Chapter 24 A Friends' Dinner
Chapter 24 A Friends' Dinner
Hannah ignored Susan.
She had now parked the car near the Heroic Restaurant.
Susan loved the restaurant’s dishes and no matter who she invited for a food gathering, she would
definitely go there and people who had no idea about that would think she was the restaurant’s owner.
Susan followed Hannah to enter the suite unhappily.
A man had been waiting inside, who was standing in front of a French window, looking like a prince.
Then he turned around to face them. A bland smile was shown on his face.
Hannah suddenly had this feeling that “Prince Charming” was the most perceptive description for him.
He was standing there exuding an aura of the prince of fairies, while he didn’t have Oscar’s strikingly
handsome looks, nor did he possess Charles’s pretentious gentleness and dignity.
“Been waiting long?” Hannah asked.
“No, I just arrived,” Manuel replied. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
“Let’s sit down.” Hannah said.
Manuel found a spot and sat down.
Meanwhile, Susan sat down farthest from him.
Hannah noticed that but she gave no response. And Manuel seemed to be clearly not affected at all.
After they were all settled in, the waitress came forward with deference and handed them the menus.
All of them were flipping through the menus at the same time.
“Manuel, it’s been a long time, is there anything you especially would like to try? These are regional
dishes from Kensbury City.” Hannah asked.
But Susan rushed to say before Manuel opened his mouth, “I supposed there’s no chilli abroad, right?
It’s a nice chance to eat chilli here.”
Manuel pursed his lips and did not say anything.
They knew each other’s eating preferences as they had grown up together. Manuel had moved to
Kensbury City from the capital at the age of eight. The food in the capital city was more towards
sweetness, yet the food here in Kensbury City tended to be spicy. Although he had been living here for
so many years, he still could not get used to the spicy food.
Now that he had left here for many more years, it was conceivable that he would not be more
accustomed to peppery food than many years ago.
But Susan ordered a list of dishes with heavy favor.
“Would you like to order some vegetables? We have…”
“I want all of them to be mixed with a lot of hot pepper!”
“Oh, alright. But Miss Phillips, the dishes you order all look a bit too spicy. I’ll suggest ordering a plain
vegetable soup…”
“Nah, please give me a beer instead.” Susan straightaway rejected the waitress’s kind suggestion.
The waitress was startled for a second and she said yes.
“Please hurry up, I’m starving.” Susan urged. She did not give anyone a chance to place their order.
Hannah saw Manuel had already closed his menu and he seemed to not intend to order other dishes.
She then returned the menu to the waitress too.
Three of them were sitting at the table. Susan was playing on her phone and did not intend to join
Hannah and Manuel’s conversation at all. She looked like an outsider.
Luckily the waitress served them the dishes before long.
Susan started indulging in her food excitedly.
Hannah took a few bites. She was accustomed to spicy food, so she could endure the spiciness. But
that was not the case of Manuel, he had never touched his chopsticks.
Hannah wanted to call over the waitress to place another order. Yet Susan took the words right out of
her mouth, said while pouring the beer, “I think I probably should have brought you a bottle of welcome-
home wine or something.”
Hannah glimpsed at her.
‘She knew Manuel was not good at drinking!’
Manuel took his glass and said, “Thank you.”
He started to drink with them.
Susan had tried to ignore Manuel in the beginning, yet she now became aggressive as she competed
in drinking with him.
“Eat something.” Hannah tried to stop them. ‘Manuel would collapse on the table if he continued
drinking like that.’
Manuel nodded his head. Hannah reckoned that he must had a upset stomach, and saw he pick up a
slice of meat with his chopsticks and bite a little.
When he swallowed the meat, he coughed with his face flushing.
Hannah immediately gave him some water.
Manuel drank some but he was still coughing.
“Why are you so weak? It’s been many years.” Susan teased.
Manuel held back his urge to cough and said, “I just choked.”
He picked another meat and ate it the next second. He did not show any change in expression this
time.
Susan did not say anything further and she enjoyed eating by herself as if there was no others beside.
Just then, the door was knocked.
Everyone turned around and saw Martina show up at the entrance. She walked in.
Susan felt annoyed. She had a good impression of her brother, Charles, but she disliked Martina from
head to toes.
When they were still at school, Susan and Martina were not in the same class, and Martina was her
junior. In the end, they had held grudges against each other somehow and they nearly got themselves
in a fight back then.
“Manuel, why didn’t you contact me when you came back? I didn’t know you’ve returned but if my
friend hasn’t seen you here.” Martina complained.
Manuel said with a little indifferent tone, “I just came back a while ago, I’m slightly busy.”
“Busy of what? Do you want to join the Phillips Bank?” Martina blurted out.
Susan was spooked by her question.
“No, I opened a small company with some friends, we want to start a business.” Manuel answered.
“Wow, you’re so different from someone, who relies on parents and knows nothing besides going to the
nightclub every day…”
“Are you talking about yourself?” Susan cut in her words.
“What are you talking about?” Martina snapped, “When had I gone to the nightclub?”
“Well, I have evidence for it.” Susan took her phone out. A picture on the phone showed Martina getting
drunk in a bar.
“Who’s this man hugging you? He looks quite handsome.” Susan commented while looking at her
phone. And she showed it to Manuel on purpose. “What do you think of this guy…hey!”
“Ah!”
Susan screamed out because her phone was snatched straightaway by Martina.
She burst with anger as she faced Martina, “Give me back my phone!”
A sneer crossed Martina’s face. She opened a small window and tossed the phone out into the river.
“Martina Sawyer! You bitch!” Susan was pissed off.
She went forward and snatched Martina’s hair.
Martina sensed a sharp pain and she grabbed Susan’s hair too.
Both of them finally started a fight that they did not manage to start back in school. It was too awful.
Martina probably could not bear with Susan grabbing her hair and she yelled, “Help me, Hannah !”
Hannah let out a grim smile.
Hannah had stopped her best friend a few times when Susan had had the upper hand in the fight with
Martina in her previous life since she was Charles’s sister, yet she won’t so it anymore.
Now all she needed to do is revenge.