Chapter 247 - Tough Love
In the villa in the suburbs.
Mrs. Landis was in the midst of dinner preparations when she suddenly heard a scream from the upper floor, which made her hands tremble and she almost cut her finger with the kitchen knife.
She rushed upstairs with the kitchen knife and asked nervously, "What"s the matter, Ma"am? What"s the matter?"
Iris, who was resting on the recliner, sat upright as she stared at her cell phone incredulously. When she saw Mrs. Landis come in, the dazed woman asked, "Earlier today, what did Tina York say Justin"s girlfriend"s name was?"
"You know, Nora Smith!" Mrs. Landis replied.
Iris swallowed hard as she looked back down at the text message—the five words "my name is Nora Smith" were displayed there clearly.
She rubbed her eyes. When she saw the five words again, she couldn"t help but let out another scream. "Ahhh!"
Mrs. Landis received another huge shock. She s.h.i.+vered and said, "Oh my goodness, my precious Ma"am, please don"t scare me anymore! I"m already old, so I can"t take shocks anymore! What"s the matter?"
Iris lifted her head and looked at Mrs. Landis weakly. "Mrs. Landis, I… I… I think I"m in trouble!"
Mrs. Landis, "?"
Iris asked, "If I tell you that the girl whom Justin has fallen in love with—the one that Tina York says has been pestering him—is the same Ms. Smith whom we were talking to today, would you believe me?"
Mrs. Landis, "???"
Mrs. Landis thought of Nora"s indifferent att.i.tude and the aura around her, and she shook her head.
After being Iris"s follower for so many years, she had long since learned to read people and identify them.
Ms. Smith was no ordinary person. There was no doubt that she was a very impressive person!
It was clear that she and Iris were no ordinary people, and everyone else was dying to be of help to them. However, when she had gone over to ask Ms. Smith to talk to Iris, she had been reluctant to!
Mrs. Landis shook her head. "I don"t believe it."
Iris nodded. "I don"t believe it, either."
Mrs. Landis asked, "By the way, ma"am, didn"t Ms. Smith say today that she has a son?"
"Yes, that"s right." Iris said, "The Nora Smith that Tina York mentioned only has a daughter. She doesn"t have a son. So…"
Mrs. Landis said cautiously, "What if the name Nora Smith has become very popular? After all, it"s neither a particularly uncommon name nor an obscure last name."
Iris hesitated. "Is that so?"
Not many people named their daughters Nora these days, right? No, wait. Perhaps Tina had meant Norah? Or Noreen?
Iris comforted herself. At last, she said, "If we want to know whether she"s really the one or not, the next time we invite Ms. Smith over, we can also ask Justin to come over. This way, we"ll know for sure, right?"
Mrs. Landis nodded. "Yes, that"s right. She"s your G.o.d-sister anyway, so it doesn"t matter!"
Iris breathed a sigh of relief.
Nora, who had absolutely no idea that Iris was in an internal struggle the whole night, went upstairs with Pete after she returned to the Andersons".
After was.h.i.+ng up, the two of them happily fell asleep on the bed.
The night pa.s.sed peacefully.
The next day, Nora again slept until the sun was up before she finally woke up. She had only just stretched and gone downstairs leisurely when she spotted the elderly Mrs. Anderson and Melissa sitting solemnly on the sofa in the living room. They looked up when they heard the door open. When they saw her, they got onto their feet at once. Melissa exclaimed, "You"re finally up, Nora!"
Nora"s voice still sounded a little nasal as she asked, "What"s up?"
Mrs. Anderson and Melissa exchanged a look. At last, Melissa said solemnly, "Mrs. Hunt has invited you to the Hunts" manor! She has also requested that you bring Cherry along!"
Nora, "?"
She frowned and asked perplexedly, "Mrs. Hunt?"
Melissa nodded. "Yes, Justin"s grandmother."
Nora knew who she was, of course.
After all, she was the one who had cured that old lady"s illness!
Nora was just very puzzled. "What is she asking me to go over for?"
As soon as she said that, Melissa gazed at her gravely and asked, "Come over here, Nora. I have something I want to ask you. Please answer me seriously."
Nora went downstairs, shuffled over, and sat opposite Melissa and Mrs. Anderson. "What is it?"
Melissa took a deep breath and asked cautiously, "You and Justin… Are the two of you…"
She held up two fingers, drew them together a couple of times, and went on. "… dating?"
"… No, we"re not!"
However, her cell phone rang at this point.
She looked down to see that "Mr. Narcissist" was calling. She picked up the call and subconsciously said, "What can I do for you, Mr. Hunt?"
The man on the other end of the call spoke in a low and deep voice. "Nothing much. I just wanted to ask you out on a date, that"s all, Ms. Smith."
Nora, "?"
She was a little surprised. "A date?"
"That"s right. Didn"t I make a promise to you the other day? We have to go on dates more frequently, so that I don"t keep on making you take the initiative to approach me under the guise of visiting Pete. In this regard, men should take the initiative, shouldn"t they?"
"…"
Nora asked reluctantly, "Where? And when?"
"How about now? Let"s go to the movies?"
"No, thanks." Nora said, "The movies make me fall asleep. They are boring when their plots don"t make sense."
"How about touring the countryside, then?"
"So that we can admire an endless field of vegetables on a farm? Sorry, Mr. Hunt, but I come from a small town. These things aren"t rarities to me."
"… What do you feel like doing, then?"
Nora immediately replied, "I wanna sleep."
"…"
The other end of the call fell silent for a long, long time, so much so that Nora even wondered at one point if the call had been disconnected due to signal loss. Just as she was about to hang up, the sc.u.mbag"s voice rang out again. "This… Aren"t we moving things a little too fast?"
Nora, "?"
"We"ve only just started dating, so our relations.h.i.+p hasn"t reached the point of pa.s.sion and infatuation yet. Isn"t it too early for us to sleep together? But of course, since you"re the one who brought it up, I will definitely satisfy you, Ms. Smith."
Nora, "!!!!"
She obviously meant that she wanted to sleep by herself!
That sc.u.mbag was simply too narcissistic!!
Once again, the man made Nora so mad that she gnashed her teeth in fury. She snapped, "Are you incapable of understanding English, Mr. Hunt? Or perhaps you need me to operate on your brain?"
Her words suddenly reminded Justin of a message that Anti had once relayed to him through Solo.
The message had made him so angry at that time that he made up his mind to would beat up the other party real bad once he found them.
But later on, he had forgotten about it.
Now that she had brought it up, Justin suddenly smiled and said, "Your words have reminded me of a message that Anti pa.s.sed to me back then."
Nora, "?"
"Why did you insult me that time, Ms. Smith?" asked Justin.
Nora, "!!"
Because you"re so narcissistic, of course!
But could she say that? No, she couldn"t…
Once she said it, she would have to explain that she wasn"t in love with him, which would then require her to explain why she was approaching Pete.
Driven into a corner, Nora coughed and said, "Don"t they call such behavior "tough love"?"
"…"
Nora then said, "If there"s nothing else, then I"m hanging up, Mr. Hunt."
Just as she was about to hang up, Justin chuckled softly and said, "Please wait a moment."
Nora paused. The next moment, his voice traveled through the phone again. "About sleeping…"
However, she didn"t give Justin the chance to continue and hung up straight away.
When she looked back up, she saw an astounded Melissa and Mrs. Anderson staring at her…