Chapter 161 - 159: The Small Mole on the Buttock
She rested her cheek on one hand, her smile bright and bold, a look of sudden realization on her face, confident of her victory.
It was as if the tables had turned. She had suddenly grasped her opponent’s fatal weakness and was launching a frenzied counterattack.
Mia Grant smiled, her eyes crinkling. "With all these questions, I was starting to think you were just concerned about my brother."
"But now I finally get it."
"Mr. Adler, I’m finding that you’re far more interesting than I initially thought."
It clearly wasn’t meant as a compliment. Her sarcastic tone was painfully obvious.
Simon Adler’s expression remained calm. He glanced sideways, meeting her ill-intentioned gaze, and replied impassively, "Young, average-looking, and surprisingly narcissistic."
Ha.
Mia Grant laughed out loud.
"Alright, alright." She nodded. "You’d better not have a secret crush on me. I’m worried that after I reject you, you won’t be able to stop yourself from crying."
"..."
She tilted her head and smiled, not the least bit embarrassed. In fact, she looked quite smug. "Because your type doesn’t interest me in the slightest."
In the front passenger seat, Simon gasped, frozen in place. He didn’t dare turn around.
Simon Adler remained silent. Growing anxious, Simon snuck a peek at the rearview mirror with the corner of his eye to check on the battle raging in the back seat.
Behind him, the two were still locked in a stare-down, the atmosphere fraught with tension.
Normally, when a man and woman that good-looking stared at each other for more than ten seconds, sparks were bound to fly.
But with these two...
Yikes. There were sparks, sure—CRACKLE, POP—but they didn’t feel right.
Other couples were like tinder and flame; these two were like two infernos colliding, neither willing to back down.
It had the distinct feel of a standoff between two equally sharp-witted opponents, a bandit versus a rogue.
There were no sweet, romantic vibes between them at all. They looked more like mortal enemies.
Especially Mia Grant.
Her gaze was mocking, yet it held a heavy warning and a hint of disdain.
Through both her words and her eyes, she was doing everything in her power to show Simon Adler that she truly despised him.
If Silas Grant hadn’t been the link between them, she wouldn’t have even remembered who he was after their last meeting, much less wanted to see him ever again.
Simon silently mourned for Simon Adler. ’See? Playing it cool never ends well.’
’What a clueless oaf.’
’This is no way to woo a girl!’
’It seemed Simon Adler hadn’t listened to a single one of the secret tips he’d shared earlier.’
’Flex now, grovel for your wife later.’
After a long, silent standoff, Simon Adler was the first to look away.
"I’ll go to the Hughes family’s place tonight. You can leave."
Having received the answer she wanted, Mia Grant’s smile was much more sincere this time. "I appreciate it."
As soon as the words left her mouth, she pushed open the door and made a run for it, clearly unwilling to stay in the same enclosed space with him a moment longer. She was gone before Simon could even catch her.
Watching Mia Grant disappear into the distance, Simon sighed and got back into the car, sitting down in the rear.
He told the driver to go, then looked at Simon Adler and threw his hands up in a gesture of utter confusion.
"What are you looking at?" The car was already moving. Simon Adler lit a cigarette.
Simon said, "You went to all that trouble to get her out here, and it just ends like this?"
"Miss Grant figured it out, so why didn’t you just roll with it and admit it? You have to be direct! That’s the trend these days! It’s a surefire way to score!"
"And now, you’ve let the bird in your hand fly away."
"You think she likes me?"
"Nope."
"Then why are you so worked up? And for the sake of argument, even if I were a little interested in her, forced fruit is never sweet."
Simon didn’t see it that way. "You’ll never know if it’s sweet until you pick it!"
"Who cares! Just take a bite and find out!"
Seeing his boss’s silence, Simon thought for a moment, then asked, "You aren’t... giving up just because Miss Grant is getting engaged, are you?"
"What do you think?" Simon Adler tossed the question back at him.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Simon shook his head. "I don’t think so."
Simon Adler flicked the ash from his cigarette and gave him an unreadable look.
Simon explained, "Because I don’t think either of us are exactly paragons of virtue. I doubt you’d worry about such a trivial detail."
"..." Simon Adler laughed in exasperation.
But he didn’t refute it, because what Sean Cole said was the truth.
He couldn’t care less about morals. Poaching someone’s partner was just part of the game.
’Perhaps he did like her a little. That face was certainly unforgettable.’
’But he still believed that getting into a lifelong feud with Silas Grant over her was not a wise decision.’
’It wasn’t that he was afraid of offending Silas Grant; he just didn’t think it was worth it.’
’He and Silas Grant could have a falling out, one that ignored their families’ ties and their own long years of friendship. But the cause for such a rift would have to be something major, like different life plans or a conflict of interest.’
’There were plenty of valid reasons.’
’But it would never be simply over a woman.’
’He wasn’t a madman like Kian Keller.’
"Let’s drop it." Simon Adler reined in his thoughts. "Don’t mention her to me again."
—
"System, does this Simon Adler guy have a crush on me?"
System: [Apologies. The System cannot detect the affection level of any character other than the male lead.]
Mia Grant took a bite of an egg tart. "My gut tells me he’s into me. Like, an eighty-percent chance."
[Then does the Host like him?]
"Get real." Mia Grant’s reply was just two words.
The System sounded confused.
"All I can say is, I’m glad he’s not the male lead. If he were, I’d probably just abandon the mission and slap him dead."
"As far as I’m concerned, the guy has absolutely no redeeming qualities."
"He deserves to be a background character for the rest of his life."
「Three days remained until the engagement party.」
Mia Grant received a call from Kian Keller.
She was in class at the time. When she saw her phone screen light up, she hadn’t planned on answering, not until she glimpsed the caller ID.
’If she waited to call him back after class, he might not be able to answer. Who knew what kind of situation he was in right now?’
Mia Grant clutched her phone and slid down in her seat, signaling her roommate to cover for her as she quietly slipped out.
Luckily, their seats were toward the back, and the professor didn’t notice a thing.
Gently closing the stairwell door behind her, Mia Grant made sure no one was on the floors above or below before quickly pressing the answer button.
After dealing with these old foxes a few times, she had learned to be clever.
When the call connected, she made it a rule not to speak first.
"It’s me."
Even though she heard Kian Keller’s voice, Mia Grant didn’t let her guard down.
’These days, what if it was an AI-synthesized voice?’
’It might be a trap.’
Both ends of the line fell into a strange silence.
After a few seconds, the person on the other end sighed softly, his tone wavering slightly. "It’s really me. I’ve kept your bracelet with me this whole time."
Mia Grant remained silent.
The man paused for a moment before saying, "You have a very small mole on your lower back, on the left side, close to your hip."
"..." Mia Grant nearly choked on her own spit.
Her eyes went wide. "What did you just say?!"
She reached a hand back, feeling for the spot he had just described...
’Do I have a mole there?’
’I didn’t even know about it myself.’
"Don’t just spout nonsense. This isn’t how you’re supposed to give a countersign!"
"It’s tiny. You might not even be able to see it in a mirror."
"Then how would you know?"
"I’ve seen it."
"..."