Take My Breath Away

As she stared at the photo posted on Carlos' Weibo page, Debbie began to recall what had happened yesterday. After lunch yesterday, they got back into Carlos' car. She had just taken off her jacket when he suddenly pinned her down in the back seat and began kissing her. In the driver's seat was Emmett, quietly sitting, as if he didn't know what was happening. It occurred to her that the partition of the car had been rolled down when they parked the car on highway service area. They'd forgotten to roll it up again, so Emmett had secretly taken a photo of them passionately kissing.

Coming back to her senses, she scrolled through the comments on the post. A few minutes after dinner, the comments were at a million and counting. Ranking top of the comments was a user by the account name "J-Loves-D". "Wow!! Mr. Huo takes my breath away!" the comment read.

In second rank was Colleen's comment. "Mr. Huo, you've crowded your wife to the corner. Give her some room to breathe, boy!" she wrote.

"This official announcement of love broke my heart!" another user wrote.

For the next half an hour, Debbie read the comments one by one, which kept increasing by the minute.

It wasn't until she heard the barking of the dog that she reluctantly moved her eyes away from the phone.

'Oh shit! I forgot to walk Hum, and...I even forgot to feed him!' she thought and kicked herself.

Squatting in front of the dog, she murmured, "Hum, I'm so sorry. I forgot about you." The dog made a sound between barking and yawning. It almost sounded like it wanted to speak its mind and reprimand Debbie for ignoring it. "Okay, Hum. You don't have to complain. I feel guilty about it already. And for that, I'll prepare a double serving of meat for you. Right away!"

At the door to the kitchen, she gestured to Hum. "Come over. Tell me how you'd want your meat cooked. Would you fancy spices?"

Hum didn't budge a little, but just stared at her discontentedly.

Unsure what to feed the dog, Debbie took out her phone to call Carlos for confirmation. But hardly had she unlocked the screen when the doorbell rang. The gate of the villa was kind of far away from the kitchen, so she quickly ran to the living room and checked on CCTV. From the screen, Debbie saw that there was a woman standing in front of the gate with an anxious look on her face. Immediately, she pressed the speaker button and communicated with the woman outside. "Hello, who are you?"

The woman instantly explained, "Mrs. Huo, I'm sorry. I'm hired to come and take care of the dog. I should've come earlier, but I had something urgent at home to deal with, so I am late. I'm really sorry..."

'So Carlos has assigned someone to take care of the dog too...' Debbie thought.

She pressed another button beside the screen and the door of the villa opened automatically. The woman rushed to the porch and changed into a pair of clean shoes before entering the living room. Then she hurried up to Debbie and apologized again, "I'm really sorry. My child had some trouble this afternoon. I won't be late anymore. This job is really important to me. Mrs. Huo, please don't get angry with me..."

Debbie was taken aback by her humble begging for mercy. Snapping back to the reality, she shook her head vigorously. "Never mind. It doesn't matter at all. Relax. Hum is hungry now. Please prepare the food for it."

The woman was moved by Debbie's warm gesture. With teary eyes, she thanked Debbie and ran to the storeroom to fetch kibble and chicken meat.

Curious, Debbie stood at one side and watched the woman get down to work. Putting the chicken meat into a pan, she added the kibble, a little salt, and covered the pan.

"Is that all?" Debbie asked.

"Yes, Mrs. Huo. That's all there is to it. Actually the best for an Eskimo dog."

"Okay, I see."

After feeding Hum, Debbie took it for a walk in the garden. She had also missed out on her running, so she took this opportunity for that.

The street lights on both sides of the cobble-path were all on, brightening up the whole garden. The manor looked even more gorgeous under the colorful lights. However, being alone with only a dog by her side made Debbie feel a little bit scared. The rustling and whispering of trees added to her fear.

As she was lost in a trance, she didn't hold the dog leash tight in her hand, so Hum got a chance and ran away all of a sudden. In a split second, Hum completely disappeared from her sight!

