Chapter 9 Part 2 The Charm of Love-2

Option 1: Tell everyone that Luke hasn't actually arrived yet, and that I made a mistake. This step will attract the blame of everyone, and they will be so scolded that they can't hold their heads up, and they will never want to show up in Worksshot again. Option Two: Quietly tell Mom and Dad that Luke didn't make it. Doing so will disappoint them terribly.They would be so ashamed, and the joy of the day would be ruined, and it would be all my fault. Option Three: Hang in there—wait until this whole thing is over before telling Mom and Dad the truth.Yes.This is a viable solution.That's the only way to do it.I was able to get everyone to believe that Luke was in here for an hour or so - before saying he had a migraine and had to get out of here and find a place to lie down and rest.

Well, just do it.Yes - act. You see, it was easier than I thought it would be.Before long, it seemed that people were convinced that Luke was here and somewhere.Tom's grandmother even told me she'd seen him and said he was handsome, and it was my wedding next.I told everyone that he was here just now and brought two plates of food from the buffet table—one for me and one for himself (I slid the other into the flower bed.) I Even borrowed a coat from some customer and put it on the back of the chair next to me, as if Luke had taken it off and kept it.The point is that no one can prove that he is not here! There are so many people walking around here, it is really difficult to determine who is here and who is not here.My God! I should have been prevaricating like this a long time ago.

"The group photo is coming soon," Lucy said, running up to me suddenly. "Everyone's lined up. Where's Luke?" "I'm talking about the price of the property with someone," I said without hesitation, "I was at the dining table over there just now." "Well, don't forget to introduce him to me," said Lucy, "I haven't met him yet!" "Okay," I said, smiling brightly at her. "I'll bring him to meet you when I meet him!" I took a sip of champagne, looked up - and saw my mom, in her striking green gown, walking towards me.

Oh my God.So far I've been trying to avoid her and my dad, running away whenever they come near me.It was a little too much for me to do this - but I knew I couldn't bear to lie to them.Immediately I ran out of the big tent, into the yard, and walked towards the bushes, carefully avoiding the photographer's assistant, who was gathering all the children and preparing to line up to take pictures.I sat behind a tree, drank the champagne in the glass in my hand, and looked up at the blue sky in the afternoon blankly. I stayed like this for several hours, my legs were also aching slightly, and the breeze blew, and I felt a coolness on my body.I finally stood up, walked back slowly, and got into the tent quietly.I can't hide like this anymore, have to show my face, get a piece of wedding cake, or pour another glass of champagne...

"Here she is!" came a cry from behind me. I froze, unable to move for a moment—then slowly turned away.To my horror, all the guests were neatly lined up in the middle of the tent, and the photographer was adjusting a tripod. "Where's Luke, Becky?" snapped Lucy. "We're getting all the guests lined up." Hell, really hell. "Hmm..." I faltered, trying my best to pretend not to care, "Maybe he's in the room?" "No, he's not in the house," said Kate, her maid of honor. "I was just in the house to look for it."

"Then he must be . . . in the yard." "But you came from the yard just now," said Lucy, her eyes fixed on me. "Did you see him there?" "Well... I can't tell." I hurriedly looked around the big tent, as if looking for him.There was no one moving about in the big tent by this time, which was bad enough.Why did they all stop and stop running around? "He must be somewhere!" said a woman with a big smile on her face. "Who saw him last?" There seemed to be a deathly silence, and the eyes of more than two hundred people were looking at me.I saw my mother's anxious eyes, and I quickly looked away.

"Actually..." I cleared my throat, "I remember, he said he had a headache! Maybe he went to-" "Who actually saw him?" asked Lucy, interrupting me.She ignored me.She looked back at the line of guests. "Who can say that he did see Luke? Mr. Brydon himself? Anyone?" "I've seen him!" A trembling voice came from behind, "What a handsome young man..." "Except Tom's grandmother," said Lucy, rolling her large eyes, "who else?" There was another suffocating silence. "I've seen his morning coat," Janice said timidly, "but not . . . him," she added in a low voice.

