Chapter 10

"Jules, you're here. Grab a seat." Blaine greeted Julie warmly. He even stood up to tuck her chair in. Julie was a little bit surprised. As she sat on her chair, she muttered softly, "Thank you." Blaine stretched his arm out and patted her on the shoulder warmly. "No need for the formalities." He had just finished speaking when he felt a pair of cold eyes staring at him. Blaine looked to his side and found Lucian's eyes locked on him, staring him down. He could feel a gust of cold wind coming from Lucian. Blaine could not help but shiver. He awkwardly withdrew his hand and sat down on a chair nearby. Julie passed the bag with the coat over to Blaine. "Thank you for last night, Mr. Chandler." Blaine peeked at Lucian from the corner of his eyes and reached out. "No need to thank me. I just did my duty as a friend," he said with a chuckle. Right after he said that, he stood up immediately. "Um, I'll have to excuse myself to the bathroom. It's urgent." Before Julie could even react, Blaine had already left. Instantly, the atmosphere in the room became awkward. Julie stood up. "Um, since I've returned the coat, I should—" Before Julie could even complete her sentence, Lucian interrupted and said, "Sit down and have a meal with us." Julie shook her head. "It's okay. I have places to be." Lucian asked frankly, "Do you really have an appointment, or are you just avoiding me?" She lowered her eyes without saying anything. He let out a frustrated sigh. "Still have that temper of yours, huh? Forever ignoring others whenever you're upset." Julie was instantly annoyed upon hearing that. "And is my temper any of your business?" Silence filled the room right away. When Julie felt that her emotions were about to escalate, she lowered her eyes and said nothing. Lucian got up from his chair and went over to stand in front of her. "Are you still angry at me for leaving the country? I—" When she heard those words, she immediately cut him off and said, "What right do I have to be angry over that?" Lucian stretched his arm out and gave her hair a tousle. In a softened tone, he said, "Why wouldn't you? You're the only one in the entire world who has the right to." Julie was speechless. "Why don't you just sit down and join us for lunch? I've ordered your favorite filet mignon." Julie did not budge. Instead, she angrily said, "I don't like it anymore. It's been a long time since I disliked it." Lucian paused for a moment and suddenly realized something. "Jules, how have you been these past few years?" "It's not important anymore. Please excuse me. I have to make a move." Once she finished speaking, she walked toward the door. After five years of anticipation, she suddenly realized that it had all been a deception. She did not know how to face Lucian anymore. … Zayn was scrolling on his phone out of boredom as he sat with his blind date in the main hall of the restaurant. He only responded to her questions from time to time without much interest. "Zayn, I heard from your mother that you became an intern at your family's company during your sophomore year in university. Is that right? Zayn replied half-heartedly, "My mom made me do it. I didn't want to." Anna did not know what to say. She was rather saddened as she could tell that Zayn was not interested in her. If she were to be honest, Zayn checked all the boxes in terms of family background and outward appearance. Hence, she decided to be proactive. "By the way, a new movie just came out. Why don't we go to the movie theater tomorrow?" When Zayn heard this, he suddenly recalled Julie having said the same thing before, about them going to the movie theater together. He did go to the movie theater, but he brought another woman with him. He made Julie wait for him until the movie ended. That time, when he walked out of the hall, he saw Julie obediently waiting for him at the ticketing booth. Then, he proceeded to go to a love hotel with the other woman. He even made Julie get the condoms for him from a store. What kind of emotions did she experience at the time? He could not remember it clearly. He only knew that she had gotten angry. In the end, though, she still complied with his request and went to get the condoms for him. It was clear that Julie was subservient to him. He could see that Julie cared about him a lot. But whenever he was reminded of the agreement between Julie and Martha, Zayn would get riled up. That was why he ignored Julie for a few days. And half a month ago, they broke up. They had been broken up for almost 20 days. This was the longest break in the past three years. He began panicking a little once he realized this fact. Suddenly, he regretted giving in to Martha's request and coming for this blind date. He was not the least bit interested in Anna. There was no need for him to waste his time coming here. Having arrived at this thought, Zayn could no longer bear to waste even a second more in this place. He looked at Anna, who was still chattering away, and interrupted her, "I'm sorry, Ms. Fuller. Something came up with one of the projects, so I have to head back to the company for a while." Zayn made up a poor excuse. Then, he stood up without even giving Anna a chance to respond. "I'll get the bi—" Before he could even finish his sentence, he saw Julie coming down from the second floor. Zayn thought that he was seeing things. He blinked a few times. It really was Julie. His lip curved into an arrogant smile. She had claimed not to care about him anymore. But here she was, looking for him. He could not wait. This time, he had to teach Julie a lesson. Right when Zayn was thinking of how to deal with her, he saw a man running up to her from behind. Zayn knew that man. It was Blaine, the second son of the Chandler family. Zayn could not tell what Blaine was saying to Julie, but he saw Blaine tousling her head affectionately. When Zayn saw that, he immediately stood up in anger. He disregarded the fact that Anna was still there as his blind date and just strode over to where Julie was. As Zayn got nearer to them, he could hear Blaine saying, "Don't be angry at Blainey, alright? The great Mr. Fuller was the one who wanted to tag along." "Blainey"? Julie had always been reserved whenever she was with Zayn, but when it came to other men, she was affectionately calling them by their pet name? Zayn was about to explode from rage. He failed to keep his nasty temper under control and just sarcastically mocked Julie from the bottom of the stairs, "And here I was thinking how you could break up with me so easily. Turns out that you've already hooked up with someone else, huh?" Julie looked to her side, and their eyes met. But it was only for a short while before she retracted her gaze and ignored Zayn. Blaine glanced downward at Zayn. He then placed his arm on Julie's shoulder and lazily teased, "Dear mighty Mr. Peyton, you must think that Julie's an easy target, huh?" Zayn's expression darkened. His eyes were glued to Blaine's arm that was on Julie's shoulder. "Blaine, don't be fooled by this woman. She's just after your money." When Blaine heard this, he was surprised for a moment. Immediately afterward, he had a flattered expression on his face as he looked at Julie. "Jules, is that true? What I have is money. Feel free to fool Blainey, alright?" The corner of Julie's mouth twitched. Could he really be a fool? She slapped his hand away, suddenly feeling repulsed to have his hand on her shoulder. Zayn became even more livid and clenched down on his molars. Was Blaine sick in the head? Zayn was about to speak, but before he could even open his mouth, Blaine started yapping away fearlessly again, "Jules, you know I'm different from those cheap and disgusting men right?" After he finished talking, he made it a point to provoke Zayn with his eyes. Julie replied dismissively, "Yeah, yeah. You're different. I have to make a move, so see you next time." She did not even bat an eye at Zayn and just walked straight to the entrance of the restaurant. Zayn's expression became cold as ice because his presence had just been totally ignored. The audacity Julie had just knocked the wind out of him. Zayn fired an intense glare at Blaine before turning around to run after Julie. Blaine kept his eyes on Zayn as he pondered. Something was off. There had to be something going on between the two.