Chapter 2 Birthday Celebration

"Jean, you're the best." Seeing her friend from across the table cook long-life noodles just for her made Daisy smile from ear to ear.

"I wouldn't have gone back to the kitchen if it weren't for your birthday!" Without looking back, Jean could sense her friend's bright smile.

Every year, Daisy always asked Jean to cook a bowl of long-life noodles for her birthday. Daisy wouldn't even bother touching her birthday cake. Jean remembered the first bowl of noodles she made. The food was so atrocious that she threw up when she tasted it, but Daisy gladly finished the whole serving with a smile. Since then, she knew her friend was one of a kind, and she never let go of Daisy.

"Here you go. Your noodles." Jean put the bowl in front of her friend and sat on the opposite side of the table. In the past two years, she hadn't improved on anything else but her cooking skills became superb.

"Thank you, mwah!" Daisy pouted her lips and blew a kiss to her friend. "Here I go!" She quickly tied her hair into a ponytail and began to eat the noodles. "Jean, you're getting better at cooking," Daisy flirtingly said to her friend while eating. "Do you remember the first noodles you made for me? Oh my god, I will never forget how that tasted!"

Going along with her friend's teasing, Jean pretended to be angry and tried to grab the bowl in front of Daisy. "You don't like it, do you? Then don't eat it!"

"I'm sorry, I was just kidding!" Daisy quickly grabbed the bowl with her hands. "Today is my birthday, so you can't do that to me."

"Humph! For God's sake, you're already 22 and you're still playing that card." Jean rolled her eyes. "But to be serious." Jean fixed her eyes on her friend.

"Are you going to be engaged? If I remember correctly, your family and the Han family are going to set an engagement for you when you turn 22, am I right?" Thinking of the news she heard from her brother, Jean looked at her friend with concern.

"I've heard that your fiance, Alex Han, is not a good man!" But Daisy just kept eating her noodles without raising her head. "Hey, did you hear me?" Jean tried to get her attention. Still, no response. Jean didn't like it whenever Daisy shut her out. Annoyed, she pushed her friend's arm.

Daisy jerked in surprise, which made her choke on the chili sauce. Tears instantly welled up as her face flushed.

"What is wrong with you? Are you trying to kill me?" When she finally caught her breath, Daisy finally looked up to her friend.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I'm just worried about you." Jean took out a tissue and handed it to Daisy, and then poured a glass of water for her. The sight of her friend sitting on the other side of the table made her sigh.

She knew more or less about the situation of her friend's family. Daisy lost her mother at an early age, and her father remarried less than a year after her mother's untimely death. Now she had a half-sister and a stepmother who despised her. Her father was known in the business circle to be greedy and cunning. Wanting more money in the future, her father allied with the Han family in a bidding for a developed land.

He reaped the benefits at Daisy's expense. Almost everyone knew that Alex Han was a playboy who indulged himself by wasting an extravagant amount of money and sleeping with women left to right.

Besides, the Han family was just a small family on the rise. Mr. Han had accumulated some connections in the past. He had a silver tongue and a charming personality, which he used to slowly build up his network. But when Jean mentioned the Han family to her brother, his face was filled with disdain. For him, they were nothing but some upstarts.

"I know, but no matter how much you worried, you can't change the very fact. Nothing can stop the marriage." Daisy took the water from her friend and took a sip. Her long and thick eyelashes covered the gleam in her eyes.

The Chen family had been hiding a financial crisis for some time now. But it had nothing to do with Daisy. She renounced any connections she had to her family three years ago. Now, Daisy's father wanted to use her for money, but first he needed her permission.

"Then what do you think? Are you going to accept this arrangement?" Jean held Daisy's hand anxiously. "Your family is unfair. You and Abby are both daughters of the Chen family. Why isn't she the one who's going to marry the Han family?" Speaking of this, Jean felt sorry for her friend.

Seeing how concerned her friend is for her, Daisy stopped pretending to not care. A warm feeling bottled up inside of her as she thought, 'It is so good to have Jean by my side.'

She patted her friend's hand and comforted, "It's okay. If it weren't Alex Han, there would be someone else." Daisy's thought unwillingly wandered off again as she looked at her nails and thought about going to a manicure shop.

"At least, compared to others, Alex Han won't interfere in my life. We can both live our own life." Then, out of nowhere, Daisy turned to look at her friend with rare seriousness in her eyes.

"Besides, Abby couldn't escape this fate either. The Chen family is going to arrange a marriage between her and Mike Qi." Daisy was on the verge of tears when she spoke of this. Sure enough, the biggest difference between having a mother and not was that Abby was free to find a rich, gentle man to marry. Daisy, on the other hand, didn't have this luxury.

"What about falling in love with a person who equally loves you back? A person who you're happy to marry and have children with." Jean couldn't help but feel sorry for her friend.

"I've never thought that. I'd rather be alone than be with someone." Daisy smiled, picked up a grape from the fruit plate and put it into her mouth, acting as if everything was well.

"Plus, it's very good being single. You can do whatever you want, whenever you want it with no one holding you back," Daisy said as she raised a snicker and quickly touched her friend's face with her right hand. "You're more than enough for me."

"Daisy! I'm serious!" Jean blushed and stood up in an instant.

Seeing her red face and watery eyes. Daisy raised her hand and touched Jean's chin. 'Jean is getting more and more beautiful,' she thought.

"Okay, be serious." Daisy straightened up. "There is a way, but our time will be very limited, making it next to impossible."

"How? Tell me so I can help you." As Jean heard this, her eyes lit up at Daisy with complete eagerness and attention.

Daisy was really touched by her friend's concern. No one had cared about her feelings ever since her mother died. She forgot how good it felt having someone care for her.

"Find someone richer and more powerful than Alex Han and Mike Qi," Daisy sneered, raising her lips. No matter who she ended up marrying, Daisy would just be a commodity. She never had the initiative.