Chapter 352 Drunk


    Continuing her cooking at hand, Maria curled her red lips and chuckled. "No need to thank me. I''m


    not as tired as you. Did you cancel your dinner appointment just so you coulde home?"


    "Yes, I did," James answered, nuzzling his face into her neck.


    Maria knew that if he hadn''t canceled his dinner appointment, he wouldn''t have been able toe


    home until after midnight.


    James gently kissed her on the cheek. When he was about to say something, the phone in his


    pocket began to vibrate.


    Maria tapped his chest with her elbow and urged, "Answer the phone."


    "Okay."


    James reluctantly let go of her and took out his phone from his pocket. When he saw the name on


    the caller ID, his face stiffened.


    He nced at the woman who was still focused on her cooking before turning around and walking


    out of the kitchen.


    When Maria turned around from the stove, she saw him slide the answer key and ask in a low


    voice, "How''s it going?"


    He must have gotten the answer he wanted, because he casually leaned against the wall with a


    mysterious smile. When he met the eyes of the woman in the kitchen, his smile deepened.


    Maria''s hair stood on end. She wondered who was on the other end of the line. Why did James look


    so happy over a phone call?


    Once James hung up the phone, he went straight to the bathroom as if nothing had happened.


    When he came back, he saw the dining tableden with six different dishes that Maria had


    prepared.


    A bottle of wine and a bottle of hard liquor were ced on the table.


    Maria gently opened the bottle of red wine first and poured some into two fancy sses. Then,


    taking a seat opposite James, she raised her ss in a toast and said happily, "James, thank you


    so much for your support for the research and development of our new product and, of course, for


    the venue for theunch event."


    He seemed to be in high spirits too. He kindly nodded and said, "My congrattions to you, Ms.


    Song."


    Maria smiled and downed the wine in one go.


    Then, she excitedly picked up some food for him and put it on his te. "Here, have a taste of the


    spicy crab with red wine sauce. It''s my specialty."


    "Sure." James ate the food she had picked up for him with relish. At this moment, his chest was


    threatening to explode from all the happiness he felt.


    "Try this one too! It''s made with goose and mushroom," Maria continued like an eager child.


    One by one, James had a taste of all the delicious dishes that she had prepared for him.


    By the time they finished their meal, Maria was a little drunk. Sometime during dinner, she had


    opened the bottle of hard liquor and poured a ss of that for herself as well. He gave her the


    sense of security that she needed to let herself get drunk around someone.


    Bit by bit, she started babbling because of the alcohol. Without saying anything to interrupt her,


    James listened to her grand blueprint with interest. "Do you know what my next goal is? My dream


    is for DS Group to be a listedpany," she gushed.


    "Well, it won''t be just a dream," James said sincerely, running his hand through her hair.


    "I don''t think it''s a dream, either. Oh, James, you really believe in me, don''t you?" It was obvious


    that Maria was really drunk by now. She was holding her red cheeks in her hands and staring at him


    fanatically.


    "Of course!" James had barely had any wine to drink, and he hadn''t touched the hard liquor at all,


    so he was dead sober.


    Later that night, Maria fell asleep in his arms,pletely drunk. Before dozing off, she vaguely


    remembered him asking her some questions.


    She tried her best to be on high alert, but her mind was out of control. She didn''t know what she had


    answered.


    All she could remember was that he had taken her to the paradise of joy several times that night.


    In fact, James had deliberately gotten her drunk and asked her several questions about Bob. And


    just as he had nned, she had answered each and every one of them truthfully.


    He asked, "Where was Bob born?"


    "At the OYT hospital in the US."


    "Why didn''t you tell me about his true identity?"


    "Because you''re a jerk!"


    "Bob is my son, isn''t he?" Of course, James had already known the answer to that. The result of the


    DNA test was exactly what he had suspected.


    "No!" Maria cried, lying in his arms. "He''s James'' son. But I won''t tell him!" She had let out a


    mischievous giggle after that, too drunk to see the look on his face.


    The next morning, it was almost eleven o''clock when Maria stirred from her deep slumber.


    This is property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    She shook her heavy head to sober herself up.


