Free Web NovelChapter 376: I’ve Got This
At that moment, Wendy was walking towards him with a bag of gifts in her hand.
"Mr. Nathan is so kind. He had these clothes tailor-made for the kids and said that they would go to waste if I refused to accept them," Wendy said with a smile, showing Todd the bag of gifts.
Actually, Todd and Wendy had already left the premises when Mr. Nathan realized that he had not given the gifts to Wendy.
As she spoke, Wendy passed her bag and phone to Todd so that he could help her with the items.
She then turned aside and engaged Mr. Nathan in a brief conversation.
She was therefore not aware that Zen had called during that time.
Originally, Todd had not intended to accept the call. Then he saw from the caller ID that it was Zen, whom he knew.
As Wendy was talking to Mr. Nathan and could not take the call, he decided to accept it on her behalf.
Todd was only going to inform Zen that Wendy was not able to take the call and to get her to call back again later.
But then, Zen had immediately rattled on about Michael being in Rheinsville City.
The news shook Todd and sounded alarm bells in his head.
On reflex, he asked Zen not to mention to Wendy that she had called about Michael.
Very quickly, he deleted Zen’s call from the call log with the one hand.
In the next instant, he handed the phone back to Wendy and said smilingly, "Indeed, Mr. Nathan is very kind. he was like this also when I used to work with him. Come on, let me help you with this."
"That’s OK. I’ve got it. It’s not heavy," Wendy replied, "Since my hands are full, can you please take care of my bag and phone for now?"
"Sure, no problem," Todd took a deep breath secretly to calm his rapidly beating heart.
Acting like nothing had happened, he walked alongside Wendy as they made their way to the car.
"Oh right, I thought I saw you talking on the phone earlier. Who was it?"
Although she was standing a short distance away from Todd, engaged in small talk with Mr. Nathan, Wendy thought she had heard him talking but could not discern what he had said.
"You heard?" Todd was taken aback and, once again, his heart pounded rapidly.
Wendy shook her head.
Todd heaved a sigh of relief and smiled, "That was my assistant, reporting on the status of a project."
"Anything I can help with?" Wendy asked.
"If you need to get some work done, please go ahead. We’ll eat dinner another time.
I can hail a cab to get home."
"Oh no...," Todd replied. By this time, they had already reached the car.
Opening the door, Todd deposited Wendy’s bag and phone inside and continued, " He was just doing a routine reporting on the day’s work."
"Oh, OK," Wendy responded, not suspecting anything.
Wendy deposited the bag of gifts in the back seat and prepared to take the back seat as well.
Noting that, Todd quickly said, "Why don’t you take the front passenger seat? I have something to discuss with you. It’d be safer and more convenient."
On her part, Wendy had intentionally wanted to sit in the bac because, when no one was looking, she wanted to maintain a distance between Todd and herself.
Just when she was thinking up an appropriate response, Todd had already opened the door to the front passenger seat, saying with a smile, "Surely you’re not giving me the cold shoulder by refusing to sit in the front seat?"
In the past, Wendy had always sat in the front passenger seat of Todd’s car. After all, the view was much better and the seat more comfortable.
However, after their relationship had gotten a little complicated, she would always opt for the back seat.
But now, after Todd’s comment, she decided that insisting on taking the back seat would be a blatant sign that she was trying too hard to keep their relationship platonic.
At that thought, she murmured thanks and sat in the front passenger seat.
....
"We’re here...," the cabbie announced.
Looking gleefully at the clock, he said, "Perfect timing! Now, the metered fare is 45 dollars so ten times that would be..."
Without waiting for the cabbie to compute the total fee, Michael took out a wad of cash and put it on the dashboard, "That should cover it."
The cabbie took one look at the wad of cash and deduced that it was worth at least a few thousand dollars. He nodded immediately, "Enough, that’s enough."
The cabbie had been driving for a living for many years now and had seen his fair share of customers who paid generously because they were in a hurry.
But Michael took the cake for being the most generous of them all.
Leaving the cash behind, Michael got out of the cab.
He did not want to waste any time in case he missed Wendy.
Just when he was scanning the area,, looking for a place where he could wait for her or call her, he noticed a car that looked familiar.
Taking a second look, he realized that the driver looked a lot like Todd.
Having been to Rheinsville City multiple times, Michael had seen Todd’s car.
Even if he had not seen it, he would, from the investigative reports that he had received on Todd, have been aware of the make of car Todd drove and registration number.
Todd?
Seeing Todd at this place reminded Michael of Wendy.
But, when he tried to see if there was anyone else in the car, it had driven some distance away. freewebnovel.cσ๓
"Thank you , sir...." Having received his money, the cabbie stuck his head out of the window and thanked Michael happily.
But he had not yet finished his sentence when Michael reached out and pulled the door open.
Jumping back into the cab, Michael quickly instructed, "Follow that white Maybach..."
Stunned, the cabbie did not react for a while, wondering why this customer had jumped back into the cab when he had reached his destination.
Noticing that the cabbie was not doing anything, Michael urged, "What are you waiting for? Step on it!"
Coming back to his senses, the cabbie nodded immediately and replied, "Oh sure, of course."