"I see. I see it all!" said Lucy, her voice high and triumphant. "He's never been here, has he?" "Of course he did," I said, trying to sound as confident as I could. "I think he was—" "You're not friends with Mr. Luke Braden at all, are you?" Her voice echoed in the big tent. "You've made it all up! You're living in a pathetic fantasy world of your own making!" "No!" To my own surprise, my voice also raised, and I felt tears welling up in my eyes again. "No! Luke is talking about friends with me!"

I saw all eyes on me—some hostile, some surprised, some secretly amused—and I wasn't even sure of myself.I mean, if we were talking about friends, he should be here with me, right? He should be here with me. "I'm just..." I said tremblingly, "I'm going to see if he..." I didn't dare to look at anyone's face, and ran out of the big tent in a hurry. "What a liar she is!" I heard Lucy say behind me. "Honestly, Tom, she's a horrible person!" "You're the scary one, young man!" I heard my mother retort, her voice trembling a little. "Janice, I don't understand how you allowed your daughter-in-law to be so rude and mean! Becky has been so nice to you all these years. And you, Tom, stand there and pretend it's all As if it had nothing to do with you. You're treating her like this. Come on, Graham, let's go home!"

Then I saw my mom coming out of the tent, my dad following her, her bright green hat dangling on her head.They walked towards the driveway in front of their house, and I knew they were going back to their own house, to make a pot of tea for themselves, and drink slowly to calm down. I didn't go home with them.I really don't feel ashamed to see both of them at this moment - anyone.At this moment, I want to be alone for a while quietly. I walked forward quickly, staggering a little along the way, to the other end of the yard.Here, away from the wedding crowd, I sat down on the grass with my head in my hands - for the first time today, I felt tears welling up in my eyes.

