Seeing him smile and laugh, revealing a perfect set of white teeth, made him look even more attractive.
But what if he was laughing at her? What if he was just some arrogant jerk who changed ladies like he changed his clothes? But she was here just for one night, right?
Lillian was not here to get a boyfriend, simply to get laid. Thus, his background did not matter. As long as he was single and did not have any diseases, it should be fine. And it's not like she's an idiot; using protection is a must.
But the problem now was, how should she approach him? Would it be too shameless to just walk to him and converse? This was a bar where this kind of encounter should not be too uncommon, right?
Lillian frowned as she pondered what she should do. She met his gaze, so she was at least sure he was checking her out. What he concluded after that, she did not know.
As for her, her heart was still racing even after looking away, and she could still perfectly recall what he looked like in her mind. He was fully clad in black clothes, and he looked like he was a model getting a shoot, even as he sat relaxed in his seat like a king watching things unfold.
She could already tell they were worlds apart, but who cares about such things if they would share only a single night? Most importantly, there was no ring on his fingers. He was not engaged or married.
Lillian did not need to overthink how to approach him anymore, though, since the man himself had walked over to her while she was lost in thought.
"Hi, I'm Leo. What's your name?" the man said, extending a hand as if this was a formal meet-up.
"Hi, I'm Lillian. How may I help you, Mr. Leo?" She rose from her seat and replied on autopilot, accepting his handshake like this was a formal meeting. This was how she automatically responded when she met new people for the first time. She was too used to it since she was in the hospitality and tourism industry.
Leo blinked twice at the kind of response he received.
Lillian was wide-eyed when she realized her mistake.
"Sorry, I talked and behaved out of habit," Lillian quickly corrected, feeling the heat rise to her face.
"Ah, me too. I usually shake hands with everyone, so I did as if I were in a business meeting. The mistake is mine first. I dragged you into it," Leo replied. He admitted that he had walked over to approach her before he knew it, and did not think about how to speak with her. He ended up talking the way he usually did when in a meeting.
Lillian blinked when she realized he was right. She responded the way she did because this man, who called himself Leo, introduced himself like they were business partners meeting for the first time. If he didn't speak the way he did or extend his hand for a handshake, she would have spoken more casually.
"Hahaha..."
They both ended up laughing. They screwed up right from the start.
From this, it was clear they were both workaholics who supposedly came here to relax but hadn't gotten into it yet since they had just come from work.
Getting a hearty laugh together, the awkwardness of their mistake finally faded.
Leo offered to treat her to drinks, and Lillian accepted. Since she did, the other guys who were trying to hit on her left now that there was a clear victor for her attention tonight.
Conversation with Leo came more easily the more liquor they drank. They both revealed they were single since they were mostly engrossed with work. And that they came here tonight to relax and have some fun after continuously working without breaks for months.
This established a likeness between them. They both work diligently and do their job well, but they realized that they may have been working too hard without allowing themselves time to relax and have fun.
Before she knew it, Lillian relaxed and talked more than she usually did. Perhaps it was the wine or the fact that it was so easy to speak with Leo as if he truly understood her, even if they were basically still strangers.
Maybe it was also the fact that she knew she would likely never meet him again after tonight, so it was easier to open up her thoughts to him.
Conversing with Leo allowed Lillian to share her frustrations at work about being pressured to be in a relationship and get married, but she did not have the time to mingle to make a meaningful and lasting relationship.
"I'm only 26, but people are acting like I'm already running out of time. Don't you think that's crazy?" Lillian complained.
"It is indeed crazy. I guess we're comrades in this. Everyone is also telling me to get married, but I didn't have the time to date. I was also mostly busy with work. Even my parents and grandparents are telling me to get married. I'm 27 but they're acting like I'm 40 and still single," Leo revealed.
They both ended up with another chuckle as they laughed at themselves and their frustrations. They had another clink of glasses and sipped more wine.
Their conversations flowed naturally and randomly until Leo was the one who began flirting more obviously.
"You caught me staring at you," Leo gazed into her eyes.
Lillian felt her heart skip a bit. He had beautiful eyes that seemed to speak to her heart directly without any need for words.
She felt like she might melt under his gaze if she kept looking so Lillian nodded, and glanced at her wine, silently taking another sip.
She felt the heat rising to her face and wanted to fan herself, but couldn't since Leo was still staring at her.
Lillian was not usually one to blush so easily even when stared at by dashing hot guys. She tended to pretend not to see hot guys since some were simply too entitled and acted like they could own every single woman if they so much as spared a glance.
Leo was also hot but he did not exude of the overconfidence a lot of the hot guys she had encountered had. Leo oozed with another kind of quiet confidence that did not feel like bragging or overconfidence.
He was also humble when he talked and did not brag about his work or cars or properties. Instead, when they talked about work, he simply revealed he was in the tech industry and had also ventured into AI as what was trending these days. He did not delve into technicalities that Lillian would not understand to make himself look smart. He did not make their conversation all about himself either like those who tried to oversell themselves.
Their conversations flowed equally, both of them sharing what they wanted to share and holding back what they did not want to reveal. They did not push each other's boundaries and respected what could not be said.
Lillian liked it since she was not into very pushy guys who wanted to know everything about her upon meeting for the first time or talk about themselves all the time and not giving her a chance to speak. With Leo, they talked like equals and respected boundaries.
A lot of people are so disrespectful these days and Leo was a breath of fresh air.
It was the first time in a while that Lillian became genuinely interested to get to know someone better.