Chapter 1 A Blind Date

Two people sat at a table in the Sunshine Cafe in A City.

Kira Lin looked at the bald, ungraceful, paunchy man before her, a stiff smile playing at the corner of her mouth. She managed, with much difficulty, to not roll her eyes.

Her mother was an obstinate woman and Kira could never be able to change her mother's mind. Her mother lived in C City now, but that didn't stop her from setting Kira up on blind dates over and over again. She even threatened to disown Kira if she didn't go on these blind dates.

These thoughts brought a throbbing headache to Kira. She was only twenty-seven years old. Many of her peers were now married, but she wasn't yet at the point where she felt the exaggerated fear of dying alone.

She had been on eight blind dates this week alone. A fact that was as crazy as it was true!

And today was just Wednesday. She couldn't even begin to imagine how many more blind dates were waiting for her this week. She had kind of maxed out on them and was just going through the motions.

Kira had asked her friend to help her out of the situation. But her friend hadn't come to her rescue yet. She looked down at her phone over and over again, hoping she would show up soon.

"Miss Lin? Miss Lin? Are you listening to me?" the man before her said, wondering what Kira was thinking about. Kira's current blind date sipped on a cup of juice, cake crumbs dotting the corners of his mouth. He had gone on for a while before realizing that Kira wasn't even listening to him.

It was at these questions that Kira came to her senses. She looked up at him, a perfunctory smile on her face and said, "Mr. Yang, I'm sorry. I didn't catch you. Could you repeat yourself, please? Sorry, I was absent-minded and didn't hear what you were saying."

The man smiled a smile that caused Kira to inwardly cringe. He continued, "Oh, it's not a big deal. I was just saying that I like you, Miss Lin. Do you like me? Are you satisfied? I think you would definitely say yes. Am I right?"

The smile on Kira's face became fixed at his words. She clenched her hand around her cup of coffee to avoid chucking it at his head and took a deep breath.

She told herself to calm down and that she must stay cool and keep her emotions in check.

What she wanted to tell the man was that he really needed to look in the mirror and then look at the world. His overconfidence made people laugh and he was blind to seeing it.

The urge to empty her coffee on his face heightened, but she controlled herself as she had been doing since the moment she sat down across from him.

"Really?" she asked, a wry but polite smile on her lips.

The man looked Kira up and down, undisguised lust in his eyes.

He pondered for a while before saying, "Miss Lin, you know, I'm a local resident of A City. If we get married, I want you to make the down payment on our new house. We can then repay the loan together after we get married."

The corners of Kira's mouth twitched again. She couldn't bear this man anymore! She hadn't even said yes, let alone raise the first syllable about marriage! So presumptuous and such wishful thinking! He harped on the fact that he was a local of A City, but what did it truly mean? And why did it matter so much?

"As you know, I work in a government office and I'm very busy. My salary varies between six and seven thousand and is probably much higher than yours. I know you work in an advertising company. If we get married, I hope you can do all the housework. After all, my parents are getting old and I want them to live a relatively carefree life," he finished and took one long breath.

His tone was contemptuous and degrading to Kira, not letting her get a word in sideways.

His pretentiousness was getting on Kira's nerves.

This Mr. Yang was arrogant and acted like he was the center of the world. Kira really wanted to unleash her feelings and yell at him.

But she was wondering why her friend, Connie Shangguan, hadn't shown up yet. Once she had dealt with this man, she must teach her a lesson for not coming to her rescue in time.

"And about the wedding gift, for dignity's sake, I may bring a lot of money to your home, but it's just a formality. Do you know what I mean, Miss Lin?" the man said.

Kira really didn't know what to say. Instead, she smiled a fake smile while telling herself that she shouldn't be this surprised, given that the world was huge and mysterious. It was just her bad luck that she had to meet a man like this.

She obviously knew what he was talking about. He meant to say that the wedding gift was just a token gesture and that she was to return it to him after the wedding party.

Her feelings about this arrogant man finally reached the limit and Kira couldn't suppress her anger anymore. She glared coldly at this arrogant man as she said, "Mr. Yang, you must have misunderstood me. I don't..." She had wanted to say that she didn't want to marry him, but her words were cut off.

A man slid an arm around her shoulders and sat down beside her. She looked up, surprised.

In his early twenties, he was handsome with dark hair, smooth skin, and fine brown eyes. A faint smile played on his lips as he lowered himself into the seat beside Kira. He was getting a lot of attention and rightly so. A handsome man like him was bound to make heads turn.

He looked at Mr. Yang calmly, and then at Kira as he said with a bright smile, "Honey, who is this? Is he your father? Why didn't you call me? You know I've always wanted to meet your family!"

'Oh, my God! Did he just call me honey?!' Kira stared at the handsome young man in disbelief.

What happened next was even more shocking. This handsome young man leaned over and kissed her on the cheek! He raised his eyebrows in amusement and said softly, "You look so cute when you are stunned."

Kira looked at the young man, wide-eyed. The intimacy in his eyes and voice was off the charts and she was desperate to find answers in his eyes.

Mr. Yang was seething in anger, his face turning red at the sight of Kira in the arms of a strange young man. He pointed at her and stuttered when he spoke.

"You... What...what are you doing?!"

The handsome young man finally looked at Mr. Yang, and reined in the faint smile on his face. He then said respectfully, "Oh, I'm sorry. Please forgive my impertinence. You must be Kira's father, right? Kira and I have been together for two years. We love each other very much and would be honored if you would approve our marriage. I promise I'm worthy of being your daughter's husband. Please trust me!"

Mr. Yang flew into a purple-faced fury and began shouting, "You two! You think you can humiliate me?! You piece of filth! Shame on you!" He then got up and stormed out of the cafe, not bothering to look back.

It looked like Kira had managed to shake him off after all. It didn't matter that he was pissed off.

Two people sitting a few tables away noticed this scene.

Olivia Ai looked at Kira, a disdainful smile on her beautiful face. She then turned around and looked at man across from her, the calm and handsome Reid Shen. She said softly, "Such women from common families are so shameless. What do you think?"

When no answer was yet forthcoming from him, she added, "Just like that woman over there. The young man looks like he is only twenty years old. But he said he and that woman have been together for two years. She must have seduced him the moment he reached adulthood. So shameless! She should look at herself in the mirror and realize that she looks ten years older than her boyfriend!"

Reid's calm expression didn't change. A gentle smile still lingered at the corners of his mouth as he picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip of the coffee. His dark eyes, on the other hand, were flashing a glint of steel.

He put down his coffee cup on the table with a loud thump.

His smile was now sarcastic as he said, "Miss Ai, have you forgotten? Last month, you were photographed in a car with a male model who was only seventeen years old. Not everyone gets amnesia. What do you think?"

Olivia was stunned. She paled and became flustered as she tried to explain herself. "Mr. Shen, please! That was just gossip made up by the entertainment reporters. I would never do such a thing!"