Chapter 125: A Solo Is One Thing, But Don’t Taunt the Whole Group

Chapter 125: Chapter 125: A Solo Is One Thing, But Don’t Taunt the Whole Group

Then came a woman’s voice. "We had a class meeting over there, so we were delayed for a bit. Sorry about that."

At that moment, another female voice chimed in. It came from a girl sitting on the sofa. Her voice was slightly low but loud enough for everyone around to hear. "Caleb, is this your little girlfriend?"

The girl who had spoken then stood up and frowned at the crowd behind Rachel. "She brought this many friends? Can we even fit everyone?"

Her interest piqued by the commotion, Rian Sinclair picked up her glass, took a sip of wine, and tuned into their conversation. She raised an eyebrow at Wyatt Winslow. Wyatt took a sip of his own drink and threw his hands up, indicating he had no idea what was going on either.

Rian took another glance. They were all adults here; anyone could clearly see the hostility in that girl’s eyes toward Rachel. How could they not know what was going on between her and Caleb?

Among the new arrivals, there was a young man walking behind Rachel, holding hands with a girl. He didn’t have such a good temper. He immediately took two steps forward, stopped in front of the girl who had just spoken, and grinned.

"Meaning there’s not enough room? Fine! Then us brothers can just book another booth, can’t we?"

The young man was a Kyoro local with a very thick accent. Coupled with his sarcastic tone, it created a tense, volatile atmosphere that caused the girl to instinctively take two steps back.

Rian leaned back on the sofa, watching the scene unfold. Catching a live drama right after coming out was the perfect spice of life! She settled into a comfortable position, ready to enjoy the show. Noticing her friends leaning in around her, they exchanged glances, their eyes all reflecting a shared eagerness to watch the drama play out.

Suddenly realizing her step back made her lose face, the incredibly melodramatic girl gave Caleb a smile and said, "Caleb, your little girlfriend’s friends are quite something. People from Kyoro really are different. They book another booth at the drop of a hat. Truly extraordinary."

The veiled sarcasm in the woman’s tone caused everyone present to frown. Rian and her friends paused mid-sip. It was one thing to have a personal spat, but there was no need to insult the whole crowd.

Wyatt already had a short temper. He had just been enjoying the show, only to find themselves dragged into it. He immediately let out a light cough. "Let’s not paint everyone with the same brush."

Wyatt’s voice wasn’t loud, but it carried enough for those around him to hear. The person sitting at the head of the table also coughed lightly and murmured an apology to Wyatt.

The atmosphere chilled for a moment due to Wyatt’s interjection, but it wasn’t long before the tension was broken by the girl who had arrived late. Rachel Young spoke up, "Who is his girlfriend?"

Playing the peacemaker, Caleb stepped forward, frowned, and chided, "Joy Woods, don’t talk nonsense!"

By now, everyone else on the sofas had naturally noticed the commotion. One guy couldn’t hold back anymore. He looked at Caleb with an unfriendly expression and asked, "What’s going on?"

"It’s nothing, Stone. This is Rachel Young, you met her last time. These are her friends, I invited them to hang out with us," Caleb immediately smoothed things over.

The man called Stone still looked displeased. After all, Second Young Master Winslow had just spoken up. He frowned at Rachel and her group. "Since we’re all friends, why are you speaking so aggressively?"

The Kyoro local from earlier furrowed his brows, just about to snap back. He was a rich kid used to throwing his weight around. Why should he bite his tongue and let a bunch of nobodies lecture him?

But the very next second, Rachel stopped him.

"Enough! Caleb, what’s your friend’s problem? Her words are so annoying. If there aren’t enough seats, we can just book another booth. What’s with all the passive-aggressiveness?" Rachel’s expression wasn’t looking too good either. She cast a sweeping glance at the girl who had just spoken. After all, Caleb was the one who invited her out. What was the meaning of bringing a girl like this along? And having her speak so obnoxiously, to boot.

"We can definitely fit everyone. Joy was just joking around. Sorry about that, Rachel, I hope it didn’t ruin your mood." Caleb offered an apologetic smile. Seeing Rachel’s expression soften slightly, he gestured to the crowd. "Everyone, find a place to sit. I’ll go order another bottle of wine."

The people behind Rachel were all her friends. They exchanged glances; after an incident like this, every fiber of their being rejected the idea of hanging out together. However, not wanting to put Rachel in a difficult position, they eventually found seats and sat down.

Rian clinked glasses with the person next to her. She looked at Ruby Forrest’s tense little face and couldn’t help but smile. "Never been here before?"

"Never. My family has a curfew," Ruby smiled shyly.

Noel Sutton leaned in and said, "Rian, you might not know this, but the Forrest Family’s curfew was set up specifically to guard against Wyatt. This guy used to sleep during the day and stay up all night. Since their houses were close, Wyatt would always drag Ruby out.

"Not to mention when they were older, but when they were kids, he took her out to play at night and she was almost snatched by human traffickers. That’s why the curfew was put in place."

Rian hadn’t known there was such a backstory. To think she was almost kidnapped as a child while out playing, and they had to set up a curfew specifically to keep Wyatt away.

Seeing his own buddy expose his past, Wyatt couldn’t help but blush. He grabbed Noel and wrestled him down.

Ulysses Shepherd and Jason Rivers were also aware of the situation. It got to the point where it took a massive amount of effort just to get Ruby out of the Forrest Family’s house later on. Moreover, Ruby was terrible at lying. The moment she lied, her earlobes would turn red. Mr. Forrest saw through her every time and would outright ground her.

Ulysses coughed lightly and lowered his voice. "Actually, it’s not entirely Wyatt’s fault. Mainly, Ruby is just too easy to kidnap. Getting kidnapped while out with Wyatt was just one of the incidents."

Rian’s eyes brightened slightly upon hearing this. Could she possibly have a natural predisposition to being kidnapped?

"It’s a miracle she grew up at all," Ulysses explained. "When she was three, she was taken out to play and almost carried off by a trafficker. At four and a half, she was playing in the suburbs and almost got lured away. If it weren’t for her neighbor and the neighbor’s dog fighting tooth and nail to stop them, she would’ve been gone.

"When she was five, she actually was kidnapped. Her dad had to hand over five gold bars and a hundred thousand yuan just to get her back. When she was seven, she went out with Wyatt and got kidnapped again. They didn’t find her until they searched the neighboring city.

"Since then, the Forrest Family established a strict curfew. Ruby has to report everything before she goes out, and she has to have family bodyguards following her."

After Ulysses finished, he cast a subtle glance at Ruby and murmured, "Back then, Ruby’s personality wasn’t as obedient as it is now. If you told her she couldn’t go out, she’d insist on doing it anyway. She was as stubborn as a mule."

Speaking of which, Ulysses still found it somewhat unbelievable. How did the Ruby from their childhood turn into the soft and delicate girl she was today?

Listening to Ruby’s kidnapping diary, Rian couldn’t help but be amazed. Surviving this long wasn’t easy; her ancestors must have been kowtowing frantically in the underworld to keep her safe.

When Ulysses first heard about these incidents, he was also somewhat skeptical. After all, not even a novel would dare to write such a ridiculous kidnapping history.

Noel leaned over to join the conversation. "Talking about Ruby?"

Jason also squeezed in, resting his arm on Noel’s shoulder. "Noel, want to make a bet?"

Noel raised an eyebrow. "Bet on what?"

"Bet on whether those two will end up together."