Laura’s POV 96
“OK!” I gritted my teeth, “I’ll treat Mr. Baker!”
I wanted to tell my assistant to locate the sub at the best hotel.
If I’m the one who invites him, it becomes my home turf. With the positions swapped, he should not dare to make a move.
“How can this be!” He repeatedly excused himself, “It’s all here, of course it’s me who invites Ms. Laura!”
“Mr. Baker you don’t have to be polite …”
“Ms. Laura still listens to me!”
“Mr. Baker…”
Before the words left his mouth, he threw a wink to the secretary.
The secretary understood and immediately retreated, and Edward smiled and said to me, “I’m inviting Ms. Laura to a special place!”
I was instantly covered in goosebumps.
In my heart, I thought to myself, if I run into that kind of situation last time this time, I have to think of a coping strategy in advance … To observe the surrounding terrain, the sharpest thing in the hotel should be the broken plate … I put the glass shards across his neck, forgive him for not daring to do anything.
Besides, this is New Avalon, he is arrogant, but also do not want to alarm the New Avalon police …
“Ms. Laura?” Edward’s face came over.
I forced a smile at him.
“This is a place you’ll love!” He spat, “It’s a Chinese restaurant on Blossom Hill Rd that does all your hometown dishes! How about we have some hometown food today? Hehe … Oh yeah, the name of this restaurant is also very special, it’s called Laura One! Hahaha … Ms. Laura’s fancy name!”
I suddenly had a heartbeat.
Laura One?
Laura…
This is a coincidence, right? After all, my name isn’t that special. Maybe Laura number one, was some special anniversary for the owner of this restaurant?
But for some reason, my heart was suddenly filled with a little more apprehension.
Edward all the way non-stop talk about New York, talk about his career, talk about the New York Stock Exchange, Wall Street …
Any one of these things can be taken out to do an exclusive interview. Edward said this, is intended to give me this exclusive to do … but I, at that time, but in the evil like a word can not listen to it.
All I could think about was Blossom Hill Rd.
It was all about that restaurant, it was called Laura One.
It was my name.
“Ms. Laura!” Edward interrupted me again, “Heh, you’re distracted, what’s on your mind?”
“Oh no.” I said.
“Hungry?” He hemmed and hawed, “I’ve never been to that restaurant, I just heard about it from a friend, and I was told that the most famous dish is the Crab Roasted Wheat!”
“What did you say?”
I was shaken.
“Crab Roasted Wheat!”
My entire body froze.
My heart was beating furiously, and my blood was almost frozen.
Crab Roasted Wheat.
The words stuck in my heart like steel needles.Material © of NôvelDrama.Org.
Edward called out to me several times, and when I didn’t respond, he reached his hand across the gears and rubbed it on the back of my hand.
I took a deep breath, shock and heartache overriding my revulsion for him at this point.
“Mr. Baker …” I wanted to tell him that I didn’t have an appetite and didn’t want to eat, but before the words left my mouth, he was already pulling up in front of that restaurant.
“Hey you!” He pointed to a tall, lanky man and pulled the car keys off and threw them at him, “Park the car for me!”
Then he opened the car door for me with a big smile on his face.
I got out of the car and saw the man walking slowly over, the stocky figure was familiar and shook my heartstrings … I froze for a moment and stayed in place, the eyes locked onto me and still cut my heart like a knife blade to a bloody pulp.
“Ms. Laura, Ms. Laura?” Edward called out to me several times and I snapped back to my senses, my heart still beating uncontrollably.
The man drove the car away.
But I still couldn’t take my eyes off him.
Gradually, it was a blur, and when I blinked, a salty drop landed on my lips.
It was Cameron, that was Cameron!
I didn’t expect to run into him here.
But how could he be here? Did he own this restaurant? He named this restaurant “Laura No. 1”, and he made crab roasting mai as the main dish here … What does all this imply?
“Was that … Cameron just now?” Edward mumbled a question as well.
I turned my face to look at him, “Is he the owner of this store?”
“I’m not sure about that, it’s my first time here too. But looking at him in his downtrodden state, he doesn’t look like the owner!” Edward skimmed his mouth, a gloating expression on his face, “Heh, I really didn’t expect that back then, as the second youngest master of The Lynch Group, he stepped on my feet and bullied me … Heh, I didn’t expect that he would also have a day to be a doorman in this small place! ”
“A doorman?” I looked at him and laughed softly, “Mr. Baker, to be honest, I don’t think Cameron would end up in this situation. You might want to be careful what you say.”
