Thinking this, Dakota's breathing became subtly more rapid. She lifted her eyes to look at Curtis, her gaze tracing the sharp lines of his eyebrows to the bridge of his high nose...
And then to his lips, which looked very kissable.
Dakota swallowed hard.
She suddenly remembered the night she kissed Curtis. His kissing technique was excellent, and his lips were very kissable.
Gentle yet assertive, his kisses were intoxicating, and he was considerate enough to give her a breather midway through.
Dakota's heart couldn't help but race.
She closed her eyes.
She didn't even realize that if he were to kiss her, she still had a chance to avoid it.
But Curtis made no move.
He leaned in closer, looking at Dakota with lowered eyelashes. Realizing she had misunderstood, he chuckled softly.
"Click—"
A crisp sound suddenly rang out.
Dakota opened her eyes.
She saw that Curtis wasn't going to kiss her.
His long fingers, clearly defined, hooked the seatbelt around Dakota's right shoulder to the left side and fastened it.
"Weren't you asking me to drive?"
Curtis's posture was still angled towards Dakota, "Mrs. Pineda, how can I drive if you don't even buckle up?"
Dakota came back to reality from her daze.
She lowered her eyes, looking at the seatbelt in front of her, realizing she had misinterpreted his intentions.
And he seemed to have noticed!!
Classic novel plot twists were happening to her, and she was facing social death in front of Curtis.
Dakota simply closed her eyes, pretending to be dead.
She ignored Curtis's words, tilting her head, "I'm sleepy! Don't bother me! I'm going to sleep!"
Curtis smiled lazily, curling his lips.
He didn't provoke Dakota anymore, refocusing on driving, but then Jasiah started bombarding him with messages.
【Jasiah】: 1
【Jasiah】: 1
【Jasiah】: Noe is asking how you want to celebrate your birthday, birthday boy, come say something.
【Jasiah】: What are you doing? Not replying?
【Jasiah】: Picking up Dakota?
Curtis rarely silenced his phone.
The phone placed beside him kept vibrating, causing Dakota, who was nearly asleep, to shift a couple of times.
At a red light, Curtis picked up his phone, replied to Jasiah, and set it to silent mode.
Jasiah was at work right now.
He sat at his desk with his legs crossed, rocking his chair leisurely while flirting via phone and sending Curtis a few messages.
Jasiah always liked the innocent type, and the girl he was chatting up preferred a humorous and witty older brother type.
He was playing the part.
Searching desperately online for clean jokes that could amuse the girl,
Just as things were heating up,
"Beep—"
A message popped up on his phone.
Seeing it was Curtis, Jasiah temporarily abandoned the girl he hadn't yet won to attend to his friend.
Only to see two extremely provocative sentences appear in their chat—
[Curtis]: Whatever, you guys decide.
[Curtis]: Mainly because I just picked up my wife, don't have time for you. Also, my wife is sleepy, don't disturb her, let her sleep.
[Curtis]: ????
If it weren't for the fact that he didn't have water in his mouth, he would have definitely performed a human fountain on the spot.
Wife???
Calling her wife before you even get her?
Jasiah rolled his eyes to the sky.
He even forgot about the girl waiting for his reply, angrily typing out a message filled with exclamation points.
"Curtis!!!"
"I know you've been a pure virgin for 25 years and 364 days, and it's rare for you to finally bloom, but damn, you need to have some limits with this love-struck nonsense!!!"
Curtis didn't bother to respond.
Someone like Jasiah, who can't even get a date, doesn't understand how sweet married life can be.
Friday was Curtis's birthday.
Dakota was off, but he still had to go to the office. The birthday party was scheduled at the Aranya Gold Coast, a resort community about three hours' drive from J City.
Noe was indeed not afraid of the trouble.
He insisted that for a barbecue and camping, they needed to go to the seaside, dragging everyone to Q city nearby.
Fortunately, everyone had flexible schedules.
Jasiah and Noe both worked at their own companies, skipping work was easy for them. Lailah, a freelancer without a boss, could leave for Q city on a whim.
The plan was thus settled.
So it came to arranging the specific itinerary, and the three of them could still depart together.
【Lailah】: "What about Dakota?"
【Jasiah】: Doesn't she live close to Curtis now? Let him bring her along after work.
Even though his friend was love-struck, he still had to cut him some slack—especially since it was Curtis's 26th birthday
Unfortunately, Dakota didn't want to cooperate, "Who wants to go with him? You three, come pick me up when you're ready to leave!"
The tone of a proud and willful lady was evident.
Not to be refused.
Jasiah looked at Dakota's message and couldn't help but cross his legs and tut.
He knew Curtis hadn't won her over yet!
And he had the nerve to call her wife three times.
He was nothing.
"Pfft!"
However, Noe felt a headache coming on, sighing at Dakota's unfriendly attitude.
These two have been at each other's throats since they were kids.
Every time they meet, it's like two sticks of dynamite ready to explode. Even on Curtis's birthday, Dakota wouldn't cut the birthday boy any slack.
Sigh..
Let's worry.
Let's sigh.
Noe tapped on Dakota's profile and began to plead earnestly, "Come on, give me a break. Just be nice to Curtis tonight, okay? Once his birthday's over, you can go back to roasting him all you want."
Dakota was currently propping her chin with her hand, looking troubled.
She held her cheek with one hand, her pale pink fingertips occasionally tapping her face, occasionally glancing down at her phone, contemplating what gift to get for Curtis.
Then she received this message from Noe.
【Dakota】："?"
She frowned slightly as she looked at Noe's string of various "sighs" and "please" emojis, feeling speechless as she typed on the screen.
【Dakota】：Are you sick?
【Dakota】：Did you damage your eye muscles too? Which eye did you use to see me arguing with him in the group chat?
She was just trying to prepare a birthday gift for him!
Putting herself in others' shoes, she thought no one dislikes surprises, so he absolutely shouldn't see it early!
That's why she said she'd ride with Lailah and the others!
But Noe continued to sigh.
Look, look, saying you don't argue, and now he just mentioned it, and the explosive situation is almost triggered.
So he continued to plead earnestly, "In short, for my sake, be gentle with Curtis tonight, Missy. It hasn't been easy for him to reach 26."
【Dakota】："..."
She didn't want to bother with Noe and pushed her phone away irritably, but in that instant, a sudden flash of inspiration struck her.
Huh?
The birthday gift! She had an idea!