What a happy day this was originally, what a happy and happy moment.Seeing Tom getting married and starting a family, introducing Luke to my parents and all our friends, dancing until late at night...however, now everyone is in a bad mood.My mom, my dad, Janice, Martin... I even feel sorry for Lucy and Tom.I mean, they wouldn't want that twist in their wedding after all, would they? I sat on the grass, motionless, with my eyes on the ground.From the big tent came the sound of the band playing, and Lucy's high voice was directing everyone this and that.The kids were throwing beanbags in the yard, and the beanbags were occasionally thrown close to me, but I sat still.I wish I could just sit there forever and never see any of them again. At this time, I heard someone calling my name, softly, from the other side of the grass. At first, I thought Lucy was right, I was hearing the voice in my hallucination.But I still raised my head, my heart skipped a beat, something blocked my throat.I can't believe my eyes. It's him. It's Luke.He hurried towards me across the grass, as if in a dream.He was in his morning coat, with two glasses of champagne in his hand, and I had never seen him look so handsome. "I'm so sorry," he said as he walked up to me. "I'm so sorry. Four hours late... well, that's unforgivable." He shook his head. I looked up at him, dazed.I almost believe Lucy's words, he exists only in my imagination. "Are you... delayed?" I finally asked. "A passenger on the plane had a heart attack. The plane had to be diverted..." He said, frowning, "But I sent a text message to your mobile phone as soon as possible. Didn't you receive it?" I fumbled for my phone, realizing to my chagrin that I hadn't checked it in a while.The sign indicating that there is a short message on the screen of the mobile phone is indeed blinking cheerfully. "No, I didn't get it," I said, staring blankly at the phone screen, "I didn't get it then. I thought..." I sobbed and shook my head.I can't remember what I was thinking.Did I really ever think he didn't mean to come at all? "Are you okay?" Luke asked, sitting down on the grass beside me and handing me a glass of champagne.He gently touched my cheek with his fingers, and I flinched back in shock. "No," I replied, rubbing my hand over my cheek. "Since you asked me if I was all right, I'll say I'm not. You promised to come. You promised, Luke." "I'm here." "You know what I mean." I put my arms around my knees, heartbroken. "I want you to arrive early and attend the church wedding ceremony together, not to be late and not show your face until the whole wedding banquet is over. I want everyone to see you and see us together..." I His voice was a little choked up, "This is really... terrible! People are thinking that I have a crush on the groom—" "Looking at the groom?" Luke asked in disbelief. "You mean that pale, silly boy named Tom?" "Yes, it's him." I looked up and couldn't help but chuckle when I saw the expression on Luke's face, "So, you saw him?" "I just met him, and his plain ugly wife, what a treasure." He took a sip of his champagne, leaning back on his elbow. "By the way, when she saw me, she seemed to be taken aback. It was almost...you could say she was at a loss. Many guests also looked like that." He looked at me in confusion, " Becky, is there anything you should let me know?" "Um..." I cleared my throat, "Um...it's really nothing. Nothing important." "I think so," Luke said. "As I walked into the marquee, the bridesmaid blurted out, 'Oh my God, there's someone like him!' She was like..." "Baking," I said without moving my head. "Yes." He nodded, "Check for strangers." He reached out to take my hand, and I let him hold it obediently.We sat quietly on the grass without speaking.A bird flies above our heads, and a band in the distance is playing "The Lady in Red." "Becky, I'm so sorry for being late," his tone suddenly became serious, "but there's really nothing I can do." "I know," I let out a quick breath, "I know. You couldn't help it at the time, it was that kind of accident." Then, we were silent for a long time. "This champagne is really good." Luke finally said, taking another sip. "Yes," I said, "this wine...is very good. It's good...not too sweet..." I stopped talking and wiped my cheeks, not wanting him to see the tension in my heart. I wanted to sit on the grass and chat with him casually, but I was thinking in my heart, what's the point of delaying talking about business? I just want to make one thing clear.I felt a spasm in my stomach, but still took a deep breath and turned to face him. "Okay. How was your meeting in Munich? What about the new business . . . ?" I tried my best to keep myself calm and focused, but I still felt my lips trembling slightly, and my hands were clasped together, fingers tangle. "Becky..." Luke said.He stared at the champagne glass in his hand, and after a while put the glass on the ground again, looking at me. "I have something to tell you. I'm going to work in New York." My whole body was cold, like a heavy burden on my shoulders.So this is the end of this day of calamity.Luke is leaving me.This is the end.Everything is over. "Really," I forced out a word and shrugged nonchalantly, "I see, um--okay." "I do, do hope..." Luke took my hands and squeezed them tightly, "...you'll come with me." Royal Air headquarters 354 Kingsway Street, London WC2 4TH Preston Building To: Ms. Rebecca