GoodRead"Dorothy, you're the only one for me." Everett could tell she was thinking of her father again, so his grip on her hand tightened without him realizing it.
Dorothy believed him, she really did. But she didn't want Everett to be set on just her.
Jeffrey was completely dumbfounded.
How on earth had he not figured out that the person Karen was chatting with on the phone was Kenneth, her cousin? Looking back, it made sense. Her laughter, the way she talked about crashing at his place, it all seemed so casual, lacking that coy vibe you get when talking to a boyfriend.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtIt was all his own doing — acting on impulse without considering other possibilities.
Now the question was, how could he find Karen? Irritated, Jeffrey kicked the living room couch and grabbed his phone to scroll through his contacts list in a frenzy.
Suddenly, it hit him that Karen had once mentioned working at The Prosperity Consortium! She was there with Dorothy before Everett had pulled some strings to get Dorothy transferred to the headquarters.
Jumping to his feet, Jeffrey started searching for the number of the manager at The Prosperity Consortium's local branch.
The phone was picked up promptly. The voice on the other end sounded deferential.
"Mr. Turner, what can | do for you?" "Have your HR department check if someone named Karen used to work at The Prosperity Consortium." "Absolutely, sir! I'll take care of it immediately." After hanging up, Jeffrey put down his phone, grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, and checked his phone again — still no new messages.
Stepping out to the balcony for a quick smoke, he returned to still find no update.
It shouldn't be this hard to find someone! As Jeffrey was about to reach for his car keys by the entrance, his phone finally buzzed.
He answered it instantly.
"Mr. Turner, there was indeed a lady named Karen on our records. She worked here but resigned years ago.” "Do you have her contact number? Any way to reach her?" "Yes, I'll send it to you right away.” A grin spread across Jeffrey's face, and he snapped his fingers without even thinking.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHe was on to something.
Dialing the number sent by The Prosperity Consortium manager, he was surprised to find the call connected — she hadn't changed her number.
As he watched the dialing screen switch to a call timer, ready to speak, a female voice beat him to it.
"Hello?" The voice was unmistakably Dorothy's.
"Hello?" she repeated.
Jeffrey was speechless, "Isn't this Karen's number? Why do you have her phone?" It took Dorothy a few seconds to recover from the surprise of hearing Jeffrey's voice, "She gave me her old number and I've been using it. What do you want with her?" Jeffrey didn’t answer promptly.
"Jeffrey, | just want you to stay away from my friend, alright? You do your thing, but Karen's not that sort of girl. And didn't you say it yourself that you are not marrying her? So don't waste her time or yours." "Everett just threw that question at me out of nowhere. | didn't have anything serious with her then so | certainly hadn't thought about marriage!" Back in the hospital, there hadn't been anything solid between him and Karen, so where did marriage come into it? But things had changed since then! "So what about now? Are you ready to marry her now?" Jeffrey ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. Dorothy's question caught him off guard.
He could easily lie, but on the other end of the line was Karen's best friend, and the girlfriend of his own best mate. How could he lie to her? "I... haven't figured it out yet." "| asked Karen. She doesn't like you,." Jeffrey was silent on this side.
"Just when Everett asked if you'd marry her, | asked Karen too. She said she's not into you."
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