Mia immediately nodded in agreement. "So naturally, Boss Riley should be the one paying."
Sienna laughed. She shook her head; clearly, she didn’t agree with them. "That sounds a little unfair."
"Not at all," Mia replied. "His monthly salary equals our combined earnings for the entire year."
"You don’t even know his salary."
"I don’t need to. There is so much information about CEOs online."
Sienna couldn’t help but say, "You two are unbelievable."
"We’re just supporting economic circulation," Ava added with an innocent smile. "Money should flow from the rich to their friends."
Before Sienna could respond, the VIP room door opened.
"Oh, Boss Riley!" Mia greeted him enthusiastically. "You finally made it."
She immediately pointed to the empty chair beside Ava. "Hurry! Come in. Your seat is waiting."
While Ava and Mia greeted him with relaxed smiles, Sienna suddenly felt strangely uncomfortable.
Ever since learning about Riley’s feelings for her, she had found it much harder to act naturally around him. She reminded herself that nothing had changed between them. Yet she couldn’t help but feel more self-conscious whenever he was nearby.
Riley ignored the empty chair for the moment. Instead, he looked directly at Sienna with an amused smile.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked. "Don’t tell me you’ve finally fallen in love with me."
Sienna nearly choked. She shot him a sharp glare, clearly warning him to stop.
Across the table, Mia and Ava froze. The room fell silent as they looked back and forth between Sienna and Riley, unsure how to respond.
A second later, Riley burst into laughter. He raised both hands in surrender. "Relax," he said, still laughing. "I’m just kidding."
The tense atmosphere immediately disappeared.
Even Mia let out a relieved sigh. "For a second... I almost believed you."
"See?" Riley replied with a grin. "That means my acting is improving."
"It’s terrible," Ava said dryly. "Please don’t quit your day job."
"I’ll keep that in mind." Riley smiled at Ava before finally pulling out his chair and sitting down. He glanced at Sienna once more. He smiled at her. "Although... why is your face so red?"
Sienna quietly swallowed, resisting the urge to kick him under the table. ’You’re doing this on purpose,’ she complained inwardly.
Refusing to let him tease her any further, Sienna calmly changed the subject. "Congrats, Riley. I heard you’re the boss now..."
Riley’s smile widened as he leaned back in his chair. "Thank you. I was wondering how long it would take before someone finally congratulated me."
Before Sienna could say anything else, Mia raised her hand dramatically. "Guys, can we eat first?" she pleaded. "If this conversation gets any longer, I’m going to starve to death."
Her complaint made Sienna and Ava laugh.
"You’ve only been here a few minutes," Ava teased.
"And I’ve been hungry since four o’clock."
"That’s because you skipped your afternoon snack again."
Sienna laughed, shaking her head. "Alright," she said. "Let’s eat before Mia starts blaming us for her hunger."
"Thank you," Mia said with exaggerated relief. "At least someone here still cares about me."


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