When Leanna reached the studio in the morning, she saw that Zoe had yet to arrive and asked the sales girls in her store. "Is Zoe here yet?"
One of them answered, "Not yet. Miss Hart is usually here at this time. What's up with her today?"
"I'll give her a call," Leanna said.
However, after she called, nobody picked it up for a long time. Zoe went home drunk last night, and she's not picking up my call now, her mind launching into terrible scenarios as she picked up her car keys.
But when she reached the door, she saw Zoe hopping off a Porsche, and the person stepping out of the driver's seat was Daniel.
The sight of the two of them utterly confused her to the point where she started questioning her vision. What's going on? Are my eyes playing tricks on me?
Besides a shocked Leanna, the other sales girls from her studio also gathered over, craning their necks as they leaned out to catch a glimpse of such a scene.
Zoe naturally felt their laser-focused gaze and was somewhat embarrassed. So, she powerwalked her way into her office.
Meanwhile, Daniel stared at her back, raised his brows, and went into the store next door.
In the studio, before Leanna could open her mouth, the girls already had a significant headstart bombarding Zoe with questions.
"Miss Hart, why did you come with Daniel? What's happening between you two?"
"Yeah, are you guys seeing each other? I remember that you took a detour when you saw him a few days ago."
"What's happening? Quick, spill us the tea."
Their questions made Zoe's face bright red, and after a while, she stammered, "I-It's nothing, actually. He's courting me."
Everyone was struck dumb, but she couldn't blame them for not believing her because she almost bit her own tongue when her brain-to-mouth filter finally registered.
She shoved the people aside. "Alright, that's enough. Get back to work and be snappy about it," she said and hid in the lounge.
When Leanna had made some coffee, she went in and gently closed the door.
Finally, she placed the cups on the table, sat on the couch, and stared at Zoe, who was curled into a ball. "What's going on, Zoe?"
An embarrassed Zoe raised her head. "It's… just as I said earlier. He's courting me."
When she heard such a thing, she was in no mood for gossip and asked solemnly, "Is he serious?"
"Nobody knows, but that's what he says." She straightened herself as she hugged her knees to her chest. "Don't worry, Nana. He may be courting me, but I haven't given him the green light yet."
"I think you're not far off from that."
Zoe tried to come up with an excuse but ultimately kept her lips sealed. I have no other choice. In order to make it real, I must put up a complete act, including playing hard to get. But I could make my dream to be a flirt come true. I'll just leave him hanging and never date him. Fake or otherwise.
"Even if you're going to give in to him, don't do it so quickly," Leanna advised. "I think Daniel doesn't have any huge issues, but he doesn't seem so reliable regarding romantic relationships."
Zoe nodded in agreement. "That's what I think as well." Then, she asked, "Hey, what about that thing we spoke about last night? Have you come to a decision?"
Leanna gave her a nod. "Almost."
Zoe already knew what her answer was, and she was immediately energized. "I'll inform other customers immediately that we are no longer accepting customs orders. Once you're finished with the orders at hand, I reckon the timing will be just perfect."
"Alright," Leanna answered, rising to her feet. "I'm going back to the office first. Let me know if anything crops up."
"Okay, go ahead."
After she returned to her office, she decided to give Aidan a call.
Soon, she heard his husky voice saying, "Baby, are you missing me already?"
She retorted huffily, "Wake up."
A grin appeared on Aidan's face. "What happened?"
"Are you the one who got Georgina sued?" she asked.
Leanna was quite mad after what happened with Louis, but she was busy with the competition at that time and planned to make use of the incident with Karen to strike back once everything was over. Regardless, she didn't think that Aidan had organized everything ahead behind her back.
"It doesn't have much to do with me," he answered nonchalantly.
But Leanna didn't buy his words. "Not much, eh? Then how much is it?"
"She wanted to fight for her own interests, and I merely introduced a lawyer to her."
"Freddie Sutton?"
"Uh-huh."
Finally, she understood the situation. It looks like it's not a coincidence that Freddie suddenly returned to the country. Karen has been awake for a while now, and given her personality, she will never suffer such a loss for nothing. There was no doubt that she would do her best to swallow Georgina whole, bones and all.
Meanwhile, although Freddie was just a lawyer, his family was famous in Highside. Lloyd wouldn't want to fall out with him over this, which was why he had the absolutely brilliant idea of approaching her.
Aidan actually started planning this far ahead, but she didn't notice a thing.
When he heard no answer from her, he prompted, "What terms did you have for Lloyd?"
"Nothing escapes you, huh," she muttered, pouting.
"I'm the director of the show. If I can't even predict this, I might as well step down, shouldn't I?"
"I asked for a few lands from him."
"Did he agree?"
"He said no," she replied.
"That's still within my calculations, then," he said indifferently. "It would be suspicious if he had agreed to them right away."
"Well, I'm not the one in a hurry. So, I can spend my time wearing him down."
"Freddie won't let this slide so easily, and Lloyd will look for you again in three days, at the most." Then, after a short pause, he added, "Once this is over, I'm taking you out."
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"Where would you like to go?"
Before she could answer, she heard a knock on the door, and Jonathan's voice said, "President Pearson, the meeting will begin shortly."
"Okay," Aidan answered and said to Leanna, "Wait for me after work."
"Sure," she said, smiling.
After she ended the call, she fished out the name card Lewis had given her yesterday and called the number.
"Hi, Lewis. It's me, McK," she said.
Lewis chuckled when he heard her voice. "Let me guess, you bring good news?"
She chuckled in amusement before she said, "Thank you, but I may need some time to prepare because there are many things left to do in my studio."
"There's no rush. There are still a few months to go before the fashion week. You'll have ample time to prepare."
After they went into detail about what was expected of them, Lewis said he would send the agreement over once it was ready. As Leanna blankly stared at the custom orders they had received before this, she inhaled deeply as she buried her head in work.
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