Two Mercedes-Benz vans drove into the parking lot, one after the other.
In the adjacent parking space.
Stella Sterling, pale-faced, was slumped in the passenger seat, too exhausted to even speak.
Claire Shawcross was draped over the steering wheel, her face just as ashen.
The atmosphere in the car grew tense.
KNOCK KNOCK—
Someone had just knocked twice on the hood of the car.
Stella and Claire looked up at the same time to see Jude Langley, dressed in a casual polo shirt, bent over and peering into their car.
Upon seeing Jude, Stella discreetly slid down in her seat, trying to hide.
Claire's expression brightened. She lowered the window, stuck her head out, and called, "Jude, what a coincidence! Long time no see!"
"It has been a while." Jude walked around the front of the car and rested a hand on the open window. "Are you just getting here, or are you leaving?"
Claire: "Uh…"
'How should I answer that?'
Claire subconsciously glanced at Stella.
Jude bent down to look into the passenger seat as well. The moment he saw Stella trying to hide her face with her hair, he let out a little 'Hah!' "Stop hiding. I can see you."
Stella sighed and smoothed her long hair back. "What's an old-timer like you doing with free time to come to The Regis?"
"Who are you calling old?" Jude suddenly remembered something, a teasing smirk playing on his lips. "If I recall… neither of you has a membership to The Regis."
Claire pressed her lips together and stayed silent.
Stella: "Just taking a walk. Passing through."
Jude's smile widened. "A stroll from Eastgate all the way to the River Derren? That's over forty kilometers, isn't it?"
Stella gave Jude a dark look and said nothing.
'Calling people out like that is so uncool.'
Jude met Stella's gaze with a smile for a few seconds before being the first to back down. "Well, since your stroll brought you all the way here, want to go in and have a look around?"
Claire bounced excitedly in her seat. "Jude, you can get us in?"
Jude pulled a Class B membership card from his pocket, pinched it between his fingers, and handed it to Claire. "Take the card and go in yourselves. I have guests tonight, so I can't join you."
Before leaving, he added a warning: "Don't stay out too late. Go home early."
Claire quickly agreed.
Stella, however, just hummed distractedly, her gaze drifting out the window.
Just then, three spaces away, the electric door of a Mercedes-Benz van slid open.
The dome light in the back seat was on.
A man sat by the door, his long legs casually crossed. His trouser leg had ridden up slightly, revealing the polished black leather shoes that were standard issue for a successful man.
His face was partially obscured by the car door, but his silhouette and the aura of reserved, noble authority were more than enough for Stella to recognize him.
After all, they had 'shared company' in the airplane cabin that very afternoon.
It was that Mr. Rhodes—Roman Rhodes—the one who had made her doubt herself multiple times.
Stella pulled her gaze back, her expression numb.
'I ran all the way out to the city's outskirts, and I still run into him?'
Thinking back to the embarrassing scene on the plane, Stella immediately wanted to back out.
But despite her reservations, she couldn't bring herself to say anything that would spoil Claire's enthusiastic urging.
Only after Jude Langley and Roman Rhodes had left did Stella slowly get out of the car and follow Claire back into The Regis.
...
After all that trouble, the two best friends finally got to eat their cloisonné hot pot.
Good food really does have a way of sweeping away a bad mood.
After the hot pot, Stella and Claire went for an essential oil spa treatment.
Having indulged in all the necessary pampering, it was time for the main event: experiencing the alcoholic side of life at The Regis's wellness tavern.
It was already ten o'clock at night.
「The hot spring tavern in the rear section of The Regis.」
In the middle of the courtyard grew a sparse grove of spotted bamboo.
In the open-air lounge area next to the bamboo, aromatherapy candles flickered on every table.
Jude Langley raised his whiskey glass and clinked it against Roman Rhodes's. "With Rhodes Harbor Shipping moving its operations north, are you planning to be based in Calderin permanently?"
The man took a sip of his drink, his thin lips parting slightly. "Not necessarily. It's more likely I'll be splitting my time between both places."
"You're really running yourself ragged," Jude remarked with a sigh. "Managing the entire group in Vicenza and still having to come to the mainland…"
Before he could finish, two familiar voices came from the side.
