Chapter 2

The restaurant was busy that night.

The restaurant is famous in their city. This restaurant has been running for three generations, and now the owner is the grandson of the first restaurant founder. Almost all residents who have lived in this city know about the restaurant.

This restaurant sells traditional Chinese food, no matter how many modern restaurants and cafes are open in their city. This restaurant still stands strong, serving its loyal customers and now their children.

Jefferson was one of them, and he used to go to this restaurant with his mom and dad on the weekends when they were free. His father was a policeman, his mother was a make-up artist, while Jefferson was a student. Because of their work, they rarely had free time at the same time as Jefferson.

So Jefferson was looking forward to that moment. Every Friday, no matter what, Jefferson always ensured that he could come back home earlier to see if his parent could take him to the restaurant this weekend. 

What made the most impression on Jefferson's memory was when they ordered a boiling hot pot. He liked the sensation of wilted vegetables, which, as soon as he took a bite, it would release the gravy as if the vegetables had melted in his mouth.

The drool was already uncontrollable in his mouth because he was visualizing the hot pot with the smoke rising when his father lifted the lid.

"You didn't need to pick me up. I could go by myself."

Jefferson turned his head to Willie. "Then how could you drive with a casted right hand?" 

Willie sat beside him and closed the car door; he pulled the seat belt with his left hand, then rolled his eyes lazily.

"Have you heard about a taxi, Officer Jefferson?" 

Jefferson chuckled as he drove his car back to the road. They didn't talk much along the way; Jefferson just asked about his hand, when the next doctor's visit was, and other unimportant things. 

Jefferson avoided talking about Ruby, but Willie brought it up first, making Jefferson silent and focused on the road. 

Of course, Jefferson didn't want to hear about the progress of their wedding preparations. 

Finally, they arrived at the restaurant. The guests' crowds and the rich and unique smell of food greeted them from the parking lot, making Jefferson and even Willie forget their conversation, rush into the restaurant and sit down with the other task force members who had arrived before them. 

Jefferson and Willie were the last to arrive, and as they came, the waitress walked to their table and poured some delicious gravy into a large pot.

Everyone's attention was directed to the pot. For a while, they were eating the food without any conversation. The hot pot tasted more delicious after they solved the diamond shop robbery case. They were lucky that Jefferson and Willie were walking in the park and stumbled across one of the thieves. Later, the boss of the thieves tells them that he went to the park to meet someone who wanted to buy their stolen diamond. Jefferson and Wilie met that man after the transaction was completed, which was why they only saw the thief.

After they started to feel full, a conversation began to be made. Starting from Jefferson, who tells them how he found one of the criminals in the park when Willie pulled him close to the ice cream seller, how the shootout happened, to how they were able to turn things around after Willie was shot in hand.

"You guys are so lucky to be able to make the boss think that his and his men's bullet hit you two when it only hit Willie."

Jefferson had not planned that; he never intended to pretend to be shot. He shouted too and immediately ducked back behind the wooden box when it happened. Jefferson panicked because he saw the blood seeping between Willie's fingers, then he groaned, and his groan was quite loud. Maybe that's why they think their bullet hit Jefferson too. 

Then the boss ordered them to hold their guns, thinking that the two policemen had been shot and were in a weak condition, and then sent one of his men to kill him and Willie.

After telling about it, Max said they managed to secure the stolen diamond, which happened to be in the building after their team examined it. 

According to the boss, someone they meet at the park has paid half of the diamond and will pay the other half while taking it. Luckily the police managed to find their location before the transaction took place.

The story shifted to another topic so quickly that Jefferson couldn't even remember all the topics well; there were a lot. Starting from problems with another officer, discussing other cases, talking about quitting their job and starting a business, discussing politics, to discussing their love relationships, Jefferson avoided the most.

They were all invited to Willie's wedding, and soon Willie got tons of advice, from wise to an adult joke that made everyone laugh.

Willie tapped Jefferson on the shoulder. "He will be my groomsmen later. Anyone wants to join him? I need one more person but don't know who's gonna be perfect for that."

Jefferson beamed, then he shook his head. He had already talked about it with Wi; Jeffersonrson refused his request because he was afraid of ruining the wedding because of his recklessness; he would rather stand with the other guest. 

But Willie didn't accept his excuse; he even said that even if Jefferson accidentally slipped and ruined his wedding cake, instead of getting angry, Willie would laugh at him and jump into the cake with him.

"I thought you'd ask Malvin or Howard."

Wille shook his head with a worried face. "Seeing their faces in the middle of the wedding would break my concentration and make me laugh. You know them. They both can't be serious."

Jefferson was a bit annoyed because Malvin and Howard volunteered to be the groomsmen. Still, Willie ignored them and instead forced Jefferson, who was clearly looking for an excuse to not attend the wedding, or at least if he did, he wanted to sit as furthest as possible from the altar, not the one who would stand by him as soon as he said his wedding vows.

Jefferson remembered a scene from a fairly popular film where someone came to a stop the marriage because they disagreed. That person confidently walked towards the altar; no matter how many eyes were on them, they raised their chin and even said to stop the marriage.

But it's real life, which isn't as easy as in the movie. Jefferson went limp; indeed, he didn't want to come to the wedding, but he shouldn't think about what he could do to stop the wedding. 

He also seemed to have to stop watching those kinds of movies; it's giving him a destructive impact.

Finally, the conversation turned to Jefferson. It wasn't strange because he was the only one at this table who didn't have a girlfriend yet. Even since working in the police office, no one has seen Jefferson interested in girls; he is busy with his work like a robot, and he seems to have no other life besides his job.

After all, isn't it fun to tease your friends who don't have girlfriends when others are even married and have children? It feels like your friend is the one who suffers the most, as if all the bad luck in the world is on him.

Jefferson grinned. He folded his arms across his chest and nodded several times to challenge them to mock him even more.

"I suspect he already has a girlfriend and is just waiting for a proposal," said Ryan, Jefferson and Willie's senior at the police academy.

Willie shook his head. "I think he already had a girlfriend but was too shy to introduce her to us."

At times like this, Jefferson usually nods at everything they say. With a flat surprised face, he will say, "how do you know" or "I was caught" and this creates ambiguity and leaves people confused about which one is right.

But at least they were all better than Malvin and Howard, who thought he was gay at the office this morning. But looks like it's true that Malvin and Howard were joking when they said that because no one at that table bragged about it.

The conversation changed again; they were talking about another workmate. They also spoke about Kaylee, that the girl seemed to have feelings for Jefferson. It's the same thing Howard and Malvin talk about.

Jefferson sighed; maybe Kaylee really liked him.

At first glimpse, Jefferson had thought about pretending to approach Kaylee; maybe it could comfort his grieving heart because of Willie's marriage. But moments later, Jefferson immediately dismissed the thought; he didn't want to make trouble in his workplace; he tried to make his workplace a comfortable environment for him to work.

But contrary to his view, everyone told Jefferson to at least take Kayle out on a date, to this restaurant, for example.

Jefferson laughed; he took the vegetables and meat from the hot pot and put them in his bowl. "I don't like her, I cant pretend to like her, she will expect me to do the things I can't do."

The conversation moved again, because they found Jefferson's answer uninteresting.