A Call That Changed Her Entire Life

Chapter 341 Who Is Being Impolite

"Umm? Who were you going to call?" Beryl stared at the mobile phone screen and asked curiously.

Emily was afraid that Jacob would answer the phone call and hear Beryl's voice, so she reached for her phone quickly, hoping to cut the call as soon as she could. "Beryl, stop it! Give the phone back to mommy. Do you hear me? Come on, don't be so naughty!" Emily scolded anxiously.

"Nope," Beryl disobeyed her order jauntily. Having noticed the cared look on Emily's face, Beryl began to giggle. She hid the cell phone behind her back and made fun of Emily, "Mommy, why are you so nervous?

Who are you calling?"

Tiny beads of sweat appeared on Emily's forehead as the thought of Jacob answering the call loomed over her head. Emily's stomach knotted up, and she urged, "Beryl!"

Afraid of her mother's anger, Beryl made a face to Emily and gave her the phone back. "You're such a snowflake, mommy," Beryl groaned.

"I'm not angry because you took my cell phone, but because you are being impolite. You see?" Emily scolded. Just when Emily was about to cut the call, she was surprised by the familiar sound of a man's voice from the cell phone. That low and pleasing voice. She was so familiar with it!

"Who is being impolite?" asked the man on the phone.

Unfortunately, Emily was too late to cut the call and Jacob was already on the line. Flustered, almost immediately Emily felt her mind went blank for a second.

Jacob... Did he hear Beryl?

Beryl didn't notice Emily's anxiety. Her eyes lit up as she heard a man's voice on the phone. She opened her mouth wide and was just about to say something for fun, when Emily reached out and covered her mouth tightly with her hands. "Umm..."

Who was her mother calling? Why didn't she let her talk?

"Shh...Be quiet, Beryl, okay?" Emily pleaded in a very low voice, almost under her breath. Emily didn't loosen her hands until Beryl nodded her head firmly to promise. Relieved, Emily cleared her throat and responded to the man on the phone, "Nothing."

"Did you miss me?" Jacob asked with an expectant smile on his face.

Beryl, however, wasn't going to let Emily end her fun so quickly and easily. As if an idea had sparked light in her eyes, she looked at Emily guilefully and cried out, "Woof, woof."

Beryl barked like a dog deliberately to attract the man's attention. Emily tensed up immediately as she wasn't prepared for such a surprise. "A dog?" Jacob's curious voice resonated from the phone.

"Woof, woof!" Beryl was thoroughly amused by the frightened look on Emily's face, so she barked a couple of times again. Suddenly, the puppy rushed to Beryl excitedly as it heard Beryl's barking. The puppy ran around them and barked to respond, "Woof woof!" All at once, the house echoed with the barking of the dog and Beryl.

"Yes, I have two puppies in my house," Emily bit her lip and lied cravenly. Emily got upset with Beryl's disobedience, so while talking to Jacob perfunctorily, she bent down to pick up the puppy and placed it on Beryl's lap for her to play with.

Having no other choices, Beryl unwillingly quit the game and took the dog to the living room.

"Is it the dog Jack gave you?" Jacob asked inquisitively. Although Jacob knew that it wasn't his place to feel jealous, he couldn't help himself feeling a little envious.

Emily sensed the jealousy in his words, but she pretended not to notice it. Instead, she asked, "How did you know? Did you send some people to spy on me?"

"I sent them to protect you, not spy on you," Jacob corrected her gently.

"There's no need for that. Send them back," Emily rejected his request. Emily wasn't comfortable with the idea of someone hanging around her, especially to keep an eye on her, even if it was for her own protection.

Jacob, however, wouldn't compromise on her personal safety, so he ardently insisted, "Take it easy, I sent them to protect you only because I worry about you."

"I think you should worry about yourself, not me," Emily retorted as she thought of the perilous place Jacob was in now.

"Are you worried about me?" Jacob asked, exulted at Emily's concern for him.

Emily felt the temperature on her face rise, as she blushed at Jacob's words. Therefore, hoping to discourage Jacob, she denied his words instantly, "Not at all."

However, Jacob was too intelligent a person to be deceived by such feeble reasoning. He laughed with satisfaction and asked further, hoping to force Emily to confess her concern for him, "If you are not worried about me, why did you call me? Emily, you are still not good at telling lies."

"I...I just pressed the call key by mistake," Emily explained implausibly. She went back to the point and raised her tone for emphasis, "Send your people back. I'm quite safe here. Besides, I can take care of myself."

As a matter of fact, Emily was right. Compared to her, Jacob, who was in a war torn place, would have better use of people he could trust around him.

"You are lying once again," Jacob exposed her lie flatly as he realized that Emily was too stubborn to confess her feelings.

