Chapter 127 Can Live On Only Air


    For a moment, James lost his tongue. He didn''t know what to say to Lawrence. In his eyes, Maria


    was a temptress who seduced his best friend.


    Eventually, James hung up the phone in silence. For the time being, he didn''t want to hear


    Lawrence''s voice.


    The light in his office was off, so it was a bit dark. James opened the phonebook on his phone and


    looked for Ethan''s number. As soon as Ethan answered his call, he said, "Let''s have a drink."


    "Okay. No problem, James," Ethan answered excitedly.


    James heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Ethan was a reliable friend. "I''ll wait for you in Leopard


    Club."


    "But James, my credit cards have been frozen. I can''t afford to buy you a drink for now."


    James couldn''t help rubbing his temple. "If you want me to unfreeze them, I''ll wait for you in the


    boxing gym," he said. All of a sudden, he felt like his fists were craving to hit someone.


    Ethan panicked at once, regretting that he joked on James. Of course, he didn''t want to be beaten


    up. "No. James, I don''t want..."


    "I''ll give you half an hour," James interrupted. He then hung up decisively without giving Ethan a


    chance to retort.


    Maria was discharged from the hospital even though she hadn''t fully recovered yet. She didn''t want


    to be alone in the hospital, so she dragged her unhealed body back to the hotel.


    After helping her lie down on the bed, Lawrence sat on the sofa and lit a cigarette. "With regards to


    the matter in yourpany, I''m afraid that James will know about it as soon as he looks into it," he


    said.


    The registered capital of Maria''spany was eighty million dors. But the truth was, it was her


    own money. Lawrence had nothing to do with it.


    "Don''t worry. He won''t," Maria replied. It seemed that she was not taking it seriously.


    She knew that James would definitely believe anything that Lawrence said. The eighty-million-dor


    investment didn''t matter to her. What she wanted was, James had to know that Lawrence invested


    in herpany.


    "You sound so certain." Lawrence was amazed by her confidence.


    "Of course!" Maria chuckled. "I''m not saying that I know James very well. But at least, I know him


    more than others do."


    "Okay, if you say so. Well, I''m leaving now. Just call me if you need anything."


    "Nothing really. I just need you to try your best to convince James that we are really in love with


    each other. Whenever he shows up in front of me, you muste to me."


    "Yes. I know what to do," Lawrence replied with a nod before walking towards the door.


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    Ethan met James in the boxing gym. But he was not beaten because he was smart enough to hire


    someone who matched James'' boxing skills to fight with James.


    After an hour, James went to the shower room, panting. Ethan followed behind him. "James, I heard


    that Maria is injured. I want to see her. Want toe with me?"


    Ethan had heard the news from Lawrence.


    Earlier, he called Lawrence for some business matters. Lawrence had mentioned to him that Maria


    was injured.


    It was true that he wanted to see Maria. But his main purpose was to bitch about James in front of


    her.


    "No," James refused decisively.


    Ethan didn''t insist. He just nodded and said, "Okay. Please lend me some money. I need to bring a


    gift if I''m going to visit a patient, right?"


    "Go ahead. Just send the bill to me," James replied.


    Ethan couldn''t help heaving a sigh. Now he understood what was going on. It seemed that James''


    anger on him wouldn''t disappear that easily unless he got beaten up.


    Ethan thought for a while. Then he decided to ask Maria first if she could reactivate his frozen credit


    cards. If she could, then he didn''t need to be beaten up by James. But if she couldn''t, he would


    return to James so James could beat him up.


    His eyes lit up with the idea, and his mood lightened.


    Ethan casually waved his hand to James and left the boxing gym right away.


    Looking at Ethan''s receding back, James wondered what was going on in Ethan''s mind. A trace of


    doubt shed through his eyes. He had expected that Ethan would keep pestering him to reactivate


    his credit cards. That was what Ethan normally did to him. Ethan would always negotiate with him


    by all possible means. But today, Ethan left so decisively. He couldn''t help wondering why. When


    Maria opened the door of her hotel room and saw Ethan, she knew what he was going to say.


    Besides, his intive expression had already told her.


    To stop him from whining, she spoke first. "It was my fault that I deceived you. I''ll make it up to you


    in the future."


