Chapter 25: Are You Kidding Me?
Cathryn took her phone and looked at the picture, and started reading the article about Flower Island.
In the small piece, there were several pictures of the paintings and information about the Island. She pointed to an eight-million-dollar painting, and at a five-million-dollar painting, Cathryn said to Grace, "These are like the two paintings hanging in my room."
Then Cathryn handed the cell phone back to Grace and grinned at her. Her teeth were covered with dark chocolate, making her look a bit funny. Grace was shocked by her words, but looking at her friend's face, which was so sweet and innocent, she wanted to smear cake all over it to match her teeth.
Finally, she sighed and said, "This time, it is your treat."
"But I have no money with me," Cathryn said honestly.
"Are you kidding me?" Grace asked. The two of them teased each other for a while, and then Grace suddenly became serious and asked a question that Cathryn had asked Keith. It was not because she had read too many romance novels, but in fact, in the news industry, she had made contact with a lot of people. Many of these people were from wealthy families.
When it came to the matter of a child, these people were only concerned with blood relations. Meaning they would have nothing to do with the child's mother. Therefore, most of the disputes that happened in wealthy families were related to the custody of the children.
Grace's worries were based on facts, so Cathryn carefully repeated what Keith had told her, which made Grace wonder. "Could it be that..." Grace said, looking away, and then she stood up and came closer to Cathryn. The women sitting next to them picked up their coffee, looked away, and immediately stopped whispering. They had been glancing and sneering at them the whole time.
Grace selected a magazine from the bookshelf and then returned to her seat.
Cathryn was still eating the cake and saw Grace frowning while she was looking at the magazine. Then she bowed her head and looked at the cover of the magazine. There were several tall, handsome elite men in suits.
The name of the magazine was PLUTOCRAT. The title of the magazine was pretty much self-explanatory because it was a first-class financial magazine and a first-rate upper-class social gossip magazine. Every issue of the magazine featured the particular subject of a wealthy bachelor. They were not only rich and successful but also very handsome.
The magazine was like a guide for wealthy families to find a suitable match for their daughters. Kind of like an arranged marriage.
"What is Keith's job?" Grace asked Cathryn. It was seen from Keith's manner that he was unlike any typical second-generation family who would have spent their money chasing after girls. Grace thought he must have a well-paid job as he seemed to exceed the standards set forth by the company.
"His job is to code." Cathryn subconsciously felt somewhat nervous at Grace's grave face and asked, "What's the matter?"
PLUTOCRAT recently featured a unique topic about the IT industry. On the first page, which was a special edition, was an exclusive interview with Jeremy Fox. Saying he is the vice-president of Stark Industries. As she was flipping through several more pages, there were photos of all the unmarried top management employees. They all worked in the front-end company of the IT industry.
Briefly looking through the whole magazine, Grace still couldn't find any information about Keith, and her heart began to sink as she searched through the pages.
"Keith was so rich, but he didn't appear in any of these articles. Why? It doesn't make any sense." Grace kept thinking, and then she wondered if... "It couldn't be, this magazine is about bachelors, and it doesn't have Keith in it. Could it be?"
Closing the magazine, Grace gave Cathryn a serious look and asked, "Have you ever asked Keith if he is married?"
"It's impossible." Going over everything that happened with her in Keith in her mind, Cathryn widened her eyes and said, "When we first met, the second choice he asked me was to get married and raise the baby together."
Then Cathryn took the magazine from Grace's hands. After looking through several pages, she looked up at Grace and said, "Is this magazine authentic? Is all the information accurate?"
After questioning the authenticity of the magazine, Cathryn was still in a bit of a fluster. Her ex-husband had an affair, so she had a taste of the pain from a broken marriage, so she hated mistresses. There was no way that she could be involved in another broken marriage. She had to know.
"Don't worry." Grace had realized that she had been too impulsive and wasn't thinking clearly. She reminded Cathryn, "Just ask Keith after you go back home."
After a sudden change of atmosphere between the two of them, the women at the next table heard some of their conversations and started to gossip and snicker even more.
The woman who had said Cathryn was dressed in cheap clothes said in a voice dripping with sarcasm, "Just a mistress, is there anything to show off now?" There was always a group of people in the world who were jealous and resentful when they saw other people who they thought might be just a little more important or better off than they were. Their piercing eyes were looking at Cathryn and Grace.
Cathryn was still thinking about the things that had happened between her and Keith. She thought about the massage room, the baby's room, the room filled with all the food... all these things in her bedroom might have been used by his wife, so the equipment wasn't Cathryn's at all, it was hers.
She started to feel resentment towards Keith. She imagined the damage that Jordan and Athena did to her when he proposed to her and the crime of her having had sex with Keith that night. It was adultery. What about his wife? What if she finds out. Cathryn thought she was a sinner.
When Cathryn was thinking about everything that had just happened, Grace had already stood up and walked over to the woman.
She smiled warmly at them and said, "Thanks so much for your insight. I hope you have a wonderful day!" She knew they were just trying to humiliate Cathryn and get any kind of reaction from her. The women were stunned.