Sensing the suspicion in his tone, Mia clutched the wallet tightly, she had forgotten that she was playing the role of a spoiled Eva now. “I used to spend whatever money I had, I don’t have savings anymore. I’ve been at odds with my parents, so I donot want to ask them for money. I’m broke now.” She lied, hiding her nervousness. Her eyelashes fluttered as she averted her eyes. Darren stroked the coins in his hands. He remembered seeing Mia quarrelling with her parents when he went to the Thompson family house. They didn’t seem to get along with each other. “ what happened? Why are you nervous? Why do you freak out everytime I mention your family?” Darren ruffled Mia’s hair gently. “ how can I spend a woman's money? You better use my money first.” After a moment's thought, Darren took out his wallet from his jacket pocket and placed it on Mia’s hands “ I have made some money while working part-time in a shop for the past few days.” Mia looked at his wallet, and her bangs covered
Darren averted his gaze. “ I rented this car. It’s your first day at work, I wanted to pick you up with it.” “Renting a luxury car, for just one day must have been expensive. Darren I know you did it out of kindness, but you don’t have to do this for me. We have to accept the reality and live our lives.” Mia stuttered, she was not the biological daughter of the Thompson family, but a simple girl who was used to poverty, she wasn't used to a life of luxury.The situation was embarrassing. She had been working hard to save up money to pay for the private investigator and meet her daily needs, Even though Darren didn’t spend her money, it still broke her heart to see him waste money on unnecessary luxuries. On second thought, she realized it must be difficult for Darren to change his habit because he was used to a lavish life. She couldn’t push him too hard. Mia handed the Wallet back to Darren “forget it.” She grinned happily. “ today is my first day at work, we should celebrate
Mia was busy everyday at work and seldom had time for herself. Time seemed to pass in the blink of an eye because she was consumed with work. “What a coincidence! How about we go back together?” David stopped Mia at the front of the elevator. Ever since Mia joined the Preston group, the two had been coincidentally meeting everyday at work. Sometimes Mia would meet David even though she worked over time. “David, how come we meet everyday after work?” Mia asked, smiling. Her biggest problem was not knowing to say no to people. Just then, her phone blared in her bag. She took it and saw Darren’s name flashing on the screen. Therefore, she quickly answered the call, “what’s up?” “I found a house. I’m in the cafe opposite your company. Let’s go and see the house together.” Darren’s words were brief and concise. She didn’t expect him to act fast. Mia pulled away her phone and looked at David apologetically, “ I’m sorry David, I have important work to do. I have to go now.” “Oka
‘What? One hundred bucks, for an apartment like this? That’s unbelievable’The man looked dumbfounded. However the apartment did not belong to him, so he couldn’t finalise the rent. “Mrs Edward, I’m actually surprised to hear your offer. However, this house isn’t mine. I need to check it with the landlord of the house.”He walked out of the room with his phone on the pretext of making a phone call. Taking the opportunity, he winked at Darren to ask for his opinion. Darren understood his gestures and agreed without hesitation. Mia was a little nervous. After all she knew her offer was definitely not acceptable. A few minutes later, the realtor returned with a smile. “The landlord has agreed.” Mia’s mouth popped open in shock. She tried slashing the price but didn’t think the landlord would actually agree. She blinked at Darren. Darren coughed and walked up to her “ what’s wrong?” “I don’t think this house is an ordinary haunted house. I think something extremely terrible must
Delicious smell of food wafted in the Air as soon as Darren entered the house. “Why did you come back early today?” Mia casts a sidelong glance at him and continues to toss the spaghetti in the pan. The apron accentuated her alluring figure, her curvy bum bobbed as she moved around. The bow tie on her back seemed to tease Darren, as if hinting at him to open and peek at the tempting gift inside. Darren’s eyes darkened as he felt hot in his throat. He unbuttoned his collar and went straight to the fridge to get a bottle of water. “I was off duty earlier,” he said after gulping down the water. He looked at her floral apron and touched the hem. “ it’s this an apron? It can’t even cover your thighs.” It was more like sexy lingerie. “Stop pulling my apron, I got it at a discount. It’s beautiful, right?” Mia glared at him and continued to cut the vegetables without uttering a word. Darren grinned and put the spaghetti bowl on the dining table. Several design sketches were scattered
“Thirty Thousand dollars?” Mia stared at her laptop screen, her mouth wide open. She quickly typed a message to the client, her fingers flying over the keyboard. This was going to be her first big client ever since her graduation. Given the amount of offer they had made, she was expecting a heap of struck instructions she would have to abide by. “Excuse me. May I know whether you are a gentleman or a lady?” The website played as a bridge between clients and freelance designers. The clients had the option to use their real name or not, but most of them did not bother setting up a profile. Most of the profiles in the listing were nothing but the default grey icon, with no way to tell the clients gender. “Male”Came the client's reply. “I see, do you have specific requirements regarding the design sir?” Mia leaned forward and propped her chin on one hand, bracing herself for a long list of demands. It didn’t take long for the client to write back, “I have seen the designs you pos