Emily realized that she had been foolish to lie to him because those men had most likely reported everything to Jacob already. She swallowed, trying to find a way to ease the tension. Her heart was racing so fast that it felt like it would pop out of her chest at any moment.

Embarrassed, Emily didn't know what to say. Fortunately for her, Jacob didn't say anything more. Both of them simply listened to each other's breathing on the phone and enjoyed each other's company in deep silence.

"I'm going to hang up," Emily calmed herself down and said coldly after a while.

Jacob's mind was pulled back to the reality by Emily's words. "Oh," he paused for a moment and continued, "alright, wait for me to come back. Good night."

However, Emily didn't reciprocate to Jacob in the same affectionate fashion, instead, trying to sound uninterested, she blurted, "Okay." Then, she waited silently for Jacob to hang up the phone. Little did she know that Jacob was not willing to be the one to hang up her phone call.

The next minute, they just waited awkwardly for each other to hang up. When Jacob realized Emily was still on the phone, he felt so pleased that he started laughing.

Much to her chagrin, when Emily realized that Jacob had succeeded in proving her concern for him, she jabbed at the phone screen and cut the phone call.

Emily looked blankly at the phone in her hands, embarrassed by her foolishness. When she drew her mind back to reality and turned around, she saw Beryl standing behind her and staring at her, with the puppy nestled in her hands. Sure enough, Beryl had overheard their whole conversation.

"Beryl," Emily said impatiently, "didn't I tell you to go and play with the puppy?"

Beryl instantly disregarded what she had said and asked, "Who were you talking to? Was it the man you kissed?"

"No, stop it. That's enough," Emily scolded. Emily couldn't figure out why her little girl would think about so many things that were beyond her age. She wanted to know where Beryl had been learning these new things.

Meanwhile, Beryl frowned with displeasure. She firmly believed that her mother was talking to her beloved "future boyfriend", so she was in no mood to talk to Emily. Her tiny little eye-brows furrowed, and then she turned around to walk back to her room with the puppy still in her hands.

Emily certainly sensed Beryl's sadness, but she didn't know what to say to Beryl as she didn't understand why such a little girl would have feelings of love and jealousy.

Emily walked over to the window to relax herself and let the cold breeze kiss her face. However, the silver, pearl-like moon hanging from the calm night sky reminded her of Beryl's sadness.

'Mommy is in love with my boyfriend! What can I do?' Beryl thought anxiously and sadly.

Having considered Jacob as not only her future boyfriend, but her actual boyfriend, Beryl was angry with Emily for kissing him and talking to him over the phone.

However, Beryl was just a kid, so even though she was overwhelmed with sadness a while ago, she fell asleep quite soon.

Meanwhile, Jacob was caught in deep thoughts after Emily hung up the phone.

He knew that the barking he had heard on the phone just now was not a real dog barking. It was more like a kid's imitation of the dog barking.

'Wait, a kid? Is it the kid that Emily had at that time?' Jacob wondered.

Confused and kind of excited, Jacob let his mind carry him away in deep thoughts of the kid.

The next day, in the afternoon, Emily was busy with her work in her office.

"Mr. Hess is one of the organizers of the Starry Night, and he is also one of the judges. He is an authoritative figure, but he is very strict," Emily's assistant reported all the information she had gathered.

Emily lowered her eyes, but she didn't show any emotions. "That's what I want. I appreciate those who are strict," Emily said flatly. Content rights belong to NôvelDrama.Org.

Emily knew that the stricter the judges were, the fairer the competition was. Emily didn't want to win the competition by disgraceful means, so the thought of a strict judge gave her the confidence and assurance she needed.

"Schedule an appointment with Mr. Hess as soon as possible," Emily ordered.

"Yes, Miss Cloris," answered the assistant.

As soon as Emily's assistant left the office, Emily's cell phone rang. She hesitated a bit after noticing the unfamiliar number on the screen.

Nonetheless, she didn't think about it too much and answered the phone. A familiar voice from the other side of the call rung in her head.

"Emily, do you still remember me?" asked the woman on the phone.

Emily could never forget Tina's voice, as if it were a curse she could never get rid of. Tina's voice was affectedly sweet, but also cold and sharp like a sinister viper. It lingered in Emily's mind and never dissipated.

"Yes," Emily answered coldly.

Of course Emily still remembered her! Not only did she remember Tina, she also remembered how brutally she had murdered her foster parents and how she insidiously planned to kill her! All the resentment Emily had bottled up for years was beginning to resurface.

"We haven't seen each other for many years. How about we meet for lunch or coffee?" Tina asked, sounding just like her old self.

"Sure! Why not?" Emily answered instantly as she was curious to know what Tina's intentions were.