Chapter 85

In the afternoon, Julie packed her things and was just about to clock out of work when Amaya called to her.

“Don’t forget that Zachary is treating us to dinner, Jules.”

Julie frowned slightly, then gently shook her head. “I don’t want to go.”

Amaya was stunned. “Why?”

Julie didn’t bother elaborating and simply replied breezily, “I just don’t want to.”

Seeing this, Amaya hurriedly cajoled, “Come on, don’t be like that. Zachary’s the CEO of a company after all, so who knows, he might be able to land us some valuable resources.”

Julie couldn’t help but hesitate.

Amaya walked up and wound her arms around her affectionately.

“Aw, I know you don’t like becoming too involved with Zachary, but this is purely for business. Our studio just opened for business, so we can’t just loaf around all day making negative profit. Just think of it as a business dinner.”

Julie thought it over for a moment and felt that Amaya made sense. Although Zachary had now broken off from his parents and was starting a business from scratch, he still had significant connections. Since she and Amaya had already made the decision to seriously start up their business, she shouldn’t be letting personal feelings get involved.

She nodded, saying, “Alright. When do we go then?”

Upon hearing Julie’s agreement, Amaya broke into a grin. “7:00 pm. We’ll just drive over later instead of heading there with Zachary.”

Julie nodded. “Alright, got it.”

When she recalled her dinner date with Lucian later, she hurriedly stepped out into the corridor and called him.

The phone only rang once before someone answered.

“Have you already arrived, Miss Somers?” asked Lucian.

Julie could vaguely hear car horns blaring alongside the sound of his voice. He was evidently already on his way.

“About that, I—I may not be able to treat you to dinner tonight anymore,” she said awkwardly.

Lucian fell silent for a while before asking coldly, “Why? Give me a good reason.”

As soon as she heard his tone of voice, she knew that he was definitely angry. She had stood him up, after all.

“I have to attend a business dinner today to discuss a collaboration,” she murmured guiltily, acting like a child who had done something wrong. “So…”

“Where are you having your business dinner?” he asked.

“Fragrance House at 7:00 pm,” Julie replied honestly.

“Got it,” Lucian said shortly, his voice as calm and emotionless as a still lake.

“Are you angry, Lucian?” Julie asked uncertainly.

Lucian snorted coldly. “What do you think? Only you would dare pull my leg like this, Julie.”

Julie felt her heart constrict and explained in a panic, “I’m sorry! I didn’t do it on purpose. I really just couldn’t turn it down.”

She realized belatedly that she should just not have spoken at all. The more she elaborated, the guiltier she felt. At the end, her voice had become so quiet it could have been mistaken for that of a mosquito.

“Alright. I get it,” drawled Lucian. “You can stop making excuses already.”

Julie felt guilty.

“Then… then, you should just go and have dinner with your friends,” she said quietly, as if she were a primary school student caught doing something wrong. “Drive safe.”

“Okay.”

Julie remained silent. She sighed in relief when she saw that Lucian had ended the call.

Every time she faced Lucian, she would become so nervous that she ended up tongue-tied. Unable to bear this side of herself, she smacked her own cheeks in annoyance, as if trying to smack herself awake.

“Why are you hitting yourself, Jules?”

Amaya just so happened to walk out at that moment, and she stared at Julie as if she were looking at an idiot.

Julie smiled awkwardly. “There was a mosquito flying around, so I was trying to smack it.”

Amaya’s lips twitched up in amusement. A mosquito, huh? How were there mosquitos around in the middle of winter?