Chapter 5

Leaving the restaurant, I decided to speed up the marriage process while Jason was still infatuated.

According to the schedule, Adrian should be about to expose me, so I planned to settle things in two days, racing against time.

Jason is usually most infatuated when he's drunk, jealous, and feeling guilty.

So I agreed to the class president's invitation to a high school reunion this Friday.

Conveniently, Jason had an unavoidable dinner engagement on Friday. His cousin, who he grew up with, had returned to A City from studying abroad, and it would surely be a night of wild partying.

With many beautiful women present, Jason wouldn't want me to go with him.

On Friday afternoon, I dawdled in the dorm, carefully changed my clothes, didn't wear any jewelry, just used a hairband to tie up my slightly curled hair. As I went downstairs, I ran into two junior students.

I heard them discussing: "That's Lily, isn't she? She really is pretty."

Such comments had long become commonplace. The beauty of a young body always presents itself doubly, but it's all just fleeting fireworks.

I took a two-hour taxi ride to A City. More people came to the class reunion tonight than I had imagined.

As soon as I appeared at the door of the private room, I heard the commotion inside.

"I told you she would come, but they wouldn't believe me," the old class president came over first, looked at me with a smile, and pointed out the reserved seat for me.

I recognized the boy sitting next to the seat, a cold academic achiever who I heard had already signed a very good job.

His face was slightly flushed with alcohol.

I went over and sat down without showing any emotion.

As usual, there was old classmate sentiment, as usual, there was the clinking of glasses, as usual, there was subtle showing off and discreet probing. Everyone talked about youth, about the future, and it was quite harmonious.

I sipped my drink slowly, controlling my alcohol intake. The academic achiever helped me fend off several rounds of drinks.

"That's right, if she drinks too much, Lily's boyfriend will worry," the class president said with a smile. The academic achiever immediately looked at me.

I timed it just right, ignoring their probing, and just reached out to hold my forehead: "My head is a bit dizzy. I don't want to drink anymore."

I needed this perfect slight tipsiness. Taking the opportunity to go to the restroom, I called Jason back. Sure enough, he asked why I didn't answer the phone. It was noisy on his end, like he was still at a drinking party.

So I said I was dizzy and whined for him to come pick me up later.

He immediately got a bit angry: "You've been drinking?"

In his mind, I had very low alcohol tolerance, he knew that.

The background noise from the phone was chaotic, with young girls' coquettish laughter.

"Aren't you drinking too?" I said and hung up the phone directly. I knew Jason would always come.