Jair looked at him, "Well, look at you, all enlightened and stuff."
Stuart nodded, "Yep, that's right."
"What took you so long?" Jair couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed, thinking about Stuart's past actions.
"Are we still friends or what?" Stuart was clearly upset. "Don't bring up the past, okay?"
"I don't want to," Jair said. "But I can't help thinking I should've given you a good smack back then. If you and Josephine were doing fine, maybe Claudia and I would've moved faster."
"So, it's not really about me, huh?" Stuart said. "It's all about you."
"Of course," Jair replied.
"You're just trying to tick me off," Stuart said. "Let's drop it. We're both hustling anyway."
"We still need to talk. What's up with you and Angela? I heard you're trying to get a project for The Lopez Family? Don't be dumb."
"I want to cut ties with her completely. I owe her for what happened before, and this project is her request. After this, we're even."
"Are you serious?" Jair said. "You think it's that easy? She'll find other excuses later. If there's any issue with this project, she'll come running to you. Are you just gonna ignore it?"
"That won't happen," Stuart said. "We've already agreed."
Jair shook his head. "Let me ask you, if there's a problem later, will you just ignore her?"
"I haven't thought about that. I assumed we wouldn't be in contact anymore. If there's a problem, I'll assign someone to handle it."
"The person you assign still represents you. Angela knows that, but others don't. Rumors will spread, and people will still say you're helping her."
"So what should I do then?" Stuart frowned. "I don't want to owe her."
"Let's leave it for now. I don't have a perfect solution either. After all, she did save your life," Jair sighed. "Just be careful."
"I've explained everything to Josephine."
Jair looked at him like he was an idiot. "Explained? You told Josephine you're helping Angela to repay her for saving your life?"
"No, I just said I owe her a favor."
"No woman wants her man tangled up with an ex, even if you tell her. She won't feel comfortable."
Stuart said, "But she didn't react at all."
"Would you even notice if she did?" Jair looked at him disdainfully. "If you were that smart, would you have gotten divorced in the first place?"
Stuart said, "So what should I do?"
Jair patted his shoulder. "Since the project has already started, there's no easy fix. Just cooperate as usual. Actually, the best way is for you not to be involved in this project, but that's not realistic."
"It is," Stuart said. "I'll just pull my investment."
"Are you nuts?" Jair looked at him. "You've put in so much already."
"Compared to Josephine, that's nothing. I don't want her to misunderstand."
"But that's a big loss. It's a big deal even for you," Jair said. "You gotta consider the shareholders too."
"It's cool. I can earn it back," Stuart replied. "If the shareholders have a problem, I'll sort it out myself."
Jair sighed. "With your drive, who can stop you? Keep at it, I have faith in you." Stuart couldn't help but give him a playful punch. "You're just messing with me."
"Seriously," Jair said. "Now that you've sorted out your feelings, make sure you treat Josephine right from now on."
"I will. But enough about me. You and Claudia don't seem to be making much progress either. She barely looked at you during dinner."
"That just means I need to step up my game," Jair said. "It was tough at the hospital, but now that we're back, I'm going to start pursuing her. I want Claudia to experience everything other girls do. Being pursued is part of that."
Stuart looked at him. "You're pretty thoughtful."
"Actually, you don't need to force it. When you like someone, you'll naturally think about them. Guys who say they're just careless don't really love."
Stuart nodded. "That's true."
Jair continued, "So keep at it. As long as you're sincere, Josephine will notice. It's a new year. I hope you get what you wish for."
"Let's work hard together. Who knows, maybe we'll have a double wedding."
Jair chuckled, "Sounds good."
In the end, they didn't smoke and headed back inside.
Josephine and the others were having a good time chatting in the room. With Laura around, the atmosphere was always lively.
"What took you guys so long?" Laura asked. "Is this room too small for you two?"
"Just getting some wisdom," Stuart said. "Jair was giving me a lesson."
Laura said, "That's great. We all want to hear Jair's lessons."
She nudged Claudia with her shoulder. "Right, Claudia?"
Claudia blushed, knowing Laura was teasing her, and gave Laura a light slap. "Then you go to the military base to listen."
Laura said, "I just want to hear Jair's private lessons. Unfortunately, I don't have that privilege."
Jair laughed, "I wouldn't dare give Ms. Collins a lesson. There are probably some things I need to learn from you."
Laura looked at Steven. "See how well Jair speaks? Learn from him!"
Steven laughed, "Then I need to take lessons too. Jair, let's sit down sometime. I need to learn from you."
Jair said, "I also have many things to learn from Mr. Bailey."
Laura chimed in, "You guys being all proper makes me feel awkward. You might be family one day, so drop the formality."
Jair locked eyes with Claudia, who blushed furiously, lowered her head, and turned a deep shade of red in embarrassment.
Stuart felt a pang of jealousy seeing Jair making progress while he wasn't. He glanced at Josephine, who was smiling and chatting with Laura, not even sparing him a glance. Frustrated, he looked away, only to see Rex staring at Josephine, which made him even more upset.
He swore that once he was with Josephine, he would never let her see Rex again. But then he thought, he probably wouldn't be able to control Josephine anyway.
He finally understood how Josephine had felt back then, especially now with Rex pursuing her and Josephine showing no response.
Thinking back to his own behavior—taking Doris to the doctor, buying her things—Stuart once again wanted to strangle his past self.
The meal finally ended. Except for Stuart, who was a bit upset, everyone else was quite happy.
"Josephine, can I give you a ride?" Rex was the first to speak.
Stuart had already picked up Josephine's bag. He looked at Rex and said, "That's not necessary, thank you, Mr. Armstrong."