Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My childhood friend, Noah Bennett, is a well-known wealthy heir in our city, while I run a trendy internet café that's popular these days. One day, he came to my café, pulled out several stacks of cash, and slapped them on the table in front of me.

I picked up the cash and flipped through it, the bills rustling. "What's up, big spender? You wanna book the whole place for the night?"

Noah pushed the money toward me and frowned. "Do me a favor—go on a date for me. It's just having a meal with a girl."

"Have you lost your mind?" I exclaimed. "Your date? And you want me to go instead? We don't even look alike!"

As soon as I heard this ridiculous request, my head started to throb. Noah was getting more and more unreliable by the day. Could something like a date even be replaced?

"She's never seen me before," he said. "You just need to have a meal with her. The table's already reserved, and thirty thousand yuan should be more than enough to cover it."

Noah clapped his hands, as if he'd wrapped up the whole matter, and let out a sigh of relief. "I gotta be with my girlfriend. If I go to this date, she'll tear me apart!"

"So this is a blind date set up for you, huh?" I pressed. "It's not the Stone Age anymore—how could your blind date have never seen you or even a photo of you? And besides, I'm your childhood friend! Aren't you worried I'll get torn apart?" I had a bad feeling about this favor.

Noah shrugged. "Our parents are friends. We met once when we were little, but that's it. Just go—trust me, it'll be fine. It's just a formality."

How could I say no to a childhood friend? After all, it was just a meal—no big deal. On the day of the date, I cleaned myself up nicely and headed to the Xiti Hotel for the meeting.

A few waiters stood off to the side, whispering among themselves. "Did you see Ms. Morgan at table 18? Her outfit alone must cost over a million yuan."

"You guys have no eye for luxury!" another one scoffed. "The Patek Philippe 5002 on her wrist—its latest price is 1.76 million yuan!"

"I don't know about watches, but that handbag of hers is a Leibovitz Rose..."

Table 18? That was exactly the table I was supposed to go to!

I walked past the waiters and made my way to table 18. Chloe Morgan was sitting quietly by the table, a glass of water in front of her, and a purple rose-shaped handbag placed on the empty chair next to her.

The Leibovitz Rose—rumor had it that it was inlaid with real diamonds, and cost 95,000 dollars.

Just a watch and a handbag added up to over two million yuan. This wasn't just some ordinary wealthy young lady—this was a total millionaire.

My real name is Ethan Carter, but in that moment, I had to be Noah Bennett. "Ms. Morgan, nice to meet you. I'm Noah Bennett."

"Uncle Bennett said you've changed a lot since we were kids," she said, gesturing for me to sit. "I didn't expect the change to be this big. Just call me Chloe—it's not like we're strangers meeting for the first time."

I sat down across from her, putting on a calm front, but inside, I was anything but relaxed.

Chloe was around Noah's age, but she didn't fit the stereotype of a wealthy heiress you see in movies. With her sleek, capable aura, she seemed more like a modern office professional—if you ignored the Patek Philippe on her wrist and the Leibovitz Rose handbag beside her.

"Well, let's order first," I said, snapping my fingers to call a waiter over. I gestured for the waiter to hand the menu to Chloe.

"I'll have a sirloin steak, medium-rare, a fruit salad, and for the aperitif, sweet vermouth," Chloe said, passing the menu back to me.

Sweat started to form in my palms. Sirloin steak? I'd crammed a bit about Western food before coming, but the only thing I'd remembered was tomahawk steak.

I didn't even glance at the menu. Trying to look casual, I set it down on the table. "I'll have the same—sirloin steak, medium-well."

Pfft!

Chloe let out a soft laugh.

Even the waiter standing nearby had a weird look on his face, like he was struggling to hold back a grin.

My heart skipped a beat. I knew I'd messed up somewhere, and now I was sweating even more.

Chloe leaned in slightly and whispered, "Steak doneness only comes in odd numbers."

It was like a lightbulb went off in my head. I finally realized my mistake, but I tried to play it cool. "What if I want it well-done? That's ten, which is even, isn't it?"

I'd never thought ordering food would be the hardest part of this whole thing. I hadn't expected to mess up right out of the gate, so I had to ramble my way out of it.

"You have a point," Chloe said, tapping her finger on the menu and signaling the waiter to take our order. "Ten is even too."

As the waiter took the menu away, I caught a glimpse of the prices: 399 yuan for a steak, 819 yuan for the vermouth.

Just this one meal with Chloe was going to cost nearly two thousand yuan. This kind of dining was way out of my league. If Noah wasn't covering the cost, I'd never set foot in a restaurant like this in a million years.

Two thousand yuan—couldn't I buy dozens of pounds of steak wholesale with that money?

"So, Ms. Morgan, what have you been up to all these years?" I asked, trying to change the subject. The whole "medium-well steak" fiasco had my face burning. I'd actually seen a note about steak doneness when I was prepping for this date, but I'd been so nervous that I'd stepped right into that minefield.

Chloe frowned slightly, clearly not happy with me calling her "Ms. Morgan." "I studied abroad and managed my family's branch offices there. But what about you? Uncle Bennett told me you refused to study overseas, and you still won't take over his business."

I knew Noah well—he'd never been interested in his family's business since we were kids, and he wasn't the oldest child in his family either. "My brother and sister already handle that stuff," I said, parroting what Noah would probably say. "I don't need to get involved, and besides, I'm just not into it."