Bloomwood Unit 2, 4 Burnie Road, London SW6 8FD Dear Miss Bloomwood: Thank you very much for your letter of September 15th. I am very pleased to know that you will be traveling with our company and I have highly recommended our company to your friends.I totally agree with what you said, for an airline like ours, lip service doesn't mean much. But it is a pity that you still cannot enjoy the "special preferential arrangement" as you said in terms of your luggage.Royal Airways cannot relax your checked baggage allowance beyond the standard 20kg. Any excess over 20kg is subject to your payment.Please see our company's instruction booklet attached. I wish you a pleasant journey with our company. Shun Zhi respect Customer Service Manager Mary Stevens September 17, 2001 PGNI First Bank Visa Department 7 Camel Square, Liverpool L1 5NP To: Ms. Rebecca Bloomwood Unit 2, 4 Burnie Road, London SW6 8FD good news! Your new credit limit is £10,000 Dear Miss Bloomwood: We are pleased to inform you that we have agreed to increase your credit limit.Your new credit line of £10,000 is ready for you to use and the balance of the credit line will be shown on your statement sent to you next month. You can use this new credit limit to spend whatever you want, such as going on vacation, buying a car, or even transferring balances to other cards. However, we also know that some customers do not wish to increase their credit limit.If you also want to maintain your credit limit at the original level, please call our customer service manager, or send us the following form. Shun Zhi respect Customer Service Manager michael hunter September 19, 2001 ────────────────────────────────────── Name: Rebecca Bloomwood Account: 0003 4572 0990 2765 I am willing/unwilling to accept my new £10,000 line of credit. Please delete options according to your needs New York! I'm going to New York! New York! Everything has changed.Everything fell into place.That's why Luke has been so mysterious.We had a great talk on Tom and Lucy's wedding day, and Luke explained to me the ins and outs.Suddenly, it all made sense.It turned out that he was preparing to start a new New York company of Braden & Co., with some Washington advertising people as partners, and he was going to New York to work as the head of the new company.He said he had been waiting for the right opportunity to tell me and ask me if I wanted to go with him—but he also knew that I wouldn't be willing to give up my career just to live with him in New York.So - and here's the best part - he's connecting with some acquaintances in the TV industry, and he thinks I'm a perfect fit for a place in the US TV show business as a financial accounting expert! In fact, he says I'm going to "be popular" ” because Americans love British accents.Also, one of the producers actually agreed to give me a job after seeing a tape of a show I did that Luke gave him. He'd kept his mouth shut about it before because he didn't want me to expect too much before it happened.But now, it seems that all investors are in place, and everyone is very active, hoping to settle this matter as soon as possible.He said there were already many potential clients waiting there, and his new company hadn't even opened yet. Guess what else? We're headed to New York in three days! Haha! Luke's going there to meet some supporters - and I'm there to meet some people from the TV world while touring the city.OMG, that's exciting.After 72 hours, I was there.In the Big Apple.The city that never sleeps.That-- "Becky?" Oh hell.I suddenly came back to my senses with a big smile on my face.I was doing a live broadcast of "Morning Coffee" at the time, and I was answering calls from viewers. On the line, there was a lady called Jane from Lincolnshire who said she wanted to buy a house but didn't know what to do. What kind of mortgage. Oh my god.How many times have I gone to the trouble of explaining amortization plans and life insurance mortgages? Life insurance mortgages: money from life insurance that pays off a mortgage on a home. ——The difference between translation and annotation.You see, my job can be very interesting sometimes, listening to the audience's narrative, analyzing the problems they encounter, and helping them solve them.But sometimes it can be tedious, like writing articles for "How to Save Money."I mean, what's the mortgage thing again? I really want to yell, "You didn't watch last week's show?" "Well, Jane," I said, trying not to yawn, "mortgages are a delicate subject." As I spoke, my mind wandered back to New York, thinking about it.We'll have an apartment in Manhattan.In some coveted Upper East Side upscale apartment complex—or somewhere fashion-forward in Greenwich Village.Oh my! This is amazing. To be honest, I haven't thought about Luke living with me in...a long time.I think if we had stayed in London it was likely that we would never have lived together.I mean, it's a really big step, isn't it? The thing is, it's not the same now.Like Luke said, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for both of us.It's a fresh start.There are yellow taxis and skyscrapers all over the street, as well as Woody Allen and "Breakfast at Tiffany's". What's really strange is that even though I've never been to New York, I feel an affinity with it.For example, I’m a big fan of sushi – that’s invented in New York, isn’t it? If I’m at home at night, I always watch the TV series