The Supreme Soldier in the City
Chapter 215 - 216: The Marriage Coercer Has Arrived

Chapter 215: Chapter 216: The Marriage Coercer Has Arrived

"Uncle, is there still something on my face?" Charlotte touched her face, looking at James Brown perplexedly.

"No, you’ve wiped it all off," James Brown answered with a smile, secretly relieved that Charlotte hadn’t caught him peeking at her just now. Otherwise, he would have been deeply embarrassed.

Charlotte gave an "Oh" and turned back to the TV, soon bursting into loud laughter again.

This kind of mindset is actually quite understandable. What’s easily obtained no longer excites, while what’s hard to get raises great expectations. With nudity, everything is seen at once, leaving nothing to look forward to, but with movies, the suspense often whets the audience’s appetite, making them anticipate the occasional revealing scene.

Right now, James Brown had just such a mindset. The little glimpse of charm shown by Charlotte was hugely attractive to him, even though he kept reminding himself not to look, he couldn’t help but sneak peeks from time to time.

"Damn it, am I too evil? The girl is hitting on me, and I don’t reciprocate, but now I’m peeking at her," James Brown despised himself internally, feeling that if he continued like this, he’d turn into a beast and assail Charlotte, the young girl.

Suddenly standing up, Charlotte got startled, "Uncle, what’s wrong?"

James Brown replied, "I’m going to wash my face." After saying that, he headed straight to the bathroom.

Charlotte’s eyes caught sight of the bulge at the front of James Brown’s pants, and she secretly started snickering with her lips pursed. This was her new tactic today: not to actively flirt with James Brown, but rather to accidentally expose a bit of charm.

This trick indeed worked and it had stirred James Brown’s desires.

"Stinky uncle, not agreeing to my terms, one day I’ll make you unable to resist and come after me," Charlotte muttered to herself, pumping her little fists confidently, now fully believing she could eventually get James Brown to cave in.

James Brown hadn’t realized that the young girl, Charlotte, had such crafty thoughts. He washed his face with cold water for a while, which helped him calm down.

When he came out again, Charlotte had already turned off the TV, yawned, and stretched her arms, lifting her nightgown considerably, exposing a small portion of her underwear.

James Brown caught sight of it again and the fire that had just been extinguished flared up once more.

"Uncle, I’m sleepy. I’m going to bed first," Charlotte yawned, staggering into the bedroom and then plopping down on the bed, ready to sleep without even turning off the light.

After James Brown turned off the living room light, he realized that Charlotte hadn’t turned off the bedroom light. He walked in, saw Charlotte sprawled on the bed, legs apart, and his eyes involuntarily scanned over her once more before he quickly turned off the light and left the room.

Lying on the couch, James Brown lit a cigarette. Amid the swirling smoke, he couldn’t help but ruefully smile, feeling he was being despicable. Continually living like this, under the same roof with such a tantalizing young girl, trouble was bound to happen sooner or later.

The next day, as soon as he arrived at the office, James Brown received a call from Gina Lopez asking him to come to the general manager’s office. Although he was reluctant, he had no fear of meeting Gina Lopez during office hours and thus he readily made his way to her office. Besides Gina Lopez, Sunny Nguyen was also there.

Gina Lopez, dressed in a professional suit, appeared very energetic. She motioned to James Brown and said, "I’m heading to the Capital of SSUP this afternoon and will likely be back after two days. As the President, aren’t you supposed to take on some responsibilities for the company matters during this time?"

Hearing that Gina Lopez would be away for two days, a smile immediately appeared on James Brown’s face, "It’s better if the President’s position remains vacant. Let’s have Director Green act on my behalf. The company’s employees all have their specific duties. As long as everyone handles their tasks, there shouldn’t be too much else to report on, right?"

Gina Lopez knew James Brown wouldn’t agree and didn’t insist. She turned to Sunny Nguyen and said, "Sister Sunny, it’ll be tough on you then. If anything happens, get him to do more. We can’t let him be idle."

Sunny Nguyen nodded and responded, "No problem. If I really can’t handle something, I’ll give you a call."

"Okay, then that’s settled. Let me go over a few important tasks I still have with both of you before I leave."

With Gina Lopez’s absence for two days meaning less pressure for James Brown, he paid close attention to her instructions, eager to get her on her way.