    Fortunately, the wine and the liquor that James had brought were of good quality. Otherwise she


    would have woken up with a splitting headache. She just felt some difort in her stomach.


    At the thought of James, however, she instantly became awake.


    The hazy memory of him asking her where Bob was bom suddenly returned to her. What had she


    answered him?


    ''Shit, I forgot everything!'' she thought, burying her head in her hands. She couldn''t help but be


    afraid that she had said something she shouldn''t. What had she revealed to him?


    Meanwhile, in the CEO office of HL Group, James was working on something.


    Standing in front of therge spotless French window, he slowly smoked his cigarette. There was a


    paternity test report lying on the desk behind him.


    After he finished smoking the cigarette down to the end, he opened the window for some venttion.


    A gust of wind blew in, flipping the document open. Clearly printed on the page facing up were the


    words, "As certified by our identification center, James Xi is the biological father of Bob Xi."


    "Maria..." he said longingly, shaking his head.


    He closed his eyes and thought of her beautiful face and yful smile.


    He would happily admit that he had been trapped by this woman.


    Just then, the phone on the desk began to vibrate. He grabbed it and saw that the call was from


    none other than Maria herself.


    ''Speak of the devil, '' he thought to himself with a fond smile. ''Is she calling to find out what


    happenedst night?''


    As soon as the call was connected, Maria said, "I was drunkst night."


    "True." She had been so drunk that she had said everything that she shouldn''t say.


    "Did I tell you any of my secrets?" she asked as casually as possible, as if she was flirting with him.


    "Do you have anything to hide from me?" James asked in reply.


    "Why would I? I won''t hide anything from you since we havee to this point," she said without


    skipping a beat.


    "Well, good to know." James smirked to himself. It turned out that the love of his life could sound


    convincing even when she was lying to his face.


    "I remember you asking me about Bobst night," Maria continued. Although she didn''t want to give


    anything away, she was so curious and anxious that she couldn''t help but ask him about it.


    "Really? I don''t remember that. Why would I ask you about him since you don''t know much about


    him anyway?" James replied indifferently, as if he was discussing the weather.


    "Maybe it was just a dream. I was so drunk that I can''t tell the difference," Maria said reluctantly.


    "That''s right." The smirk on James'' face grew wider.


    After a short pause, Maria said, "I have to hang up now. I have a bad stomachache."


    "What happened?" A hint of worry appeared between his eyebrows, and the smirk on his face


    disappeared.


    "Maybe I drank too muchst night," Maria said sulkily, lying back down on the bed.


    "Don''t go out today. Just get a lot of rest. I''ll call the doctor."


    "Okay." Maria had a history of gastric bleeding after drinking, so she thought it was best to just listen


    to him right now. After all, the difort in her stomach was getting worse and worse.


    In fact, her condition deteriorated so much that she asked John to take her to the hospital before the


    doctor arrived.


    When James arrived at the hospital, he saw John anxiously waiting by the door of the ward. Inside,


    Maria was sitting up with her back against the bed rest. Her face was pale and her lips were dry.


    With a solemn look, he quietly sat next to her on the edge of the bed, took her hand, and looked into


    her eyes. "I''m sorry," he said earnestly. It was his fault for getting her so drunkst night.


    In his eagerness to extract the truth from her lips, he had ended up hurting her and making her fall


    ill.


    Maria slowly opened her eyes and shook her head. "You didn''t do anything. I''m the one who kept


    drinking."


    "Well, I''ll make sure it never happens again," James vowed. From now on, he would take good care


    of her and stop her from drinking so much.


    Looking at the guilty expression on his face, Maria sighed inwardly. She really didn''t me him for


    her condition. It was only because she had been too excited after theunch event that she''d drunk


    so much, not to mention that she had mixed both wine and hard liquor at the same time.


    Now that she was in the hospital, James decided to personally take care of her. He worked on his


    laptop at the hospital and stayed with her all day long.


    But in the evening, there was a business-rted dinner party that he had to attend, so he had no


    choice but to leave her side for a while.


    Before taking off, he informed the nurse to take good care of Maria, and told her that he would be


    back soon.


    To Maria''s surprise, it had barely been a minute after James left before Norman walked into the


    ward.


    And he even brought Bob with him!