In the blazing summer of Shencheng, the heat rolled through the air in waves.
Inside the huge two-story villa, everything was dead quiet. The only sound was the rapid clacking of a keyboard, sharp and nonstop, echoing through the empty space.
After who knew how long, the typing suddenly stopped.
The moment Ivy Holloway thought of the call her aunt had just made, her whole mood tanked. She couldn’t focus on work at all anymore. She got up, poured herself a glass of water, and stood there staring blankly at the screen, her mind completely elsewhere.
What was so wrong with being single? What was so wrong with being twenty-six?
And what kind of nonsense was that, saying if she didn’t find someone soon she’d be doomed to stay alone forever?
Ivy let out a bitter little laugh. Even with every cell in her body resisting the idea of a blind date, she still forced herself to move. She packed up fast, almost mechanically, getting ready to head out. Save the file, shut down the computer, change clothes, put on light makeup—done in one smooth run.
It was just a blind date. Not like it was the end of the world.
At this point, she’d practically met her way through the whole zodiac. She’d seen every kind of weirdo imaginable.
This time, if the guy was just normal, literally normal, she’d say yes. Happy now?
Still fuming, Ivy walked out the door.
It had been bright and sunny in the morning, but now the sky was packed with dark clouds. It looked like a massive downpour was about to hit at any second.
And seriously, who picked this café? It was ridiculously far from her place. To make things worse, her car had been sent in for repairs after a rear-end accident yesterday, so she had to call a cab and rush over, nearly late because of it.
She glanced at the message her aunt had sent her: Table 7.
She had never been to this café before. She lingered at the entrance for a while, looking around, before finally noticing the table number signs hanging overhead.
A small “7” came into view.
There was already someone seated there. From where she stood, she could only see the back of his head and his neat, short black hair. But somehow, even just that silhouette gave off a vibe that was hard to ignore.
Ivy pulled out her phone to check the time. Right on the dot. Thank God—at least she wasn’t late.
She quietly let out a breath and walked over.
The man seemed busy with work. His head was lowered, his attention fixed on a tablet as he scrolled through what looked like documents or reports. Ivy took a soft breath, steadied herself, and spoke first.
“Hello, my name is Ivy Holloway. Are you Mr. Mercer?”
The man across from her was looking down at his tablet. When he heard her voice, his fingers paused for a second. He casually set the tablet aside, then finally looked up.
Under the bright lights, his face came into full view—fair skin, sharp features, and that whole cool, distant vibe that made people instinctively keep half a step back. But what stood out most were his eyes. Deep black, like ink, with tiny glints of light in them under the lamps, the kind that made you want to look twice without even realizing it.
Ivy Holloway froze on the spot. "Wait... it’s actually you?"
A flicker of something unreadable passed through Ethan Mercer’s eyes, but it vanished almost instantly. His voice stayed calm. "Yeah. It’s me."
Ivy sat down across from him just as the server walked over. Before the menu could even be handed to her, she quickly said, "A latte, please. Thanks."
Then she turned to Ethan, her eyes full of genuine gratitude. "I really have to thank you for helping me yesterday."
The memory still made her scalp tingle a little. After her car got rear-ended, the other driver had gone full drama mode, pointing at her and yelling that she was some rich man’s mistress driving a kept-woman car, even trying to shake her down for money. If Ethan hadn’t stepped in when he did, she honestly had no idea how she would’ve dealt with that mess.
She really hadn’t expected that the guy she was meeting on this blind date would turn out to be him. Just realizing that made the knot of tension in her chest loosen quite a bit.
Ethan lifted his eyes and took a proper look at the girl in front of him.