Mysterious Mr.Richard

After the two children slept, Pearl tucked them in and left the bedroom.

There was an unread message on her phone from Alex.

"Tomorrow morning, I'll pick you up."

After reading the message, Pearl looked hesitant. "Okay, thank you." she replied after a while.

Alex seemed to be waiting by his phone. He replied in the next second, "You're welcome. It's on my way anyway. Sleep earlier. Good night."

"Good night."

Alex had always taken good care of her. Even though she tried to persuade herself that his concern was because they were classmates, or perhaps a mutual friendship like Ethan and her, but her intuition told her that it was more than that.

Staring at the phone screen for a long time, she sent a message to Ethan, "Last time you said that your friend had a car to sell, Help me connect him."

The next morning, the sky was dim. Summers in Kityall City were always stormy.

Once Pearl stepped out of the building, she saw Alex's car.

"Breakfast?" Asked Alex. He reached behind and brought out a bag from the backseat, the he handed it to her. "I got you some breakfast."

"Thank you." Pearl took it. She looked inside the bag and saw a sandwich and coffee. She smiled, "I'm already troubling you by sending me to work, but I didn't think to bring breakfast for you. Instead, you brought breakfast for me. I'm so sorry for the trouble."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. It's on my way anyway. I bought the food somewhere near your neighborhood too."

Pearl nodded thoughtfully, opened the sandwich, and chatted with Alex when she was eating.

"Anyway, I'll be at Jackson Hospital for a long time. I can fetch you to and from work."

"Thank you, but it's fine. I'll buy a car soon so I can drive to work by myself."

"Drive?" Alex was surprised, and the look in his eyes was blank. "You got a car?"

"Sort of," Pearl smiled and said casually, "Ethan has a friend who has a car that is as good as new. He's willing to sell it, and the price is within my budget, so I wanna buy it." "Well," Alex said, his face fell.

The air in the car was a little weird. After a long silence, Alex said, "Pearl, to be clear, fetching you to and from work is really convenient for me. Don't misunderstand my actions." Pearl looked at him in surprise. "I don't. Why do you think so?"

Before Alex could say something, she seemed to have thought of something. She smiled at him, "Alex, you don't think I'm looking for an excuse to avoid you, do you?" "Aren't you?" His face was still warm, but his eyes were firm and calm.

"Of course not," Pearl denied and joked, "You think I'd buy a car to avoid you? Where would I get the money? Alex, you overestimate me too much."

"Isn't it more convenient to take my car to save money?"

"Brandon and Bonny are preparing their school too. The summer vacation is almost over. It would be inconvenient if I didn't have a car, when school starts."

Although buying a car is really a part of reason to avoid Alex, she had been planning it for s while. Buying a car at this time just happens to have this opportunity. Pearl was not entirely lying.

There was a silence in the car for a moment, and then the car stopped at a red light. While holding the steering wheel, Alex lowered his head and kept quiet. Suddenly he said, "Pearl, what if I said that even though the kids needed to go to school, you could call me whenever you needed help, and I'll be there immediately? What excuse are you going to find to refuse me?"

Pearl was stunned and choked for a moment.

Alex sighed deeply and raised his head slowly. "Pearl, you can't lie. Since we met, I knew you avoid eye contact when you're lying."

Pearl kept slient, holding her sandwich.

NOW PLAY YOUR

FAVOURITE GAMES ON

After a long time, the traffic light started to count down and turned green. He drove past the zebra crossing and left quickly.

Alex was holding the steering wheel, and his hands with distinct bones were particularly white and clean. She'd never met someone more suitable to be a doctor than Alex. He was neat, tidy, and empathetic. Alex said, "Well, since you've already determined, I won't ask anymore. Just drive safely. If you ever have something you need help with, let me know, okay?"

"Sure." Pearl agreed quickly. "I've troubled you a lot."

"I know what you're thinking. Whether you choose to remain single for the kids or that person, I respect you. While, we've been classmates for such a long time. You don't have to be so polite to me, or ou can treat me like Ethan."

He mentioned Ethan and Pearl reluctantly forced herself to smile, "Okay."

Although she said yes, she didn't think socould.

How could Alex be the same as Ethan?

Ethan did not even treat her as a woman at all. Besides, not only he had helped her a lot. During these years, because of his lack of taste in women, she had to go through so much to help him clean his messes up.

Alex was a really good man. He was one of the few men who still respected her, cared for her, even though she bore children out of wedlock.

But the more he did, the more she felt sorry and didn't want to trouble him.

Two people separated at the entrance, after arriving at Jackson Hospital. Alex headed for the wards while Pearl went to the operating room where the crew was filming today.

As soon as she arrived, Nick, the production assistant, came up to her and said, "Dr. Yonng, finally you're here."

"What's the matter? Am I late?" Pearl checked her watch. "Isn't it eight-thirty?"

"No. You're not late. Breacue you took a day off yesterday, we didn't think you'd come today. We were about to call and ask about you. Are you feeling better?"

"I'm good."

That's good". Drink some water, Dr. Yonng."

Nick's enthusiasm made Pearl confused. The other staff members were also looking at her with strange eyes, making her feel weird like maybe she had horns growing out of her head.

As they were talking, Evelina walked out from the dressing room in her white coat. When she saw Pearl, her face turned gloomy. She looked too scary, as if she wanted to gobble someone up.

Pearl saw her eyes and stopped drinking her water. She looked at Evelina watchfully, just as she wanted to cause more trouble for her.

Surprisingly, Evelina just stood in the distance and stared at her. Then she said angrily, "What a bad luck!" and walked in the opposite direction. She could hear Evelina yelling at her assistant even in the distance, as if she had taken the wrong medication.

"What's wrong?" Pearl asked Nick, who was next to her, "What's happening? Why is she so angry in the morning?"

Nick smiled meekly while wiping his sweat. It seemed that he he just got off a rollercoaster ride. "Evelina lost the endorsement this morning, so she was very mad. She pretty much scolded everyone, except for the director and producer."

"Just losing an endorsement? Doesn't she have plenty of those?"

She was an A-list actress, definitely she had countless endorsements. It was nothing to lose one or two.

"It's different this time. Evelina lost an endorsement from the Zellweger Group." Nick looked around and said in a low voice.

Zellweger Group?

Pearl was stunned.☐☐☐☐☐☐