The Silent Wife

Jolly and Leroy departed the studio while Ryan stood there with a scowl and observed their departure. The veins on his hands bulged as he clenched his fists hard.

The assistant who stood beside him was scared to provoke him, so he asked cautiously, "President Sutton?"

It definitely aggravated him as he angrily lashed out at the assistant. "What are you up to? How could you be that ignorant of the fact that they're married?"

The assistant became pale at hearing his accusation but was too afraid to speak.

After a moment of struggling to control his rage, Ryan was forced to calm down. "Take care of this situation. I don't want word to get out about what happened today."

After he uttered this, he left the set without his assistant. This is my fiancée. I will never let anyone know she married another man!

Ryan received a phone call as soon as he entered his car. He picked up the phone despite his bad mood, frowning impatiently at the caller ID. "Hello?"

"It's been a while, President Sutton. Are you free tomorrow?"

"What do you want?"

"I have an acquaintance who would like to meet you at Westhill Racecourse."

His eyes slowly narrowed in reaction to the conversation.

Meanwhile, Jolly and Leroy were meeting Rachel for dinner.

She sent Rachel several messages on the way to her destination, exaggerating the incident at the set a while ago. When she arrived at the restaurant, Jolly eagerly asked Rachel, "Did you see my messages?" Rachel raised her phone to show that she was reading her messages. "I'm reading them, but I'm not sure which one I should reply to first."

Her phone screen displayed a bunch of audio messages from Jolly. As they talked, the audio messages played in the background. She hadn't had a chance to respond to Jolly, but she had a rough idea of wha had happened.

Everyone had arrived and was seated at the table. Except for Carmen, everyone else was coupled. Samuel and Charlotte, the children, also appeared to be a couple, and they were quite matching.

Both children were seated on either side of Rachel, while Justin sat next to Charlotte.

Jolly patted Samuel's shoulder and said, "Sit next to Mr. Leroy. I'd like to tell your mommy something, but you're blocking us."

Even though he was unwilling to do so, Samuel still heeded her demands and rolled his eyes.

She pulled the chair up next to Rachel and sat down. She couldn't wait any longer, so she said what she thought immediately. "I find it hard to believe that a man like that could exist. Besides that, he thinks very highly of himself. Do you know that he wants Leroy to be banned from acting? Who does he think he is?

"He is nothing compared to you, Miss Jolly," Rachel said helplessly.

"That's right! He's a nobody!"

Justin asked, "Are you both all right?"

"There's nothing to be worried about." Leroy continued, "He is resentful of me but cannot publicly attack me. At worst, he could only ruin my shooting. Jolly came before the situation escalated into a confrontation."

Gloria remarked amusedly. "Well done, Jolly. You are nurturing the tradition of rescuing a damsel in distress."

"Why don't you be the one who nurtures it?" Jolly retorted spitefully.

"Because you have too much charisma, flies are always buzzing around. I don't have that much charm or that many suitors."

"Are you being sarcastic? Don't think I don't understand what you're saying!"

"I'm not! I have no reason to be sarcastic when I'm about to leave soon."

"Leaving? Where will you go?" Jolly recalled something after the question was asked. "Are you going on another tour?"

"No, not yet. It's not about going on a tour." Gloria grinned. "It's only that Victor has finally received approval to take his marital leave, so we're planning a vacation.”

"Y-You're going for your honeymoon?" Jolly now understood what Gloria was saying.

"Yes, something like that. We want to make up for the missed time because we married during the last celebrations and were busy afterward. We just want to have fun; it doesn't have to be our honeymoon." Victor and Gloria didn't originally plan to have a traditional wedding. Instead, they would like to have a romantic getaway. However, they could not compromise on the schedule, as either he had classes to lecture or she had a performance.

But now, they could finally have time.

"So, today's dinner is perfect for wishing them both a good honeymoon trip," Rachel exclaimed with a smile.

Everyone was delighted for Victor and Gloria as even the children wished them a happy trip. Charlotte was also expecting a gift from her Aunt Gloria.

Jolly inquired further, "Where did you plan for the honeymoon?"

"Tahiti."

Rachel nodded in agreement. "I know the place. It is famous for its tropical climate all year. The scenery is mesmerizing."

"There's no winter there?" Charlotte raised her head and asked a serious question.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

As he caressed her tiny ears, Justin explained. "Tahiti has a temperate climate. It has warm temperatures all year, making it an ideal holiday spot."

"Daddy, have you been there?"

"I haven't." Justin shook his head.

Although he traveled much for business, he rarely visited vacation destinations. After all, such places had little to do with his business. Furthermore, he did not enjoy spending time alone on vacation, so he never considered it.

"I want to visit the place!" Suddenly, Charlotte turned her head to Gloria. "Aunt Gloria, can I follow you?"

Before Gloria could answer, Samuel interrupted, "Only a married couple can go on a honeymoon. There's no reason to bring children!"

"Who set the rules?" Charlotte pleaded, "Aunt Gloria!"

Gloria and Victor looked at each other, and he shrugged and said, "If Rachel doesn't mind, we could bring the kids with us."

"I'm not going anywhere!" Samuel raised his hand in protest as he spoke, "I want to stay with Mommy."

Samuel disliked the idea of having to travel. To him, going places to play was like changing playing locations. Why not stay home and play comfortably if it was the same as playing games? "Since you're bringing Charlotte, why don't you bring Leroy and me with you too?"

Gloria was taken aback by Jolly's impromptu idea. "What?"

"I've decided." Jolly winked. "We'll follow you on a honeymoon."

Rachel looked at her, surprised as well. "Both of you are going to?"

"Not just us; you and Justin ought to join too!"

Rachel dismissively shook her hands. "We're not joining. Are you in your right mind, though?

33

Leroy gave Rachel an unexpected expression and shook his head. He was puzzled by Jolly's sudden decision.

Jolly was a lady of action, though. She was eager to get to business once she made a decision.

She rose to her feet and said, "Because none of us had ever been there before, why not take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go together?"

"Chris, Justin, do you two have any important tasks that can't be postponed?"

Jolly continued to speak before Rachel could respond. "I don't care if you have any important task you can't put off. Simply set them aside first! Nothing would happen if I requested my parents to keep an eye on them."

"We haven't had the chance to hang out together this year!"

"It was Victor and I who didn't get to have fun!" Gloria reminded her weakly. "Nobody told us you went to Somerset Mountain; we only found out after the incident!"

Rachel felt helpless upon hearing about this. "We did not go there for a vacation."

Jolly remarked, "Enough with the irrelevant discussion; we will now begin voting. Whoever does not wish to go, please raise their hand."

No one had raised their hand except Samuel. He looked around the table and noticed that not only did Charlotte not raise her hand, even his mommy did as well after much hesitation. Finally, he lowered his tiny hand.

"It's decided then." Jolly was overjoyed to see the result.