"Was Joanne telling me that her chef had made soup dumplings?" she thought in excitement.

Wendy swallowed and the tears in her eyes disappeared instantly.

Some time ago when Brian was in a good mood, he told them he had once thought that soup dumplings must have a higher position than he did in Joanne's esteem.

Brian and Joanne were newly married back then. Joanne angered him by accident, but she wasn't aware of it at all.

Brian was so angry that he left the dining room without having breakfast.

He hadn't taken many steps before he heard Joanne say timidly, "Are you going to work without having breakfast?"

Brian thought that Joanne cared about him. He turned around only to see her take his soup dumplings and begin to enjoy them.

Joanne wasn't as picky about food as Brian, but only a special flavor could conquer her taste buds.

Wendy had once gone to Joanne's house in anticipation of eating the soup dumplings. She jumped up and said that she wanted to marry the chef as soon as she ate one soup dumpling.

Yet, she couldn't do that because the chef's daughter was only a few years younger than her. Joanne had always invited Wendy to enjoy soup dumplings with her since then.

What a coincidence that Joanne called her again.

Wendy dabbed her eyes, deciding to think about the cute and delicious soup dumplings rather than Gavin. Then she asked the driver to drive her to Prime Villas.

The taxi stopped in front of the Lambert Family estate after less than an hour. Wendy rushed out of the taxi as soon as she paid the fare. "Cousin!"

Joanne paused halfway through the movie. She used her hands to stand up, holding the arms of the sofa and motioned for Wendy to go to the dining room.

There were some soup dumplings, a small pot of carefully-stewed congee, and a white plate with appetizers on it on the table in the dining room.

What Wendy needed most after a night's work was a breakfast like that. She rushed to the dining room as she cheered with shining eyes. "Cousin, I love you!"

Joanne pulled up a chair and slowly sat at the dining table across from Wendy. "Didn't you get off work two hours ago? Why haven't you had breakfast yet?"

Wendy paused before she could have her first taste of the soup dumplings. "Forget it..."

Realizing that Wendy would lose her appetite, Joanne asked directly, "What happened between you and Gavin?"

"Huh?" Wendy looked blank. "How did you know that I was with Gavin last night?"

Joanne shook her head. "I didn't know. But I can tell from your eyes that it must have something to do with Gavin. It turned out that I was right."

Wendy was speechless. "I was published by every word, wasn't I?" she wondered.

Joanne smiled at Wendy to comfort her and said, "I don't care about what happened between you and Gavin this morning. I prefer hearing your thoughts on it."

"Now?" Wendy poked her chopsticks into a soup dumpling while gnashing her teeth. "I think Gavin is a complete bastard!"

Joanne leaned backward as she saw the soup flowing from the soup dumpling. "Why?"

"I met a little boy about 10 years old in the elevator this morning. Gavin told the boy that hypocrites don't chat up girls." Wendy said with an angry look, "Sure enough, he's a bastard!"

Joanne said calmly with a smile, "Ah, what did Gavin do to you?"

Wendy stayed silent. She widened her eyes as she suddenly realized that she had revealed herself again. She looked at Joanne with begging eyes. "Cousin, let's stop it, will you?"

"Now that I know it, you should tell me more. Maybe I can give you some advice," Joanne said like a warmhearted person who would do anything for Wendy's well-being. "Just tell me, what did you do with Gavin?"

The unsophisticated Wendy was taken in. She said, "We kissed."

Joanne silently nodded to show that she wasn't surprised at all.

"I thought that Gavin was just flirting with me, but-" Wendy drew an SOS in the air with her chopsticks. "I don't think he's a scumbag, and I like him. Cousin, what's wrong with me?"

Joanne burst into laughter. "Nothing." After thinking for a while, Joanne said, "Wendy, it's always like this when we fall in love with someone. You wouldn't tolerate it if it were another person other than Gavin. It doesn't matter if you haven't started a relationship with him yet. Love does that, you know."

Wendy remained silent.

She wondered, "Love?

"What the hell!"

Wendy finished the soup dumplings with a long face. She put the bamboo steamer aside and began to eat the congee and appetizers.

Then she suddenly screamed, "Ah!" It seemed that she had thought of something important.

Joanne asked with concern, "What's wrong?"

Wendy laid down the bone china spoon and patted her head. "I didn't help Gavin change his dressing this morning."

