"Let's be together."

Mia Turner sat up in bed, bent over to pick up her skirt from the floor, and as she was about to slip it on, she heard the man's gentle voice behind her.

Her hand paused while holding the skirt, and she chuckled softly, turning back to look at the man leaning against the headboard: "Didn't we agree to keep it physical without involving our hearts?"

Ethan Blue lifted his lips slightly, his expression somewhat self-mocking: "I accidentally went too far."

He watched as Mia stood up and began putting on her skirt before him.

Her body still bore the various marks he had left moments ago.

After getting dressed, Mia ran her fingers through her blue-black, slightly curly hair that reached her waist, shining under the light. Then she turned to stare at Ethan: "Then you were too careless."

She bent over to pick up her handbag from the bedside table, preparing to leave.

Ethan leaned forward to grab Mia's wrist—the white sheets loosely draped over him, revealing glimpses of his well-defined, perfectly sculpted abs.

His brows furrowed slightly: "What kind of response is that?"

Mia glanced at the wrist she held in his grip, then raised her eyes to meet his slightly displeased look and gently smiled: "Aren't you smart enough to understand?"

As expected, a hint of anger began to emerge in Ethan's eyes.

She pulled her wrist free from his grip, took a few steps back indifferently, and declared: "From today onwards, our relationship ends here, and we shall not meet again in this martial world."

---

Half a year later.

"Mia, there's a dinner party tonight. Come with me."

After the meeting, Mia was packing up to leave the conference room when her boss, Lauren Bright, approached her.

Mia was used to sudden dinner invitations, having attended many with Lauren.

Holding her documents, Mia smiled and nodded at Lauren: "Okay."

"Come to my office after work, and we'll go together."

"No problem."

Lauren patted Mia's shoulder with a smile and walked out of the conference room ahead of her.

Watching Lauren's figure disappear at the door, Mia sighed heavily and took out her phone to return a call to Eleanor Turner.

As soon as the call connected, Eleanor started talking non-stop.

"Mia, I'm about to go shopping for groceries. What would you like for dinner?"

"Braised pork, sour fish, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, chive pancakes, clams?"

"Do you want pork belly? If you'd like, I can buy some to fry later."

"Or would you prefer salt-baked chicken or pineapple duck?"

Hearing Eleanor list her favourite dishes, Mia felt a tight grip around her throat, unable to speak from discomfort.

"I made your favourite sugar sponge cake this morning but accidentally added too much sugar. It's a bit too sweet."

"Mom..."

Eleanor sat at the doorway, changing shoes with the phone on speaker beside her.

"What's wrong, Mia?"

Mia held the phone, took a deep breath, and apologized: "Sorry, Mom, I have a sudden work engagement and can't come home for dinner."

When she heard Mia's words, Eleanor was about to put her slippers away. The smile on her lips froze, and her eyes instantly filled with loneliness.

Silence fell on both ends of the call.

After a while, Eleanor picked up the phone, turned off the speaker, and said: "Work is important. You're at a critical stage in your career. I understand. As for dinner, you can come back anytime."

It's not the same.

Mia thought to herself.

Her mother lived in the suburbs of Luking City, quite far from the city centre. Since Mia's commute was inconvenient, she bought a two-bedroom flat near her office with her savings and a loan. She wanted her mother to move in with her, but her mother was used to living there and didn't want to leave her neighbours.

Mia would return to her mother's place for dinner every Friday night and stay over. They agreed she would make it up later if there were any particular circumstances.

Thinking of her mother's current sad state, Mia felt a heavy pain in her heart.

"Mom..."

"It's okay, you don't need to come back, and I won't be bothered. I'm off to dance with Mrs. Chen and others. Focus on your Work; I won't disturb you," Eleanor said, hanging up without waiting for Mia's response.

Eleanor looked at her shoes, sadness in her eyes. She turned to glance at the empty, silent house, feeling even more disheartened. With a sigh, she decided to leave the house.

Mia held the phone, unable to recover for a long time. The thought of her mother alone made her feel even more suffocated.

But her Work didn't allow for much delay in personal matters. Remembering Lauren's assigned tasks at the meeting, Mia quickly returned to her workstation.

Before long, it was time to leave Work. Mia organized the afternoon's Work and sent a summary email to Lauren's inbox.

She shut down her computer, stood up, and knocked on Lauren's office door: "Sis."

"Come in."

Entering, Mia saw Lauren applying lipstick in front of a full-length mirror. Satisfied with the result, she twisted the lipstick closed and tossed it into her bag.

"The person we're dining with tonight is the owner of Wisdom Training Institute. They're planning to open another branch in S city, and the Luking City branch is looking to change its office furniture, so there's a big demand. I hope you can secure this deal. You can't drop the ball tonight," Lauren said, walking beside Mia.

Wisdom Training Institute was unfamiliar to Mia, who usually handled school and private company deals and rarely institutional ones.

"How many people are coming?"

"Just two, the boss and his assistant."

"What's his personality like?" Mia followed Lauren out, closing the door behind her.

"I've only met Mr. Blue a few times, but he left a good impression. He's polite, refined, and gentle," Lauren paused, then turned to Mia with a suggestive smile, "He's very handsome and, importantly, still single."

Mia disliked Lauren's teasing smile, which made her skin crawl.

She rubbed her arms: "Sis, can we have a serious conversation?"

"You're not getting any younger. You should find a man," Lauren said with a motherly tone.

"Shouldn't you be more worried about that than me?" Mia glanced at Lauren.

"I'm not planning on marrying. You know that. But you don't seem to have any intention of staying single."

"Let's leave love to fate. Right now, I want to focus on Work."

Mia had recently received a message in the store manager's group chat that the headquarters was planning to promote Lauren to the city marketing director in Luking City. If the news were accurate, Lauren's current position would be vacant.

Based on the company's usual practices, they would likely promote

 one of the store managers to Lauren's position.

Lauren managed ten stores, meaning ten managers were vying for the position.

It wouldn't be easy for Mia to stand out among them.