“Did I disturb you? I will try to keep my voice down.” Startled, mia clamped her mouth with her hand and looked him apologetically. Darren shook his head and walked to her bed. Then, he slumped into it and inhaled her sweet fragrance. Propping his head on his arm, Darren closed his eyes. “ what happened why are you so happy?” He asked casually. “Don’t lie on my bed Darren,” Mia’s cheek puffed as she tried to pull his arm. He was tall and heavy. Finally she gave up and sat on the chair beside the desk. “I met a wealthy generous client who asked to design for him. I just submitted my draft and got paid. Darren opened his eyes and looked at her grinning with joy, “ then you don’t have to go for the drug trail, that’s good.” Mia smiled she rested her chin and the palm of head and poked the lamp on the desk with one finger. “ why don’t you ask me how much I have earned?” “I don't need your money, I don’t care how much you have that’s your business. I only wish for you not to go
Darren’s face darkened. His didn’t believe the restaurant that belonged to the Preston group had such a poor service. The workers disrespected the diners. He wondered how Micheal managed his subordinates? He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the manager, “what makes you think that we wouldn’t order food? You blindly believe their words without listening to us.”The argument caught everyone’s attention. They stopped eating and gawked at them. Several passerby outside were also peeking into the restaurant through the glass door. The manager broke out in a cold sweat, after all the quarrel wuld affect the restaurant reputation. If the media covered the news, people would not come to the restaurant again. “I’ve inquired from the two waitresses and they said you two were causing trouble out of nothing, how dare you question me?” The restaurant manager grew desperate and anxious to resolve the problem as soon as possible. He picked up the walkie-talkie on his chest and sai
Mia picked up the design draft she had submitted and carefully examined it. “The design is in complete accordance with the requirements they asked for. I’m surprised they had rejected it. Maybe because I’m too inexperienced to understand where I had gone wrong, Ma pls give me some advice, or perhaps just choose someone else's designs.” Not only Mia, the director was also equally surprised and confused. She looked at the design and shook her head, “ I can’t give you any advice, I think this draft design is also good. That's why I chose it and presented it to the client. Well frankly, if a client is not happy with our design, they can reject it right away. They usually ask us to modify it based on their requirements. I can’t believe they rejected our design without giving a proper explanation this time.” “Then what do we now?” Mia asked hesitantly. “Since we can’t figure out the reason, let’s go to their company and ask them why they rejected it. It would be better to talk to them
“Wow,” Mia said breathlessly. “It’s beautiful….and it looks expensive.” All of a sudden, she sighed. “Don’t tell me you spent a fortune on me again” “Don’t worry, it didn’t cost much. I got it from a friend.” Darren said affectionately, lying as easily as breathing. As he spoke he ran his fingers across the woman’s slender waist restlessly. It never occurred to her that the gem in front of her was a real diamond. And how could it be real? If it was, Darren had to be extremely rich. Eyeing her twinkling gemstone, she said awe, “ Technology these days must be amazing, it looks like a real diamond.” Darren looked at her cute face and had to hold back a smile that kept tugging at the Corner of his lips. Lowering his head so she couldn’t see his face, he took the diamond ring out of the bottom and slipped it onto her index finger. Her fair, slender finger made the diamond pop out even more. Delighted, he nibbled her neck and whispered “you’re right. It does look real.” “Ouch! Hey!” M
It was July now, and the first and the first wave of scorching summer heat rolled over seacisco. The days were longer and the sun set later. Mia came home one day just as the sun was sinking in the horizon. The warm yellow light flooded the apartment, illuminating everything in a hazy glow. In the kitchen the man was cooking something that smelled delicious. “Why are you home early?” Mia hid her surprise as she walked to the kitchen slowly. Piping hot dumplings bounded on the pot as Darren flipped them over with the light flick of his wrist. Afterwards, he turned off the gas and transferred the dumplings to a plate, then fetched a pair of bowls and chopsticks. “Have dinner with me, why are you just standing there?” “Okay.” Mia said without protest. As Darren set the table, she sat down hesitantly. Staring at the steaming dumplings in her bowl, she commented in surprise, “you can even make dumplings?” Darren pulled out a chair and sat down opposite her. In the setting sun, his us
