This is pure, total hell.
Elana tapped her fingernail against her water glass, blinking hard to keep from staring off into space. Across the table, her mom and Harrison's grandmother had been talking in circles for almost an hour. Elana slumped back a bit in her chair just enough to show she was bored out of her mind, but not enough to get kicked under the table by her mother. She forced a fake, polite smile onto her face. God, she hated these setups. The whole thing made her sick to her stomach two rich families treating their kids like property just to keep their money in the same social circle.
Normally, Elana had a ton of fake excuses ready for days like this. A last-minute study group. A sudden exam. A broken pipe at her apartment. But today, her mom had trapped her right outside her classroom. She had been caught completely off guard.
She looked around the restaurant, and that's when she realized they had backed her into a corner. Two tables away, a guy was messing with a big camera lens, trying to act like he was just looking at his phone. Next to him, another man was drinking an espresso, looking over at their table every few seconds. A photographer and a reporter. The trap was so obvious it was insulting. One quick photo of her and Harrison looking close, paired with a fake headline, and the news would have them engaged by tomorrow morning.
How did she spot them so easily? It wasn't just that her legal instincts and brain were hyper-observant—though they definitely were. It was much simpler: she actually recognized one of the cameramen.
Matriarch Lux is playing her dirty games again, Elana thought with an inward sneer. She wouldn't be at all surprised if there were more reporters hiding in the wings, waiting to gather gossip ammunition. Isn't she a bit too smug? Elana mused. Scheming to force her and Harrison into the limelight just to push them into an unwanted marriage?
Her gaze flicked over to Harrison. He was an incredibly handsome guy, an ex-army general, and the heir to a massive corporate empire. Over the years, he had also become one of her closest friends. But she couldn't picture him as her husband in a million years—and she knew he felt the exact same way, especially since he was secretly married to someone else already.
Harrison looked utterly miserable. His brows were knit tight, his face twisting with clear annoyance as their mothers' conversation veered toward increasingly dangerous territory. When he caught her eye with a helpless, desperate look, Elana had to stifle a laugh. She flashed him a quick, devious wink, silently assuring her friend that she had this handled and he just needed to sit tight.
After all, she wasn't just some pushover. She was Elana Jin. She had fought through hell and back to get to the top of her law class on her own merit. She could handle a couple of manipulative matchmakers with her eyes closed.
"So, Elana," Matriarch Lux suddenly chimed in with a sweet smile, shifting the spotlight directly onto her. "Where do you plan to do your internship? You're graduating soon, and you're practically at the perfect age to start settling down..."
Elana cleared her throat, throwing a quick, warning look at Harrison. The trap was springing shut. This was the moment the conversation turned to their future together.
"I'm still weighing my options, Ma'am, but I'm hoping to land a spot at Reyes Law Firm," Elana replied, her face dropping into a perfectly detached poker face. "As for settling down? I'm thinking closer to thirty."
As the words left her mouth, she noticed the reporter and the photographer stand up from their table. They were staring directly at them, waiting for a green light from Matriarch Lux to move in and snap the photos that would plaster their faces across tomorrow's headlines.
Seeing the media guys start to approach their table, Elana's eyes scanned the room for a lifeline—and landed squarely on a handsome stranger who had just walked through the restaurant doors. Perfect timing, she thought, her eyes narrowing slightly.
The man walked with an effortless, arrogant confidence. He was striking, dressed in an impeccably tailored navy blue suit that practically screamed old money and elite status.
She paused for a second as he looked oddly familiar, but that was not the time to ascertain his familiarity. The only thing that needed to be checked was his hand, particularly his ring finger. She let out a sigh of relief once she confirmed there was no ring. She quickly stood up from her seat throwing her usual bright but devious sly smile towards her mother.
"Oh, my boyfriend is here, mom. I forgot to tell you, but he's picking me up here because we actually have a date tonight," she articulated in a loud voice, making sure it was clear for everyone nearby to hear, including the reporters.
She quickly bid her farewell to Harrison and the ladies in an apologetic tone of voice as she walked towards the man and hugged him tightly.
"You're here," she smiled. The man frowned and pushed her gently. Elana could see from the corner of her eyes that the paparazzi and the reporters were staring at her in disbelief.
Then she looked at the man who had a bewildered look all over his face. He opened his mouth and said, "Who the hell…"
But before the man could finish his sentence, Elana quickly tiptoed and pressed her lips on his and kissed him without any warning. The man stood rooted in his place for a few seconds and just as he tried to move away, she slipped her arms around his neck and held him. Then she stopped for a few seconds in between their kiss to silently murmur, "Just help me out now, don't utter another word. I will repay you later for your help."
Elana tightened her arms on the man's neck when she still felt him struggling to push her away. Again, she captured his lips this time a little more, passionately. She wanted to hit herself for being as bold as that, so opposite to her true self when it came to the opposite sex.
It was her first kiss ever and she thought it would be easy to kiss just by copying what she saw in the movies.
She pressed her lips hard on the man's lips taking his lower lip in between hers and sucking on it. She could now feel the man's tense body relaxing and he was no longer struggling. Seeing the reporter staring closely at them, Elana deepened the kiss by engaging her tongue in the kiss and sliding it inside the stranger's mouth.
'This strangely feels good.' She mused to herself. Lost in her enjoyment she didn't realise when she was overtaken by the stranger and it was now him who started to be in control of the scene instead of her!
Elana batted her long curly lashes when she felt the stranger's tongue was moving against hers. 'What the heck?' she whined inside, shocked with how the stranger answered… 'What the hell?' she silently screamed, when she felt an arm encircling her waist while her body was pulled in even closer.
Elana's eyes flew wide open, staring right into the man's dark, intense eyes. Those eyes… She lost her train of thought for a second, feeling like she could completely drown in that heavy, dangerous look. But his lips? They weren't dangerous at all. That was the last thing she expected. She had figured her very first kiss would be a total disaster especially since it was with a random stranger but by some crazy stroke of luck, she had managed to pick a guy who actually knew what he was doing.
Suddenly, Elana frowned. She noticed a challenging spark in his eyes as he completely took over the kiss. He raised an eyebrow slightly, as if reminding her that she was the one who started this, right before he closed his eyes again.
Then things shifted. When he kissed her deeper, a strange, overwhelming rush shot straight through her entire body. Her knees turned to absolute jelly. If she hadn't been clinging onto his neck for dear life, she would have collapsed right there on the restaurant floor.
When that intense, never-ending kiss finally stopped, Elana broke away and immediately dragged the stranger out the door. The man looked completely pale and utterly shocked. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the look on his face. Why was he acting so surprised when he was the one who just took control and went all out? Both of them were out of breath, panting heavily as they hit the sidewalk.
Back inside, the dining room was dead silent.
"Wasn't that Andrian Reyes? From Reyes Law Firm?" Matriarch Lux asked, her face turning bright red from a mix of fury and embarrassment. She glared at Elana's mother. "I thought you said your daughter was single?"
Mrs. Jin could only shake her head, watching the back of her daughter's head disappear out the entrance. "I thought she was, too. But I told you, Elana is complicated. Half the time, I can't even figure her out myself."
Harrison, however, was sitting at the table trying to hide a massive grin. Elana never failed to blow his mind when it came to pulling off a wild, completely unexpected escape plan.