Los Angeles, the villa where Mona and Luo An lived.
Hearing someone pressing the doorbell at the villa’s gate, Mona turned her head towards Luo An with a puzzled expression:
"The owner of this villa is you; it could be someone looking for you."
Rising from his chair, Luo An bent down and lightly kissed Mona on the forehead, then turned and walked out of the villa.
Standing at the gate at the end of the villa’s lawn was a middle-aged white man dressed in a black suit with a slicked-back hair, a long face, and a smile.
Luo An thought for a moment and recalled the man’s situation.
The man’s surname was Darren Bent, one of the residents in this villa area and one of the managers of the homeowners association.
The homeowners association, in terms of responsibilities, is somewhat similar to the property management in the East—in charge of collecting management fees from homeowners and managing, maintaining, and repairing the community’s public spaces.
However, as a federal homeowners association is an autonomous body, many of its rules and decisions are made by voting among all homeowners of the community, with the minority submitting to the majority.
For instance, the amount of the annual maintenance fee, which security insurance to procure for the community, which security personnel to hire, as well as strict rules such as maintaining the neat appearance of the houses, prohibition of noise-making—if violated, they could even force some homeowners to leave the community.
When Luo An and Mona had just moved into this villa, the homeowners association had someone meet with them for a brief inquiry about their professions and financial status.
The villa was in Mona’s name; Mona was a senior FBI agent, and the house was bought for her by her father. Luo An, as the leader of the FBI Special Investigation Team and living with her as her boyfriend, had an average annual income, at least publicly.
Having learned this information, the staff of the homeowners association did not make any snide remarks but their attitude was very ordinary.
When they were renovating the villa, the homeowners association sent someone to collect the community management fee. During the renovation, someone was watching every day, demanding that the community be kept clean and tidy, ensuring the enjoyment of a harmonious life and a good environment for other homeowners.
At that time, Luo An and Mona were busy dealing with a case and had no interest in dealing with the homeowners association, so they threw all those matters to the renovation company to communicate and handle.
Later, when living in the community, Luo An and Mona seldom interacted with the homeowners association. They generally called when there were problems, letting them send someone to fix them, as they couldn’t be bothered by them on normal days.
Seeing Darren Bent, one of the leaders of the homeowners association, coming to their door today, Luo An felt puzzled, but still approached the gate with a forced smile and extended his hand for a handshake:
"Hello, what can I do for you?"
Darren Bent had a very amiable smile on his face.
In past encounters with Darren Bent, Luo An, relying on his "emotional perception," noticed that the other’s smile, like his own, was a polite forced smile that indicated little fondness for the other.
But today, Darren Bent was very different; his smile was no longer a facade, and his demeanor was very sincere.
Mr. Darren Bent handed Luo An two pieces of paper, saying:
"Tonight at eight o’clock, the homeowners association will vote on installing additional surveillance cameras in some of the community’s public areas and hiring more security personnel to enhance security levels. We hope you both can attend on time."
Luo An took the papers from him, briefly looked them over, and saw that the notice was issued three days ago, but they had only informed him and Mona today.
Darren Bent apologized with a smile, explaining that an employee of the homeowners association had been overwhelmed with work and had accidentally forgotten about this matter.
Just then, Mona came out of the villa in different clothes. Luo An smiled, handed her the papers, and replied:
"Just some matters for voting."
Then Luo An said to Darren Bent with a smile:
"I have other matters tonight and won’t be attending."
"I won’t be going tonight either."
The smile on Darren Bent’s face remained unchanged as he asked:
"May I know the reason? Work, or?"
Luo An casually replied:
"She’s not feeling well, and I am going to attend the Mayor of Los Angeles’ dinner."
Upon hearing this, a flash of surprise crossed Darren Bent’s eyes, followed by an even more cordial smile. Seeing this, Luo An’s mind clicked, and he immediately understood the reason for the change in the other’s demeanor.
A hint of amusement passed through his heart, and after exchanging brief pleasantries with the other party, he saw him off and returned to the villa with his arm around Mona.
Mona shook off the hand on her waist and gave Luo An a glance, then asked with some puzzlement:
"Why did Darren Bent actively seek us out today?"
Luo An casually responded:
"He probably saw the press conference hosted by Chief Nasim on TV."
Only a small portion of the residents in this community are extremely wealthy tycoons; more are middle-class or slightly above that tier.
It’s just because of the booming federal real estate and stock market these past few years that these people moved into this villa area.
One prominent characteristic of some of the middle-class from the federation is looking down on those of lower status while trying to connect with those of higher status.
On paper, Luo An and Mona’s salary incomes were indeed average, barely qualifying them as lower middle-class.
However, Luo An’s reception of the "California Courage Medal" at yesterday’s press conference, which was widely reported by major media and stirred up quite the attention, was likely noticed by some in this community, hence Darren Bent’s personal invitation earlier.
Upon hearing Luo An’s explanation, Mona snickered with a trace of disdain flashing in her eyes.
This phenomenon of people turning nice after one becomes rich and famous was too common. Luo An didn’t have many thoughts on it, and together with Mona, they walked back to the villa, where he suddenly swept Mona into his arms as the door closed.
Mona instinctively wrapped her arms around Luo An’s neck, and after realizing, her face filled with panic, she exclaimed loudly:
"No! I’m not feeling well! I haven’t recovered yet!"
"What are you thinking about?"
Luo An rolled his eyes, playfully nipped Mona’s lips, carried her to the sofa, and held her close, asking:
"Why weren’t you wearing slippers again when I came back just now?"
Having cohabited for so long, Luo An and Mona were well aware of each other’s living habits and had made many adjustments.
To Luo An, many of Mona’s habits weren’t an issue, except for one that bothered him:
Not wearing slippers at home and preferring to walk around barefoot.
This was a habit for most people from the federation, simply a societal norm passed down through generations.
Mona sometimes suffered from diarrhea, which Luo An speculated was likely related to her lifelong habit of walking barefoot.
Hearing Luo An’s question, Mona blinked her large eyes and slowly averted her gaze:
Before Luo An could speak, Mona sharply turned back towards him, her eyebrows raised:
"Why didn’t you wash your breakfast dishes when I went to the kitchen earlier?"
The matter of who would wash the dishes after meals had been a frequent topic of disagreement between Mona and Luo An since they started living together.
Luo An paused, then cracked a smile:
The two quietly looked at each other for a few seconds, then simultaneously chuckled, shifting the conversation elsewhere.
"What time will you be back tonight?"
"I don’t know; it depends. Do you have any plans?"
"I’m going to drive to the hospital to check on Reesi later. I talked to her on the phone just now, and she said she got injured again by accident."
"What happened? Where did she get hurt?"
"She didn’t go into details about how she got injured, but it’s not serious. There was a nurse present and it was taken care of immediately.
Besides, it seems she injured her left arm, her middle finger, and ring finger."
"...Let’s not go, just tell her to amputate it."
A few hours later, at 8:30 p.m.
Luo An, in a proper black suit, drove the black Ford that Mona’s father had bought and arrived at the hotel where the Mayor of Los Angeles’ dinner event was held.
After parking the car, just as Luo An walked to the hotel entrance, he suddenly heard someone calling his name. Turning around, he saw it was Chief Nasim and his wife.
"Good evening, Chief."
Luo An greeted the two with a smile and entered the hotel with them.