Chapter 534


    Sunlight poured into the room, casting long shadows that ovepped one another on the floor. The


    three of them were quiet for a moment and the atmosphere was a little awkward.


    “Let’s find a ce to sit,” Heather said to Paige next to her, ignoring Leon.


    After choosing a spot next to the window, she directly went to take a seat while Paige followed her from


    behind. Leon fiddled with his hair and the corner of his lips curved upward into a resigned smile before


    he quickly went after them.


    As Paige sat down next to Heather, Leon took a seat opposite them. For the whole time, his eyes were


    intermittently ncing at Paige. Heather took in his behaviors and met his gaze in the course, so she


    was pretty clear of his intention.


    He had always been interested in beautiful women, especially mature ones. Paige carried the


    temperament of a maturedy from her head to toe, but what was more umon was the sense of


    abstinence on her.


    Naturally, a yboy like him could not resist the charm of a mature yet chaste woman.


    “Introduce yourselves.” Heather prompted in a formal tone. Not only was she not against workce


    romance, but she also thought it might be good for Leon to fall in love with Paige.


    On the other hand, Paige particrly disliked Leon’s frivolous bearing. She cast a look at him and


    impassively said, “Nice to meet you. I’m Paige.” She was reluctant to even hold out her hand to shake


    his.


    Courtesy was meant for those who deserved to be respected, and that did not include Leon. Paige’s


    impression of him was awful, especially when he kept staring at her with a greasy gaze, which made


    her feel extremely ufortable.


    A small smile formed on Leon’s face. He looked mesmerizing and beguiling when he smiled, but Paige


    was not attracted to him.


    “I’m Leon. Nice to meet you too.” He winked at her, trying hard to make her fall head over heels for him.


    Great, Heather thought, Paige’s impression of him must have hit rock bottom now. While watching their


    interactions from the sideline, she noticed that Leon seemed to have hit a hurdle. Even with his


    heavenly handsome face, it could not guarantee him smooth sailing when it came to picking up girls.


    However, the colder Paige treated Leon, the more motivated he was to win her heart. The challenging


    situation evoked his desire to conquer her. To him, women were always at hand, and he loved those


    who were hard to get.


    Not only did he not learn his lesson from the failed attempt to charm Heather, but it instead intensified


    his urge to flirt with other women who were uninterested in him. Nevertheless, there were very few who


    were able to resist his charm, and it was rare to encounter them. Now, he had finally met Paige, who


    was simr to Heather.


    Therefore, Leon definitely would not miss this opportunity. Still, he had to make clear one thing, and


    that was whether Paige had a boyfriend. Heather had only mentioned that Paige was unmarried, but


    she did not tell him if she was still single.


    He wanted to know more about Paige, and although he was able to investigate her background using


    theputer, it would be more direct to hear it from Heather.


    After a while, three cups of civet coffee were served by the young waitress that Leon had flirted with


    earlier. She was a girl in her teenage years, and her face was flushed red from shyness.


    Seeing Leon wink at the waitress, Paige felt disgusted at him. She found this sort of behavior childish


    and irresponsible. However, the young waitress was mesmerized by Leon’s flirtatious acts. If Heather


    had not darted her a sharp gaze, she probably would have been reluctant to leave.


    The timid girl cast a nce at Heather before hastily leaving. Then, Heather darted a warning look at


    Leon, whose yful smile remained, unfazed by her warning. Meanwhile, Paige tried to not look at him


    as the very sight of him annoyed her.


    Two years ago, Paige had a rtionship that she would never forget—she had encountered a yboy.


    She initially thought that she would spend the rest of her life with him, but it turned out that the man had


    merely been fooling around with her.


    Throughout their rtionship, he had been caring to her; he treated her with extreme gentleness and


    would always say sweet nothings to her. However, sheter realized that it was exactly how he had


    treated every woman he met, with the same tactics and means.


    Just as she had genuinely wanted to marry him, she found out about his true colors from someone


    else. As the saying went, once bitten, twice shy. Ever since the incident, Paige had been devoting


    herself to work and never fantasized about romance.


    Now, looking at Leon reminded her of the man; he even had the same flirtatious gaze as thetter.


    When one sumbed to love, one might mistake the flirtatious gaze as admiration to oneself. It was


    only after one hade to their senses did one know that he or she was merely a prey who had been


    yed.


    As seconds went by, Leon’s interest in Paige grew, but it was the opposite for her feelings toward him,


    especially when she noticed the trace of lust in his gaze as he looked at her.


    After all, Heather had introduced Leon as her junior in university as well as her friend.


    So why is he looking at his friend’s friend like that? Paige felt disdainful as she thought. He is just the


    same as my ex-fiancée. Both of them are sc*mbags.


    Meanwhile, Heather gracefully took a sip from the cup of coffee in her hand. Unlike her, Leon disliked


    doing things slowly. He preferred gulping the coffee because to him, coffee was merely a drink to keep


    him awake.


    The way Paige drank her coffee was different from Heather’s as well. While thetter usually seemed


    as if she was conducting a coffee-tasting session, Paige drank like any other ordinary person.


    Upon seeing the way Heather drank, Leon wore a smug look on his face. “Heather, you possess the


    temperament of a noblewoman no matter what you do.” Leon had always loved to make fun of people


    —the more he liked a person, the more he made fun of them. Judging from the wide grin on his face,


    Heather could more or less guess that he was notplimenting her. After all, he usually praised the


    person before saying anything harsh.


