During the brief silence, Tessa called. She had booked a private dining room at a nearby restaurant and asked them to come over.
When Camilla and the others arrived, Tessa had already ordered the food.
This time, she had catered to everyone's tastes. The dishes on the table included Camilla's favorites, Jasper's favorites, and Lance's favorites. It was obvious at a glance that she had put a lot of thought into it.
There was no assigned seating, and Tessa coincidentally ended up sitting right next to Lance.
Lance ignored her completely, treating her as if she were invisible.
While meticulously peeling shrimp for Jasper, he asked Camilla, "How was today? Did anyone give you a hard time? Are you getting used to it?"
"It's fine," Camilla replied. "Uncle Oscar had everything perfectly arranged. Aside from there being too much complex information to memorize all at once, everything else is going smoothly."
"There's no rush," Lance assured her. "With your abilities, as long as you put a little effort in, you'll have it down in no time. Don't push yourself too hard. No matter how important the business is, it shouldn't take up your time to eat."
His words carried a pointed edge. Oscar smoothly picked up the conversation, his voice laced with apology. "That was my oversight. I completely lost track of time. I'll make sure to keep an eye on Camilla's schedule from now on so she doesn't skip meals. Of course, if you have time, it would be even better if you came by the office more often to check on things."
He was a master at keeping things diplomatic. Camilla used to think Oscar was just a silent, passive man who defaulted to whatever Tessa wanted. It was only now she realized that Oscar was incredibly sly.
Without ever getting defensive or angry, he used this gentle, persistent approach to slowly close the distance with Lance.
Lance didn't reply. He placed half the peeled shrimp in Jasper's bowl and the other half in Camilla's.
The next second, a few perfectly peeled shrimp appeared in his own empty bowl. Tessa, her fingers still slightly greasy, offered a stiff smile when Lance glanced at her. "You used to love these when you were little. I..."
"You don't need to do that. It's unnecessary," Lance said coldly, nudging the shrimp to the side of his plate without eating or discarding them.
Witnessing this, Tessa's eyes flickered, but her smile grew a fraction more natural, no longer as strained as before.


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