Chapter 15 Not An Animal Sanctuary

• A few minutes later, Julien stopped his car outside a Ferropenian restaurant. Pointing at the name of the restaurant, he then told me that word meant anything in Ferropenian.
• It was my first time to a restaurant as high-end as that. The only expensive restaurant with foreign cuisine I had ever been to was a pizza chain restaurant.
• The server then came over to our table with an iPad to take our orders. My heart sunk when my eyes skimmed across the unfamiliar words. I could not read any of them, and as helplessness flooded my mind, I stole a glance at Julien. Calmly, he gestured to summon the server. “Two of everything I order. She has the same preferences as I do.”
• At that, I returned the iPad to the server and sighed in relief. I thought that he would take the chance to mock me about how uncivilized I was to not know Ferropenian, but surprisingly, he did not. For once, he was kind.
• Soon, the dishes were served, and he taught me some dining etiquettes. Once he was done telling me what to pay attention to, he added, “Actually, I don't know these as well; these were taught by my friends. We can choose to go by the rules, or we can choose to ignore them. If you're not used to it, feel free to stick to one fork.”
• I chuckled awkwardly. “It's fine. I'll cope.”
• “Good. Let's dig in then,” he said.
• We then quietly ate. Seemingly displeased with the silence, he frowned and uttered, “I asked you to keep me company; I didn't ask you to be mute. Speak.”
• I then raised my head to look at his handsome face. At the same time, I noticed the iciness in his eyes.
• As I chewed, I replied, “I don't know what to talk about.”
• He put down his fork and demanded, “You still have to say something!”
• It felt horrible to be forced to speak. After a moment of rumination, I only managed to mutter a thank you to him.
• “Why are you thanking me?” It seemed like he became even more displeased as his frown deepened.
• “Thank you for helping my mother and giving me a job. Thank you for promoting me and... treating me to a meal,” I softly said.
• After dabbing his lips with the napkin, he leaned closer and said, “There's something else you should thank me for as well.”
• I gazed at him and waited for him to continue.
• “You should thank me for curing your disinterest in that,” he went on in a low voice.
• Immediately, my face turned hot. I was sure that I was blushing as well. It was too embarrassing of a topic. Not knowing how to respond to that, I lowered my head and continued my meal instead.
• After eating, Julien and I left the restaurant. Once we were outside, I told him that he did not need to bring me home—that I would just take a bus back.
• At that, he gave him a contemptuous look. “Did I say you can leave?”
• I fell silent. I could only follow him into the car.
• At the start, I thought he was going to bring me straight to the hotel. However, he had brought me to Enchanted, the bar I had invited him to.
• After ordering a drink, he told me to stay there and went to the restroom.
• A while after Julien left, a man and a woman entered the bar. The man was Cary, and the woman was none other than Sienna.
• What a small world. I can't believe I'm encountering them here.
• I turned my face away from them and stood up, thinking of leaving. I did not want to see them face-to-face.
• However, just as I reached the doorway, Julien caught up to me. “Didn't I ask you to stay? Why did you try to leave again?”
• “I'm a little tired. I want to go back and rest.”
• “If I haven't said that you can go, you can't go. Come back inside.” He then dragged me back into the bar to the table Sienna and Cary were at.
• “Uncle Julien, so the beautiful woman you said you were going to bring along was her?” Sienna then gave me a once-over, the disdain in her eyes visible to all.
• “Is she not a beautiful woman? At the very least, she's ten times better looking than you,” Julien responded.
• “Uncle Julien, you always pick on me with the outsiders,” Sienna whined.
• “Enjoy your time. I have something to attend to, so I'm going to leave now.” I then spun around to leave, but Julien stopped me again.
• He pulled me right into his arms and suddenly pecked a kiss on my face. “What's the point of me staying here if you leave?”
• Those words of his filled me with confidence. I sat down and said, “You're getting clingier and clingier. All right, all right. I'll keep you company here.”
• As I said those words, I kept my eyes on Cary and lifted my chin as a gesture of provocation.
• “Sienna, why don't we go to another table? Let's not disrupt Mr. Julien's time with her.”
• I reached out to stop him. “Mr. Wieland, let's have fun together. Why are you leaving?”
• Julien glanced at me before adding, “Nat asked you to stay, so stay. You're not allowed to leave.”
• It was the first time he had ever called me Nat. It did not catch me off guard, nor did it sound unnatural rolling off his tongue. He was the second person in the world who called me Nat. The first, of course, was my mother.
• Cary then stiffly sat back. Grabbing the bottle of wine, he then filled a glass and said, “Mr. Julien, a toast to you.”
• However, it was as if Julien had not heard it; he raised his glass toward me instead. “Let's drink.”
• Cary was feeling even more awkward at that, and he could barely keep the smile on his face.
• “Uncle Julien, he's my boyfriend. You can't keep embarrassing him like that,” Sienna commented, unable to watch the scene any longer.
• “You have so many boyfriends. How am I supposed to be nice to each and every one of them? Also, stop taking in random people into the company. Sunshine Group isn't an animal sanctuary,” Julien coldly said.
• The smile on Cary's face finally disappear.