“Do you like Patrick?” Joseph asked again. He didn’t know who Florence really was, but as long as she genuinely liked Patrick, there was a chance for him!
Florence nodded generously and clasped her hands together on her forearm. “Yes, I like him and I also know Jane, so I can help you get her. We both benefit.”
“Great!” Joseph agreed without hesitation and took out his phone to exchange contact information with Florence.
After Joseph walked away, Florence smiled coldly to herself. She looked at the phone number on the screen and put it away with satisfaction.
[It’s really my lucky day.]
When she got home, Florence looked around and saw that Peter hadn’t come back yet. She sat on the couch pretending nothing had happened while waiting for him.
After about forty minutes, Peter finally came home. When Florence returned home it was almost eight o’clock in the evening; today Peter represented the company at a business dinner party where he smelled of smoke and alcohol from his suit.
“Florence, did you go out to relax today?” Peter seemed used to Florence not being at home often; when he saw his sister he subconsciously asked.
“Nope,” replied Florence casually while tapping her shoulder lightly. “I went shopping yesterday for clothes which made me exhausted.”
“What smell is that on your body? I could smell it even when sitting here,” she added before asking him to take a shower quickly.
“Is that so?” Peter raised his arm and indeed caught a whiff of a pungent smell of smoke. “Seems like it. Some CEOs of a few companies really love to drink today. I’ll go take a shower. If there’s a call, Florence, please answer it for me.”
Florence nodded. After Peter placed the phone on the table and went back to the bedroom, she paid close attention to the activities upstairs. Once she heard the sound of the bedroom door closing, she picked up the phone and scrolled through the app contacts. As expected, she saw Jane’s chat window.
With pursed lips, Florence sent a message to Jane, “Miss North, could we meet tomorrow at 4 PM in Room 302 at the Sunset Coast Hotel? I’d like to discuss the specific details of our collaboration.”
Jane was watching a TV drama when she heard her phone ring. She picked it up and glanced at the screen, seeing that it was a message from Peter. When she noticed the words “Sunset Coast Hotel,” she felt a bit curious but still replied with a simple, “Okay.”
Florence saw Jane’s response message then smiled triumphantly.
Next, it all depended on whether that Frenchman was up to the challenge.
After Jane turned off her phone, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Patrick came out of his study and immediately noticed her emotional state. He asked with concern, “What’s wrong?”
Jane handed him her phone and said, “Peter wants to meet me tomorrow at 4 pm in a hotel room to discuss business.”
Patrick furrowed his brow upon hearing this. Although Peter doted on Florence, he knew that if they were discussing business matters, they wouldn’t meet in a hotel room.
He looked at Jane and asked, “What are you going to do?”
“Play it by ear,” Jane shook her head. She had already been cautious about this meeting.
The next afternoon, Jane arrived at the hotel on time. As soon as she knocked on the door of the room Peter had specified for their meeting, there was movement inside and the door opened with Joseph standing there wearing a big smile.
“Joseph?”
Jane was confused but also wary as she took a step back instinctively and asked him why he was there.
“I shouldn’t be here?” Joseph paused before asking rhetorically but quickly remembered what Florence had told him earlier and continued saying, “Oh yeah! I came specifically to see you. The gentleman said he needed to make a call first before coming back so since you’re already here why don’t we have some water first.”
As Joseph obediently went to fetch the glass of water from the TV cabinet, Florence had discreetly approached him earlier and instructed him to bring Jane the water she had poured for herself.
Joseph followed her instructions without hesitation.
“… Okay.” Jane felt increasingly uneasy as she thought about it. So she only sat on the edge of the bed. When Joseph handed her the glass of water, she smelled it cautiously, holding back and taking only a small sip. She immediately noticed a different, cloying sweetness in the water.
Jane’s expression darkened, and she held the glass without drinking from it. She turned to Joseph with a serious look and asked, “Why would you do this?”
Confused by Jane’s refusal to drink the water, Joseph became even more perplexed. Not to mention her question, which seemed utterly nonsensical to him. “What’s wrong? I just brought you a glass of water, didn’t I?”
Jane paused for a moment, carefully scrutinizing Joseph’s gaze. When she realized that he genuinely hadn’t noticed anything wrong with the water, she sighed. It seemed that both she and Joseph had fallen into someone’s trap.
As for who had plotted against her, it couldn’t have been more obvious.
“This water is contaminated,” Jane placed the glass on the table and pushed it towards Joseph. “Someone spiked it.”
“What?!” Joseph looked at the glass in disbelief.
Jane nodded seriously and asked, “Can you tell me who poured this water? You just arrived here, and you only know me and Patrick. I don’t believe you would do something like this.”
Joseph paused for a moment before explaining how he met Florence after leaving Star Entertainment. He told Jane everything that Florence had said about helping her come up with ideas. The more Jane listened, the more uneasy she felt.
Florence was unchangingly stubborn; those words were all that could describe her.
“She’s trying to get to Patrick,” Jane explained roughly to Joseph while staring at the glass of water in front of her. She chuckled softly before continuing, “But I don’t think she succeeded with this one.”
Realizing that Joseph didn’t know anything about their complicated relationship, Jane briefly explained their history together. “This woman’s name is Florence; she’s my business partner’s sister. You should stay away from her.”
Joseph finally understood what was really going on between Florence and how she met Jane. He showed a look of disdain as he was still young like Michelle, both recent college graduates who didn’t understand these kinds of things yet.
Although he liked Jane very much, he wouldn’t resort to such despicable means to win someone over.
“I see now!” Joseph glared at Jane with righteous anger written across his face as she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“I thought she genuinely wanted to help me out! I’m sorry for almost causing harm to you because of my ignorance.”