalyn was very outgoing and knew how to liven up the atmosphere. She could drink and play drinking games. With her there, the atmosphere was quite lively.
She first organized everyone to play games, like Musical Chairs.
After that, she suggested playing Truth or Dare.
Whoever the bottle pointed to had to choose either a truth question or a dare.
By this time, everyone had drunk quite a bit, so they all agreed.
Adalyn spun the bottle, and it stopped in front of a young male doctor named Tim.
"Tim, truth or dare?"
"Truth," Tim said.
Adalyn asked, "When was your first ejaculation?"
Everyone held back their laughter, amazed at how bold Adalyn was.
Tim was clearly embarrassed and didn't say anything.
Adalyn egged him on: "No need to ask—it was either your left hand or your right hand. If you don't answer, drink up." Tim awkwardly drank.
The bottle then pointed to Wesley. Wesley also chose truth, so Adalyn asked, "Dr. Cox, you're in your forties now, at the peak of your career. Honestly, do you have a mistress?"
Wesley also stayed silent.
Adalyn stirred things up, "Before we started playing, we all swore that whoever doesn't tell the truth will get struck by lightning when they go home."
Wesley said firmly, "No mistress."
Everyone understood—it seemed Dr. Wesley only had thoughts but not the guts to act on them.
The bottle pointed to Matilda.
Now everyone was looking at them.
Who didn't know that Matilda and Adalyn were love rivals? Now that the bottle had landed on Matilda, Adalyn would definitely ask a particularly tricky question.
Adalyn smiled faintly, "Dr. Spencer, truth or dare?"
Matilda naturally chose truth.
Because dares meant doing outrageous things, like going out and kissing strangers. She couldn't do that kind of thing.
So Adalyn asked, "Dr. Spencer, when you were dating Reuben, could he satisfy you?"
As soon as she asked this, the whole room erupted, and some people were snickering.
Matilda also smiled faintly.
As if she couldn't play along.
She and Reuben had never slept together, so she said, "No, because he's impotent."
Everyone in the room was shocked and made a commotion.
Adalyn's face immediately turned ugly. She wanted to get angry but was held back by the crowd. Besides, Matilda had already answered the question, and she could only ask again the next time it was her turn, so she couldn't even start an argument.
Adalyn had meant to make things difficult for her but ended up embarrassing herself.
She continued spinning the bottle, and it ended up pointing at herself.
Now it was her turn to take the challenge.
She chose dare.
For dares, you had to draw from a mobile game, and whatever you drew, you had to do.
In front of everyone, Adalyn obviously couldn't cheat. She pressed "draw," and then a voice prompt came from the phone: "Call your partner and say: I know about you and her or him."
At this, the whole room started making noise again: "Make the call, make the call..."
Adalyn said: "I'll call! My Dr. Morris has nothing to hide from me!"
Everyone immediately fell silent. The scene became very quiet.
Then Adalyn called Reuben and put it on speaker. After it connected, she said in a hurt voice: "Ben, I know about you and her."
"Me and her? What could I possibly have with her?"
"Just you and her, don't hide it from me. I already know everything." As Adalyn spoke, she playfully gestured to the others.
Reuben said firmly: "There's nothing!"
Adalyn spread her hands to everyone—see, my Reuben is completely clean.
Just as she was about to hang up, a voice suddenly came from the phone: "Addie, are you talking about me not deleting Matilda's photos?"
As soon as he said this, the scene became awkward again, and everyone stared at them curiously.
"You still haven't deleted Matilda's photos?"
"I just saved some on my computer. There aren't any on my phone. How about this—I promise you, I'll delete them tonight when I get home, okay?"
Adalyn's face turned dark and ugly, but she still said: "They're just photos. Deleting them sooner or later doesn't matter. I wouldn't mind even if you didn't delete them."
Several people in the room were snickering.
Matilda sneered.
She didn't care at all that Reuben kept her photos. It would be better if he deleted them all.
...
At 9:30 PM, the dinner finally ended.
Most people had been drinking, so they gathered at the restaurant entrance looking for designated drivers.
Matilda took out her phone to check bus routes and found there were four or five buses that could get her back to Wentworth's place. She should be able to catch them.
While she was looking at her phone, someone nearby was also watching her.
This area was a food district. Derek had been drinking with some friends at a street-side restaurant next door, and unexpectedly ran into Matilda as soon as he came out.
Last time Derek had been beaten up by Wentworth, he went to wait for her downstairs at her building. But then some police officers came and took him away, saying he was involved in organized crime.
He had guessed at the time that this was related to Matilda, so he laid low for a while.
Later, he heard his stepmother complaining that Matilda wouldn't let his brother register under her household, and he realized Matilda had moved.
As for where Matilda had moved to, he wasn't sure yet.
From the first time Derek saw Matilda, he had wanted to get her into bed. But back then Matilda was too young, and she was a good student. There were always male admirers around protecting her, plus that annoying neighbor, so he never got the chance.
Watching Matilda grow more and more attractive, more and more alluring, he became even more obsessed.
But Matilda completely ignored him, and he had plenty of other women around him, so he just kept holding back.
Now, he saw Matilda again, and seeing her walking alone outside, he couldn't help but throw his cigarette on the ground and follow her.
At the restaurant entrance, Irene and Adalyn were also waiting for a designated driver.
Irene saw Derek and quickly said to Adalyn: "Addie, there's a man following Matilda. Could he be planning to do something to her?"
Adalyn looked carefully and saw it was true!
She quickly said, "Come on, let's go check it out."