Calista remained seated, undisturbed, while Yara sprang into action next to the table, forcibly turning someone to face her."Hector, you sneaky guy! Didn't we agree that I'd be the one to ask the question? You threw me under the bus there. Now Calista probably thinks we're in cahoots or something."Hector brushed off Yara's grip, pulled out the chair next to Calista, and sat down."I'm here to go after someone, and being here in person shows I mean business. Yara, you can take off now since you've brought me into the picture. Grab some food next door. My treat."Yara glared at him and retorted, "Why involve me in the first place? Why not ask her directly?""You see, showing up unexpectedly too often can irritate folks. Timing is key. Given that you've already set the stage, it made sense for me to step in," Hector replied."Do you ever wonder why passing love notes through messengers was a thing back in school instead of just asking someone out directly?" he continued."Why?" Y
Calista and Yara didn't hang out for long since Calista had a meeting to rush to. It was the end of the workday, and the office had mostly cleared out.Calista waited for the people to exit the elevator before stepping inside and pressing the floor button. Just as she did, the doors opened again. Lucian and David walked in.Calista stood with her hands folded, her eyes fixed on the elevator doors. Through the reflected doors, she noticed Lucian's attention remained fixed ahead instead of peering at her.Unable to resist, she made a disapproving sound and turned to Lucian."Lucian, did your company go broke or something? You seem to have all the time in the world chasing after your ex-wife, who wants nothing to do with you."David knew Lucian's disposition well. When someone else wrongly accused Lucian, he would readily defend himself.However, in the case of Calista unjustly blaming Lucian, he would keep his frustration to himself and vent it on David later."Madam Calista …" Da
"Nope. But we might arrive sooner, so you can return earlier, too," Paul answered.Paul was being thoughtful. He had a feeling that Calista might have some impending commitments when Shawn inquired about her schedule earlier."In that case, I'll head home and get my luggage ready."Calista initially planned to leave tonight, and now that her desire had been fulfilled, she agreed with Paul. He got up and took the car keys from the drawer."Yep, let's roll. I'll swing by your place, and we can catch our flight later. It's right on the way."As they left the premises together, Lucian concluded his meeting. Lucian's reputation had spread throughout the project department after the previous incident.A staff member wasted no time sharing the news when she spotted him."Mr. Baker and Calista are on their way to the airport."The staff had caught snippets of their conversation during Paul's earlier task handover to the deputy manager."The airport?" Lucian inquired, his eyes locked o
Paul immediately noticed something was wrong with Calista. He grabbed her hand just as she was about to run from him."What's wrong?" David was anxious as he saw Calista's gaze swept past them from a distance."It seems like Mrs. Northwood saw you." Their actions were considered stalking, weren't they? Lucian frowned."No, she wasn't looking at me." As soon as he finished his sentence, he saw Calista whipping her hand out of Paul's grip. She ran toward a place with fewer people. "Stop her," Lucian ordered David. Paul was stunned for a second, then he immediately went after her. But there were a lot of people on the streets. Calista disappeared from his sight as she blended into the crowd. Calista's gaze was fixated on the slender figure, who wasn't far away from her. She was of average height, around five feet four.She moved swiftly through the crowd, occasionally revealing the profile that Calista was so familiar with. The woman was dressed in a body-con dress, wit
"I'm not betting with you," said Calista.She wouldn't bother to waste her time on such an idle matter. "Then come and eat with me now," Lucian remarked.Calista was at a loss for words.She reached for her phone subconsciously as she wanted to call Paul to let him know she was safe. Only did she realize her phone wasn't with her as she reached for it.When Paul was grabbing her earlier on, he also took hold of her bag strap. She tossed him her bag as she was struggling to get away from him. Paul was searching the streets for Calista. David followed him closely."Mr. Baker, Mr. Northwood just texted me. Mrs. Northwood was a bit frightened, so he took her back to the hotel first." Paul halted his steps. He turned around and looked at David."Did Lucian lure her away?" David swore to him."No way. Mr. Northwood just happened to see what happened so he went after her. If he knew there was a person who'd trigger such a huge reaction in Mrs. Northwood, he would've sent this
Calista knew Lucian was probably full, but she didn't know he was that full. And she didn't expect him to be dumb to the extent that he only voiced out when he could no longer take it.She subconsciously wanted to head toward him, but she halted. She turned around and went to the mart nearby to buy some water.When Calista came out, Lucian had finished vomiting. He was standing there with an unbearable expression. She handed him the water."Sorry. But if you can no longer take it, you can just say so. There's no need to act tough." Lucian took the water. He rinsed before he slowly gulped in the water. His arched neck created an elegant line, and his slightly protruding Adam's apple shifted up and down with each swallow. Through the slightly open collar of the shirt, his collarbones were faintly revealed.With the dazzling neon lights and ink-blue sky behind him, he looked as captivating as a carefully crafted painting from any angle.Calista stared at him. The words Lucian sa
The one who was staring at her was … Lucian.It was unclear how long he had been sitting there. He was still dressed in how he was when they were at the tourist hotspot earlier.He sat there alone, with a translucent glass in his hand. Under the dim lights, the amber-colored liquid cast speckles of light on his fingers. Lucian stood out. His appearance, figure, the way he carried himself and his expensive clothing that anyone could tell at first glance attracted lots of attention from his surroundings. There were a lot of women doing prostitution in this bar. Several types of women were present, be it the seductive ones, conservative ones, innocent ones, dominant ones—you name it.Some of them were chatting away together, some were wandering around in the bar with a glass in their hands.Once they had their eyes on someone or someone was interested in them, they'd sit down and chat the night away. Calista wasn't here for too long, but she'd already seen a few of them as the
As Calista got up, Paul followed her up as well."I'll see you off.""There's no need for that, Mr. Baker. You can carry on drinking with them. It's just downstairs, so you don't have to see me off."Earlier, when Shawn asked Paul whether it was okay for her to drink, it was an attempt to categorize her as Paul's partner.Though she knew she might be overthinking it, it was still better to avoid any potential misunderstandings. Since it's impossible, she should make herself clear. It's better to not give mixed signals as in rejecting verbally but acting the opposite.This created a false impression that she could be won over with just some more effort.Sometimes, having feelings for another person was self-hypnotizing in a certain way.Due to one's indecisiveness which in turn gave the other party the wrong signals, leading them deeper into self-hypnotization. It was the same concept as fishing. If you fed the fish too much, they wouldn’t take the bait. But, you couldn’t not