Karma's Dirt

[Are you coming back tonight?]

Sarah reconsidered for a moment and decided the tone of that message resembled too much of an angry woman who had been abandoned. She deleted the words and tried one more time.

[Are you busy?]

She did not forget to sign it off with her name before hitting send.

Sarah felt somewhat nervous after casting her phone aside. Was she worried that Jon might not reply to her text? Or was she concerned that he might overlook it? She was not sure either.

Soon, she was alerted by an incoming text.

She quickly grabbed the phone from the coffee table. It was a text from Jon as she had expected.

He replied curtly. [Is something wrong?]

Sarah finally released the breath she did not know she was holding.

However, she fell into a dilemma again.

She wished to enquire if he was going to get married soon. Was he going to be too occupied with the wedding preparations to spend time with her? A surge of frustration rocked through her when she still could not come up with an appropriate reply after several tries.

In the end, she delivered a message that she crafted without giving much thought.

[Can I not text you for fun? Uncle!]

She deliberately stressed on the last word to show her grievance. She was upset about Jon introducing her to Aunt Wren as a distant relative.

However, Sarah was overcome with regret as soon as she sent the message. To begin with, she was not particularly close with Jon, thus who gave her the right to deliberately provoke him? Why was she acting up anyway? It did not concern her at all if the other person was truly getting married soon. There was no reason for him to revolve his life around her.

Her thoughts contradict one another. She kept picking up her phone every few seconds only to cast it aside again. Five minutes had passed and there was still no notification popping up on the phone.

Half an hour had passed by without another incoming text.

As expected, Jon did not reply…

He was occupied in a meeting all day. It was already 4:00 p.m. when he finally stepped out of the conference room.

His assistant, a woman named Sharon Turner dressed in professional office wear, picked up her pace to catch up with him. She was reminding the man of his upcoming schedule for the day in a soft voice.

Jon retrieved his cell phone and clicked into the text message. An enigmatic smile spread across his face.

Sharon stopped speaking abruptly upon discovering his peculiar expression. “President Leeson, do you have other arrangements for the day?”

He returned the cell phone into his pocket swiftly and shifted his attention to Sharon. “No, go on…”

“Sure. We’ll have dinner at 8:20 p.m. with representatives from the Urban Construction Department. Later at 11:00 p.m. there will be…”

The elevator ascended quickly as Sharon’s voice trailed off in the corridor.

……

Sarah had fallen asleep with the cell phone in hand.

Aunt Wren was already preparing dinner in the kitchen by the time she had woken up. Nunu was curled up on the mat under the coffee table, sleeping soundly.

The first thing that Sarah did after waking up from the nap was to reach out to her phone.

No message was displayed on the screen. It appeared that Jon had not replied at all.

She threw the phone aside and rose from the couch.

Aunt Wren, who was stepping out from the kitchen simultaneously, smiled. “Ah, you’re awake. I was wondering what you’d like for dinner but I dared not wake you up from sleep, hence I took the liberty to prepare some noodles in clear vegetable broth. Is that alright for you?”

Sarah had already gotten used to consuming light dishes since being discharged from the hospital. It did not really make a difference since her options were limited anyway.

She freshened up by splashing cold water on the face before proceeding to sit down at the dining table.

A glance at the clear noodle soup made her lose her appetite.

Another bowl of noodle soup similar to hers was placed in front of Aunt Wren.

Sarah cupped her cheek with one hand and questioned the woman sitting opposite her curiously, “Aunt Wren, I’m not allowed to eat meat under the doctor's order but why are you on a vegetarian diet as well? Don’t you miss eating meat?”

A smile spread across Aunt Wren’s face as she continued picking up noodles from the bowl. “Not really, I’ve already gotten used to it. Second Young Master doesn’t eat meat either. Even the smell of meat isn’t allowed in the house. I lost my desire to eat meat gradually after some time…”

Sarah was struck by the sudden realization. She remembered Jon mentioning he did not eat meat when she stayed over at his house last time after getting severely drunk.

She did not believe him then. She thought he had only said so because he was not bothered to eat the bacon and sausages out of her plate.

“Why doesn’t he eat meat? Doesn’t he get lethargic if he doesn't consume meat? How did he manage his health?” Curiosity was written all over Sarah’s face.

A faint smile flashed across Aunt Wren’s face. “I don’t know the exact reason either. As far as I can remember, he used to eat meat but had changed his diet since undergoing an operation three years ago. Nowadays, he might be sick if the room is filled with the smell of meat. I’ve seen him throwing up until colors drained off his face just by coming across a plate of raw meat in the kitchen… Well, I’m not so worried about his health because he still eats fish and other seafood although he doesn’t consume meat anymore. Besides, the Second Young Master works out all the time. Don’t you think he’s quite fit?”

“…”

It was already past 2:00 a.m. when Jon stepped out of the restaurant.

Sharon was waiting in front of the car. She ran forward with an overcoat immediately upon seeing Jon and the others reappearing from the building.

Jon was dressed in an all-black, tailored suit. He appeared rather pale under the illumination of the advertisement board next to the restaurant.

Sharon draped the overcoat on his shoulder as she enquired softly, “President Leeson, are you alright?”

Indeed, Jon had drunk more than he normally would during tonight’s dinner. He was still conscious but the other person who had been drinking with him had been utterly defeated.

His assistant could not help but feel sorry upon witnessing her superior in this condition. She threw a hard look at the secretary, Quinn Jensen. “President Leeson’s liver isn’t in good condition. Why didn’t you and the others assist him?”

An aggrieved expression washed over Quinn’s face though no words escaped his throat. Who would have expected President Leeson who almost never touched a drop of alcohol would force himself to drink with President Yeats from the other company?

The latter kept challenging President Leeson to drink as well. There was not much exchange that happened between the two apart from constant drinking.

It seemed that those two men were not acquaintances but they spent the majority of the evening drinking as if in competition with each other. The drinking only stopped until Jon finally defeated the other person…

Quinn hung his head low. “I’m sorry, Miss Turner, it’s my fault for not looking after President Leeson…”

Jon put his hand up to interrupt and shifted his attention to Sharon. “It’s fine, send me home.”

With that, he headed toward the black Bentley in big strides.

Sharon picked up her pace to open the door for Jon, not forgetting to throw a deadly stare in Quinn’s direction.

……

Jon leaned back into the seat once he had entered the car. He yanked the tie off his neck and simply cast it aside.

Sharon, who was sitting on the passenger seat, looked over her shoulder to enquire, “Should we send you back to the villa by the sea?”

He replied with a nod.

Several moments later, he suddenly spoke again without even opening his eyes. “Xijing Villa…”

Sharon mumbled a reply and instructed the driver to make a U-turn.

——————

Xijing Villa.

Sarah, who was unable to fall asleep, was tossing and turning on the bed. She kept reaching out to her phone every few minutes to check if she had a new message.