Chapter 217 + 25 Bonus

The smile on Melody’s face faded as she looked at Juan and Debra. “If you two want to go out on a date, go ahead, but you must be back by tonight. It’s not right to spend the whole day out.”

“Understood,” Juan replied, his appetite suddenly vanishing. He stood up from the table and turned to Debra. “Go change your clothes. I’ll wait outside.”

“Okay,” Debra agreed, casting a glance at Hester as she rose from her seat. Hester’s gaze followed Juan, her eyes filled with an affection that spoke volumes.

Debra quickly changed her clothes upstairs. When she came back down, Hester looked even more despondent than before. Outside, Juan was already in the driver’s seat of his car, having prepared a seat cushion for Debra.

“Get in.” Debra slid into the passenger seat. Juan didn’t start the engine right away. Instead, he remained silent for a moment.

“Grandma is just worried you might not care about me.” “I know.”

Not naïve, she understood the dynamics at play. The Vargas family was just a small household, and with Melody’s high standards, she wouldn’t really favor Hester. It was only because Debra had been disobedient recently that Melody had used Hester to provoke her. The Vargas family depended on the Nichols family for money, so they would gladly send their daughter over.

“If you don’t like her, I’ll find a way to send her away,” Juan said.

“Even without her, there will be other women.” Debra shrugged. “Anyway, she doesn’t pose any threat to me. I’m not afraid of her.”

Juan pressed his lips together, leaning over to fasten the seatbelt for her. Feeling her instinctive flinch, he paused and proceeded with more caution.

“You’re afraid of me.” “No.” “Why are you avoiding me?”

She had acted like this when she woke up earlier. He couldn’t understand what he had done to make Debra so scared of him.

Debra frowned. “You’re overthinking. I’m just not used to it. There’s no other meaning.”

“It’s okay. I’ll help you get used to it,” Juan replied before he started the engine and pulled out of the driveway.

They were not heading towards the Nichols Group. Debra belatedly asked, “Where are we going?”

“To go shopping.”

“With the current situation at the Nichols Group, shouldn’t you be handling things at the company rather than taking me shopping?”

She found it hard to believe. Recently, the McKinney Group’s pressure on the Nichols Group was at an all-time high, and Juan should be focused on handling the situation at hand.

Juan’s phone rang, disrupting their conversation. Joe’s name flashed on the screen. Juan hung up, but Joe called again shortly after. Juan simply turned off his phone, but Debra called out, “Pull over.”

“What’s wrong?” Juan asked.

“Pull over to the side,” Debra repeated.

Juan was silent for a moment before complying, pulling the car over to the side of the road.

“If you have work, you should go handle it. I don’t need you to accompany me shopping.”

“I only have three months. I don’t want to waste any time.” He looked at Debra, his eyes completely sincere, pleading with her to understand.

Debra snapped back to reality. “Even if you don’t want to waste time, you should first handle…”

Before she could finish her sentence, Juan suddenly cupped her face in his hands.