Alyssa gestured the others except Samuel to retreat first.

Samuel hopped on his motorcycle and started it, ready to leave any minute. Alyssa untied Pamela before she got on the motorcycle and left.

Pamela didn't get up until a long time after. She took off the blindfold. Her eyes couldn’t adjust to the light. She found her clothes, put them on, and sat there, hugging herself and shaking. Her heart might have turned into ice. Otherwise, why did she feel so cold? She felt the whole world had turned against her.

The motorcycle stopped at a barbeque stall. The others had ordered food and drinks and already eating. From the looks of it, they were having fun.

“Look, Chief Aly is here.”

“Hey, Chief Aly, come and sit.”

They greeted her enthusiastically.

Alyssa jumped off the motorcycle and waved at them like an official inspecting a grassroots unit.

Those men liked calling her Chief Aly. And she liked that nickname.

Once Alyssa sat down, she told the stall keeper, “Please bring ten more of everything we have ordered, and ten more beers. Thank you.”

The others giggled. “Chief Aly, you’re so generous.”

She replied carelessly, “My treat. Enjoy.”

Then she grabbed a bottle of beer and said,

“Thank you, guys. Bottom up.”

Each holding a bottle of beer, they clinked their bottles. The cool night breeze was blowing. Drinking cold beer, eating barbecue at a small stall, cracking jokes with friends. This must be what happiness felt like.

Kenley drunk a mouthful of beer and asked, “Chief Aly, were we out of line?”

He usually pulled pranks, but he was always polite and nice to girls.

Alyssa looked up at him. It was a calm and casual glance, but they knew that she got angry.

“Out of line?

Thanks to her scheme, I owed ninety million all of a sudden. You think what I did is out of line?

I would be in jail now if I hadn’t gone to America to get the right contract back. You would have to make appointments to see me. This must be what she wanted: I went to America to fix the problem. Desperate, I slept with a bunch of disgusting men. However, I still couldn’t get the right contract in the end. If that had happened, I would rather die!

Can you see what positions she had put me in? What she did to me was much worse!

I just wanted to get even. I wouldn’t be out of line even if I had her raped!

That fucking bitch is as venomous as a viper. Why would she do that to me?”

Alyssa thumped her bottle on the table. Everyone else at the table fell into silence.

“Humph! Now that she messed with me, of course, she was going to pay. I have a long memory for both a debt of gratitude and revenge. I won’t let it go. She wants to dance? Let’s dance!”

She swirled the bottle of beer in her hand, Hard to tell if she was tipsy. The relaxed, proud look in her eyes was mesmerizing.

The next day, Pamela was absent from work. She had asked for leave.

Alyssa pretended to know nothing and held her head up high in the office. Many of her coworkers were gossiping about her. Sometimes she fired back and other times she smiled and ignored it.

She didn’t waste her time and energy on such things. It was pointless.

One day, some of her colleagues decided to have a gathering.

Unexpectedly, Alyssa was invited.

She decided to go and wondered what trick they were playing.

However, the news traveled so fast eventually even Aaron, Cyril and Callum decided to join in. Aaron had a large private booth booked and declared that it would be his treat.