Chapter 10 War Of Hormones

• Yasmin tugged at Matthew’s sleeve quietly as she asked in a low voice, “Why did you bring Mr. Holloway along?”
• Matthew raised a brow as he retorted in a slight whisper, “What? Are you unhappy to see him?”
• “No, I’m not!” Yasmin answered, wrinkling her nose huffily. She wanted to tell him that she was very annoyed about Lionel’s presence and that the sight of him reminded her of his awful behavior. Nevertheless, she didn’t dare to say it out loud. Lionel was someone that she couldn’t afford to offend.
• Serena had started fanning herself with her hands the moment she stepped out of the car. She whispered to Yasmin, “Oh my goodness! A man like Mr. Holloway can cause a war of hormones to break out in anyone! He’s almost like a biological weapon. If we didn’t get out of the car any sooner, I might have combusted and died on the spot.”
• Yasmin was of the same mind. Although Lionel was merely a lousy jerk with a sharp tongue and an aloof personality, she had to admit that he was an extremely charismatic person. Just standing there, he commanded the same sort of awe and attention as any young, dashing Hollywood star.
• Matthew overheard what Serena had mentioned, and his eyes narrowed into thin lines as he laughed. Then he leaned closer to them and whispered, “The next time Mr. Holloway pays a visit to the gym, I’ll let both of you know so that you can come and see the real biological weapon for yourselves!”
• At that moment, Lionel, who had been walking ahead of them, suddenly halted in his tracks. As he turned his head around slightly, his side profile looked menacing in the moonlight.
• It proved to be a stern enough warning—Matthew stopped his blabbering almost immediately. Yasmin couldn’t help but give Lionel a once-over. He did, in fact, have a pretty good physique. He was tall, with broad shoulders and legs for days, and even his shirt couldn’t hide the rippling muscles beneath it.
• Yasmin was too shy to take another glance. Instead, she looked down at her feet and continued walking until she suddenly recalled the matter with the coat. Turning around, she said to Matthew, “Oh, right, I forgot to return the coat to you yesterday. I’ve already sent it for washing. When I get it back from the laundromat, I’ll pass it back to you myself. Thanks for the help!”
• Matthew smiled yet again. “There’s no need to thank me. The coat belongs to Mr. Holloway. You should be thanking him instead.”
• Yasmin felt a little shocked, not to mention slightly suspicious. She hadn’t forgotten how Lionel had wiped his hands after they made skin contact yesterday; that man had the most severe case of mysophobia she had ever seen. How could someone like that have lent his clothes to someone else?
• She wanted to thank Lionel, but the thought of him glowering threateningly at her put her off the idea of doing so.
• The name of the restaurant that they arrived at was Smith’s Fine Western Cuisine. It wasn’t very big, but it had been decorated very tastefully by the owner. When Yasmin stepped into the restaurant, she noted immediately that almost all of the private rooms were full. Evidently, the owner was acquainted with Lionel and Matthew. When they entered, he rushed forward to greet them enthusiastically.
• After asking Yasmin and Serena what they wanted to have, Matthew ordered a few dishes from the menu.
• Lionel remained silent throughout the entire ordeal. He was fiddling with his phone, evidently busy with something. Yasmin was quiet as well—she still felt extremely awkward thinking about the incident that had happened in the car earlier. As she sneaked a peek at Lionel, she felt her face burn in shame. However, on the other side of the table, Matthew and Serena were engaged in conversation happily.
• The room that the owner had given them was rather cramped, and they were forced to sit at a long, rectangular table, two to each side. To her horror, Yasmin found herself seated next to Lionel, whose eyes remained fixed to his phone screen. Seeing as such, she had no choice but to entertain herself with her phone too.
• Following the incident in Lionel’s car the previous night, Yasmin was able to sense that there was something off between both of them. However, she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.
• She started to zone out as she stared at her phone screen, distracted. Suddenly, she heard someone rap loudly on the table. Turning around, she saw Lionel holding up a pack of cigarettes. He glanced sideways at her as he asked blandly, “Do you mind?”
• Before she could help herself, Yasmin shook her head. She watched as Lionel lit a cigarette and held it between his teeth in a great show of manliness. How gentlemanly of him to ask if she minded before he started smoking! Right now, he was nothing like the jerk that he had been in the hospital yesterday when he had teased her repeatedly; he was no longer the bully who had hidden her spectacles to mock her at the company.
