Such a Rude and Noisy Woman novel Chapter 81

"You've arrived just on time." Rachel had just come out of Fannie's room and seen Hiram standing at the gate. She glanced at the watch on her wrist. It was exactly 2:00 pm. He had come to pick her up at the exact time they had agreed on.

"I've always been punctual, " Hiram replied with a smile. He took Rachel by the hand, leading her to the car.

As they approached the car, Rachel saw Carl sitting in the driver's seat. She leaned forward and sniffed Hiram's jacket. Then she asked, "Have you been drinking?"

She knew Hiram. He always drove the car on his own unless he was drunk or there was a special circumstance.

"Just some red wine. I drank only one glass, and even that can't escape from your sharp nose, " Hiram said, putting his hand around Rachel's neck and giving her a kiss on the lips.

Rachel blushed at the sudden kiss. She pinched Hiram's arm to stop him. His young cousin was just beside them. She wasn't accustomed to kissing in front of a single young man.

But it seemed that just one kiss couldn't satisfy Hiram, because he gave her another one before letting her go. Then they got into the car. "Carl, do you want several days off? Then you'll have time to find a girlfriend, " Hiram said jokingly to Carl.

"Don't make fun of me, cousin. I'm too young to get a girlfriend right now. Besides, I think girls are nothing but trouble. I prefer to live my life free and alone, " Carl replied.

As a handsome young man, it wasn't hard for Carl to find a girlfriend. Many women had tried to hit on him. But, maybe being affected by his cousin, Carl wasn't a man who could easily fall in love. That was why he was still single. He was waiting for the real deal to appear.

Rachel seethed when she heard Carl's opinion about girls. Then she turned to Hiram and asked, "What does he mean by saying that girls are trouble? Hiram, I bet you think I'm troublesome too, right?"

This wasn't a question that Hiram could answer easily. If he just answered yes or no at once, she might think that he wasn't taking it seriously. So he pretended to think for a while before saying, "I did think you were troublesome at the beginning, but I've gotten used to it. Now it's my honor to be troubled by you!"

This was a skillful answer. The first part of his answer had made Rachel furious, but what came next had immediately cooled her down and made her happy. "Honey, it's so nice to hear you say that. Carl, you should really learn how to talk to a girl from your cousin."

"Call me 'honey' again. I like it when you call me that." Hiram looked at Rachel affectionately. She usually called him Hiram. But the word 'honey' coming from her sounded so sweet.

Carl focused on driving, pretending to hear nothing.

He had noticed that the couple liked to make fun of each other.

He couldn't believe that his cousin, who had always been proud and cold, could easily express his love now. Hiram had changed a lot after meeting Rachel.

Soon, they arrived at the house of the Rong family.

Joanna was still in the middle of her afternoon nap, so Hiram and Rachel walked directly to their bedroom.

When they stepped inside, Hiram lifted Rachel up and carried her towards the bed. He lay her onto the bed and leaned forward, but Rachel pressed her feet against his chest. "Give me the divorce agreement. I'm going to destroy it."

She couldn't wait even a minute to destroy that agreement. She kept feeling like they would get divorced any time.

Hiram grabbed Rachel's feet and said to her with a smile, "I promised to give you the divorce agreement. What's the rush?"

It seemed that the petite woman didn't believe that he would keep his word.

"A mere verbal statement isn't binding. I must see the two copies of the divorce agreement being destroyed with my own eyes. Only then can we sleep in the same bed as husband and wife." Rachel kicked Hiram's chest slightly, urging him to fetch the copies of the agreement.

Hiram kissed her feet before letting them go. "Well, you troublesome woman. I'll get it for you right away."

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Rachel saw Hiram walk to the book cabinet and get a well-hidden key before using it to open the drawer at the bottom of the cabinet.

Rachel hadn't expected Hiram to keep the agreements in such a secret place.

She rose up from the bed and walked forward out of curiosity. "Where are the agreements? Aha! There are many photo albums. Let me see."

