Chapter 71 I Want to Invite You to a Movie

Shirley knew Emily was dying to hear about the second treatment results.

"Can she stand up?" Emily asked, still buzzing from the earlier news and needing to hear it again to believe that Laura could indeed stand.

"Yes!" Shirley replied, clear and quick.

"Awesome! I'll wait for you to bring her to the lab," Emily said, excitement mixed with a bit of worry. "We're in the critical second phase now. After giving the drug, watch her for half an hour. This stuff is strong, that's why it kills cancer cells so fast. Make sure she's okay before you leave."

Shirley chuckled, smiling. She knew how thorough Emily was. Emily's instructions stemmed from her fear of any unexpected issues with the test subject.

"Don't worry! I always keep an eye on things after giving the drug," Shirley reassured her.

"Good!" Emily's anxiety eased at Shirley's words.

Just as Shirley ended the call with Emily, her phone lit up again. She glanced at the screen; it was Laura calling.

Shirley's heart skipped a beat, and she slammed on the brakes, tires screeching. She sat up straight, gripping the wheel with trembling hands, her eyes filled with tension as she stared at the phone.

'Why is Laura calling now? Is something wrong? If something was up, she would've told me at the Whispering Pines Hotel. Is she having a bad reaction?' Shirley's mind raced as she looked at the caller ID, nervous about the experiment going south.

Shirley had just given Emily the good news, and if there was a problem, both of them would be in deep trouble since the experiment wasn't government-approved and wasn't supposed to be used on humans.

Her hand shook as she answered, her voice shaky, "Laura, is everything okay?"

"Ms. Johnson, Mom and I got some movie tickets and we'd like to invite you," Laura's cheerful voice came through.

Shirley let out a sigh of relief, realizing Laura just wanted to go to a movie.

"Ms. Johnson, is that okay?" Laura asked, worried when Shirley didn't respond right away.

"Sure!" Shirley said quickly. She hadn't been to a movie in ages, and with the Johnson Family distracted, she could relax and enjoy a film.

"Great! I'll add you on WhatsApp and send you the details," Laura said, sounding happy.

Shirley hung up, opened WhatsApp, and accepted Laura's friend request. She looked at the picture in the message Laura sent and laughed, thinking Laura had picked great seats, right in the middle of the theater.

Shirley restarted the car, set up the navigation, and headed straight to the cinema. Upon arrival, she found a nearby parking spot, parked the car, and got out.

Just as she was about to walk into the cinema, she froze. She pushed her glasses up, staring at a luxury car in front of her. It looked just like Kenneth's car.

Shirley walked around the car, shaking her head. 'There are plenty of people who drive luxury cars. I can't run into Kenneth everywhere! This car just looks like his, but it can't be.'

With that, Shirley stretched her legs and walked into the cinema. Something felt off; the place was usually packed, but today it was completely empty.

Shirley thought she might have come to the wrong place. She checked the details on her phone; it was the right place!

She walked to the ticket counter and showed the confirmation email on her phone, asking, "Excuse me, is this the right place for this movie?"

The staff saw the confirmation email on Shirley's phone, their eyes lit up, and they smiled excitedly. "Yes!"

Shirley was even more puzzled by the staff's reaction.

The staff, an experienced employee at this Terry's Cinema branch in Frostholm, smiled warmly and handed Shirley two bottles of drinks, two large buckets of popcorn, and various snacks, all neatly packed into a plastic bag.

Earlier that day, Terry had called and instructed her to close the cinema to the public, allowing entry only to two special guests. Terry had booked the entire cinema for these two individuals, marking all online tickets as sold out.

The staff had been waiting for a long time and had only seen one person so far—a tall, handsome man who appeared somewhat cold and expressionless. Now, with Shirley's arrival, the second guest had finally shown up.

Overjoyed at completing her task, the staff couldn't help but be cheerful. After all, Terry had promised to double her salary if she did a good job. Moreover, Shirley seemed easygoing and very likable, which made the staff's job even more pleasant.

Shirley was surprised by the amount of snacks and asked, "So many snacks! How much do they cost?"

She was a bit nervous, hoping the staff wasn't tricking her into spending money she didn't have.

The staff was stunned for a moment, then quickly responded with a smile, "There's a promotion today, so everything is free."

"Free?" Shirley was surprised, thinking this cinema seemed so strange!

The staff smiled and nodded. "Come on! I'll take you to the private room." She led Shirley to the screening room Terry had arranged.

Shirley followed the staff to the door of the screening room with a nervous heart. She glanced inside and saw a handsome man sitting there.

Seeing someone inside, Shirley instantly felt she had been overthinking. Maybe the cinema was just having a promotion due to low foot traffic!

At the door, the staff handed her the snacks with a smile and left.

Shirley, holding a large bag of snacks, walked into the screening room to find her seat. She saw her seat number, right next to the handsome man. As she walked to her seat, she froze!