His Domineering Lover

In the car.

Adrian wasn't a talkative person and Aleigha didn't know what to say to him.

So they sat in embarrassing silence and the driver considerately turned on the radio for them.

Adrian broke the awkwardness a few minutes later.

"Why did you cry?"

He had seen tears in her eyes just now.

Aleigha looked out of the window with an impassive face without any trace of sadness.

"I didn't. Let's cut to the chase. You want to talk about the franchise?"

She had no intention to confide her feeling in Adrian.

But her expressionless face failed to belie her loneliness and Adrian felt an impulse to hug her.

He somehow could feel her sadness.

"We'll talk about it after dinner."

Aleigha frowned. Aubrie should be the one with whom he had dinner.

"As a lady killer, I don't think you are short of

company, Mr. Xiao."

"Sir, please pull over," she said to the driver.

"Enough tantrums."

Adrian yanked her into his chest and said by her ear.

"I'm not throwing tantrums. I got in the car because you said you wanted to talk about the franchise."

Aleigha was angry because Adrian was in love with Aubrie but still came to hit on her.

The car stopped. Aleigha opened the car door and got out.

Adrian got out as well and grabbed Aleigha's hand. "What the hell is wrong with you?" "I'm perfectly fine. If you need company, you can call Aubrie. She will be very pleased."

"I just want to have dinner with you. What does that have to do with Aubrie?" Aleigha was mute for a second. "Why?"

"You didn't look like you've had dinner so I thought we could eat together."

Adrian's voice was genuine.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

Aleigha realized that she had overreacted.

"What do you want to eat?" Adrian's voice softened.

"Hot pot." She blurted out, but given his obsession with cleanliness, she doubted whether he would agree.

Eating from the same pot with someone else seemed quite unbearable for Adrian.

Unexpectedly, he just held her hand and tucked her into the car.

Adrian brought Aleigha to the most luxurious hot pot restaurant in the city.

Surprise was palpable on Aleigha's face.

Adrian glanced at her and teased, "Don't tell me it's the first time you had hot pot."

"It's the first time I saw a five-story hot pot restaurant."

"Your future store will be bigger than this."

Aleigha's eyes lit up immediately.

Adrian shook his head dotingly.

Then he continued, "But you have to get my franchise first."

Aleigha snapped her head up.

"Pardon? You want to go against your word?" She asked.

"We're even, don't you remember? So you have to earn franchise yourself."

Adrian raised her eyebrow, looking like a scheming businessman.

The pride and confidence in his eyes only belonged to those who had cut a successful figure in his career.

"You're right. It's not reasonable to give me for free the franchise for a product that will go viral."

"But without my help, you stand no chance in taking over the Xiao family."

"So let's make a deal. You grant me the franchise and I help you get rid of Darien. What do you say?" Aleigha felt very lucky that she had the memory of what would happen next. Before long, Adrian would be the man on the top of the pyramid.

"Sounds interesting," Adrian said.

His attitude was inscrutable.

"It's a great deal for both of us, isn't it?"

Aleigha smiled with certainty.

"Aleigha, you do know you're very straightforward, don't you."

Adrian inexplicably felt that Aleigha wanted more than money, but he couldn't name what she wanted exactly.

"Of course. I just think being transparent is good for both of us."

She knew that her help wasn't indispensable for Adrian's success.

But the memory of her past life was like a gift from God that must not be wasted.

"I need you to give me a detailed proposal, and my project is confidential."

"You must not lay your finger on it until the new product is officially released." Adrian was a businesswoman and wasn't going to go against his principles for a woman. The software he was developing was so important that he wouldn't allow any mishaps. "No problem. I won't interfere with the development of it but my profit must be maximized." After the software was released, it would have a monopoly on this industry within a year. Even a tiny share of its profits would be a huge amount of money.

She must become strong as quickly as possible.

"Mr. Xiao..."

Adrian didn't let her finish.

"No work on dinner table."

Aleigha pouted and said nothing more.

Besides, her stomach was rumbling.

During the meal, she picked up a slice of beef and said to Adrian, "You should try this. It's so delicious."

Adrian stared at her for seconds and then leaned forward.

"Yeah, it's good," he took the beef from Aleigha's chopsticks and remarked.

Aleigha was shocked.

Was he a clean freak?