Tanya Sinclair didn’t expect Declan Pierce to call, and she was montarily stunned, hesitating to pick up. A ssage from Caden appeared at the top of the screen first.
Caden: [Mom, do you have ti tomorrow evening? Let’s have dinner together.]
Tanya felt pleasantly surprised. It was the first ti her son had actively asked to spend ti with her. Even if she didn’t have ti, she would make it.
Tanya quickly replied to her son: [Sure.]
Then she promptly answered Declan Pierce’s call, greeting him politely, "President Pierce."
Because there had been so many pleasant things today, her tone had a tinge of laughter, her voice soft, almost like she was being coy.
On the other end, Declan Pierce lounged lazily in his chair, his long legs casually propped up on the desk.
His lips involuntarily curled up, and he asked her, "Feeling good?"
"Yeah." Tanya admitted openly.
Today was the happiest day since she woke up.
Tanya: "Thank you, President Pierce, for helping retrieve my things from Zenith Group."
Declan adjusted his seating posture and spoke in a low, magnetic, and lazy voice.
"Then treat to dinner."
Tanya froze for a mont, her thoughts veered off course.
"...Tonight?"
So what Declan ant about taking the whole project team to a restaurant with an average bill of ten thousand a person was that he wanted her to pay?
Adding up the project team, there were around fifty people. Plus, with Declan’s suggestion, company executives would definitely accompany... This al could cost nearly a million!
Tanya took a breath and seriously said, "President Pierce, why don’t you return the items the sa way they ca, I’ll cover the shipping, and I’ll pick them up myself next ti."
She spoke quickly, not giving Declan any chance to interject.
Declan was silent for two seconds on the other end, catching up with her line of thought.
He chuckled in disbelief, "Tanya Sinclair, sotis I really want to take apart your mind and study it."
Tanya: "?"
Declan lazily replied: "I ant tomorrow night."
"Tomorrow night is no good." Tanya refused without thinking, "I have plans tomorrow night."
Declan’s tone cooled: "With whom?"
Such a busybody...
Tanya still answered: "With my son, Caden."
Oh, her son...
Declan, who had slightly straightened up, sank back into his chair.
"Then treat to supper." He conceded grudgingly.
After all, he couldn’t really compete with a little kid.
Tanya was a bit exasperated: "...So what would you like to eat, President Pierce?"
"Let’s talk about it tomorrow night." Declan hung up.
A simple supper couldn’t possibly bankrupt her.
Tanya’s attention returned to Caden, who sent two more ssages.
Caden: [Mom, my teammate K is also coming tomorrow night, is it okay if he joins us for dinner?]
Caden: [He’s bringing soone too.]
Tanya knew of Caden’s teammate K, a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy who was also talented in computers, and had a playful personality. Caden, although young, was mature for his age, and despite their ten-year age difference, they were ntally the sa age.
Tanya wanted to et her son’s good friends, so she agreed wholeheartedly.
Tanya: [Sure, Mom will treat you all tomorrow night. Ask your friends what they’d like to eat and which restaurant, and let Mom know in advance.]
In her view, the person K was bringing should also be another young boy who played computers with them.
Caden making more friends made her happy too.
Caden: [Oh, by the way, the results of the preliminary group computer contest are out. Do you want to know the results?]
Casually raised.
Tanya saw through her son’s little act.
She played along and asked: [Of course, what place did you get, baby?]
Caden: [Sa as always, first place.]
Followed by a cool sunglasses emoji.
Tanya could almost picture her son’s smug and adorable look, and couldn’t help but smile warmly inside.
Tanya replied earnestly: [You’re amazing, baby! Mom is so proud of you.]
On the other side, Caden was sitting in the nanny’s car on the way ho.
Seeing Tanya’s string of clapping and celebratory emojis, his lips curled up, then he suppressed it.
He had a stack of first-place trophies and dals, ready to show them to her next ti.
Next to him, Joy’s little head was resting against him, already asleep and holding a half-eaten cookie, with a gold dal from Caden’s first place group competition hanging around her neck.
No matter what competition he participated in, Joy insisted on tagging along, whether she understood it or not, just to keep him company.
Caden carefully adjusted his sister’s head and tucked a small blanket under her seatbelt before picking up his phone again to ssage K, letting him know that tomorrow night’s etup plan was on.
Caden: [Rember to tell your uncle to dress handsoly, my mom is really beautiful and smart.]
K retorted: [My uncle is very handso, okay!]
Caden: [...]
He thought K was either not worldly enough or had a too-heavy-filtered impression.
He had seen Julian Poole in person.
When K sent over his uncle’s information, Caden recognized imdiately that he was the man who had accompanied his mom to school last ti.
Appearance was okay, but the deanor was a plus.
All in all, if full marks were ten, Julian Poole would be 8.7.
Objectively speaking, not as handso as Dad.
Dad scores a 9.2.
Caden pulled out a small notebook and flipped it open. On it was a large photo of Julian Poole cut out from a magazine, with a small table he had made below it.
