Beside him, Jessie Sterling’s chopsticks paused. She probably hadn’t expected him to make a special trip back just for her. Jessie turned her head, blinked, and said, "But traveling back and forth would be such a hassle."
She looked sincere as she said it, as if her every word was spoken with Victor Morgan’s best interests at heart, but in reality, she had her own agenda.
Victor Morgan stared at her for a mont before averting his gaze. He didn’t call her out on it. "Little liar," he murmured.
"Huh?" Jessie didn’t hear him clearly and tried to lean in closer to ask what he’d said. But before she could, Victor Morgan unhesitatingly pushed her away by the forehead.
’Hasn’t she already shown she’s sick of ?’ Victor thought with so indignation.
Jessie: "..."
"Are all the people you were with yesterday coming?" Victor Morgan suddenly asked again.
"Mhm." Jessie nodded. "Mochi, Bella, and Ms. Rhodes."
Victor Morgan: "Ms. Rhodes is the one with the long hair?"
Jessie was a little surprised. She hadn’t expected Victor to be able to place her. "Yep."
Victor Morgan said nothing, but his expression darkened slightly.
The subtle displeasure was very well-hidden.
"You don’t like her?" Jessie asked, surprised. She was very sensitive to the emotions of those around her.
But Jessie couldn’t figure out why Victor would be displeased with soone he’d only t once and had barely exchanged a few words with.
"Have you two t before?" Jessie asked again.
Victor Morgan shook his head. "We haven’t. And I never said I didn’t like her."
He glanced at Jessie as he spoke, then asked in return, "Are you and her close?"
Jessie shook her head. "We don’t draw the sa genre, and she’s in the shonen category, so I don’t know her that well. But at the annual party yesterday, she introduced to a lot of people, and she’s a really amazing artist in her own right."
Victor didn’t seem curious about Yvonne Rhodes’s accomplishnts. He just nodded to show he’d heard her.
But his reaction only made Jessie more curious.
There had been three people with her yesterday, but Victor was only fixated on Yvonne Rhodes.
"I think she’s a really nice person," Jessie said. "And just like Lynn, she loves islands and diving. We even talked yesterday about going on a trip together when we have ti."
As she said this, she kept a close eye on Victor’s expression.
Sure enough, his brows furrowed again when he heard she might go on a trip with Yvonne Rhodes.
Although he had only caught a brief glimpse of her that night, Victor had definitely rembered Yvonne Rhodes.
Her gaze toward Jessie was different from the other two.
It was the kind of look you only see when soone is looking at the person they have feelings for.
Jessie: "What’s wrong?"
Victor: "...It’s nothing. I’m just not comfortable with you traveling with soone you aren’t particularly close to."
Jessie gave Victor a strange look, sensing that wasn’t what he was really thinking.
Jessie wasn’t able to get the real reason out of him.
Of course, Victor wasn’t about to tell her. Since Jessie was completely oblivious to Yvonne Rhodes’s feelings, how could he be the one to reveal them?
’Just the thought that from now on he’d have to watch out for not only the n around Jessie, but the won as well, gave Victor a headache.’
「In the afternoon.」
Jessie was in bed taking an afternoon nap. Victor didn’t have the habit of napping, so she was alone in the bedroom.
Jessie sent a ssage to Mochi. Because of Victor’s attitude, she specifically asked for so information about Yvonne Rhodes.
Mochi replied quickly.
[Mochi: Ms. Rhodes? She’s great, and she’s fiercely loyal. Rember when Shawn Stuart was cyberbullying that fan? Ms. Rhodes actually spoke up for them online. Shawn Stuart and those other toxic guys tried to cause trouble for her, but her fanbase is really strong. Oh, and LOL, Ms. Rhodes is into girls. At every comic con, there are more girls crowded around her than around the hot guys cosplaying ani characters.]
Finally, Mochi sent another ssage, laughing.
[Mochi: Just between us, you know that picture I posted yesterday? Two of my friends from the WLW circle asked who you were, hahaha. They said you’re total lesbian catnip! But LOL, I told them you’re married and will never be a lesbian in this lifeti, hahaha!]
When Jessie saw Mochi’s last ssage, she was absolutely floored.
’Lesbian catnip?’
’Who?’
’?’
For a mont, Jessie didn’t know what to say. When she connected this with Victor’s attitude toward Yvonne Rhodes at lunch, her mind went completely blank.
’It can’t be that much of a coincidence, can it?’
This was the first ti she had ever heard that another girl might like her.
She was truly shocked.
So, the bewildered little bear tapped on the other bear’s profile picture.
"Quincy, soone said a girl might like ..."
Quincy Sterling was most likely still in the cafeteria. When she saw Jessie’s ssage, she raised an eyebrow.
She sent a sticker with the caption: "You finally know."
Jessie: "???"
"Who told you? Don’t tell it was my brother-in-law. No way, right?" Quincy sent Jessie a voice ssage.
Jessie thought of Victor’s subtle changes in expression at the table. She cleared her throat. "No." But then she quickly sent another ssage to Quincy, "You knew all along?"
Quincy: "Of course. That classmate from college, what was her na... Mace. You said you t her at a party. She claid she loved Chinese culture and our language, so she wanted you to teach her. You’re probably the only person who’d actually believe that."
Jessie felt the information she’d received this afternoon was so explosive she couldn’t process it all at once.
Jessie typed a single word on her phone: "Impossible!"
Quincy: "She said she liked Chinese, right? Wasn’t there a Chinese club at your school? Did she join? Since she supposedly likes Chinese people so much, did she have any other close Chinese friends besides you? When she binges shows or listens to music, is it Chinese dia? And hey, in all the years you’ve known her, has she ever had a boyfriend? She’s not the type to stay single forever, is she?"
Quincy had t Mace before, and she was very sensitive to the subtle, almost imperceptible hostility she sotis felt from won she didn’t know.
Mace’s attitude only improved sowhat after she learned Quincy was Jessie’s sister.
"Did she still contact you after you graduated?"
Jessie was stunned into silence by the barrage of questions from her younger sister.
Mace did ssage her, though not frequently. They were mostly emails, where Mace would share trivial details about her life or stories from her travels.
On the other end of the line, Quincy couldn’t help but laugh when she didn’t get a reply for a while.
Although she didn’t know who told her big sister about the lesbians in her life, she couldn’t help but find the thought of Jessie’s currently baffled expression hilarious.
Perhaps even Mace herself never realized the real reason Jessie kept her distance. It wasn’t because she knew about Mace’s crush. It was simply because Jessie was timid. After learning that Mace’s family dealt in arms and operated on both sides of the law, she had retreated into her shell, resolutely refusing to stick out a paw to get close to soone like that.
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