The next day, Mia went to the company early in the morning. Darren couldn’t sleep well that night. When he went to brush his teeth the next morning, he looked at himself in the mirror and found three red marks on his forehead. He could neither cover it with a mask, nor did he have long hair to hide it. He had no choice but to go out this way. There was a meeting for the senior executives in the Preston group today. Everyone was well prepared for the meeting with a solemn look on their faces. Micheal sat down on the left, idly rotating a pen on his fingers. Just then, the room of the meeting room flew open. Darren walked in, wearing a dark blue suit, followed by his assistant James. Who was carrying a laptop and the necessary documents for the meeting. He excluded his usual majestic aura. However, the red marks on his cold face seemed to catch everyone’s attention. Everyone stared at Darren with bated breath as if they had seen a ghost. They wondered who had scratched the CEO of
Darren’s nose cringed. He felt the urge to trash away the books into the garbage, but after a moment of hesitation he picked one and read it. His knitted brows didn’t loosen until he put it down. The content of the books were even more shocking than their titles. Darren felt the need to wash his eyes after reading it. But perhaps the books were t completely useless. There were common themes in all the books. Whenever the hero and heroine quarreled, they would solve the problem by making passionate love. The hero would always push the heroine down forcefully and kiss her, and things would escalate until they made it to their bed. Then all their problems would be solved.Darren frowned slightly wondering if he should also give it a try. At night, Mia wore her headphones and sat on the chair, with one leg under her bum, and began working on her designs. Her elegant fingers had a way of their own with the pen, she painted at ease, drawing bold, confident strokes. The window was open,
“Do you have the flower shop's phone number? Ask if the flowers can be returned.” After clearing the petals on the floor, Mia laid a pile of flowers on the dining table. Darren painstakingly removed all the candles from the floor and made a call to have his men take the flowers away. It was already midnight by the time they finished cleaning. Exhausted, Mia leaned against the sofa. “I was able to get this much back from the flower shop.” With one hand in his pocket, Darren walked over to Mia and put a wad of cash next to her. “Why are you giving it to me? It’s your money.” Mia looked tired, but her tone was as cold as it was that morning. As she spoke, she dumped the money on the coffee table and then got up to walk to her room, before closing the door behind her, she stole one last glance at the man. Truth be told, she was delighted to have received flowers from Darren. She had never seen so many flowers before, let alone the fact that they were from Darren.But the most impo
There was a woman nestled in Micheal’s arms. He squinted sleepily and spoke in a voice that didn’t sound completely sober. “You can’t do this to me. It’s seven o’clock in the morning. Even servants should have time to rest.” “I’m not joking. Hurry up and find a way to help me. I can’t sleep until this problem is solved.” As he spoke, Darren sullenly stared at the scenery framed by the window. “Okay, okay. Just give me a minute, will you?” Micheal struggled to climb out of bed and lumbered to the bathroom to splash his face with cold water. Then, when he was fully awake, he returned and said “buddy, I can tell from just a glance that your wife’s a little tricky. I’ve seen her a couple of times. She looked gentle and easy going, but I could never tell what was on her mind.” Darren sneered with disdain. “Don’t talk about her like that. Do you want to die Micheal?” Micheal smiled sheepishly. “Well anyways, my point is since money does not work, then you need to change tactics. Try woo
The bar looked dim except for the occasional neon lights that flashed from time to time. The loud music vibrated through the floor. Seeing Darren walking into the bar, Micheal quickly drove away the beautiful women clinging to him and straightened his clothes. After hearing why Darren was here today, Micheal burst out laughing. “I can’t believe you’d come to me one day for such a thing.” Darren slowly picked up the glass. The dim lights softened his features, making him look more handsome. He leaned against the sofa, stretching out his long legs. “Mind your tongues. Unless you don’t want to have weekends this month.” Micheal cleared his throat and swallowed the rest of his words. He picked a glass of wine and sat beside Darren. “Do you want me to be single all my life? My eighteenth girlfriend is waiting for me to take her on a date this weekend.” “Didn’t you say that your seventeenth girlfriend was pregnant? Don’t you want to get married?” Darren frowned and took a sip of the w
The three sides of the interrogation room were made of dark grey glass. People outside would have a clear view of everything inside. Darren was standing outside the glass door. His shiny leather shoes looked spotless, and his dark eyes narrowed at the dazzling emerald ring he held between his slender fingers. His fingertips rubbed against the initials carved on the inner wall of the ring he looked dangerous. The coffee in Jane’s hands had turned cold. He cautiously handed it to Darren again. “Boss, we found the woman. Well bring her in for interrogation right away. I’ll make sure she confesses everything.” Darren nodded and looked at the interrogation room. The shop manager was brought in. She was no longer arrogant and domineering as before. She looked around and found men clad in suits staring at her. “Where did you get this ring?” James pounded the table. He sounded just like a fierce detective. The shop manager rubbed her hands nervously. Judging from their clothes and