Faux Vows, True Desires

Chapter 66

Ike bailed out right after dinner, not wanting to stick around any longer. He felt relieved seeing his old buddy being so caring towards his sister. But the PDA between the two was just too much for him to handle, so he decided to leave.

Eric followed suit and left with Ike. He joined them for dinner mainly to see what kind of woman could have his brother so smitten.

His first impression of her was that she was stunning, but he couldn't find any other merits yet. Nevertheless, if his brother chose a girlfriend, she must be a decent woman.

Stefan was the last one to finish eating, as he had been peeling shrimp for Lucinda. When he put down his fork, someone handed him some napkins.

It was Lucinda who passed them over. He didn't take them, instead, he stared deeply into her eyes.

Lucinda quickly got the hint. She leaned over and carefully wiped the oil stains around his mouth with the napkin.

The next moment, she felt a kiss on her lips. The man had the audacity to steal a kiss when they were too close.

Lucinda immediately pushed him away. "Stefan, can you behave?"

Stefan chuckled, "Being too serious with my own wife isn't a good thing, you know."

Lucinda blushed. This man, he was one way in public and another in private. But she liked him just the way he was.

“Lucy, what do you think of the food here?”

“It's excellent, really good.” Lucinda got up as she spoke, “Let's go, you probably have to go to work.”

Stefan checked the time, “I’m already late. I’ll skip work today, Lucy. Let me show you around.”

Lucinda: "As the CEO of Ascend Global, how could you do that?"

Stefan stood up and pulled her up, leading her towards the exit. “I’ve already delegated the important work to Charles. Don’t worry, Ascend Global won’t collapse without me. The success of Ascend Global isn’t just my achievement. I was just lucky to be born into the Anderson family and become the heir.”

Since he said so, Lucinda stopped arguing.

Just as they were leaving the hotel, Lucinda got a call from her mom.

“It’s my mom.”

Lucinda told Stefan, signaling him to keep his voice down.

Stefan was helpless. What had he done wrong? His mother-in-law was quite pleased with him.

“Mom.”

Lucinda answered the call and sweetly called out 'mom'.

Fiona, on hearing her sweet tone, suspiciously asked, “Are you trying to butter me up because you did something you don’t want me to know about?”

“Mom, I didn’t. Don’t you know what kind of person I am? How could I possibly do anything wrong? I just missed you, that's why I called you ‘mom’ like that.”

Fiona chuckled, “Don’t give me that. You wouldn’t miss me. If it weren’t for me pushing you to come home, you’d probably be out all year. If you really miss me, you can come home anytime.”

She knew her daughter all too well.

“Mom, we live quite a distance apart. It takes me a while to drive home. Mom, do you have something you want to talk to me about? Now that I’m married, please stop setting me up on blind dates.”

Lucinda was at her wits' end with the blind dates her mom had arranged for her.

“Can't I just call you to chat?”

“Of course, you can mom. What’s up?”

“Where are you?”

“I'm at work.”

Fiona laughed, “Lucinda, I’ll give you a minute to decide whether to continue lying or tell the truth.”

“Mom, I’m telling the truth.”

“Lucinda, I'm at your café right now. Cecilia said you've been out since this morning and haven't come back. Is this how you run your business? You don't care about anything in the store, being an irresponsible owner. Without hard work, when will your café make up for the investment? Do you think you have no pressure because we don't rush you to pay back? You know, no pressure means no motivation.”

Lucinda inwardly sighed. Her lie was busted by her mom.

“Mom, I didn’t…”

“Lucy's with me.” Stefan spoke up, explaining for his wife, “This morning, there was a sudden heavy rain. Lucy delivered takeout to my office. Due to the heavy rain, I asked her to stay in my office to take shelter. After work, I took her out for dinner. Now, we’re about to head back.”

With the mother-in-law here, his plan to take his wife for a ride probably won’t work.

“Stefan, you're there too.” Fiona laughed, “Then you two have fun. No rush to come back. I’ll look after the shop.”

She really liked Stefan.

“Thank you.”

Stefan thanked her gently.

Once Fiona confirmed that they were together, she hung up with peace of mind. Cecilia brought a plate of fruit over and put it in front of her, “Fiona, have some fruit.”

“Thank you. Cecilia, will my presence here affect your business?”

Fiona looked at the customers in the café, all seats were taken.

Business was good. The people coming here for coffee all looked like successful people, men and women alike, all dressed to the nines.

Fiona didn't like coffee, she hated the bitterness.

“No.”

Cecilia pulled out a chair and sat down across Fiona, smilingly asked, “You came to see Lucinda all of a sudden. Do you have something urgent?”Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Fiona looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation, then she cautiously told Cecilia, “I suspect that Lucinda and Stefan's marriage is a sham. They got married to fool me because I kept setting Lucinda up on blind dates. I'm afraid Lucinda chose to have a fake marriage with Stefan just to avoid going on any more blind dates.”

A mother really knew her daughter. She guessed it right.

Lucinda initially hired Stefan to pose as her husband, but the dude fell for Lucinda once he got involved. So, she was stuck with him now.

Cecilia warned her not to do this, but she wouldn't listen. Now everything Cecilia said has come true.

"So, I suddenly popped up here because of this. If they're pulling a fast one on me together, they'll slip up eventually. I've got my clothes and all, planning to stay here for a while, so I can keep a close eye on them."

Cecilia chuckled, "Fiona, you might be overthinking this. Lucinda wouldn't deceive you. She really married Mr. Coleman, I saw it with my own eyes, it's legit."

"Their marriage agreement is real." Cecilia added.

"I know their marriage agreement is real, but they could also change it to a divorce agreement."

Cecilia was left speechless.

Gotta say, Fiona knew her daughter inside out.

After a while, Cecilia asked, "Fiona, do you really like Mr. Coleman that much?"

"Of course, he's tall, handsome, and works at a big company. He's got a bright future. Our Lucinda is quite a looker too. If the son-in-law is handsome, their next generation is bound to be good- looking."

Cecilia laughed, "So you really do care about looks."

"I don't just care about looks, but good-looking people are always more likable."

Again, Cecilia was left speechless.