The next morning, at the breakfast table.
Severo Laris and Paula Rouco sit at the breakfast table.
The plump body of Costillas sat at the table and watched them eat.
A man, a woman and a cat. Sunlight from outside pours through the floor-to-ceiling windows, making it extraordinarily cozy.
Severo Laris pours a bowl of millet porridge and hands it to Paula Rouco.
Paula Rouco eats a small dumpling with a rich, fresh soup and a thin, meaty skin.
It can’t be that Severo Laris makes his own dumplings.
“Which house is this meatball cage from?”
“The one in the dumpling store south of town.”
The baozi store in the south of the city, away from Moon Lake Road, takes about an hour’s drive, and that baozi store has a big business during the morning rush hour at work, with queues at the door and on the road.
They are famous for their Xiao Long Bao.
Although Paula Rouco has been out of Philadelphia for seven years, she has eaten the little buns from the South Side Bun Shop as a child.
Since Dad always bought it for Estrella, she and Lucio would eat one cage at a time.
She picked up a small dumpling, dipped it in the vinegar dish and couldn’t help but say, “I especially missed this snack when I was in Philadelphia.”
Severo Laris looked at her and said in a warm voice, “If you want, I can invite the dumpling master from the dumpling store south of town to come to our house and make you dumplings expressly.”
“…,” Paula Rouco hastened to decline, muttering under her breath, “you get tired of eating things like Xiao Long Bao every day.
Besides, it’s not like she’s at home every day.
Villa Moon Lake Road, the third time he’s visited.
Severo Laris didn’t say much, and when she said she didn’t want to, he stopped insisting and said, “It’s true, food tastes better when it’s shared, and it seems unkind to have it all to yourself.”
Paula Rouco’s cell phone rings on the table.
It should be a call from work.
Paula Rouco answered, “Hello.”
“Hello, hello, is that pianist momo?”
“I am.”
“Maestro momo, hi hi hi, I’m from the promotion department of Kirin Group, I contacted you earlier, we have a business dinner and we would like to invite you to come for a while, would you like to see…”
Before the other party could say anything, Paula Rouco’s cell phone, which was resting on her ear, was picked up by Severo Laris.
Severo Laris said, “I’m sorry, momo is not feeling well at the moment and will not be attending any events or commercial performances for a short period of time, thank you.”
With that said, he hung up the phone.
Paula Rouco: “… I’m not bad, I’m fine.”
Severo Laris looked at her and said, “There is something I need to clarify with you.”
And then Severo Laris got up and went to the studio, saying: “You drink the millet porridge while I go and get something”.
Three minutes later, Severo Laris came down from the upstairs study with two documents in his hand.
Paula Rouco looked down at the papers on the table and frowned, “What’s this?”
“Your brokerage contract.”
Paula Rouco flipped through the documents in confusion, her eyes finally settling on the signature.
Part A: Paula Rouco.
Part B: Severo Laris.
The distinctive red company seal underneath was that of MO Group.
“I did not sign this document.”
Paula Rouco looked at the signature in amazement. Her name was the same as her usual handwriting, especially the word “MO,” which she liked to write in abbreviated form because it made her lazy.
It was her handwriting, yes, but she had no recollection whatsoever of signing that contract.
Severo Laris looked at her with a sincere look and a straight face and said, “Last night you got up in the middle of the night to sign it, I asked your opinion over and over again, and you agreed.”
“… Severo Laris, have you swindled me?”
Severo Laris stood up, smiled slightly like a gentleman and extended his long, slender hand toward her, saying, “Paula, let’s get reacquainted, I, Severo Laris, am now officially your manager, so let’s learn more.”
“…”
Paula Rouco tightened that contract and the corners of her mouth twitched.
She said, “Since I’m the first party, I have the right to terminate the contract, don’t I?”
Severo Laris said, “It is explained on page three of the contract, article 67.”
Paula Rouco turned it around and scanned it: “Without consulting Party B, if Party A insists on terminating the contract with Party B, it will be judged for operating in breach of contract with a penalty of ten billion …”
Paula Rouco counted the zeros and, after making sure she had gotten it right, looked at Severo Laris: “Ten billion, Severo Laris?”
Severo Laris came up behind her, leaned over, looked at her sulky, angry little face, smiled faintly and joked, “lita, there is no betrayal. My heart, however, is not yet black, at least not for you.”
“Severo Laris, you are acting deceitfully, I can sue you for fraud!”
“Last night, in the whole villa, it was just you and me, there was no surveillance in the house, no cameras, what proof do you have that you didn’t sign this contract yourself?”
Paula Rouco gritted her teeth at his buxom stare.
Damn it!
“Severo Laris, shame on you!”
Severo Laris looked deep into the eyes of the girl in his arms, his thin lips close to her small ear, his voice low, “If I were really shameless, last night you would not have signed a brokerage contract, but a deed of sale, or a marriage contract. The body contract, or the marriage contract.”
“…”
Paula Rouco raised her hand and tried to slap him.
Severo Laris, who was already particularly well-humored, made a handsome face and waited for her to hit her.
Paula Rouco bit her lip at his guilty look, squeezed the palm of the hand that was about to fall, withdrew it, and sneered, “Professor Laris is experienced enough to know that you’ll get a slap for doing such a thing, so you haven’t done much of this scam before?”
Severus Laris laughed lightly and with great dignity, looking at her vibrant face, and said, “I have no interest or need to lie to others. But I am happy to lie to you for the rest of my life.”
“…”
Severo Laris looked at the girl sitting in the dining room chair, fierce and very milky, like a kitten that has tickled someone.
Severo Laris felt a sense of accomplishment after messing with her and getting her to stop looking so icy and cold.
Today was not a wasted day.
And then, the man straightened up in a breeze, reached up and rubbed her little head, saying, “Drink the mush quickly, it’s not good for your stomach if it gets cold.”
“…”
The man finished his breakfast and then went upstairs in faith and headed to his study to attend to his work.
Paula Rouco and Costillas looked at each other wide-eyed for a long moment, “Are you an accomplice of your father’s?”
Costillas blinked innocently, “Meow.”
Paula Rouco copied the two contracts off the table and ran up the stairs all at once, without even knocking, and burst into Severo Laris’ study.
“Severo Laris! I want out of my contract!”
Severo Laris is currently on a videoconference and in Severo Laris’ study, on the wall opposite his desk, there is a large projection curtain, specific for videoconferences at Transocean.
And at this moment, on the curtain, a table of executives, foreign and oriental, sitting opposite each other, discussing the economic market with serious expressions in fluent Spanish.
Suddenly, I was caught by the sound of Paula Rouco’s milky, fierce voice.
The executives in the video opposite cast suspicious or gossipy or playful glances at Paula Rouco.