The Supreme Soldier in the City
Chapter 326 - 334: Finally Muddled Through

Chapter 326: Chapter 334: Finally Muddled Through

James Brown didn’t use any real force; in theory, he shouldn’t have been able to push Emily Lopez over.

But he was only paying attention to what Gina Lopez and the others were saying, so he wasn’t aware of what his hands were doing at all. In fact, his hands were quite naughty at that time, rubbing and squeezing Emily Lopez’s foot.

And James Brown, being an old hand in flirting, was quite skilled with his moves. Normally bold, Emily Lopez was actually inexperienced in matters of love, and she had a secret crush on James Brown, her brother-in-law. With James tickling her foot like that, she was sent into a flutter, feeling an indescribable pleasure throughout her body, slumping in her chair as if boneless.

All of a sudden, with a push from James, she lost her balance and toppled backward.

By now, it was too late for James to hide; however, everyone’s attention naturally focused on Emily, so he had a very short window to remain unrecognized. He quickly ducked down and darted out like an arrow.

Furthermore, James had been near Emily’s side, so the older generation only caught a glimpse of someone under the table before they saw a shadow rush out of the private room.

Both Gina Lopez and Helen Wilson were facing the direction James was in and, being very familiar with him, recognized at a glance that it was James Brown.

This time, Helen Wilson reacted swiftly, shouting, "Thief!" and she dashed out like the wind.

Gina Lopez, however, was utterly shocked; she didn’t expect James Brown to be hiding under the table and she hadn’t noticed him. But what worried her most now was whether their parents recognized that it was James. She responded quickly, hurrying to help Emily up, anxiously asking, "Emily, are you okay?"

However, the sudden appearance of James had startled everyone, and the four elders didn’t really see that it was James. They only felt the figure looked somewhat like him, and with Helen Wilson and Gina successfully diverting everyone’s attention, they were too late to give more thought to the "thief" and hurried to help Emily get up.

"I’m fine, I’m fine, quickly check if anything’s missing," Emily struggled to her feet, pretending to pat her pockets.

This remark once again shifted everyone’s attention, and they all checked their belongings. Finding that nothing was missing, they all sighed in relief, and their reaction allowed Gina to breathe easier too, knowing they hadn’t recognized James.

"Emily must be scared, look at her shoes and stockings, they came off," Joan’s mother said with concern, and everyone immediately looked at Emily’s feet.

Emily pursed her lips and said, "I must have scraped them on the table when I fell," while slipping her stockings back on and putting her shoes back on.

No one really gave it another thought; it’s normal for shoes to come off when falling, but for stockings to come off too required a more perceptive mind to sense that there was something amiss.

"Emily, the thief was right beneath you, and such a big person at that, yet you didn’t notice?" Mrs. Lopez frowned and asked.

Emily pouted and said, "I wasn’t paying attention, who would expect someone to be hiding under a table? Besides, I didn’t extend my foot inside."

Everyone lifted the tablecloth to take a look. Indeed, if one didn’t extend their legs inside, it would be hard to notice a person hiding in the middle, so they dropped the subject.

Gina Lopez looked at Emily Lopez with a hint of suspicion. Just now, they had checked under the table—a small area where Emily must have already noticed James Brown hiding. It made sense for her not to mention it, but recalling Emily’s bare feet and the times they had teased James in the past by stepping on his foot, Gina couldn’t help but suspect that the two of them might have been up to something under the table.

However, in this setting, she naturally couldn’t ask Emily directly and had to suppress her doubts.

Soon, Helen Wilson came back, and Gina quickly asked, "Did you catch the thief?"

Helen Wilson immediately understood that she had not been recognized and pretended to be annoyed. "He ran too fast; I couldn’t catch him. Did anyone lose anything?"

Mrs. Lopez immediately said, "Nothing’s missing, so let’s just leave it be. It just gave Sandra quite a scare."

Emily stuck out her tongue, "Really, it scared me to death. I had no idea that there was a thief right under my table."

Mrs. Lopez looked over the group and took a sigh of relief, "It’s good that everyone was wearing pants."

If they were wearing skirts, they would have been exposed. If the thief wasn’t there to steal, but to take unauthorized photos, that would have been truly disgusting.

Joan didn’t know that Emily was also eyeing her inexpensive brother-in-law. She was grateful to Emily for having already known about James’s presence and secretly relieved that they had dodged that bullet.

The presence of a thief had clearly dampened everyone’s spirits, and since Charles Lewis did have matters to attend to, he suggested leaving first. Jonathan Lopez and his wife did not insist on them staying any longer, as there would be other opportunities to meet and it wouldn’t be good to keep Lewis held up with his affairs.

Before leaving, everyone mentioned they should keep in touch and meet up more often, none of which was good news to Gina and Joan. However, they couldn’t stop this; they couldn’t prevent the old comrades from communicating.

The Forester Family didn’t leave yet because James hadn’t come back, and they wanted to wait. Not even a few minutes after The Monaghan Family left, James rushed in with a frown, "What happened? I heard there was a thief here when I came in earlier."

Emily’s mother quickly said, "It’s nothing serious; it just gave Sandra a scare, but nothing was stolen."

James now looked even more annoyed, "That lucky guy. If I were here, I would’ve beaten him up."

Jonathan Lopez smiled and waved it off, "Let’s just forget it. We’ve finished eating and didn’t lose anything. James, how did you deal with your situation?"

"Not bad, so I rushed back. Mom, I’m really sorry I left during your birthday."

Mrs. Lopez immediately said with a cheerful smile, "One can celebrate their birthday any year, and you only left for a little while, so it’s no big deal. Alright, it’s about time; let’s go home, we still have to make the round of eight visits."

James secretly wiped his sweat, relieved to have navigated through this incident unscathed.