Friends , which won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy in a Serial Series in 2002 after nine years on the air. ——Annotation.I also watch the American TV series Cheers (Cheers) is a TV series that started in September 1983, and the word "Cheers" refers to a cozy and clean bar in Boston. ——Annotation (In retrospect, that TV series was about some anecdotes that happened in Boston, right? But anyway, it's the same thing). "So, Jane, no matter what you're buying," I said absently, "whether it's a duplex on... .that is……" I stopped short because I saw Emma and Rory looking at me strangely. "Becky Jane wants to buy a semi-detached house in Skegness," said Emma. "That's in pounds, isn't it?" said Rory, looking over his shoulder as if seeking support. "right?" "Yes, of course," I said hastily. "Obviously, I'm speaking figuratively. The principles are universal, no matter where you buy a house. London, New York, Skegness. . . . " "After this international comparison, I'm afraid our program has to come to an end," said Emma. "I hope our program has been helpful to you, Jane, and thanks again, Miss Becky Bloomwood." , our finance expert...do we have time to give our audience our final piece of advice, Becky?" "It's the same old saying," I said, grinning all over the camera, "mind your money..." "Money will regenerate money for you!" The TV colleagues present said in unison. "That's all for today's program," Emma said. "You are welcome to watch our program tomorrow. Tomorrow we will have three teachers from Teddington..." "...an interview with a guy who became a circus performer at 65..." Rory said. "...and a prize of £5,000 to be given on the 'Keep Guessing' show - guess well then! Goodbye!" For a moment, everyone was motionless—and then relaxed, and the music that signaled the end of the live broadcast came from the speakers. "So, Becky—you're going to New York for a while?" asked Rory. "Yes," I replied, smiling, "for two weeks." "That's wonderful!" said Emma. "How did you come up with the idea of ​​going to New York?" "Oh, I don't know..." I shrugged and said vaguely, "It's just a whim." I haven't told my colleagues on "Morning Coffee" that I'm moving to New York for work.In fact, it was Luke who told me to hold off for a while, in case things changed. "Becky, I have a question for you," said production assistant Zelda, who came into the studio with some paperwork in her hand and said, "Your new contract is drawn up, and I I want to go through it with you. There is a new clause in the contract, which is about maintaining the image of the TV station." She lowered her voice and said, "This was decided to add after the incident with Professor Jamie." "Oh, well," I said, pulling my face together in a sympathetic look.Professor Jamie is an education expert on the "Morning Coffee" program.Or, until the Daily World's series "Are They Really What People See?" published last month, revealing that Professor Jamie isn't a professor at all, he was.In fact, he didn’t even get a degree. All he had in his hand was a bought “University of Oxbridge” (University of Oxbridge): Britain has Oxford University and Cambridge University. One word in each of the words "Oxford" and "Cambridge" forms "Oxbridge University", which means fake famous brand university. ——Annotation of false certificates.All the tabloids were raving about it, running the story in a row, complete with a photo of him wearing the dork top hat during marathon telecasts last year.I feel really bad for him because he has given the audience really good advice and advice on the show. I'm a little surprised that The Daily World is so aggressive.I've written for the Daily World once or twice myself, and always thought they were pretty reasonable for a tabloid. "It won't take five minutes," Zelda said, "go to my office—" "This..." I said hesitantly.I don't want to sign a new contract at this point, do I? If I'm considering a new job, of course I'll have to put it off. "I'm in a bit of a hurry right now." Which was true, because I had to be at Luke's office by twelve o'clock, and then I had to pack my bags for New York. (Ha, ha!) "Can we wait until I get back?" "Okay," Zelda said, "no problem." She put the contract in a brown envelope and said with a smile, "have a nice trip. Hey, look, you've got to shop around there , buy something." "Store?" I said, as if I hadn't even thought about shopping. "Yeah, I think I'll check it out." "Oh, yes!" said Emma. "You'd lose money in New York if you didn't shop! Of course, I think Becky should teach us how to save money." She smiled happily, and Zelda smiled too.I smiled at them, but felt a little uncomfortable inside.The people on "Morning Coffee" sort of took it for granted that I managed my money well—and I, unknowingly, agreed with them.But I don't think that matters either. "Saving money and saving money is certainly a good idea..." I heard myself answering, "but I also often say that as long as you make a plan in advance and stick to it, you can go to the store once in a while and do some shopping. What a bad thing." "So you'll do that this time, won't you?" Emma asked with interest. "You've also made plans and budgeted for yourself?" "Oh, of course," I echoed without losing time, "it should be done that way." This is true.I mean, obviously I'm going to set myself a New York shopping budget.I'll set a realistic upper limit and stick to it.It's that simple.