Without skipping a beat, Ivy said, "Why don't you come over now? We haven't started yet! I can send you the location."
"It's fine! It's not like I was invited."
Sensing the frustration in Layla's tone, Eric asked Ivy for her phone, and Ivy handed it to him without hesitation.
"I'm having dinner with Ivy near her university. It's quite far for you so I didn't ask you along," he explained patiently.
"Why are you buying my sister dinner?" Layla asked. "She doesn't even know you and doesn't know what happened between us..."
An amused look appeared on Ivy's face as she thought to herself, "Did something happen between Layla and Eric?"
"I'm just buying her dinner. I didn't say anything that I shouldn't say." Eric blushed and changed the subject immediately. "Have you eaten?"
"I haven't! But I'm about to, so bye!" Layla hung up.
Eric gave the phone back to Ivy and she accepted it calmly, feeling off.
"Your sister and I... It's not like that... I pretty much watched her as she grew up, so we are quite close," Eric explained.
"Oh, you are close, but she didn't bother telling you that I've been found?" Ivy argued, making Eric even more embarrassed.
Just then, the waiter came in with their food, and Eric picked up the jug to pour Ivy a glass of water.
Layla sent Ivy a message afterward. [Keep me posted on what he tells you.]
[Sure. He just said that you two are close.]
[Haha.]
"Ivy, when you get home, tell your sister to stop being so stubborn." Eric did not answer her question and deadpanned, "We are too different, and we aren't good for one another."
"What kind of differences are there?" Ivy could sense that Layla truly loved Eric and wanted to get to the bottom of it.
"Difference in age."
"Oh... I can't tell! You look quite young," she said with a smile after scanning him up and down.
"Your parents will never agree to it. I don't want her to get into a fight with her parents over this."
"Alright, I will talk to her when I get home," Ivy said before muttering, "I don't think age is that big of a concern, though."
"My relationship with your father is... well, we aren't exactly on good terms," Eric explained. "Your mom saved my life. Back then, your parents fought all the time. I didn't want your mom to suffer, and I wanted to protect her, but maybe I was misleading in my actions. Your dad ended up seeing me as a rival, and I saw him as an evil man."
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