Bella stared blankly at William. Had she just been rejected?
Lila and Emily were even more astonished.
Neither of them expected Bella to be so direct upon meeting William.
Skipping all formalities and going straight to marriage was a bit too extreme.
Bella proposing marriage to someone— if this got out, it would cause a major stir in their whole circle of friends.
The most crucial part was...
She had been rejected!!
"Do you know what you're saying?" Bella's face turned cold as she looked seriously at William. "I'll give you one last chance to consider your answer."
Without giving it a second thought, William replied, "Then I must reject you once again."
"..." Bella's teeth clenched. Her grandfather, Eric Bell, had personally approached her yesterday, asking her to get close to William. Though he didn't mention William's identity, it was clear from his words that he held William in high regard and wanted her to become friends with him—or at least not offend him.
These past two years, her family had started pressuring her to marry. But Bella didn't want to marry a rich second-generation heir and then lead an idle life; she thought it best to marry an ordinary man.
She felt her grandfather was choosing a future husband for her.
Yesterday, she went to East 62nd Street and saw from William's residence that he was not wealthy. Today, seeing that William was fairly handsome and at least pleasant to look at, she decided to "compromise."
But she never ever thought she would be rejected.
And rejected twice in a row, at that.
Maria, noticing that William and Bella were talking, and seeing Bella's unhappy expression, came over with the wine.
"Three beautiful ladies, here's the wine you ordered," Maria said, followed by a server who specialized in opening wine.
After all, a two-thousand-dollar bottle of red wine wasn't cheap in their bar, and not many people ordered it on a daily basis.
Bella momentarily relieved the awkwardness, saying, "Open it."
The server then opened the red wine and began to aerate it.
"If you ladies don't have any other friends joining, would you like William to accompany you for a couple of drinks? He's new here and may not be very talkative. I hope you're not upset," Maria, adept at reading the room, said, though she couldn't directly ask William to leave unless Bella and her friends specifically asked him not to accompany them.
Bella suddenly laughed, looked deeply at William, and asked, "So you're in charge of accompanying customers for drinks?"
William wasn't angry but nodded, saying, "If Miss Bell wants me to drink with her, I certainly won't refuse."
"Great!" Bella pointed at the bottle of red wine, saying, "Finish this bottle first, and after that, I'll give you ten thousand dollars!"
Maria sensed Bella's anger but didn't intervene. She looked at William and asked, "William, can you drink?"
William laughed, "Getting paid to drink, of course I can! But I wonder, is it ten thousand per bottle or just for this one?"
Bella was both angry and amused, "From the way you speak, it sounds like you can drink several bottles?"
William made a face, "Seven or eight bottles shouldn't be a problem."
"Bring me ten bottles!" Bella said, "Charge it now!"
Ten bottles?
Maria quickly interjected, "Miss Bell, I'm sorry, but we only have three bottles of '96 Lafite in stock, including this one."
"Other wines will do; price doesn't matter. Just bring the most expensive ones from your store to make it ten bottles. I want to see how much he can drink today!" Bella initially didn't intend to offend William, but his words had riled her up.
From childhood to now, she had always been the one rejecting others. When had anyone ever rejected her?
Maria acknowledged and immediately sent the server behind her to fetch the wine.
After giving the orders, she followed.
Though William claimed to be quite capable of drinking, downing ten bottles of wine would surely incapacitate anyone.
Maria followed the server to select nine more bottles of red wine, ensuring not to mix in any spirits, otherwise, it would be more than mere drunkenness for William.
Besides, Maria also brought over a small POS machine and handed over a bill: "Miss Bell, these ten bottles of wine total $15,388. You can give $15,000; that's fine."
She had thought it through. If William were to collapse from being unable to drink any more, could Bella force open his mouth and pour it down his throat?
Sell the wine first, then see.
Bella pulled a bank card from her bag, saying, "No need for a discount, charge $16,000 for the drinks. Also, you stand here and watch. For every bottle he drinks, I'll charge tens of thousands!"
Bella was adamant about this clash with William.
Suddenly, William realized that he had chosen a great profession.
Picking up the opened bottle of red wine from the table, he tipped his head back and drank heartily.
In less than a minute, the bottle was empty, William's expression unchanged.
He did not intentionally suppress the effects of the alcohol. But the reason alcohol intoxicates is that it causes the central nervous system to go from excitement to inhibition, manifesting in a series of abnormal symptoms.
But would William's central nervous system be paralyzed?
That's a joke.
He might wish to get drunk, but due to his constitution, he was destined to find it hard to achieve.
He only drank wine for the taste now.
"This wine is not bad!" William smacked his lips, speaking to the server who opened the wine, "Keep opening bottles!"
Nicholas, sitting at another table entertaining guests, saw William from afar and couldn't help but gasp in astonishment.
The title of "God of Wine" seemed about to change hands.
William's spectacle naturally attracted the attention of other patrons and servers in the bar.
Bottle after bottle was opened, and William drank them down without pause.
"Fifth bottle already!!"
Lila was shocked as well; she had never seen anyone drink like this.
Not even Maria, the bar owner, had ever seen anyone drink like William.
Downing five bottles of red wine without a change in expression or pace, this was incredible!
She now fully believed William's words.
What did "never gets drunk" mean?
Such talent must not be snatched away by others.
By the time William reached the ninth bottle, Bella's face had changed. She had intended to embarrass William but hadn't expected him actually to drink it all.
Already the ninth bottle, and William showed no sign of intoxication.
"Hold on! There's no problem with this wine, is there?" Bella prided herself on her intelligence, but William's drinking was entirely unreasonable. The only explanation was that there was something wrong with the wine.
What if it was filled with grape juice?
After all, she hadn't tasted it, and having just paid the bill and spoken those words, it wasn't impossible that the owner might have switched the wine with grape juice or some other beverage.