On the way back, Dustin could tell that Dahlia had questions for him but
was battling herself against questioning him. He smiled to himself at her
curiosity and
decided to give her an opening. "Shoot away if you've got any questions.
There's no need to hold them in."
"I do not understand why you turned down Terrence's offer to purchase the
site of the abandoned building!" Dahlia blurted out.
"Everyone knows that it's worthless now, so there's no point holding onto
it. You would have been better off selling it and recovering your loss!"
Though she had promised and was determined to
not concern herself with Dustin's
business anymore, she still could not help but feel bad that he
had missed out on a good opportunity to make up for the loss he had made.
"Well, why would Terrence want to buy that piece of land when everyone kn
ows that it's
worthless?" Dustin asked.
"Didn't he just say that he doesn't want to take advantage of you because
you're friends?" Dahlia
retorted.
"Haha! Do you really think that Terrence would be so kind?" Dustin smiled
meaningfully. "If he is
as righteous and
responsible as he claims to be, he would not have disappeared without a t
race for
the past few days.
"Well…" Dahlia's brows knitted together as she fell deep into thought. It
was true that she had her
doubts about Terrence's integrity. But after seeing how sincere he appear
ed, even offering to buy back the abandoned construction site, she wavere
d and started to believe his words.
"Let me tell you the truth. The reason Terrence offered to buy the plot o
f land was not because of
his conscience or his righteousness. It was only because he knew that its
value had skyrocketed.
Dustin chuckled.
"Skyrocket? The abandoned construction site has been sitting there for al
most a decade, and
nobody wanted anything to do with it. How could it possibly increase in v
alue?" Dahlia wondered
aloud.
"Nothing is impossible, Dahlia. Haven't I told you that that plot of land
has officially been listed as
an area for a key development? Terrence must have received some news abou
t it that caused him
to change his mind. Do you really think that he'd be so kind?" Dustin had
a faint smile on his face.
"How much is that piece of land worth now?" Dahlia asked tentatively.
"Two billion dollars at least. And that's a conservative estimation." Dus
tin dropped a bombshell.
"Two billion?" Dahlia's eyes went as wide as saucers. It was bewildering
to think that a piece of land could go from absolutely worthless to worth
two billion dollars overnight. She had toiled hard for years on end, and
in the end, she had not even made as much as Dustin did in a single day.
His uncanny luck was infuriating, to say the least.
All of a sudden, Dustin's phone rang. He
pulled it out to see that the call was from Florence. He paused and gave
it some thought before answering the call and putting it on speaker mode.
"Hey Dustin, where are you? There's something I'd like to talk to you abo
ut." An unbelievably kind
and gentle voice came through the speakers. Dahlia felt her skin crawl at
how cloyingly sweet her mother sounded. When has she ever been so soft–
spoken?
"We're on the way back to the office, Florence. Is anything the matter? Y
ou can just tell me through the phone," Dustin said.
Clearing her throat, Florence asked awkwardly, "Well, here's the thing. I
'd like to buy back the abandoned construction site. Would that be
possible?"
"Why would you want to spend your money on something so worthless? You'll
clearly be making a
loss. A hint of humor could be heard in Dustin's tone.
"So be it. As your ex–mother–in–law, I cannot watch
you suffer the loss and do nothing about it.
Better me than you to take the loss."
"It's not a big deal for me. I've still got some disposable income. I'll
survive."
"That wouldn't do! I'm a person who stands firm in and upholds my moral v
alues! I've been losing sleep over selling it to you at a high price. I f
eel like I've cheated you out of your money. I feel so bad for that, so I
have a mind to buy it back to atone for my mistake."
"That really won't be necessary. After all, you mortgaged your house
to get the money. If you lose that, you won't even have a roof over your
head! That'd be terrible!"