After the work handover, Gina Lopez said to James Brown, "James, try to see less of Sandra these two days."

James Brown shrugged, "Don’t worry about it. I have a girlfriend, after all."

Gina Lopez nodded, "Okay, then take me to the airport later."

James Brown agreed without hesitation. As long as he could send Gina Lopez off, taking her to the airport was naturally not an issue. During his time with the Hawk Squad, James Brown had met countless formidable individuals and had never felt the slightest fear. Even when some female agents tried to charm him or seduce him, he managed to deal with it with ease. However, he found dealing with Gina Lopez to be particularly headache-inducing.

On the car ride, Gina Lopez briefed James Brown on some work-related matters. As they were about to reach the airport, Gina turned her head to James and said, "James, I need to ask you for a favor."

Sensing the seriousness in Gina’s tone, James turned to look at her and asked, "What is it?"

"I know that Sandra is attracted to you, but before you are certain that you really like her, please don’t have a relationship with her."

James was startled for a moment but quickly responded confidently, "Don’t worry about that. Sandra is indeed a good girl, but I have a girlfriend, and I cannot do anything to betray her." However, as he thought about still being involved with Sunny Green, James felt a bit guilty.

Gina nodded and said, "I’m aware that you have a girlfriend, but you are not married yet. It is normal for me and Sandra to pursue you. I just fear that you might not be able to resist Sandra’s charm, so..."

"Heh... you can be quite at ease about that. You too are a woman who is attractive to men, but I haven’t tried anything with you, have I?"

Gina was at a loss for words, but she had to admit that James was a decent guy. If it were another man, he might have agreed already, which might be one of the reasons Emily Lopez likes James.

After dropping off Gina, James felt relieved. However, before he could even leave the airport, he received a phone call from Emily that made him anxious: "Brother-in-law, it’s not good, my parents are coming."

"What?" James exclaimed in shock.

"They will be landing in two hours. You need to hurry to pick them up."

"Emily, picking them up is not an issue, but your sister hasn’t clarified our relationship to them yet, has she?"

"No, she hasn’t, that’s why you have to go pick them up."

James felt overwhelmed. Another call came in, and he saw it was from Gina, so he quickly said to Emily, "Your sister is also calling. Let me answer that."

He switched from Emily’s call to Gina’s, and immediately heard her say, "James, this is bad, my parents are coming."

James replied with a wry smile, "Emily just told me. What should we do now?"

"Please, I need another favor. Pretend to be my boyfriend again and go pick up my parents."

"This issue has to be confronted sooner or later. How long can we keep this pretense up?"

"A temporary evasion is still an evasion. I’m about to board my flight, and I need you to do this for me. As long as you help me fool my parents, I will fulfill any request you have when I’m back."

Twitching at the corner of his mouth, James finally agreed, "Alright, I’ll wait for them at the airport."

Hanging up, James was torn between laughter and tears. Now both Gina and Emily wanted to be with him, and he had been trying to evade the situation. With the arrival of their parents, he found himself once again having to play the role of Gina’s boyfriend, without knowing how this situation would ever end.

Meanwhile, Emily called again in a panicked voice, "Brother-in-law, what should we do now?"

James chuckled bitterly and said, "What else can we do? Continue playing your brother-in-law."

Emily giggled and replied, "Then just wait at the airport for my parents. I’ll tidy up at home to make it seem like you’ve been living there."

After waiting over two hours at the airport, Gina’s parents’ plane finally arrived. James enthusiastically greeted them as they emerged from the gate, saying, "Uncle, Auntie, why the sudden visit? Gina is on a business trip."

Mrs. Lopez immediately replied unhappily, "It’s because of you two. We had an agreement that you’d get married after the New Year, and now May Day has passed without any news from you two. We came to see if any issues have come up between you."

James hurriedly said, "We don’t have any issues, but we’re so busy with the new company project that we don’t have time to think about personal matters."

"How can you say that? Work is important, but personal issues also need to be addressed. You’re not getting any younger. Gina is already twenty-six; if you keep delaying, she’ll be thirty before you know it. It’s not good for a woman’s health to have children after thirty."

James broke into a sweat. They were already considering grandchildren; the in-laws were indeed in a hurry.