Joanne smiled quietly. She called Gavin and tapped the speaker button, and then placed her cellphone on the dining table.

Wendy was sitting at the table across from Joanne, so she didn't know who Joanne was calling. She, however, had guessed it. She looked in astonishment at Joanne. "Cousin...?"

At that very moment, Gavin said on the phone, "Hello, this is Gavin speaking."

Wendy was no longer in the mood to eat her congee. She clenched her fists as she motioned with begging eyes for Joanne to hang up.

Joanne ignored Wendy's anxious face. She picked up her cellphone and said, "Hello, Gavin."

Gavin recognized Joanne's voice at once. He asked in surprise, "Joanne? What's the matter?"

Joanne looked at Wendy and said with a smile, "Don't forget to change your dressing."

Bang-

Wendy felt as if there were an earthquake of eight magnitudes in her inner world, which seemed to have collapsed with a booming sound.

Gavin was smart. He thought that Joanne didn't know he was injured. He also thought that she wouldn't be calling to remind him to change his dressing for no reason, even if she had known about it.

He had only asked Wendy to help him change his dressing.

Gavin smiled. After a while, he said, "Nobody reminded me about it. I almost forgot about that."

"Don't forget to do it," Joanne said in a serious tone, "Someone here is worried about you!"

Wendy knew what Joanne meant, although her Mandarin wasn't very good.

"Nonsense! I'll never be worried about Gavin!" she thought to herself.

Wendy stood up to snatch the cellphone from Joanne's hand.

She already had the cellphone in her hand before Joanne could stop her.

Wendy decided to hang up as soon as she took the cellphone, without thinking about whether it was polite of her to do that or not.

Nonetheless, she heard Gavin's voice as she was about to tap the cellphone screen. "Now that you're holding the cellphone, I'd like to tell you something."

Wendy was speechless. She was shocked that Gavin knew what she was doing at Prime Villas when he was dozens of kilometers away from her at Lambert Group downtown.

Before Wendy could come to her senses, Gavin continued to say, "I'll change my dressing at noon. Don't worry about me."

Wendy subconsciously wanted to deny that she was worried.

Yet, Joanne had already said that she was worried just now. She would be giving herself away if she denied it.

After thinking for a while, Wendy said leisurely, "As a patient, you should listen to the doctor!" She acted as if she were simply talking to Gavin as her patient.

Gavin tutted and said, "Don't you want to know who's going to help me change my dressing?"

"Who?" After a pause, Wendy exclaimed, "Is it the national idol that is very popular with girls these days? Oh, if so, I'd like to watch how he helps you change your dressing!"

Gavin gnashed his teeth. "You damned girl."

Wendy snorted and said, "I'm having breakfast. That's it."

Wendy heard Gavin's voice again as she was about to hang up. "I heard it that day."

Wendy withdrew her hand and asked with confusion, "What did you hear?"

"I heard you call me on the day of Chris and Freya's wedding. Zhong Lue was trying to drag you into the elevator back then," Gavin said in earnest as if he were telling a long story.

Wendy closed her eyes as she felt her heart melt within her.

The other day she saved the hotel waitress from Zhong Lue, without expecting that she would be targeted by him or be dragged toward his room.

She did call out "Gavin!" as soon as she was dragged into the elevator.

He showed up immediately.

She was both frightened and angry back then, so she didn't have time to think about it. Later on, she had wondered whether Gavin had heard her call him or not.

She thought that he hadn't heard anything since Gavin didn't mention it at all. She thought that he would have made fun of her if he had heard her call him.

"Why is he telling me that he heard me call him?" she wondered.

Wendy looked up and covered her eyes with her hands in despair. "Forget about it, will you?"

Gavin smiled. "It's a little hard to do so."

"Well, let me tell you what was going on back then." Wendy put down her hand as she opened her eyes. She said sincerely on the phone, "There were hundreds of people at the wedding. But except for my cousin and his wife, I was only familiar with you. They were busy outside, you know. So I could only ask you for help. It wasn't weird that I called out your name, was it?"

"Your words seem to make sense." After a pause, Gavin said, "However, it's illogical-you were too panicked to think it over at that time. So-you called out my name unconsciously. You thought that only I could save you, and you only trusted me."

Wendy snorted. "Gavin, how narcissistic you are!"

Gavin said, "I'm not narcissistic. I'm just telling the truth."

He hung up as soon as he finished his words.