Love My Friends with Benefits

Halfway through Austin's sentence, I heard someone snort.

It sounded familiar.

When I turned and saw the person standing next to me, I almost choked on my steak.

Leonard stood there, looking at Austin coolly. "Tom and Jerry? How childish."

Who was the childish one here?

I lost my appetite and pushed my steak around with my fork.

Austin smiled indifferently. "We meet again."

Leonard glared at him. "I don't remember you."

Austin reminded him, "Last night."

With Austin's reminder, Leonard seemed to remember something and his eyes flashed coldly. "It's you."

Austin nodded with a smile.

May had long since been pissed off with Leonard. She sipped at her juice and snorted coolly. Using a volume that was just loud enough for Leonard to hear, she complained, "How can some people be so obtuse? They know that they're not welcome, yet they're still shameless enough to show their face..."

"May, stop." I tugged at her sleeve.

Leonard was a capricious and powerful man. May would be in trouble if she were to get on his bad side.

May looked at me angrily. "Queena!"

Leonard turned to look at May sharply. "The last time we saw each other, you were a pregnant woman that I'd kicked to the curb. Did you get rid of the baby in just a few days?"

...

May couldn't think of a retort and turned away angrily.

"That's enough." I didn't want to waste time with him, so I picked my bag up to leave.

Leonard held out an arm and blocked my way.

I glared at him. "Excuse me."

He put his arm down and took a step back.

I walked past him. As our shoulders brushed past each other, he said in a low voice, "Queena, don't forget about our deal."

I stopped, feeling a little suffocated.

Suddenly, I saw a white figure flash past through the restaurant's windows. For some reason, it looked rather familiar.

Before I could think about who it was, Austin put his cutlery down and stood up. "Miss. Jones, I'll leave with you."

He'd put his cutlery down in such a way that the servers would clear his plate.

"No, there's no need." I turned to smile at him. "I'm just going to go home to get some rest."

"I'll drop you off." Austin was insistent.

I shook my head. "There's really no need."

After all, Leonard was still here. I could already see the hurricane that would be waiting for me that night if Austin were to send me home.

I was exhausted.

Austin didn't press the matter anymore and sat back down.

I walked to the heavy, wooden door and pushed it open to see Phoebe standing there.

"It's you?" I said in surprise, feeling a little mad.

...

Leonard was hanging out with his ex-fiancée, wasn't he? What right did he have to stop me from going out with other people?

It was obvious that Phoebe had put some thought into her outfit. She had a white, long-sleeved dress on, and she'd accentuated the outfit with some pearls. She'd straightened her curls out, making herself look even more innocent than before.

Her expression was a little awkward when she saw me. She quickly forced out a rigid smile and said, "You're here as well?"

"Can't I be?" I sneered.

I didn't want to waste time with this two-faced b*tch and turned to leave.

Phoebe patted her chest and heaved a sigh of relief.

This attracted my attention. I stopped and turned back to look at her.

Why had Phoebe reacted like that when I was about to leave? There had to be something fishy that I was unaware of going on.

Through the window, I saw Leonard sitting down at Austin's table.

This meant that he wouldn't have the time to come and help Phoebe.

I walked up to Phoebe and got to see her expression turn ugly.

"Weren't... weren't you already leaving?" Phoebe's gaze darted around evasively.

I ignored her and got straight to the point. "Phoebe, what are you so scared of?"

She froze, then raised her voice. "I'm not scared of anything! What gave you that impression? I have no idea what you're talking about!"

Her reaction proved me right.

"Stop pretending, Phoebe." I circled her and sneered. "Do you think that you and the Jones family can still have everything go your way, the way things are right now?" She paled.

I continued, "You've become quite popular recently, you know. Maybe I should read you an excerpt..."

"Stop it!" Phoebe suddenly burst into tears and ran off with her hands over her face.

I hadn't even finished my sentence. I just watched her in confusion.

What on earth had I said to get her in her sore spot?

The sound of the door being opened rang out.

I turned back and saw Leonard walking out of the restaurant. He looked around and asked me, "Where's Phoebe?"

The moment I saw his annoying face, I didn't want to answer him.

I shrugged and looked at him innocently. "How would I know?"

Leonard approached me.

This time, I didn't back down. I watched him walk up to me.

Leonard bent down, his nose almost touching mine. "Don't play tricks, Queena. Where's Phoebe?"

I was angry and answered coldly, "She's an adult, and she's not impaired. Do you think I have any control over where she goes?"

"You know exactly what I mean," Leonard said menacingly. "I'll ask another question, then. What did you say or do to her?"

This question was the very one that I could answer completely guiltlessly.

From beginning to the end, I hadn't even voiced out a single threat or insult towards Phoebe.

I shrugged, continuing to look innocent. "How would I know? All I said was that she'd been the topic of many news articles lately."

Leonard shot me a frosty glance before leaving.

Was he taking his temper out on me just because he couldn't find her?

I pouted and headed to the hospital.

There was still more than an hour till three o'clock. Taking into consideration the commute time, I'd probably be able to reach the hospital around two o'clock. I'd just have to sit around for a while before seeing Grandma.

My commute went smoothly since it wasn't during peak hours. When I arrived at the hospital, it was ten to two.

I had a lot of time to kill before being able to see Grandma. I glanced at my watch and decided to wait at a cafe nearby.

The cafe was full of doctors and nurses, perhaps because of its short distance from the hospital.

I found myself a seat and heard one of the young nurses sitting nearby say, "A few days ago, there was a patient in the emergency ward who was in really bad condition. He was pushed into operation immediately, but he only stayed a day before being discharged. Apparently, his family didn't have money to pay the bill."

The woman next to her asked, "What happened after that?"

"What else?" the nurse sighed. "He was in such bad condition, he has to be dead by now."

The woman sighed. "Money really makes the world go round."

"Not necessarily." The nurse shook her head, then said mysteriously, "Wasn't there a myocardial patient admitted to the ICU just a few days ago? Her family's filthy rich, but what does it matter?" She was talking about Grandma!