Chapter 195
Chapter 195
When the waiter in the burrito shack heard Abigail and Greg's banter, he hurried out from the kitchen and greeted, "Welcome to Jose's Burrito Shack. Table for two?"
Greg was in a really good mood, so he declared jovially, "Ten of your finest burritos, please!"
The corner of Abigail's lips twitched when she heard this. "Ten burritos for the two of us? What are we, animals? Are you going to finish them all?"
"There are customers here who would appreciate a free burrito, Abigail," he pointed out with a mischievous grin, sounding proud of his argument.
At the sight of his haughty demeanor, Abigail smiled indulgently and shook her head in mock exasperation, but she did not stop him.
Meanwhile, sitting in the corner of the shop was Hugh; he had witnessed their exchange and wanted nothing more than to throw his burrito onto the ground. After all, he had never seen Abigail so obliging and amiable before.
For the last five years, she had been distant and courteous with him, and despite all the things he had done for her, she never once smiled at him as brightly as she did with Greg. He didn't think he had ever seen her indulge Alissa and Arianna like this either, which meant Greg was the sole recipient of such a privilege.
Rage began to thrum in Hugh's veins as he kept his menacing gaze on the happy couple.
Meanwhile, Greg had draped an arm around Abigail's shoulders and led her into a secluded corner obscured from the view of the main floor. Hugh still had a murderous look on his face even after they
had disappeared from sight, and the burrito in his hand, which had been quite delicious until moments ago, lost all its flavor.
He remembered how happy he had been yesterday when he got a call from Abigail asking him to meet up with her for lunch this afternoon, but that happiness turned into fury now. After seeing for himself how lovey-dovey Abigail was with Greg, he had a bad feeling about their upcoming lunch appointment.
At the thought of this, he grew even angrier. He threw his burrito down on the plate and rushed out of the burrito shack, but he encountered a sniper attack just as he walked past the nearby parking lot.
He managed to dodge the bullet for a while, but the sniper was relentless.
Eventually, Hugh was shot because he had let his guard down for a brief second.
He scrambled away on instinct, but he realized he was in the clear and stopped abruptly, finding himself in a dilemma.
In the past, he had Abigail to tend to his wounds at first instance, but she had made it clear that she no longer wanted to have anything to do with him. Well, who should I go to now at a time like this?
He was at a loss, and he was heartbroken. He had been the one to save Abigail five years ago; she was supposed to be his woman, but by some twist of fate, she ended up with Greg instead.
The thought of this only made his gut churn.
Without dwelling any more on these thoughts, he pulled out his phone and gave Abigail a call.
While this was happening, Abigail was enjoying a piping hot burrito fresh with Greg sitting across from her. She had only just begun to savor the flavors of the wrap when she got Hugh's call.
Upon glancing at his number flashing on the screen, she froze. In fact, there was a split second where she didn't feel like answering the call. She had told him that they would meet for lunch, but it was morning now—hours away from their agreed time. More importantly, she didn't want to risk upsetting Greg right then and there.
However, the phone kept on ringing. Greg glanced at her curiously and asked in a low voice, "Aren't you going to pick it up?"
"It's Hugh," she said frankly. She didn't want a misunderstanding to break out between them.
A dark look flashed in his eyes before he said nonchalantly, "Just turn off your phone if you don't want to pick up the call."
"I actually asked to meet him for lunch," Abigail said as she eyed Greg steadily, but she noticed that he had turned rigid in his seat. She quickly added, "I need to ask him about the incident that got you injured, and I want him to leave Harrion for good. If possible, I don't want him to step foot into the country ever again. I just don't want you to be upset knowing that he'll stick around here."
Greg's eyes softened slightly when he heard this. He was still grim, but not as grim as he had been moments ago. "Answer the call," he replied placidly.
Now that Greg had given her the green light, Abigail did not have to feel so bad about picking up the phone call anymore. Thus, she answered it and put it on speaker. NôvelDrama.Org (C) content.
"I've been ambushed, Abbie. I'm injured now, so where are you?" Hugh asked urgently on the other line, sounding somewhat breathless.
If this were the old times, Abigail would have rushed over immediately without question, and she might even have let him drop by her place so she could treat his wounds. However, she maintained an impassive tone as she said, "I'm sure the hospital can take care of the wounds for you. The enemy
wouldn't dare to strike you there when he could easily be spotted by anyone. I'm too busy to rush back at the moment."
Had Hugh not seen her and Greg walk into the burrito shack to have breakfast together, he might not have been so furious. However, he knew for a fact that Abigail was not at all busy, unless one considered chewing burritos to be an important task. She was refusing to help him because of Greg; she even asked that he go to the hospital to seek treatment instead, which angered him to no end.
"Abbie, if I go to the hospital as I am with this wound, I'll either get killed or arrested. Is that what you want?"
Upon hearing how devastated and miserable he sounded, Abigail felt her heart twist.
She had forgotten that Hugh couldn't just waltz into any hospital and demand treatment. When she thought about their upcoming lunch appointment and the things she had to tell him, she began to consider helping him now.
"Check yourself into a nearby motel and send me the location. I'll be over in a bit."
"Okay, I'll be waiting for you." With that, Hugh hung up the call. He wasn't sure if he could keep himself from lashing out at her if the call went on. Check myself into a motel? Am I no longer allowed at your place now?
A menacing gleam flashed in his eyes. He hailed a taxi to take him to Allie's Garden where Abigail was staying, and he promptly sent her the location.
After the call ended, Abigail distinctly felt the shift in Greg's mood. She looked at him meaningfully and explained, "There are some things that Hugh and I need to hash out, but I promise you this is the last time I'm seeing him, and I'll do everything in my power to banish him from Harrion so that you won't have to put up with him anymore, okay?"