Being an experienced driver, the cabbie managed to tail Todd’s car at an even pace.
He was even able to keep Todd in his sights when the latter ran a red light.
Naturally, Todd had noticed the cabbie following him closely and knew that something was amiss.
Looking into the rearview mirror, Todd saw the cab behind him and had already guessed that it was Michael who was tailing him.
Needless to say, Todd kept the information to himself and did not tell Wendy. He focused his attention on the actions of the cab that Michael was in.
Pretty soon, they were at another traffic junction.
Because he had been following Todd too closely, the cabbie was forced to move into the lane beside him.
Looking sideways, Michael confirmed that it was Todd in the driver’s seat.
However, Todd did not appear to notice anything, training his eyes on the lights.
Seeing that there were more than twenty seconds on the countdown display to a change of lights, Todd suddenly had an idea.
Instantly, he pressed the automatic switch to wind down all the windows.
The sudden inflow of cold air made Wendy shrink in reaction.
"Don’t you detect a weird smell?" Todd asked, a little apologetically.
"Seems to be from the remains of the food that I ate in the car a few days ago. I must have forgotten to throw it out. We’ll just let some fresh air to dispel it."
Sniffing at the air, Wendy did not detect any weird smell.
In any case, they had been driving for a while so why did he only detect it now?
Anyway, since it was no big deal, Wendy did not overanalyze it.
Besides, this was Todd’s car so she had no right to comment.
"I’m so sorry...," Todd said with sincerity.
"That’s all right. I must be suffering from a blocked nose and did not smell anything," Wendy replied.
The breeze flowed through the car, ruffling Wendy’s hair somewhat.
When Todd noticed Wendy’s hair gently flying in the wind, he leaned over and, very naturally, tucked the strands of stray hair behind her ears.
Windy cringed on reflex when Todd’s fingers brushed against her skin and tried to move further away.
Alas, since they were in the car and confined by the seat belts, there was not a lot of extra space that she could shrink back into.
"I noted that your hair was messy...," Todd explained hastily before she could speak up.
"That’s all right. I can do this myself," Wendy said, tidying her hair herself.
Feeling uncomfortable with the cold air rushing at her, she suggested, "Let’s wind the windows up halfway. Having all the windows opened makes it a tad chilly in here."
"Sure," Todd replied, closing her side of the window more than halfway, leaving only a narrow slit.
"It is quite cold today," Todd said as he removed his jacket and handed it to Her, adding, "Put this on for now. You’ll warm up once we get to the restaurant."
"Oh no, that’s not necessary. We’re almost there anyway," Wendy declined the offer, adding, "I’m not feeling especially cold."
In the meantime, Michael was in the cab next to them, witnessing Todd leaning over to tuck her hair behind her ear and removing his jacket for her.
Instinctively, he wanted to get out of the cab and walk over to them.
Alas, despite the short physical distance, the gap between them was like a bottomless abyss.
Clenching his hands tightly, he despaired that there was nothing he could do. What could he achieve if he got out there to confront them?
Reason with Wendy?
Demand an explanation as to why she was in Todd’s car?
Or, cut to the chase and ask her if she was dating Todd?
Obviously, none of the above were feasible options.
Slowly, the windows of Todd’s car were wound back up again and Michael could see nothing.
He had no idea what Todd and Wendy were doing in the car at that moment.
Although he knew that there was not much they could do since they were stopping briefly for the lights at a traffic junction, Michael felt as though he had been viciously stabbed n the heart.
"Really, that’s not necessary...," Wendy protested as Todd went ahead and draped his jacket over her.
Feeling a tad exasperated, Wendy pointed at the lights and said, "The light’s changed. Get moving. People are already honking at you."
Responding to the sound of the horns behind him, Todd released the brake and stepped on the accelerator.
The car began to move ahead. freeweɓnovel.cøm
Holding on to Todd’s jacket, Wendy was about to return it to him. However, seeing that he was driving, she did not want to distract him.
She also resisted the impulse of depositing it on the back seat as that would be too blatant a sign of her wanting to maintain a distance between them.
Because even if they were not a couple, they were still friends.
It would be inappropriate if she insisted on toeing the line and made things a little too awkward.
And so, she ended up holding on to his jacket.
Very soon, they arrived at the restaurant where they had a reservation.
This was a five-star restaurant that Wendy had been to and she remembered that the food was quite good.
They drove, as instructed by the valets, to the designated area. As soon as the car had come to a stop, the valets stepped forward to open their doors for them.
Todd handed over his key to one of the parking valets to have his car parked.
Still holding Todd’s jacket in her hands, Wendy walked over to him and passed it to him, "You should put this on. I’m not cold, really."
Truth be told, Wendy was indeed feeling cold. However, wearing Todd’s jacket would somehow seem too intimate.
In the past, when she had likened their relationship to that of siblings and fellow students, she would not have declined his offer of the jacket.
But now, it was very clear to her that their relationship was not as she had assumed.
"Can you put it on for me please?" Todd requested, stooping down a little for her to help him put it on.
Wendy frowned. But then, she did it anyway, deciding that helping him with his jacket was no big deal.
And so, she draped the jacket over his shoulders.
