No Escape from Love

At 11:30 am, I walked out of my house, hailed a cab, and headed straight for Century Plaza.

When I arrived at the restaurant, I immediately spotted Lila. She was wearing a red dress with delicate makeup, looking absolutely radiant.

I sat down beside her and teased, "Wow, are you going on a blind date today? Look at you all dressed up."

Lila rolled her eyes at me. "Get lost! What blind date? You were the one who insisted on meeting him. I'm just doing you a favor. Otherwise, I would've just washed my face and come out."

"Wow, I must be pretty important, then." I chuckled before asking, "By the way, how did you get in touch with him?"

Lila took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. "Actually, after you left yesterday, I suddenly remembered that I still followed him on social media. And, surprisingly, he's still following me too."

As she spoke, she frowned and checked her watch. "It's already so late. Why isn't he here yet? Is he standing us up?"

I reassured her, saying, "Let's wait a little longer. Maybe he's stuck in traffic." Lila pulled out her phone and dialed Lawrence's number. The background noise on the other end was loud, with faint sounds of honking cars.

She put him on speaker, and his apologetic voice came through. "Lila, sorry, I got caught in some traffic. I'll be there soon. Just give me five more minutes!"

"Alright, alright, just hurry up. We've already ordered," Lila replied before hanging up. She shrugged at me. "Traffic-classic excuse."

About ten minutes later, a man dressed in a nice suit, with neatly combed hair, walked in briskly. When he saw me, he visibly froze, and the smile on his face stiffened.

Noticing the awkwardness, Lila quickly smoothed things over and said, "Lawrence, this is Serena Ashford, the person I told you about. Serena, this is Lawrence Sandler."

Lawrence snapped out of his daze and extended his hand for a handshake. "Nice to meet you, Serena. I've heard a lot about you."

His hand was cold, and his fingertips trembled slightly.

I shook his hand politely, but the gesture felt less like a greeting and more like an unspoken standoff.

After we sat down, the atmosphere became subtly tense.

Lawrence kept glancing at me.

Lila seemed to pick up on the strange vibe and joked, "Lawrence, didn't you always say you wanted to meet Serena? Now that you've finally met her, what do you think? Isn't she even prettier than in photos?"

He let out a forced laugh and awkwardly asked, "Serena, how have you been... lately?"

I smiled slightly and turned the conversation around. "I heard your company has been doing well recently. Congratulations."

His eyes flickered, and he responded somewhat unnaturally, "It's... It's been alright. Things are going smoothly."

"Is that so? I've been job hunting recently. Does your company happen to be hiring?" I asked directly, locking eyes with him.

His expression instantly darkened. He opened his mouth as if to say something but hesitated and swallowed his words.

Lila, sensing something was off,

nudged him with her elbow.

"Lawrence, say something! Serena is

such a talented person. If you don't ha

hire her, I'll just introduce he tonoveldrama

someone else."

Lawrence took a deep breath, looking as if he had finally made up his mind. "Serena, actually... my company isn't in a position to hire you..."

"What's the problem? Just be straightforward," Lila said, getting impatient.

Lawrence clenched his jaw, then

finally blurted out, "The thing is... your mother's situation with the Hastings family has become common knowledge in our circle. Almost no one is willing to hire

someone with your background.

"Not to mention, my company is just a small business. You'd be overqualified here."