    “Shut up,” Heather replied rudely.


    Hearing this, Paige looked at the two of them with a puzzled look on her face. This is probably how


    they interact. Therefore, she remained silent as it would be safer to watch quietly from the sideline to


    prevent getting involved in anything.


    “Heather, I wasplimenting you. Why are you so fierce to me?” Leon grumbled in aggrievement.


    However, Paige found his attention-seeking behavior uneptable, especially when it came from a


    man because her ex-fiancée had used to do the same, just more extreme.


    Why would a grown man like him try to make people feel sorry for him? Is he trying topete with a


    woman to find out who is more sentimental between them? With such thoughts in mind, she inwardly


    gave him a negative score.


    Nheless, she had some reservations about his working ability. After all, he must be a professional


    in his industry to be able to be recruited by Heather. No matter what kind of character he had, she still


    hoped that he would be mature and responsible in his work; hence, she suppressed her disapproval


    toward him for the moment.


    “Nothing good everes out from your mouth. You can tell me straight if you want to criticize me.


    Don’t y any tricks,” Heather snarled. Paige, who witnessed Leon being told off, felt a little happy as


    seeing Leon being scolded actually eased her discontentment.


    “Heather, I can’t believe that you view me in such an awful manner. Iplimented you from the


    bottom of my heart, yet you treated me so cruelly.” Leon continued to act pitiful; his pair ofrge


    bottomless eyes could even melt the heart of the observers.


    Then, he took the opportunity to approach Heather but was pushed away by thetter. “Drop the act.


    We are here to talk about some serious matters.” She did not want to continue to watch him fooling


    around, and at the same time, she did not want Paige to see her fierce side.


    “Okay, I understand. The reason you asked me out is to discuss the start-up of the business, right?”


    Leon casually replied. He seemed nonchnt, as if he did not treat this important matter seriously.


    “What are your thoughts? We can briefly discuss it today.” At this topic, Heather’s attitude became


    stern as she pushed the cup of coffee to one side. The way she slightly narrowed her eyes was


    stunning.


    Her eyshes were prominent and herplexion was wless under the sunlight that cast on her


    face. Leon could not take his eyes off her gorgeous face, and Paige took notice of the hint of


    inconspicuous fervent emotions in his gaze.


    However, itsted for barely an instant. When Paige looked into his eyes again, all she could see was a


    smug look. It stunned her for a moment and made her think that she might have seen things.


    Nevertheless, Leon falling in love with Heather wasn’t something surprising.


    “Pick an auspicious day to start the business. It’s that simple. We will y ording to the rules and


    take it one step at a time. We are just starting apany. Rx and have fun.” Leon had always been


    skittish, but the word ‘have fun’ stung Paige’s heart and caused her to re at him in anger.


    When he realized that her fierce re was directed at him, it was toote for him to regret his words.


    Then, she uttered in dissatisfaction, “We are not starting apany for fun, so I hope you can take this


    seriously. The three of us gathered here today to make ns about our business, and we are going to


    start from scratch. This is an important moment in our lives. If we have this sort of carefree mindset,


    how are we going to face all the future challenges?”


    Listening to Paige, Heather became more engrossed in watching themotion and gloated over


    Leon’s position. He’s in deep trouble now! He actually rubbed the nice-tempered Paige the wrong way


    and infuriated her. Thinking of this, she was somehow secretly excited about the turns of events.


    Although she knew that Leon was extremely serious about their new business set-up, she had no


    intention to exin to Paige on his behalf. Instead, she wished that Paige would be able to teach him a


    lesson for speaking without thinking.


    When Paige started questioning Leon without warning, the atmosphere suddenly became so serious


    that he felt awkward. It seems like Paige can’t take jokes.


    This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    Pleadingly, he darted a nce at Heather, hoping that thetter would stand up for him and exin the


    situation. However, she only gave him a you-are-on-your-own nce in return.


    “Please don’t misunderstand me.” Since Heather had no ns in helping him, he had no choice but to


    clear the misunderstandings himself. “Have you heard of Chairman Mao’s famous quote? It is said that


    ‘all enemies are paper tigers’. Our strategies should be built on the foundation of our contempt toward


    the enemies, but our tactics should be devised by starting from taking them seriously. What I’m trying to


    say is that we should have a carefree mindset when working. A happy job makes a healthy life.”


    Leon was not sure if Paige epted his exnation, but from the surface, her anger seemed to ease a


    little. Her gaze somehow made him feel guilty and reminded him of his homeroom teacher when he


    was in third grade, who had dominated his nightmare as a child. He intended to ask Heather in private


    if Paige had been a teacher before this because her intimidating presence wasparable to that of a


    stern homeroom teacher.


    Heather took another sip of coffee, concealing her smirk with the cup. I can foresee that things will


    be interesting between them. They seem to make quite a good match.


    “Paige, do you have any suggestions?” Heather thought that it was time for her to say something, else


    Paige and Leon would continue to stare at each other awkwardly.


    “November is just around the corner. Why don’t we set the grand opening on the first day of the month?


    I’ve checked and it turns out that it’s an auspicious day.” Paige had long been waiting for this day to


    keeping it in mind. After conducting some research, she thought that 1st November was a good day.


    “I don’t really mind the date. The arrangement of marketing activities on that day is more important.


    Don’t you think that you guys should be a little more specific and practical in your proposals?” Heather


    said helplessly. Not only was Leon being unhelpful, but even Paige’s suggestion was not on point.