Looking at her empty right hand which had been holding a dog leash a moment ago, she sighed helplessly. 'You cunning dog!'

"Hum, don't run away! Wait for me!" Debbie shouted as she picked up her pace and ran along the path. She was concerned that the naughty dog would damage the plants or even turn the whole garden upside down.

When Carlos came back to the manor, he didn't find Debbie in the house, so he anxiously called her at once, only to find that her phone was left on the table in the living room.

He then called the security guard on duty who told him Debbie had taken the dog for a walk in the garden.

When he found Debbie in the garden, he saw her glaring at Hum while gasping for air. She begged, "Hum, please, don't run again. Let me hold your leash, okay? Just for a while, please... Hey! Don't dodge me! Come on. What's so good for you if I'm exhausted to death? Huh?"

But Hum didn't listen to her. It kept dodging Debbie's touch, giving her no chance to get close.

Just as she was about to lose her patience, a cold and stern voice suddenly came. "Hum!"

The dog darted toward the direction of the voice. Debbie turned around to find a smiling Carlos only a few meters away. With a simple order, the dog lunged at Carlos, who immediately grabbed hold of its leash to keep it under control.

Watching on, Debbie got angry. She protested between gritted teeth, "Carlos, can you imagine how much time I've had to run after Hum? That's so unfair.

I bet it was a she. Opposite sexes attract each other, right? I'd be jealous and accuse her of competing with me over your love." Carlos arched an eyebrow.

Debbie paused. 'What did I say? Did I say...Carlos and a dog attract each other?' Realizing her impulsive words, she held back her laughter and took to her heels after saying, "Was I wrong?"

Carlos patted Hum on the head and ordered, "Catch her!"

To which Hum darted out like an arrow and ran after Debbie, while Carlos slowly tagged along. It didn't take him long to catch up with Debbie. The dog playfully snapped at her trouser. He pulled her into his arms and asked with affected seriousness, "You thought you'd outrun both of us? And who is competing with you over my love?"

Debbie giggled. "Oh...I didn't refer to...Hum. I meant it's Miss Mi or Miss Lan...and probably there's still a Miss Me or Miss Fan waiting for you somewhere... Aargh! Carlos Huo! Let me down now! Okay, I'm wrong. Please...I...feel so uncomfortable...please..."

Carlos carried her over his shoulder as he walked back to the villa. All the way, Debbie flailed, trying to break free, but he just didn't let her down. Hum skittishly walked behind them, watching their endearing banter.

Their laughter broke the silence of the night, their shadows swaying under the street lights. It was such a warm and romantic scene.

However... two days later, Carlos gave the dog to someone else. His purpose of keeping this dog was to help Debbie build up her physique so that she could pace with him in bed. But to his disappointment, it had the opposite effect, and on the very first day, she had come home haggard and fallen sound asleep as soon as she hit the hay.

Debbie felt sad that Carlos had sent Hum away. She scolded him. But he didn't care. They didn't need a dog.

But to comfort her, he promised that if she really liked keeping a dog, he would buy her a little pet dog after their upcoming Spring Festival trip to New York.

On that promised, Debbie finally stopped complaining, much to Carlos' relief. It was hard for him to understand her emotions for a dog she had only kept for two days.

That night, before bedtime, as Debbie went to bathe, Carlos wanted to slip in and bath together with her, but a phone call from New York stopped him at the doorstep.

With no other choice, he sighed and went to the study instead. He answered, "Dad..."

Before he could finish greeting, a thunderous rant came from the other end of the line. "Young man! You remember you have a dad, right? How dare you get married without my approval? Hun? You even keep it under wraps. Do you have any respect to your parents?"

Used to his father's ill temper, Carlos silently listened. "If the media doesn't exposed your marriage, are you going to keep it from us for the rest of your life? Who allowed you to married secretly, and at that, an unknown woman? Who gave you the courage to do so? How about Stephanie? How can I explain to the Li family? You've embarrassed me now!"