"Server, we're ready to order."
Mia deliberately chose the hottest restaurant of the moment and asked Ned to treat her to a meal. With her sharp eyes, she spotted a familiar face working there—though the person seemed to be wearing a staff uniform.
"What do you want? Coming all this way just to eat."
After Ned sat down, he straightened his collar.
"This place is super popular right now. I just wanted you to have a meal with me. If you feel like drinking right now, we can have a few drinks here too!" Mia said with a charming smile.
Ned glanced around the restaurant's decor. The more he looked, the less tasteful it felt—he was about to leave when suddenly he caught sight of a familiar figure…
His expression darkened. He changed his mind and stayed.
Seeing that Ned had been about to walk out, Mia was just opening her mouth to stop him when she noticed him suddenly sit back down firmly. Suspicious, she followed his gaze and noticed he was watching that server. After squinting and thinking for a moment, she deliberately called out loudly for the server to come take their order.
Sophie heard a customer calling and turned to head in their direction to serve them…
Then she suddenly saw Ned. She was so shocked she couldn't speak.
"What's wrong? You don't have a mouth? Customers want to order—aren't you going to greet them?" Mia scolded the server with cold eyes.
Sophie snapped back to reality. "I'm sorry."
She quickly adjusted her expression, bent slightly at the waist, and began introducing the signature dishes:
"For appetizers, we strongly recommend the chicken liver pâté with orange. For the main course, if you both like seafood, you can choose the Cornish cod with Indian spices. All our seafood is delivered fresh daily. The chef tries to preserve the original flavor as much as possible—customers love it. There's also…"
"Enough, enough!" Mia barked aggressively. "We don't like seafood. Why are you rattling on and on? So annoying!"
Sophie lowered her head. "I'm sorry!" She could only apologize.
"Why are you acting so timid and shrinking, as if I'm some monster?" Mia kept picking on her, deliberately scolding the server in front of Ned.
"You're not fierce. It was my introduction that wasn't good." Sophie swallowed her anger.
She told herself she needed this job. In the service industry, you absolutely cannot argue with customers.
These were lessons she had painfully learned from her previous part-time jobs—lessons Sophie had deeply engraved in her heart and didn't dare forget.
Ned stared at her without speaking or reacting. His expression was unusually grim and cold.
Mia glanced at Ned, then sneered.
"Call your manager over to take our order. This server is really too stupid—it's ruining my appetite."
She deliberately leaned closer to Ned and whined, "Seriously so annoying! How does this restaurant even hire such a dumb server—"
Hearing those words, Sophie naturally felt awful inside, but she pretended the cold mockery didn't affect her.
Yet it was Ned's indifferent gaze that truly hurt her heart…
"What are you still standing here for? Get lost already!" Mia snapped at her.
Sophie lowered her head. "Yes." She could only obey.
Mia glared at her as she turned to leave.
"Wait." Ned suddenly spoke up and called Sophie back. "Come here. I'll order the two dishes you just mentioned. Add one serving of mushrooms with Parmesan and chestnuts. For dessert, the pineapple cake."
Sophie froze. Mia's eyes widened in shock.
"Come here," he called again.
Only when she stiffly turned back around did he continue: "Everything you just mentioned—two servings of each."
"Two servings?" Mia sucked in a breath. "But I don't like—"
"If you don't eat, I'll eat." Ned said expressionlessly.
The protest that had been on Mia's lips was forcibly swallowed back.
"Certainly, sir. Would you like anything else?"
Sophie asked according to restaurant protocol, but her voice was very weak. Her eyes remained fixed on Ned's face, gazing at him with sorrow and worry.
"Why do you keep staring at my boyfriend?" Mia snapped angrily. "Go, go away! Stop being an eyesore here!"
Sophie was stunned for a second, then turned to leave.
"Come here," Ned said again.
"Why do you keep calling her over?" Mia shrieked.
"Come here," he repeated, looking straight at Sophie.
Mia wanted to stop him but didn't dare. She could only grit her teeth in fury and glare at Sophie.
Sophie slowly walked back.
Then Ned took out three thousand-dollar bills from his wallet and pushed them toward Sophie.
