Page 44 of Billionaire’s Promise

“Fine. You know that I’m a very busy person, right?”

My fake stern voice didn’t seem to have any effect on him as he grinned foolishly at me.

“Of course, my princess.” I hated him for saying that word, but it worked, as it melted my emotional armor. “I will make it up to you, I promise.”

Gosh. I don’t know what happened to me then. My mind suddenly had the dirtiest thoughts flying around at the speed of light in all directions.

I clenched my misbehaving thighs that wanted to creep up around his waist. I cleared my voice before I spoke. “Let’s go.”

Lucy and Jenny’s reunion had no drama. Which was good. But a very small part of me hoped that Jenny might throw a tantrum. That was very evil of me for thinking that. Jenny was kind of my patient. Even though she hadn’t officially registered under my service, she had verbally given me consent to look after her throughout her pregnancy – regardless of how short it was if she decided not to keep the baby.

The two women would talk to each other in Mandarin, with some Shanghai dialect here and there. Then they would switch back to English sometimes – for my benefit if I had to guess. Perhaps they wanted me to know that they weren’t gossiping about me. Or they were just kind enough to include me in their conversation. They mostly talked about their university life, then caught up on news about themselves. If I understood correctly, Lucy and Jenny went to the same university. And Lucy was some kind of artist, or photographer because they were talking about some exhibitions. It was all very lovely and happy, and it didn’t seem to me that Jenny disclosed much about her current situation in their catch-up chat.

In the beginning, Kai was pacing around them like a headless chicken. Fussing over their comfort. One minute, he would offer to adjust the air conditioning for Jenny and Lucy, then the next he would offer them some blankets. Then he would bark at his phone to have people prepare them lunch, then some snacks, then beverages. It felt never ending. It was adorable though.

He settled down soon enough as the house filled with all kinds of food and finally sat down on a chair that almost looked like a throne in the living room. Like he was the king of the place. I guess he was.

“I didn’t know you knew Kai.” Jenny's eyes alternated between Lucy and Kai.

Lucy whispered something into her ear, and they giggled like teenage mean girls.

“I didn’t know she was your friend.” Kai interrupted. “My mother introduced us.”

“Match making you mean.” Jenny corrected him.

Jenny made match making sound so old fashioned.

Matchmaking was back in fashion. That was why dating apps were so popular right now. And I personally had accounts across different apps, for when I had time to chill.

But it surprised me a little that Kai would let his mother organize dates for him. It just didn’t seem like Kai at all. The Kai I knew didn’t have a problem attracting women himself.

“Oh, you are very much Auntie's kind of girl.” Jenny’s words made me uncomfortable. I could just imagine Kai’s formidable mother – played by Michelle Yeoh – screening through the list of girls for her perfect son to date.

“She was a hard one to please.” That’s what the movie poster would say. I wouldn’t expect less from Michelle. Or Kai’s mother.

“Please. Auntie is lovely. What are you talking about?” Now, either Lucy really was a people person, or she was just faking it. Wealthy and nice are two descriptions that don’t go together for older Asian women – those that I know of anyway.

Kai chuckled. “You’re right. She’s actually very nice to you. A bit unusual for her.”

I felt a bit uncomfortable. What would Kai’s mother think of me? Shit. Why would I care what Kai’s mother might think of me?

“Wow.” Jenny went on and sang the wedding march, “dang, dang, dang, dang…”

“Oh stop.” Lucy’s face flushed the color of dragon fruit. It kind of made her even prettier, actually. Damn.

I got up and went to the bathroom.

My instinct was right.

I shouldn’t have stayed.

Now I was an even bigger third wheel. The third wheel of their happy family. I stared at the mirror and realized that even my appearance was out of place here. Sure, I had some similar features to those Asian women out there, but in some ways, we weren’t the same. I felt racist for thinking that all Asian moms might have prejudices against American girls. But that was what the recent Hollywood movie, Crazy Rich Asians led me to believe.

When I was dating Dannie back then… I pushed down the memory of my ex and focused on thinking about an escape plan. Maybe I could make up something about work. That would work.

I opened the bathroom door only to be greeted by Kai’s chest. Technically, it was one of those awful cheesy slogan T-Shirts that said “kick ass or die” which I ran straight and buried my face into. He smelled really nice. His expensive woody cologne transformed into a scent of unique sweetness on him. “Are you okay there?”

Yes and no.