Chapter 3

I slowly walked to the front desk, hoping to find a seat.

“Sorry, sir, it’s a holiday today. There are no tables left for a single person. Perhaps you could come back another day?”

I looked back. Everyone in the restaurant was seated in pairs.

I, alone, felt completely out of place.

My stomach growled at an inconvenient moment. I’d barely eaten anything since yesterday and was starving.

My girlfriend, who was supposed to be my future wife, had suddenly become someone else’s, and now I couldn’t even find a place to eat.

Just adding insult to injury.

Just then, a server led a tall, beautiful woman in a long dress into the restaurant.

She was also alone but had made a reservation beforehand and was now about to start eating.

Normally, I probably would have given up and left to find somewhere else.

But today, driven by alcohol, I found a strange boldness rising within me. I walked up to her.

“Hello!”

She didn’t stop her motion of picking up meat. “No QR scans, no likes, and no SnapChat adds.”

I realized she’d misunderstood and quickly lowered my head, speaking earnestly.

“Hello, excuse me, could I share your table? All the nearby places are full, and this is my last chance.”

“I know this is presumptuous, so I’ll pay for this meal. Would that be okay?”

The woman eyed me suspiciously.

It was then that I truly saw her face.

Exquisitely beautiful. It was hard to imagine such radiant openness and reserved composure coexisting on one face.

Both her appearance and temperament were top-tier.

She gave a slight nod. I was overjoyed and prepared to sit down, but I clumsily knocked over a plate of thinly sliced beef, which landed squarely on her high-heeled shoe.

I frantically bent down to pick it up, and she happened to look up.

Our foreheads collided with a harsh thud.

“Ouch!”

Tears welled up in my eyes, but I still instinctively reached out to rub her forehead.

She silently pushed my hand away. “You’re paying for this meal, and the shoe cleaning fee will be separate.”

I nodded furiously. “No problem, no problem!”

When I finally sat down, wrapping a few slices of grilled beef in lettuce and stuffing a large bite into my mouth, I was so happy I almost cried.

Damn Vivian Sterling, that manipulative fraud.

She stole three years of my youth and sincerity.

I used to read about those instant-gratification romance stories in novels.

I never thought one day it would happen to me.

I picked up another piece of meat, dipped it in sauce, and after swallowing it, found it tasted bitter and salty.

I realized, without knowing it, my face was streaked with tears.

The beautiful woman silently pushed a tissue box toward me.

I pulled out tissues, thanked her, cried, and couldn’t stop stuffing meat into my mouth.

After eating and drinking my fill, the alcohol completely took over.

I held a piece of meat, trying several times, but couldn't successfully drop it into my dipping sauce bowl.

I looked up at the beautiful woman, but she had multiplied into several, swaying before my eyes.

My phone rang. I stared at the dozen blinking red and green buttons on the screen, unsure which to press.

A slender hand reached out, swiped across the screen, and answered the call directly.

“Leo! Where the hell did you run off to, you rascal!”

I weakly mumbled, “Sam, hey—”

“Give me your location!”

I was confused. “Sam, hehe.”

Sam was frantic. “Hehe what, where are you, seriously!”

The beautiful woman sighed and gave the address. “At Star BBQ.”

Sam Sterling burst in and immediately grabbed my ear, looking utterly disappointed.

Vivian Sterling was also there, but she merely stood to the side, arms crossed, her expression cold.

Adam Cole’s gaze, however, kept drifting towards the beautiful woman.