"That's true, the fly would have burned to death when she made the pancake."
"Yes, I didn't think of that before."
"We shouldn't blame them."
The tourists were all making comments.
"You shouldn't confuse the public. It may be that you made the pancake, and then a fly flew into it when you were wrapping it up." Felix felt that the situation was turning against him, and he was flustered.
"You're blowing smoke! Do you know how hot the pan that I use to make pancakes gets? People don't even want to get close to it. Do you think flies would come near it?" Nelly rebutted.
"Yes, it does get very hot. Every time I buy pancakes, I always stand six feet away."
"Flies aren't that stupid."
"It's the security guards that framed this couple."
The comments from the onlookers completely reversed, and they accused the security guards.
"Let me ask you... Have you ever found a fly in a pancake?" Lindsey asked the security guard. "My name is Lindsey Marvel, and the Washington, D.C. Tanuco Group belongs to my family. If you lie to me, the consequences will be very serious."
When the crowd of onlookers heard the beautiful woman say that she was a member of the Marvel family, they looked at her with awe and admiration. They also found her quite fearsome.
Lindsey was just trying to scare the security guard and make sure that Alex was treated fairly. She was usually a peaceful person and rarely got angry.
The guard became very worried. His face turned red and he started shivering.
Felix and Hunter were standing nervously beside him. They didn't know what to do.
"It's… It's not my fault… the chief asked me to catch a fly and frame them." The security guard broke down and admitted it. The Tanuco Group was well-known in Washington. It wasn't a good idea to offend the Marvel family.
Lindsey looked at Felix, and Felix's heart thumped and almost jumped out of his throat.
"It wasn't my idea. It was… It was Hunter who asked me to do it. Yes… he ordered me to do it." Felix was also afraid of offending the Marvels. Lindsey shifted her attention toward Hunter.
"Ah." Hunter was flustered. He quickly approached Lindsey and apologized, "I'm sorry, Miss Marvel. I just made up such a stupid thing because I was so confused. Please don't be angry."
Nelly sharply retorted, "Miss Marvel, don't believe him. This man ordered pancakes from me in Tillie square a few days ago. He refused to pay for them, and then he was going to beat us up. Fortunately, Alex was stronger than him, otherwise, we'd be in the hospital now."
Listening to Nelly expose his actions in front of Lindsey, Hunter felt like he was going to die.
"Hunter, is that true?" Lindsey asked him.
"Um." Hunter felt that his future was hanging from a thread. He didn't know what to say. He stammered, "Well, in fact, there was a reason for everything. At that time, I felt she was playing games with me. She later put shoe polish in my pancakes."
"Needless to say," Lindsey said, interrupting Hunter, "You must go back and tell my father to arrange a new job for you."
"Oh, no, Miss Marvel, please forgive me this once. I promise I won't make the same mistake again." Hunter pleaded with her and said in a panic that he didn't have a diploma or very much education. Apart from being a bodyguard, there was no other job he could do for the Marvel family. If he reported to her father that he had been dismissed by Lindsey, what would they do with him? It would be questionable whether they would continue employing him.
"It's not me that you should be apologizing to," Lindsey said.
"Yes, yes." Hunter went over to Alex and Nelly and anxiously said, "I'm sorry. Please accept my apology. I'm a big fool. I deserved to eat shoe polish."
Hunter scolded himself mercilessly in front of Alex and finally added, "I've scolded myself hard enough. You two shouldn't still be angry at me."
Hunter was just about to go on talking when he heard Nelly say, "What! We shouldn't be angry anymore? How can you say this so easily? You just slapped Alex twice. Why should we help you now by not being angry anymore?"
"As long as you two help me later, I'll let you slap me," Hunter said, extending his face in front of Alex. But Alex was no longer interested in playing along.
"Fight!" Nelly looked at Hunter's face and her hands itched.
"Forget it, I don't want to fight anymore," said Alex.
"You are kindhearted. I'd like to thank you for that." Hunter was overjoyed to hear that Alex didn't want to fight. How humiliating it would be if he were beaten up in front of so many people. He wanted to get his reputation back.
"Hmm, you're such a fool. I think you deserve to be beaten up by this kind of guy." Nelly told Alex.
She grabbed Hunter's ear with one hand, and said bitterly, "He won't dare beat me now." Just as she said that she raised her other hand and slapped him twice in the face.
Hunter felt the burning pain on his cheek. He wanted to hit Nelly with his backhand. However, when he thought that he would still ask Alex and Nelly to help him get his job back, he could only say that it was a good fight.
