Inside the cab, Emily glanced at Jasper through the rearview mirror from time to time.
This man could drink quite a lot. He drank two bottles of red wine without much hassle. Look at him, he didn't make any noise, he just fell asleep leaning on the seat.
At this time, there were very few vehicles on the road. The ride was smooth all the way from the restaurant and so the entire journey took less than ten minutes.
The car stopped outside the Clarkson's house on their quiet street. Emily paid the fare, woke up Jasper, helped him out of the car, and walked towards their house together.
Jasper's parents' home was next to theirs. Although they were not in the same residential building, they were neighboring families, and there were no obstacles between the two buildings.
Those who live here were old neighbors who have lived here for more than ten or fifteen years, so everyone was familiar with each other.
Emily sent Jasper home and met several acquaintances along the way while walking in the neighborhood.
"Emily, I see you went out with Jasper, didn't you?" Their neighboring aunt, Miss Washington, looked at them in a gossipy manner as if she had discovered a new world.
"Yes, and Mr. Clarkson here got a little drunk, so we brought him back." Emily said with a smile.
"How come you two are together? Are you in love?" On the other side, Mr. Larson, the old man, came towards this side, waving a walking stick, and said with some surprise.
Everyone in the neighborhood knew that Jasper was nearly 30 years old and still single.
Now that Emily was seen by this group of nosy aunties and uncles when she was bringing Jasper home, and now, she didn't know what rumors would be spread around.
"Mr. Larson, you are such a joker. Don't you know Mr. Clarkson already has a girlfriend? We don't want any rumors that will affect him now, do we?" Emily said in a serious tone.
Old man Larson was half-believing and half-doubting, "Jasper has a girlfriend? Why haven't I heard about that before?"
Jasper was indeed drunk and fell asleep leaning on Emily's shoulder. He seemed to be completely unaware of the conversation going on with others.
"It's true, if not, I wouldn't tell you that." Emily glanced at him and saw that he had no intention of waking up, so she said boldly. She looked at the old man and continued to make up stories, saying, "If he wasn't so happy, would he have drunk so much? I personally witnessed the love between him and his girlfriend!"
Mr. Larson was so fooled by Emily that he actually believed her.
Even Mrs. Washington was so happy that she couldn't stop grinning. She asked her curiously, "Hey, Emily, have you met Jasper's girlfriend? What job does she do? Where does she live?"
Emily couldn't help but hold her forehead! Are these people going to investigate his household registration too? He's not your son, why are you worrying about him so much?
She laughed and said perfunctorily, "Anyway, she's a nice girl, a lady from a good family."
After hearing what she said, Miss Washington was excited. She continued to ask, "Tell me, how long have they been together? Are they planning to get married?"
"Well, Miss Washington, how can an outsider like me know so much about the couple's affairs? I'm just a neighbor. When he wakes up, how about you can ask him in person, okay? Well, it's getting late, I have to take him inside now so that you don't have to worry about him." Emily said in reply and quickly walked away.
If she continued staying there, she wouldn't know when dawn would come.
"Hey, uncle!" Emily pushed Jasper's head which was resting on her shoulder. "Wake up!"
Damn! This uncle was quite heavy, and she was so tired already.
Jasper frowned and slowly opened his eyes with a painful expression.
"Can you walk by yourself?"
"Where are we? What is this place?" Jasper pulled his head back and looked at the dim neighborhood around him, frowning.
Emily sighed about the fact that drunk people would never admit that they were drunk.
Jasper walked forward tremblingly, his steps were a little unstable, and when he passed the narrow path paved with stones, he almost tripped.
"Hey, be careful!" Emily gasped. She quickly walked forward and held his arm in time to prevent him from falling. She took a deep breath when nearing hid home's entrance. She almost died of exhaustion because of him.
Downstairs, she saw her mother talking to a neighbor. As the lighting in the neighborhood was dim and the person had his back to her, she naturally did not recognize him.
"Mom, please give me a hand!" Emily shouted.
Jasper was quite heavy, with the entire center of gravity of his body leaning on her, making her so tired.
When her mother saw her helping a man back, she quickly came over and asked, "Hey, Emily, what's going on here?"
The neighbor who was talking to her mother before also came over. It turned out to be Jasper's mother. She recognized her son at a glance and hurriedly supported Jasper. She said in a distressed tone, "What's wrong with him?"
"He's just a little bit drunk."
"How?" Then, she looked at Emily in surprise and asked, "Why did you two go out together?"
After she said this, Emily's mother looked at her in surprise, as if there was something between Jasper and her.
"Mr. Clarkson, said he was going to be transferred to Catskill tomorrow. So he got so excited that he drank too much wine." Emily laughed and replied.
Mrs. Clarkson, your son was already so drunk, why don't you help him go home and let him rest? Why are you still talking so much here? My scalp is tingling. Please stop asking me questions, okay?
Just when she was at a loss as to how to respond further, Jasper suddenly pushed his mother away, ran to a corner and started vomiting.
"Too much drinking is very harmful to one's health, don't you know? Are you feeling better now?" His mother hurried over, patting his back repeatedly, muttering.
Even though she was blaming him lightly, as a mother, she was probably still heartbroken.
After Jasper vomited for a while, he felt much better and was helped upstairs by his mother.
My mother offered to help, but was rejected by Mrs. Clarkson. "It's okay, he can walk on his own now. It's getting late, you should go back and get some rest too."
After watching them go upstairs, Emily and her mother prepared to go home.
On the way back, her mother didn't say anything and didn't ask her about having dinner with Jasper in the evening.
Emily was quite puzzled at the time. This was not like her mother. Maybe she didn't care at all?
She, Emily, was a young and beautiful girl, but Jasper was in his mid-thirties. There was a clear age difference between them.
They couldn't get along at all.
No way!
What more, Emily thought. She used to think her mother had the same idea as her, but she was wrong! She shouldn't have expected her mother to have the same idea as her.
As soon as I entered the house, my mother started asking me questions."