Chapter 10 A Better Woman

Marina and Michael had lunch in a western restaurant, and Michael randomly ordered some food.

Marina was not a picky eater. As long as she was hungry, she would eat almost anything. However, while having lunch, she found that Michael didn't like celery any more than Mike did. In the past, she had tried several methods to make Mike eat celery, but to no avail. She still remembered what Mike had told her. "Mommy, you know what? Celery tastes so bad that only fools would eat it. So, Mommy, you are a fool."

Of course, just because Michael didn't like celery didn't mean that he was Mike's father. But although she had never met Michael before, she found his scent familiar.

After the meal, Marina went back to her office to finish her work as soon as possible, so that she could get off work early this afternoon. She knew that Michael was going to play golf with his friends after work, and she had already planned to spend the night watching a movie with her son. She had promised Mike a lot of things, but she had failed to keep most of those promises. She had agreed to take him to the amusement park after her job interview, but in the end, she hadn't. These days, she spent very little time with Mike. And since they had both fallen into the routine of going to work and school, they would spend even less time together in the future.

Just as Marina walked out of the office building, her phone rang. She looked at the screen and found that she was getting a call from her best friend, Dahlia. She quickly picked up and asked, "Dahlia, don't you know that it's very expensive to make an international call? Are you rich now?"

"Of course it's very expensive, but I just got back, so I have no choice but to call from this number," the woman on the other end of the line said helplessly. "And what about you? You've been back in the country for a few days, but you still haven't changed your phone number. Anyway, I'm in the F City airport. I called you yesterday to tell you that I would be back today, but a man answered the phone. Who is he? When did you meet him? I want to meet him too! By the way, Albert will also be back soon. We can all be reunited then."

"Humph, it's better that you don't meet that man. He's my boss, and he has a very bad temper. I was so angry with him yesterday that I forgot to take my bag when I left the office. That's why he answered the phone," Marina explained with a scowl.

"You're still so careless. No wonder Mike keeps saying that you're a fool. Maybe one day you'll lose yourself, too," Dahlia teased.

"Hey, are you saying it's my fault? I didn't mean to forget my bag! I was just too angry at that time," Marina said, pouting.

"Fine, fine. Anyway, I'm leaving the airport now. Where are you? I'll come and see you first."

"I just left my office. I'm going to pick up Mike from the kindergarten and take him to a movie. Do you know YY Kindergarten? We can meet there."

"Okay. I'll call you when I get there. Bye."

After that, Dahlia hung up the phone. Marina shook her head at the thought that Albert would come back soon. Her heart ached when she remembered that she had abruptly left France without telling Albert about it. She had tried calling him later, but she couldn't get through to him. So, she had just left a message saying that she had returned home.

Dahlia had once told her, "Albert has already asked you if you want to be his girlfriend. What's your answer? You know, if some other woman comes and snatches him away, you'll never be able to find a man like him again. He is a really good guy. If you miss him, you will regret it."

Marina had immediately turned the question back to Dahlia. "If he's such a good guy, why don't you date him?"

"I know him too well. I'm not his type. I'm loud and sloppy. He likes quiet women," Dahlia had answered.

In fact, Marina didn't consider herself as a quiet person. She was only quiet in front of others. When she was alone with her son, however, she would often lose her temper. Sometimes, she even wondered if she was going through early menopause.

Besides, there were a lot of women who were better than her. She just wanted to be Albert's friend; she had no intention of wasting his time. After all, she was a woman with a son. Although she knew that Albert would be nice to Mike, she still preferred to live a life with just her and her son.

It was only three o'clock in the afternoon when Marina walked out of the office. There were still a few hours before Mike would be dismissed from school, so she decided to go shopping until then. Although it had been a few days since she had returned to F City, she hadn't had the chance to look around the city yet. She used to love walking down the streets of this city. She liked to enjoy the scenery of the city by herself.

Walking on the strange but familiar street, Marina found that there had been a great change. What used to be a tree-lined path had become a wide road. The fact that six years had passed since she had last been here suddenly sank in.

At the same time, Michael and his friends were at the golf course. Some of Michael's friends were married and had children.

Jerry Pei was still single, but he was completely different from Michael. While Michael focused on his work all the time, Jerry Pei dated a lot of women.

In fact, seeing Michael behave this way often left him confused. 'Why doesn't Michael date anyone? Why is he so set on finding the woman that he slept with when he was drunk six years ago?'

"Michael, why don't you find a girlfriend? It's been six years. Why are you still so obsessed with that woman? If she wanted you to take responsibility for that night, she would have appeared in front of you a long time ago. Six years have already passed since then, so why do you still hold onto that memory?"

Michael waved the golf club and avoided Jerry Pei's gaze. 'Obsessed? I just want to know the identity of that woman. Is that wrong? What impressed me the most was how much happiness she brought me that night. She gave into all of my urges. And I still can't forget the faint fragrance from her. Coincidentally, I smelled it again recently on my secretary.

Anyway, when I woke up the next day, I saw blood on the sheets. That's when I realized that I had taken that woman's virginity. I have met a lot of women since then, but none of them made me feel the same way as that woman did.'

"I just want to find her. I'm surrounded by so many women, but I don't like any of them. Anyway, you'd better worry about yourself. How many women have you slept with?" Michael asked.

"Hey, come on. I might flirt with a lot of women, but I've never had sex with any of them. Don't jump to conclusions," Jerry Pei said, straightening his shoulders defensively.

"Ha. You still haven't forgotten Victoria, right? Is she really that amazing? Is she worth the wait?"

"When you fall in love with someone, you'll know how I feel. Although I have a lot of women around me every day, she's the only one I think about," Jerry Pei said sadly, shaking his head.

"Dude, I get it, but you should learn to let go. She is already married. You don't want to disturb her marriage, do you?" Michael shot him a meaningful look.

"I'm not the kind of person who will destroy other people's family," Jerry said dully. "By the way, my sister came back today. As soon as she reached the airport, she went to see her best friend instead of going home. She hasn't seen me for so many years, but I'm not the first person that she thought of. How upsetting."

"Well, you'll be seeing a lot more of your sister soon. She's just visiting her friend today," Michael said comfortingly. Then, he added, "By the way, she studied fashion design, right? The clothing department of my company needs a deputy manager. You can ask her to apply for that job."

"Thank you. But I'll let her make her own decision. I don't know what to say about her temper."