"Can you ask my lady for a favor?" Hunter was smiling, and his face was red and swollen.
"You want us to intercede for you? Oh, you're so special!" Nelly said with a proud smile as she stood there with her arms crossed.
"Oh, you—" Hunter swallowed the dirty words that had already reached his throat and said, "You've already slapped me in the face, and now you should help me."
"So, because I hit you, now you think I should help you… you shameless rotten man," Nelly scoffed.
Hunter wanted to punch her. He looked at Alex again.
This talent is Miss Marvel's friend. If he can speak up for me, Miss Marvel won't punish me, he thought.
"Sir, please help me beg for mercy," he implored Alex.
He thought Alex would be good at pleading his case, but he didn't expect him to stand there and ignore his words.
Alex was broad-minded, but it didn't mean that he was stupid. Hunter had a problem with his character, so Alex wouldn't help him.
"Well, Hunter, you don't have to say more. Just go back to my father," said Lindsey.
There was nothing more that Hunter could do. He walked away feeling dejected. All he wanted now was to come up with something clever to say when he met with the Marvel boss.
"Now that the problem is solved, can you make me a pancake?" Lindsey looked at Alex with a smile.
"I'll make it for you," Nelly replied. If it weren't for Lindsey, she and Alex would be miserable that day. Nelly looked at Alex and Lindsey, and she recognized that they were old acquaintances. She glanced at Alex again and went into the food truck to make the pancakes.
"Thank you. If it wasn't for you today, I really don't know what we would have done," Alex said to Lindsey with a faint smile.
"No, if it hadn't been for you the last time, maybe I—" Lindsey abruptly stopped as she thought back to when she was nearly raped by Manager Geller in the Lawrence Heights building. It still felt like a nightmare to her. Thinking of Alex's incredible rescue that day, she smiled. "I remember your kindness toward me, and I haven't forgotten it for a second. I'm very happy to see you again."
She spoke shyly and timidly, like a young girl. Alex watched her and found her both naive and romantic.
"Miss Marvel, your pancakes are ready." Nelly picked them up and brought them to her. "You should carry on sightseeing on the mountain. We're going to carry on working."
She smiled at Lindsey and took Alex back into the food truck.
Lindsey looked at them and sadly started walking away.
"Lindsey, did you get your pancakes?" When they'd finished their meal and Lindsey hadn't yet returned, the girl in green and the other bodyguard, Shania, had gone looking for her.
When Alex heard the girl in green's voice, he was stunned. He felt a burning heat in his chest and his heart started pounding. He turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound.
"Hello… Alex? Hey, what are you looking at? Miss Marvel is beautiful. I can see that your eyes are flying out of your head. It's a shame." Nelly's words were full of jealousy.
Alex didn't listen to what Nelly was saying to him. He saw the girl in green who had been talking. He was ecstatic and began to tremble. He could hardly believe what his eyes were telling him. But the girl in green wasn't the Debbie he was looking for.
"Debbie!" Alex was overjoyed as he ran toward her.
"What are you doing?" asked Shania. The bodyguard that was standing next to Debbie was surprised when she saw a young man rushing toward the young lady. When he passed her, she grabbed him and threw him to the ground.
"What do you think you're doing?" Shania asked again as she immobilized him.
"Shania, let go of him! He's a good man," Lindsey hurriedly said as she rushed back.
"Debbie, I found you! I'm sorry. I didn't protect you well. Do you hate me in your heart?" Alex looked at the girl and kept repeating himself, hoping that she would forgive him.
Debbie was startled by Alex's sudden appearance. She looked at him in horror as she was unable to understand his behaviour.
"Shania, let him stand up. He won't hurt my sister," Lindsey said. The bodyguard held Alex's hands and made him stand up.
"What did you say? She's your sister?" Alex was shocked.
"Yes, she's my sister… Leona Marvel and not what you said… Debbie. You have the wrong person," Lindsey said in a puzzled way.
"No way…You're mistaken." Alex looked at Debbie and pleaded. "I'm sorry Debbie. It was my fault before. I should die. Please come back to me. I want to make up for my past mistakes. Can you give me another chance?"
But Debbie didn't seem to understand what Alex was saying to her. He looked like a madman to her. "I'm sorry… I'm really not the Debbie that you're looking for. I'm Leona. I guess the Debbie that you're looking for looks like me… does she?" Leona calmly asked with a smile.