Rachel's attention was immediately attracted by the photo albums. She picked one up and looked at it with fascination, not noticing the change of expression on Hiram's face.

"Hiram, hurry up. Once the agreement is destroyed, we'll be a real couple." Even as she urged Hiram to find the agreement, she opened the thick photo album.

It was filled with faded pictures. Judging from the dates marked on the pictures, they were taken in the '90s. Among all the pictures, the pictures of a pretty young girl caught Rachel's attention. "Hiram, who is this girl? She looks beautiful. She also looks a little like you. Who is she?" Rachel asked curiously.

Hiram, who had recovered from the uneasy feeling caused by something weird, glanced at the picture and said, "It's my aunt, my father's younger sister."

"Your aunt?" Rachel was slightly shocked. She had never known that Hiram's father had a sister.

She wondered why she had never heard anyone talk about Hiram's aunt.

She suddenly remembered the agreement between the two great-grandfathers. If the Rong family had a daughter and the Ruan family had a son at nearly the same age, they should get married. The son of the Ruan family was Rachel's father. So if the Rong family had had a daughter that was nearly his age, why hadn't they gotten married? Rachel was confused.

"My aunt passed away at the age of 19. I heard that she died of drowning. Her death was a huge blow to my whole family, so talking about her is forbidden. You should remember to never mention my aunt in front of my family, especially my father."

Hiram explained as he put the photo albums and the other items back into the drawer.

"Oh, I see. So your father must dearly love his sister." Rachel replied, putting the photo album that she was holding back into the drawer, too.

No wonder all the old photos were stored away. The mere sight of a picture of Hiram's aunt would cause pain to the family. Rachel's father had been dead for many years, but it was still hard for her mother and her to accept it.

"That's true. My father had a lot of affection for her. I think my parents adopting Lydia had something to do with my aunt. There are some similarities between them, " Hiram said, locking the drawer.

"Wait!" Rachel exclaimed. "The divorce agreement! Did you forget what you opened the drawer for?"

"Rachel, I forgot. I actually took both copies of the agreement to my office before the business trip." Hiram said casually. He took her hands and stared at her affectionately. "Believe me. You're the only wife I want. I won't let the agreement come into effect. You know I would never agree to divorce you."

"Are you sure that you left them at the office? You're not lying to me?" Rachel felt like something was wrong. Hiram had a good memory. It didn't make sense that he would forget where he had placed such important papers.

When Hiram heard Rachel's doubtful tone, he gave her a kiss on the lips and said, "Honey, trust me this time, okay?"

"Okay. I trust you. I'll go and see if mom is awake." Rachel grazed her lips with her fingers. Lately, Hiram had grown fond of kissing her. He kissed her whenever he felt like it.

She stood up, tidied her dress and walked outside.

Once Rachel left the room, Hiram's face turned grave. He stood motionless in front of the book cabinet, lost in thought..

Then he walked to the desk and picked up his phone. He called Lydia, who was in the US at the moment.

"Hello, Hiram?"

It was the middle of the night in the US, so Lydia had been sleeping when the call came. But one look at the name flickering on the phone had been enough to jolt her awake.

"Lydia, did you come into my room when I was out?" Hiram asked her coldly.

Servants came to clean up, but they wouldn't dare touch anything that they shouldn't put their hands on. Somehow, the copies of the divorce agreement that had been locked up in his private room had disappeared. Lydia was the only person he could think of who would have had the chance to take the agreement away.

"Hiram, what are you talking about? I don't understand why you're asking. I've never been to your room without your permission, " Lydia said, but her faint and shaky voice betrayed her.

"Yes or no!" Hiram shouted into the phone. Except for Lydia, no one would dare come into his room and rummage around.

Hiram had never been so mad at her. "Yes. I went into your room and found the divorce agreement, " she finally admitted.

"Where is the agreement right now?" Hiram asked in a low voice, trying to control his anger.

"I was so glad to see the divorce agreement that a sudden impulse came over me. I saw that the date signed on the agreement was drawing near, so I sent it to the... to the court."