That statent hit Morrison harder than he expected.
She was asking why n always hurt won — and he, a notorious playboy, had hurt more won than anyone else.
In his world, won never left him first; it was always him growing tired and ending things. So the ones who got hurt were always the won.
For a mont, he didn’t know how to respond, so he changed the subject,
"Aren’t you hungry? Let’s just order so food."
The one thing Morrison could admit was that because he never promised to cherish anyone, he never made any promises about marriage.
That was why he’d never settled down — no woman had ever made him want stability. Sotis he wanted to, but then, inexplicably, he got bored and walked away.
Lilian didn’t expect any deep answer from such a man; her words were just an emotional outburst.
They ordered takeout and ate comfortably, the mood relaxing.
Watching her eat, Morrison suddenly said,
"Tomorrow, let’s have dinner at my place. I’ll cook for you."
He genuinely wanted to see that satisfied look on her face after eating sothing he made himself.
Lilian was surprised,
"Really?"
Though he insisted he could cook, Lilian couldn’t picture him in the kitchen.
Just like her brother Dave — n like them were born to conquer boardrooms, not cook als.
Morrison smiled,
"Whether it’s true or not, you’ll know when you co tomorrow."
Lilian frowned,
"Then why not co to my place? I’m not going to yours."
She felt safer in her own territory; his place seed too risky.
Morrison glanced at her pristine kitchen,
"Your kitchen’s just for show. There’s barely anything here to cook with. You want to start by buying you pots and pans?"
Lilian thought about her kitchen — it really only had a few basic utensils — so she didn’t argue.
"Fine, then I’ll go."
Besides, she was quite curious about his cooking skills, and even more curious about what he would look like while cooking.
To a woman, a man who looks good in a white shirt is already handso, but if he can also cook well in the kitchen, that’s just perfect.
Her graduation trip was over, and she was ready to start work the next day. Morrison agreed.
The sooner she started at MOS Corp., the sooner they could arrange dates and see each other.
Because he had invited Lilian over for dinner, Morrison told the family chef to go to the market early the next morning to buy the freshest seafood and vegetables and have them delivered to his house.
When Linda found out, she imdiately called him:
"I heard the chef got seafood and veggies sent over? Are you inviting your girlfriend for dinner?"
Morrison could hear the curiosity in his mother’s voice. Ever since he told her he had a reliable girlfriend, she’d been probing, even asking Norton and Sean — but the three of them kept quiet. They all knew Lilian’s identity was sensitive; if it got out, it could cause chaos.
So he laughed it off with his mother:
"It’s just a friend, not a girlfriend."
Linda was skeptical:
"If it’s just a friend, why bother cooking yourself? Why not just go out to eat?"
"Don’t I know you by now?"
Linda reasoned with him clearly:
"You’re great at cooking, but you don’t just cook for anyone. Even I rarely get to taste your food. Suddenly cooking now — only your girlfriend would be worthy of that."
Morrison admired Linda’s sharp intuition but was craftier: he quickly changed the subject.
"My dear Linda, are you indirectly complaining that I don’t cook for you? Fine, fine, I’ll co ho tomorrow and cook you a al."
Linda laughed in exasperation and gave up the argunt.
"Just tell honestly you’re cooking for your girlfriend, and I won’t be so curious!"
Morrison stubbornly denied it, lying through his teeth:
"Really not. Otherwise, why don’t you co over tomorrow night and see for yourself?"
He said it so casually, trying to confuse Linda.
Linda couldn’t argue and hung up, but not before warning:
"Alright, keep hiding it. Don’t co crying to when you break up in a few days!"
Morrison chuckled helplessly. Was this his mother? She actually cursed him to break up so soon.
But it wasn’t like Linda was wrong — many of his past relationships ended quickly.
Of course, this was the first ti he was cooking for a girlfriend. None of his previous won ever got that treatnt, which explained Linda’s curiosity.
After hanging up, Morrison stroked his chin thoughtfully. Linda wouldn’t let this go easily; she might even have soone watching his villa door. He needed a plan.
Dating in secret like this was exhausting — even he felt drained.
But there was no other way—after all, the girl he was seeing was soone he shouldn’t be ssing with.
So just after 4 p.m., he called that little lady.
"Weren’t you supposed to co to my place for dinner tonight? Get ready and leave work early. We’ll go back together."
To avoid Linda’s watchful eyes, he figured it was best to go ho early. Linda would never expect them to leave so soon.
Lilian, on her very first day at work, was already nervous and trying hard to learn from the more experienced seniors. Now, getting a ssage to leave early was almost breaking her.
"Leaving work at 4 p.m.? That’s way too early!"
Her normal quitting ti was 5:30 p.m., so this was an hour and a half early.
Morrison didn’t care.
"Just tell them you have sothing urgent and need to leave early."
Norton had already notified the finance departnt about her special status and to give her so leeway, so leaving early wouldn’t be an issue.
"I won’t leave early. People will gossip."
Lilian insisted. She didn’t want any special treatnt. Besides, it was only her first day, and leaving early was totally inappropriate.
Morrison then applied so pressure with a mix of threat and persuasion:
"Which do you think will cause more gossip? going to the finance departnt to get you, or you quietly leaving for the parking lot yourself?"
Since he suspected Linda might be tailing them, he had no choice but to take this approach.
On the other end, Lilian was so annoyed she didn’t know what to say, but she really didn’t want Morrison to go to the finance departnt looking for her, so in the end, she reluctantly gave in. This guy really knew how to find her weak spot.
So she awkwardly told her boss that she had sothing urgent and needed to leave early. To her surprise, her boss smiled and agreed without hesitation. Lilian thought to herself, Wow, my treatnt really is special. She even felt she should tell Morrison not to give her such special treatnt—after all, she ca here to train, to grow, didn’t she?
They t in the parking lot, and Lilian thought they’d each drive their own cars. But Morrison asked her to ride with him instead of driving her own. Lilian felt a bit puzzled.
"What about work tomorrow?"
Morrison wouldn’t let her drive her own car because he was afraid Linda might see it and trace her identity through the license plate.
He smiled mischievously.
"I’ll co pick you up. Or... you could just stay at my place tonight."
"I won’t!"
Lilian snorted and turned to buckle her seatbelt. Morrison said no more, just smiled and started the car.
Just as Morrison expected, Linda did send soone to stake out his villa. Around five o’clock, near quitting ti, the watcher showed up—only to find Morrison’s car already there, and no one else.
Linda snorted in frustration and cursed her son under her breath: Old fox.
She told the watcher to keep an eye on things. But after a while, the watcher called back and reported that Dave had driven over to Morrison’s place.
Linda began to doubt her judgnt. Could it really just be ordinary friends?
Then she thought about how close Morrison and Dave were, and how Dave was recently divorced and emotionally unstable. It seed reasonable that Morrison would cook a al to cheer Dave up.
So, annoyed but resigned, she called off the stakeout.
anwhile, Morrison was driving Lilian ho. When they arrived, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her for a while.
As he kissed her, Morrison wondered whether having her so close, right under his nose for dates, was a good thing or a bad thing.
The good? He could see her all the ti, kiss her, hold her.
The bad? Kissing her like this made it easy to lose control...
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