Greg knew that if she was willing to go through with this, it would be a testament of her loyalty to him. She had chosen him over Hugh even though the latter had been her and the kids' safe harbor for years. As things were, he shouldn't be unreasonable and jealous, but he was still upset. This guy is declaring war against me, he thought glumly.
Before he could say anything, Abigail's phone chimed with a text; Hugh had dropped her the location.
When Greg saw that the location was sent from Allie's Garden where Abigail was staying, his eyes grew cold. "I'll go back with you," he said frostily.
Abigail did not decline his offer, but she did sigh inwardly. A direct confrontation between Hugh and Greg was exactly what she wanted to avoid, but it looked like that was reduced to wishful thinking now.
Well, I can't do much about anything at this rate. I'll just go along with this and see where we all end up, she comforted herself.
This turn of events had robbed her of her appetite, and she didn't feel like finishing her burrito anymore. "Come on," she said as she stood up, but Greg reached out to grab her wrist.
"Sit down and finish your food before we leave," he ordered. He didn't want her gastric issues to act up again, and he couldn't let her leave when all she had was a bite of the burrito.
She paused and muttered under her breath, "I'm not hungry anymore."
"Is that it, or are you just worried about him?" Greg asked her. There was clear accusation in his dark and smoldering eyes, making it seem as though her lack of an appetite was synonymous with her concern for Hugh. She couldn't help being amused by this, though she was exasperated as well.
"I'm sure you can be kinder, Greg. If you're worried about my gastric issues and you don't want me to go hungry, just come right out with it instead of pelting me with accusations. If I didn't know better, I'd
think you were jealous of Hugh."
"Bold of you to assume I'm not! Is it not obvious that I'm jealous? In case you missed it, I hereby declare it loud and clear—I am jealous. I'm angry, and I'm upset. What are you going to do about it?" He glowered at her like a petulant child after he said this with no small amount of frustration.
Abigail, however, found his behavior rather heartwarming. She reached out and buried her fingers into his hair before saying, "Okay, okay, I'll finish the food."
"Don't touch my hair! Do you think you can just touch a man's hair whenever you like? The nerve of you!" Greg ducked away from her hand as he snapped at her unhappily.
She found this jealous and indignant side of him absolutely adorable, and for a moment, she seriously wondered if she didn't have masochistic tendencies. After all, there seemed no other reasonable explanation as to why she loved seeing this somewhat brutish side of him.
"What are you looking at? Do I look like a burrito to you? Eat your breakfast!" With as much chagrin as one could channel into the act of grabbing a burrito, he repositioned it on her plate huffily.
She pouted and said, "You just touched my burrito with your hand."
"Are you saying that you're a germaphobe all of a sudden? This hand has touched you all over, but I don't see you complaining about it!"
Abigail swallowed the rest of her words. Okay, a jealous Greg is as insufferable as he is a force to be reckoned with. I'll just keep my mouth shut.
She grabbed the burrito and took a bite in silence.
However, her silence clearly aggravated him. It took him all but one second to snap, "Why aren't you saying anything? Oh, I bet it's because I'm not good enough for stimulating conversations, is that it?"
He was being so unreasonable that she couldn't help getting annoyed at him. He is just itching for a beating at this point.
She slammed her fist down on the table and warned icily, "Shut up! Are you done? Try snapping at me again and see if I won't beat you up!"
Greg clamped up at once. He took in her irritated expression, and for a moment, he felt his heart sink. "Now you're going to beat me up? Abigail, you have forgotten your place!"
She stood up and turned to leave without sparing the stunned Greg a second glance.
"Hey! You still haven't finished your burrito!"
She didn't even look back as she shouted, "To hell with the burrito!"
Greg tried chasing after Abigail as she stormed out of the shack, but the waiter stopped him. "Sir, you haven't paid for the meal."
Greg hastily pulled out a hundred in cash and told the waiter to keep the change before he hurried out of the shack after Abigail.
"Stop right there, Abigail!"
However, Abigail acted as if she never heard him as she cut through the crowd and onto the pedestrian walk. She was so set on walking away from Greg that she didn't even notice a van making a tight turn around the corner, and it was speeding over in the direction of the pedestrian walk.
Meanwhile, Greg saw this clearly.
He bolted forward and dragged Abigail back just as the van zoomed past. They rolled over to the side of the road, and they watched in horror as the van crashed into the bollard to the side of the pedestrian walk.
Abigail was stunned as Greg hauled her to her feet and checked her for wounds.
"Here, try moving around a bit and see if you're hurt anywhere," he prompted urgently.
Seeing him so worried for her made her feel all warm and tingly inside.
When he heard no response from her, he raised his voice. "Hey, I'm talking to you! What are you daydreaming about? Come on, move around a bit and see if you're injured anywhere!"
She found him incredibly noisy, but also incredibly sweet. Granted, he could be demanding and prideful at times, but that didn't change the fact that he was willing to give up everything for her.
As the thought crossed her mind, she rose to her tiptoes and cupped his face with one palm before kissing him on the cheek.
Greg froze, but he shoved her aside gently as he pointed out unhappily, "Don't think that you can kiss your way out of this, Abigail! Even when we're fighting, I'm telling you right now that you need to be careful when you cross the road. I won't be so forgiving the next time I catch you daydreaming while you walk!"
All of a sudden, Abigail's lower lip jutted out as she stared up at him resentfully, and seeing the tears glistening in her eyes made her look all the more heartbreaking. Then, she said in a choked voice, "You're so mean!"