“Need to be careful with him?” A devious smile surfaced on Edward’s greasy face, “Ms. Laura, this is New York City, you still think you’re in Jerez State? It’s not his turf, and besides, even in Jerez State, he’s long gone!”
I ignored him and headed inside the restaurant, Edward followed closely behind, saying something curt while reaching out to touch me around the waist.
I managed to shake him off and sat down at a table by the window.
Looking around, the business is really good, it’s the peak dining time, the store is crowded with people, the waitresses are busy, and there are still many people waiting for takeout at the door. This table, too, I had a hard time finding.
Edward sat down opposite me, frowned, and smiled at me again, “This kind of store, the environment is not good! I also heard it from a friend, and I didn’t expect it to be such a place!”
“I think it’s pretty good.” I said in a muffled voice, “A mountain is not high, but a fairy is famous. I’m sure Mr. Baker’s friend, the level can’t be as bad as it is, since he recommended this store to you, it means that it does have redeeming qualities.”
“Yes yes …” he kept nodding, “Ms. Laura is right. Then let’s order first?”
“I don’t have much of an appetite. Mr. Baker order.”
I pushed the menu to him.
I really didn’t want to eat anything, a heart already full of Cameron. I looked around, trying to find the familiar figure in the dense crowd, but my hopes were dashed.
I wondered if I had just seen the wrong person.
It was at this moment that I heard Edward tapping on the table and yelling, “Hey, is anyone ordering? I’ve been waiting here for a long time, are you waiters all blind?”
Then all the people around us looked at us with strange eyes, Edward’s duck voice, successfully turned a slightly noisy environment into silence.
My face burned and I couldn’t help but lower my head. It’s embarrassing to be around people like this!
“Sir, Miss, let me take your order.” Suddenly a thick, low voice penetrated my eardrums.
My heart pounded again like a drum.
I watched as Cameron came this way and stood in front of us. I was no more than a dozen centimeters away from him, and I could clearly smell the long-lost scent of tobacco on him.
Suddenly, a feeling of wanting to cry choked in my throat.
“Two.” Cameron narrowed his eyes and smiled softly at me, “Would you like something to eat?”
Edward looks at him and sneers, “Meh, what else can I get at your little store?”
“Cameron,” he raised an eyebrow, “What a goodbye … Oh no, it might be more appropriate to use the word wronged!”
Cameron’s face showed nothing, still narrowing his eyes in a smirk.
I stepped aside, as if on pins and needles.
“Did you park my car?” Edward grimaced, “That’s a nice car, Cameron’s seen it before I think? Quite a roomy spot for me, don’t rub up against those crappy cars!”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Baker’s car, of course I’ll take good care of it.” Cameron laughed lightly, then looked at me, “Mr. Baker’s guest, I will also take good care of it!”
“Count on it!”
Edward was smug, this was probably the face of a villain. I couldn’t help but wonder how such a person with no character and no ability could gain a foothold on Wall Street.
“How about you give us a recommendation!” Edward leaned back and wrapped his arms around his chest, “What do you guys have here that’s good?”
“The best thing we sell here is …”
“Got it, got it, Crab Roasted Wheat!” Edward waved his hand impatiently, “That’s it, make that two!”
Cameron dropped the words Crab Roasted Mai on the order form, I suddenly felt the pain of a million arrows piercing through my heart, and the sky of Alcostan reddened by war appeared in front of my eyes again. There was a man who once held an umbrella over me there, and I hid in his arms, contentedly eating this most delicious thing in the world …
For a split second tears rolled down my cheeks.
I ran after Cameron without a second thought.
There was so much I wanted to ask him, to tell him.
In fact, before this, I envisioned many scenarios of meeting him. Maybe we meet on the street, maybe we meet at the negotiation table, maybe we look down on the past and sit down together for a cup of tea, or maybe all those grudges and feuds come up in our heads, and we are still at loggerheads….
But today this kind of, indeed too out of my expectation.
I have been with him to a slightly remote place, there should be the back kitchen, a few chefs are in full swing busy, waiters in the middle of the shuttle, everyone has everyone to do the work, everything is organized.