• Feeling her gaze on him, Lionel turned around and stared at her. Through the cloud of smoke, her face appeared rather blurry— a veil seemed to have fallen over the brilliant orbs that she had for eyes.
• Silently, Matthew picked up his phone as he quickly snapped a photo of this scene. He then proceeded to open his Facebook account as he read through the hundreds of comments that had been left beneath his post. All of them were cursing him out, but he didn’t mind. He was extremely pleased with the chaos that he had created. Refusing to reply to any of them, Matthew uploaded the blurry pictures that he had taken of the happy couple in the car before he switched his phone to airplane mode.
• By the time Yasmin finally realized that she had been staring at Lionel, he had already finished smoking half of his cigarette. He continued to stare at her beadily, causing Yasmin to feel so uncomfortable that she wanted to dig herself a hole to jump into.
• She didn’t understand what was happening to her. She didn’t even like the guy! Why was it that every time they met, she felt a little tingle run through her skin?
• She knew she couldn’t let this continue, or people would begin to think that she was a very fickle-minded person.
• Thankfully, the dishes arrived at that moment. Although the restaurant’s food was excellent, Yasmin was in no mood to enjoy her dinner. All the dishes tasted bland and boring to her. At long last, she excused herself to pay for the bill as she ran out of the room immediately.
• Seeing that Yasmin had left, Serena felt obliged to follow after her. Soon, she left the room too, leaving Matthew and Lionel sitting together in silence.
• “Lionel, Yasmin’s a pretty great girl, isn’t she?” Matthew asked with a wicked grin on his face.
• Lionel refused to engage him in conversation. At that moment, his phone suddenly rang. Lionel looked down at it and frowned when he saw the caller ID.
• The moment he picked up the phone, a voice that was smoother and silkier than water spoke up. “Lionel, I’m looking for Matthew! Is that jerk with you?”
• “He’s looking for you!” Lionel shot a glance at Matthew as he flung the phone toward him.
• Before Matthew could even pick up the phone from the table, both of them heard a string of curses from the other end of the call. When the other party finally got tired of cursing him out, Matthew brought the phone to his ear. In a soft but urgent voice, the person asked throatily, “Is Lionel really in love this time? Tell me quickly, who is the girl?”
• Bang! Before he could finish asking, Matthew had hung up the call. “Finished eating, haven’t we? Let’s go!”
• Lionel’s eyes narrowed into thin slits as he glared suspiciously at Matthew.
• When they left the restaurant, they found Yasmin on the phone with someone at the door, while Serena stood beside her helplessly.
• “Yas, do you hear me? Did you hear everything that I’ve said to you?” Yasmin seemed to be on the phone with her mother, who sounded extremely agitated. Even from a distance away, Lionel could hear her shrill voice coming out of Yasmin’s phone. “This time, the boy is a lawyer who has just returned from studying in the States! He looks pretty handsome, and his family background is excellent...”
• Yasmin stopped her before she could continue. Sounding very hapless, she abruptly declared, “Mom, I don’t want to get married. Can you stop making me go on blind dates?”
• Her mother’s voice practically rose to a screech. “If you want me to stop, you should bring a boyfriend back for me to take a look at! Don’t think I’m unaware that you’ve been ghosting all of your dates! What about Mr. Lewis from last night? He’s running his own business, and he’s as excellent as a man can be. Why didn’t you take a fancy to him?”
• “Mom!” Yasmin exclaimed in exasperation. She turned around and got the shock of her life when she saw Lionel standing right behind her, his stare burning a hole in her face. Quickly, she clamped a hand over her phone as she whispered in a low voice, “Mom, I have to go. I’ll call you back later!”
• Before her mother could respond, Yasmin had ended the call.
• She didn’t know if Lionel had overheard their conversation, or how much he had overheard. All she felt was embarrassment at that moment. She opened her mouth to explain the situation to him, but Lionel merely walked past her as though she was invisible. Evidently, he had no wish to listen to her explanation.
• Yasmin’s mouth hung open awkwardly for a second before she laughed mockingly at herself. Once again, she had overthought the situation.