"What are your plans for tomorrow?"
Jude recognized Claire Shawcross's voice.
It was immediately followed by Stella Sterling's lazy tone. "Work."
Claire faltered for a moment. "Are you addicted to being a corporate drone?"
Sometimes, Claire really had to admire Stella.
She was resolute and decisive, a woman of action.
When Claire first heard that Stella was moving out of her family home to "experience life," she had laughed at her for being fanciful.
Girls like them—pampered, wealthy young women—had been coddled since birth, their entire lives paved with a golden road of money.
They spent their days doing whatever they pleased, finding ever-new ways to have fun, living a life of endless excitement.
Why go looking for trouble, running off to experience the cruelty of society and get beaten down by it?
Claire had thought Stella wouldn't last three days before giving up.
But in the blink of an eye, she had been at that company for nearly a month with no sign of quitting.
Claire couldn't figure out what game Stella was playing.
But she was certain that Stella wouldn't go to such lengths just for the sake of a romance.
Stella didn't answer Claire's question. She opened the drink menu in her hands and muttered, "It's so late. Jude should be gone by now, right?"
Jude's voice drifted over from the lounge area: "I'm not."
Stella: "…"
A moment later, Stella and Claire were sitting across from Roman Rhodes and Jude Langley.
The four of them, two facing two, created an undeniably awkward atmosphere.
Jude made the introductions, but he omitted Roman Rhodes's full name, referring to him only as "Mr. Rhodes."
Stella happened to be sitting directly opposite the man.
This was the first time she'd ever shared a table with someone she was so clearly fated to clash with, and Stella was finding it hard to keep her composure.
'Three meetings in two days.'
'With such a ridiculously cliché turn of events, if I were in his shoes, what would Roman Rhodes think of me?'
'A stalker who's trying every trick in the book?'
'Someone deliberately trying to get close?'
'Someone engineering a "chance" encounter?'
Stella felt she couldn't explain the situation, but not wanting Jude to notice anything was amiss, she could only put on an act to get by. "Mr. Rhodes, a pleasure to meet you."
Roman Rhodes leaned back against the sofa, resting his temple against two fingers in a posture of relaxed ease. "What would you like to drink?"
"Please don't trouble yourself, Mr. Rhodes." Stella maintained a polite, social facade. "We were just passing by. We'll be leaving shortly."
Claire: "?"
'That's not what you said a minute ago!'
Just then, Jude, a cigarette dangling from his lips, teased, "Well, this is a rare sight. The first time I've ever seen you in a bar not drinking."
Stella: "…"
'Can you please stop saying things that make people's imaginations run wild?'
However, a man like Roman Rhodes, long accustomed to a high-ranking position, had seen all sorts of people. He could read a person's unspoken words from a single glance or micro-expression.
Stella's every action and her stiff body language all pointed to one possibility.
'This Miss Sterling is very uncomfortable around me.'
As this realization flashed through his mind, a dark, profound look appeared in the depths of his eyes.
Roman Rhodes brushed a speck of ash from his trousers, placed a hand on his knee to stand, and said in a steady, yet polite tone, "Excuse me for a moment."
Although Jude Langley's social standing wasn't on par with Roman Rhodes, his years in business had made him just as skilled at reading people.
Even Claire could sense a little of the strange atmosphere at the table.
There was no way he couldn't see it.
Jude studied Stella leisurely. "What's the matter? You know Mark?"
Stella's tense back finally relaxed as she answered weakly, "I don't know him."
Jude tried to trick her, "If you don't know him, how do you know his name is Mark?"
Stella said with a deadpan expression, "I don't know anyone named Mark, so no, I don't know him."
The two of them had just engaged in a little wordplay.
Beside them, Claire looked completely lost, as if she were listening to a foreign language.
'What just happened? Who's Mark? What are they talking about?'
Stella rubbed her forehead and pulled Claire to her feet. "It's getting late, Jude. We're going to head out."
Jude didn't stop them. He watched them walk out of the bamboo grove, feeling more and more that something was off.
He had a nagging feeling that there was some kind of secret between Stella Sterling and Roman Rhodes.