"This is…" she hesitated, asking uncertainly.
He suddenly grabbed her hand. "A tip for you."
He gripped her ice-cold little hand tightly.
Mia's eyes widened. She didn't dare say a word.
The warmth from his palm made Sophie tremble. "But… this is too much money."
"Take it since I'm giving it to you." Before letting go, he squeezed harder.
Her heart gave a painful twitch. "I really can't accept this much…" Holding the money, she said weakly.
"You can go now!" He cut her off and looked away.
"But I—"
"My boyfriend told you to leave—aren't you going to hurry up and go?!" Mia's face was livid.
She had originally brought Ned here just to humiliate this "server." She never expected him to completely disregard her feelings instead.
The restaurant manager had already noticed the commotion at their table. Sophie had no choice but to leave.
"So annoying!" Mia grumbled. Just as she turned to speak to Ned, he stood up, clearly about to leave.
"Hey, Ned, where are you going?" She jumped up too and impulsively grabbed his arm.
"Home."
He raised a hand to call the manager over, shaking off Mia's grip. "Check, please!"
"Yes, sir!"
Seeing Ned's commanding presence and appearance, the manager immediately became deferential and polite.
"Ned!"
Mia stamped her foot where she stood. Ned didn't even glance back.
Mia was so furious she gritted her teeth… Tonight, she had completely lost face!
It was already the middle of the night by the time Ned got home. Unexpectedly, Victoria was still awake—waiting for her son.
"You're finally back!"
Victoria sat up from the sofa. Only then did she realize how uncomfortable it was to fall asleep curled up on it.
"You're still up?"
Ned loosened his tie and glanced at his mother. "Were you waiting for me?"
"Yes, of course!"
Victoria smiled at her son. "Last time you said you and Sophie Davies had already broken up. So right now… you don't have a girlfriend, do you?"
Ned raised an eyebrow. "What's this about?"
"What's this about? Why are you suddenly talking to me like that, child!"
Ned gave a small laugh.
Victoria shot her son a glare, though she wasn't really upset. "Mom thinks you're not young anymore. You should hurry up and get a girlfriend. Otherwise, how are you ever going to get married?"
"Twenty-four is 'not young anymore'? You're already pushing marriage?"
"Yes! You're so careless about your own life—what if you drag it out until you're thirty and still refuse to marry? Then it'll really be too late."
Ned let out a scoff. "You're overthinking this."
"How could I be overthinking it?" Victoria narrowed her eyes. "Don't tell me you don't want to get married early. Your father won't hand the business over to you otherwise."
He didn't respond.
Victoria smiled and continued, "Since you've already broken up with her, doesn't that mean you can start dating the girl Mom likes now?"
Ned glanced at his mother. "Who exactly are you trying to sell me on?" He asked, even though he already knew.
Victoria stared at her son. "You know perfectly well who Mom likes!"
"That's who you like—not me. If you like her so much, why don't you just adopt her as your daughter?" He answered lightly.
Victoria's mouth fell open. "How can you talk to me like that!"
He shrugged. "It's late. I have a breakfast meeting tomorrow. I'm going to bed."
He turned and started walking upstairs.
"Ned!"
Victoria chased him to the foot of the stairs.
It seemed her hope of getting her son together with Lara was growing more and more distant!
But… at least…
Victoria thought to herself: As long as her son wasn't with that Sophie Davies girl, she could still endure it.
About ten days later, Archibald drove to C&C to pick Ned up for dinner.
"Where have you been lately?" Ned asked as he got into Archibald's sports car.
Archibald pursed his lips. "You've still been hanging out with Mia recently?" he asked on purpose.
"Occasionally for drinks."
"Just the two of you? No one else?"
He straightened his back and stretched lazily. "What exactly are you trying to find out?"
"Haha!" Archibald played dumb. "We're brothers—this isn't some commercial secret. Why are you acting like I'm the enemy or something? So on guard!"
The atmosphere inside the car grew heavy and awkward. Even Archibald felt that something was off.
The two of them had known each other since they could remember, had grown up playing together—there had never been this kind of "distance" between them before!
But for some reason, now even talking felt like they were playing a guessing game, full of hidden meanings and unspoken tension.