    Ethan snickered, followed Maria inside, and said, "Maria, don''t worry too much about it. I just felt a


    little wronged. How are you feeling? Who dared to hurt you like this in H City? Didn''t James avenge


    you?"


    Ethan only knew that Maria was injured, but he didn''t know the whole story. Lawrence didn''t tell him


    the details.


    "James wanted to kill me. Who else do you think was capable of doing this to me?" Maria replied


    with amusement.


    Ethan gaped with incredulity. "No way! There must be a misunderstanding."


    He couldn''t figure out why James would want to kill Maria.


    Maria leaned against the chair, looked at Ethan, and asked, "Didn''t James tell you?"


    "Nope." Ethan shook his head, still in a daze.


    Maria smiled. She then changed the topic. "There are some fruits on the table. Help yourself."


    Ethan paid no attention to the fruits as he was not interested in them. Instead, he took out a little


    doll from his pocket and handed it to Maria. "I wanted to give you a huge sum of money as a gift,


    but all of my credit cards were frozen by James because of what we did that evening." Maria looked


    at the pink doll and asked, "What is that?"


    "This is the hidden version of Khaki blind box. One doll is worth tens of thousands of dors. Since


    I''m fortunate enough to get one, I want to give it to you as a gift." Ethan had actually bought a pirate


    version of the blind box.


    But for him to join in the shop''s promotion, he took another two hot-selling Khaki blind boxes. As a


    result, he got the hidden version, which was supposed to be very hard to get in the market.


    Maria took the doll and had a closer look. It was exquisite. It had long golden hair, dressed in a pink


    princess dress and crystal high heels. It instantly reminded her that she was still a young girl at


    heart.


    "I heard that it''s handmade, but I don''t know much about it. I don''t like dolls, after all. I think it''s a girl


    thing. You can put it in your room," Ethan added.


    "Thank you." The doll was so beautiful that Maria couldn''t stop herself from liking it.


    Ethan sat down in the armchair and looked around the room. "Why are you still staying here?


    James hasn''t bought you a house yet?"


    "I prefer to stay here. It''s cozy."


    "Well, as long as you are happy. But I''m a little unhappy. " Although Ethan knew that Maria might


    not be capable of helping him now, he still wanted to give it a try.


    With amusement in her eyes, Maria put the doll aside and asked, "Tell me. How much trouble did I


    get you in?"


    Since James didn''t let her and Qin Group go, he might not let Ethan go either.


    "Do you know that James has frozen my credit cards for six months? It means that I can live on only


    air for half a year." As if he had found a confidant, Ethan told Maria everything pitifully with tears


    welling up in his puppy eyes.


    The truth was, there was one thing that had been bothering Maria for a while. So she took the


    opportunity to ask, "Ethan, what is your rtionship with James?" There was a stern look on her


    face when she asked the question.


    It wasn''t that she was suspecting that they had an affair. She was just curious about their real


    rtionship.


    "Just as you can see, we are best friends," Ethan answered casually.


    Maria stared at him for a while. She could tell that he was not lying. Eventually, she epted his


    answer. Maria had always felt that James was extremely good to Ethan. He treated Ethan the way


    he treated Cooper. "Since you are James'' best friend, did you attend our wedding before?" she


    asked again.


    At that time, she didn''t know Ethan yet, so she was not sure if he had attended their wedding or not.


    "No, I didn''t. I was still a high school student at that time, and I was working hard at school. James


    was also busy back then. We were not that close yet when you two got married."


    She nodded in understanding.


    When Ethan noticed that Maria seemed to be deep in thought, he said, "You have asked me so


    many questions. Will you help me or not?"


    "Ethan, I really want to help you. But as you can see, I can''t even protect my own self now. If you


    want me to put in a good word for you in front of James, I''d rather lend you some money instead."


    "No way! No matter how difficult my situation is, I won''t ever borrow money from a woman," Ethan


    refused at once. He was a man of integrity. He has a backbone.


    Actually, his sry was more than enough to support his own family. But he used to be sovish


    and spent his money carelessly. He didn''t have any savings at all. This bad habit of his brought him


    into this mess now, wherein he couldn''t even support himself.


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