Chapter 110
Jessa had no way to defend herself. Cleo's attack left her speechless.
Actually, from a "learn from your mistakes" perspective, if I were Jessa, I would have left Cleo long ago.
But from a "birds of a feather flock together" perspective, the two of them really were inseparable.
"Levi, if I had known about this, I never would have agreed to it. You helped me so much before, and I'm really grateful."
Jessa was afraid Levi would be angry. After all, when she had those rumors with Michael, it was Levi who personally found the evidence and helped her out.
"If you had any sense of gratitude, you wouldn't have done something like this."
Cleo was treating Jessa like an enemy again, looking down on her completely.
"I get it now. No matter how I explain, you won't calm down. I've tried my best. I have things to do, so I'm leaving first."
Jessa stopped arguing with her. There was no point in going back and forth.
"Levi, I'm leaving now. When the shoot is over, and I get paid, I'll transfer the money to your account right away." Jessa's eyes were red as she passed by Levi.
"How much is he even paying you? Money-grubbing thing!"
Cleo could turn on people faster than flipping a page. Sometimes she seemed like a spoiled rich girl, sometimes she was just purely annoying.
"Are you all here just to watch the drama?"
Cleo asked us. None of us responded. Right now, she was like a bomb—whoever touched her would get blown up.
"Levi, it's noon. Why don't we all go grab lunch together?"
John broke the tension. This was kind of his turf anyway.
"We won't stick around and add to the chaos. We still have things at the company. Plus, with them here, it's not good."
Nola voiced exactly what I was thinking. I really didn't like being in the same place as Michael and his group, especially if Cleo suddenly got nostalgic about him and caused trouble. That would be embarrassing for both Levi and me.
"I have to go to the airport in a bit. I'll treat you another time."
Was Levi going on another business trip? I didn't know what he'd been busy with lately, but he was always traveling.
"Alright then, we'll find another chance."
John poked Nola's arm. "How about we go somewhere else? I'll treat you two. You're not going on business trips anyway."
Nola looked at me. "Forget it, I'm not in the mood anymore."
We were getting ready to leave. Seeing Cleo looking so dejected, I felt a bit down too. She was always finding fault with others, never considering her own role in things.
Levi took his sister home, and Nola drove me back to the company.
John kept following us. After we parked, he popped up again.
"How about some drinks?"
His voice echoed in the garage, startling me.
Nola rushed up and punched him. "Are you trying to scare us to death?"
"You two are pretty clueless. I've been following you the whole way, and you didn't notice?"
"The hell I did..."
John laughed. "If a bad guy was tailing you, you wouldn't even know."
"It's because you're not important, that's why we didn't notice."
Nola had already glared daggers at him several times.
"So are you going or not? You're not really going back to the office to order takeout, are you?"
John turned to me. "Let's go eat together. Levi's on a business trip anyway, so no one's watching over you."
"He doesn't control me anyway."
He never interfered with my life. If anything, I was the one who used to manage everything at home.
"You women have it so easy."
Nola smacked him hard on the head. "That's what you get for talking too much!"
"Hey, hey, that's too much..."
They made me laugh, and I didn't want to be a buzzkill.
"Let's go eat."
John rubbed his head in pain. "Great, let's find a little bar. I can see someone wants to drink."
Nola glared at him. "I see you're getting too big for your britches."
The two of them were playfully fighting, and I felt a bit envious. Levi and I had never been like this. Our childishness probably got left behind in childhood.
Drinking at noon felt a bit unusual.
But it was a winter day with some warm sunshine, so having a light drink seemed nice.
John was roasting oranges and making tea.
Gradually, we smelled something burning. The oranges were smoking.
"Oops, sorry about that, I burned them."
John grinned sheepishly while cleaning up the charred black oranges.
"Never expected you to do it right anyway."
Nola raised her glass. "Blair, let's keep going, ignore him."
"I'll order a few more dishes to make up for it." John smiled brightly.
"Don't bother. If we eat more, our stomachs will burst. I have to say, the food at your place is pretty filling."
There were several plates in front of Nola. John had specifically ordered dishes she liked; no wonder she was stuffed.
I had things on my mind, so I just picked at my food. I was curious why Levi was on a business trip, and worried that with him away, there might be more trouble.
I didn't know when it started, but I'd become more fragile, afraid of being hurt, dependent on his protection.
"Sis, you're not thinking about Levi, are you?" John filled my glass.
I snapped back to reality and smiled. "No."
Nola punched him again. "Please watch your language. 'Sis' is not for you to call her, like you're her best friend or something."
"Are you really going to be jealous about this? Your friends are my friends. I'm not like you, too scared to be buddies with Levi."
"How can I be as boundary-less as you? If I acted all buddy-buddy with him, I'm on my Blair's side, okay?" Nola had indeed never gotten close to Levi.
I took a sip of wine. It really burned.
"Stop fighting, you two. We're all friends. And you two shouldn't always be arguing—sometimes good relationships get ruined by too much fighting."
They both quieted down to listen to me.
"Since you're together, you should take it seriously. I know you two are never really mad at each other, but you need to cherish what you have more."
John raised his glass. "That's really from the heart. Cheers."
"Show-off."
Nola also raised her glass, her eyes getting red. I must have touched a nerve. She seemed carefree on the surface, but she was actually quite sensitive.
The three of us ate, drank, and chatted, and before we knew it, we'd all had too much.
Their alcohol tolerance was way better than mine. They sent me back to the office, and I fell asleep with my head on my desk.
After a while, someone knocked on the door, and I woke up a bit.
"Come in."
Levi's driver opened the door, holding a bag.
"Mrs. Morgan, Mr. Morgan asked me to bring you this. He said to take care of yourself."
Levi sent me something?
"What is it?"
"Hangover medicine."
The driver looked a bit awkward. "Mrs. Morgan, I'll head out now. I'll be downstairs at your company. Just let me know if you need anything."
My head was fuzzy. I watched him leave before telling him he could go about his business and didn't need to worry about me.
Levi knew I'd been drinking? Did John tell him?
If it were him, thoughtful John would have just bought me hangover medicine himself.
Could Levi have someone watching me?