“What do you want?” Cameron suddenly appeared in front of me.
I was stunned, desperately trying to suppress my overly fast heartbeat.
“I …”
“Not here to catch up with me, are you?” Cameron hooked his mouth, his eyes looking out, “Left Edward behind and came to see me specifically?”
“You misunderstand, Cameron,” I looked at him, “I have nothing with Edward.”
“Even if you have something, it’s none of my business.”
“Cameron!”
I yanked on his arm.
He looks back at me with contempt in his eyes. He’s the same Cameron he once was, proud, untouchable, and especially with me, just treating me like a plaything.
He yanked the towel off his shoulders with a violent jerk and flung it with all his might. I barely stood still and stumbled into a counter.
Someone jogged all the way in from outside and met Cameron in a very respectful manner. “Mr. Luo, why didn’t you say you were here?”
“I just came to take a casual look.” Cameron said indifferently.
“None of them recognize you.” The man lowered his head, “I heard … that there are still people who treat you as a waiter.”
Cameron waved his hand to stop the man from saying any more. Half-heartedly, he ordered softly, “Clear the room for me.”
“What?”
“Clear the floor.” He repeated.
The voice was not loud, but it carried an air of nonchalance.
“Tell the guests that you’re sorry and that they don’t need to pay the bill. Give them a discount on their next meal as compensation for today.” Cameron laughed softly.
The man was unsure, but could only do as he was told. A few minutes later, the lobby quieted down, the people in the backroom left, and the whole restaurant seemed to enter a vacuum.
It was just Cameron and I, looking at each other. Silence spreads between the two of us, cold and awkward.
He glanced at me and slowly approached me. A bad feeling rose up from the bottom of my heart, and I leaned against the counter, involuntarily gripping the edge of the countertop as I stared at him in disbelief.
His big hand reached out and tightly encircled my waist, confining me in his arms and unable to move.
Then he leaned down.
“No, Cameron!” I shrieked.
Yet he didn’t kiss me.
His lips stopped when they reached the tip of my nose, and I felt his hot breath and seemed to hear a soft taunt from him.
“What else do you think I want to do to you?” His hand touched my cheek.
The fingers were coarse and tickled my face as they scraped against it. I slowly opened my eyes to meet his cold, evil eyes.
“Laura,” he said, “you can even accept a man like Edward … Heh, I really don’t have any interest in you anymore!”
“I told you, I have nothing to do with Edward!”
“Why are you explaining so much to me?”
“I don’t want you to misunderstand.”
“Looks like you still care about me?”
He smiled, taking my hand and pressing it against his chest.
I took a deep breath. I didn’t know what was wrong with me … was that Cameron was right, I still cared about him. I hadn’t stopped caring about him since the beginning.
Didn’t he ever care about me?
Why is the restaurant called “Laura” and why does he make crab cakes?
He seems to be doing well in New Avalon, but why is he running such a small store?
“Isn’t it strange how I’m here?” Cameron puts away his smile and looks at me quietly, “I told you, I’m not letting Carter off the hook.”
“You …”
“I have part of an asset in New Avalon.” He said, “It’s from the old days at The Lynch Group that I quietly transferred. They were originally mine, and while working for The Lynch Group as a cowboy, I secretly invested here as well. I got lucky and made a lot of money.”
No wonder he netted his divorce from Queenie!
Turns out The Scott family’s little money didn’t even bother him.
“I’ve made a comeback.” He cupped my chin and laughed softly, “Go back and tell Carter that his good times will soon be over!”
“You two teamed up against me? Heh …” His eyes were contemptuous, “I’m afraid that together you’re no match for me!”
“I don’t want to fight you.” I whispered, “Cameron, when I agreed to join forces with Carter, it was a moment of anger … because you were too chilling to me.”
“Did you?” He stared at me, “Then now you can go ahead and join up with him, you don’t mean anything to me anymore anyway!”
My heart ached and I couldn’t help but shout, “I have no meaning to you, then what do you mean by opening this store?”
“You open a store to make money, what else do you think it means?”
“Cameron …”
“Laura,” he grinned, “Don’t tell me you’re really hung up on me? What woman fought tooth and nail to keep me away when I first got out of prison? What’s the matter now, is it that no one else can satisfy you but me? Having tried so many men, is it only when you are with me that you feel the most?”