In the appearance column, he carefully wrote an 8.7.
"Brother, what are you writing?" Joy asked, blinking sleepily.
"Nothing," Caden put the notebook away.
"Oh..."
Brother said it’s nothing, so it must be nothing.
Joy casually lifted the half-eaten cookie in her hand and took another bite.
She rembered sothing and reached into her pink cross-body phone bag to retrieve her phone. She scrolled through but didn’t find any ssages from Tanya Sinclair, nor did Tanya ask her what she ate today.
"Hmph!"
If she doesn’t care, then I won’t either! I don’t need to bother with that slly mom!
Joy, puffing with anger, stuffed the phone back into her bag and cramd the rest of the cookie into her mouth. Her cheeks puffed up like a little hamster as she turned her face away in a sulk.
...
In the afternoon, their R&D center got off work half an hour early.
The restaurant was one of the top restaurants in Aris, famous for being hard to book. Despite having three floors and looking like a little castle, it only served a hundred guests each day.
Simply put, even if you have money, you might not get to eat there.
But Declan Pierce was influential enough to book an entire second floor.
Tanya hitched a ride with Belinda, still wearing the red dress from the day. Before leaving, Belinda insisted on touching up her makeup.
"Tonight, because President Pierce is hosting, all our senior executives have to accompany him, about twenty of them! I heard so of them are single and unmarried!" Belinda winked at Tanya, clearly suggesting she shouldn’t miss the opportunity.
Tanya laughed awkwardly, "Ms. Belinda, I’m really not interested. You should consider your own lifelong happiness instead."
Belinda touched up her lipstick in the mirror and glanced at Tanya from the reflection upon hearing this.
She capped the lipstick, "Dating a colleague is my bottom line. Plus, this year, I’m into youthful hunks."
As Belinda spoke, she suddenly clutched her stomach.
"I can’t. Tanya, you’ll have to wait another ten minutes for ." With that, Belinda handed her bag to Tanya and rushed to the restroom.
When Belinda ca out after washing her hands, she saw Tanya standing quietly at the door waiting.
Well, she’s truly a pleasing beauty.
Who would be lucky enough to have her...
With this delay, they fell behind the main group.
Belinda followed the GPS instructions and drove Tanya to the restaurant herself.
On the way, Tanya was browsing on her phone when a call ca in.
Seeing "Julian Poole" on the screen, she felt a slight headache.
After a mont of hesitation, she answered.
"Hello, Julian."
Julian’s gentle voice ca through, "Off work yet? I’m about to reach the neighborhood. Wanna grab dinner?"
"Tonight’s not convenient. Our company has a dinner party."
Julian: "How about tomorrow night then..."
"I don’t have ti tomorrow night either."
Her quick refusal left Julian silent for a mont. When he spoke again, there was a hint of self-mockery in his tone.
"Tanya, are you avoiding ? Did I do sothing wrong to upset you?"
Lately, he could clearly feel Tanya becoming distant.
And that night, the man who answered her phone...
He wanted to ask several tis, but Tanya never gave him the chance.
"..." Tanya didn’t know how to respond. After all, Julian hadn’t confessed, nor said anything inappropriate. She couldn’t just bluntly say, "I don’t like you," could she?
That would sound too conceited.
"Julian, I’ve already made plans with my son, Caden, for dinner tomorrow night. I’m not lying to you," Tanya explained honestly. "Don’t overthink it. I’m not mad at you."
Hearing this, Julian was relieved.
If she was going out with her son, it indeed wasn’t appropriate for him to tag along.
"Then, when will you have ti? I have so work-related questions I’d like to discuss with you," Julian tried to keep his tone casual.
"Are the work questions urgent?" Tanya asked seriously. "If they’re urgent, organize them and send an email. I’ll think about possible solutions tonight."
Driving beside her, Belinda had been eavesdropping. At this point, she couldn’t help but glance back at Tanya several tis, feeling a sense of regret on her behalf.
Such a beautiful face wasted!
"It’s not very urgent. I just thought if we could talk in person, it might be quicker," Julian spoke gently. "No rush. After all, we live in the sa building. If I need your assistance, I could just knock. I wouldn’t be bothering you, would I?"
His last sentence was filled with aning.
Tanya replied plainly, "I’m ho alone; as long as it’s not too late, it won’t disturb ."
Julian, hearing this answer, laughed pleasantly.
"Alright, see you later then."
"Bye bye."
Tanya put down the phone. The car stopped at a red light, and when she looked back, she found Belinda staring straight at her.
Tanya was a bit puzzled, touching her face, "What’s up, Ms. Belinda? Do I have sothing on my face?"
"Yes." Belinda reached out and gestured as if grabbing sothing, "You really are an indestructible, oblivious straight woman!"
She even wondered if Tanya’s head had a WiFi blocker turned on.
How could she not pick up any signals at all?
Belinda was starting to feel a bit sympathetic for the man on the other end of the phone...
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