novelxo Chapter 1
Chapter 1 Long Time No See
[Don’t forget the dinner at the Grandeur Hotel tonight. Remember to go on time.]
Audrey Griffin stole a glance at her phone amidst her busy schedule and saw the message her mother had sent half an hour ago.
Thinking about her mother’s repeated instructions before Audrey left in the morning, Audrey replied, [I know.]
Audrey leaned against the wardrobe in the dressing room and let out a long sigh.
Before the Griffin family went bankrupt, she was the pride of the circle. She was now just a pawn in the Griffin family’s attempt to make a comeback and climb the social ladder. In just two weeks, she had been on at least 10 blind dates like this.
Sitting in the taxi, Audrey couldn’t help but wonder if her blind date this time would immediately propose to sleep with her and turn her into a kept mistress.
After all, places like the Grandeur Hotel were not accessible to just anyone with money.
Audrey thought she was late, but upon entering, she realized that her date hadn’t arrived either. She waited for nearly 20 minutes. Just as she was about to leave, the door to the private room was pushed open. She instinctively looked over.
Seeing the man, Audrey seemed frozen in place as if she had been struck by lightning. A surge of emotions swept through her for a moment.
The man, dressed in a suit, walked into the private room hastily. He must have rushed over after finishing work. He was still on the phone when he saw her, and his words paused. “Okay, I got to go.”
The man hung up the phone and looked at her, his thin l*ps slightly parted, saying, “Long time no see.”
“Tyler… Tyler Russell?” Audrey hesitated for a little while before addressing him.
Tyler raised an eyebrow, walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat down across from Audrey. “I’m so surprised you still remember my name.”
There was a hint of teasing in his tone.
Audrey never expected that the man she was on a blind date with would be Tyler. Actually, they were childhood friends. From primary school to senior high, they were always classmates and even sat next to each other.
Ever since Audrey first met him, she had found him annoying in every way.
Tyler felt the same. He was always teasing and targeting her.
She thought Tyler was a good-for-nothing, always getting into fights. He was definitely not a good person.
Tyler thought Audrey was an arrogant person who thought highly of herself, so he wanted to dampen her spirits.
Looking at him now in his well-tailored suit, behaving like a boss, Audrey couldn’t help but doubt if the person in front of her was a different person from the Tyler she knew.
“What’s wrong? Are you shocked to see me?” Tyler looked at her with a meaningful look in his eyes.
“Why is my blind date…”
Before going on the blind date, Audrey had convinced herself that she would accept any man who was decent. But no matter how much she calculated, she never expected her blind date to be Tyler.
“It was arranged by my family. I didn’t know it was you.” Tyler seemed to have known what she wanted to say and quickly responded. He then looked at her and asked, “Are you planning to stand there and talk to me?”
Audrey suppressed the surging emotions and went straight to the point, saying, “I don’t think either of us wants to see each other, so let’s just go our separate ways.”
She could endure insults and bullying from people she didn’t know, but in front of Tyler, she wanted to maintain some dignity.
Tyler reached out to loosen his tie and said softly, “I think we can have a talk.”
Audrey remained firm in her attitude, saying, “I don’t think we have anything to talk about.”
Ignoring her words, Tyler continued, “I heard about the Griffin family’s situation.”
Audrey’s heart skipped a beat, and her face instantly turned extremely embarrassed.
“With a debt amounting to seven figures, it won’t be easy for you to pay it off with your current job situation.” He paused for a second before adding, “So Audrey Griffin, let’s have a talk.”
“No need.” Audrey stood up and refused decisively.
Tyler smiled. “No need to refuse me so hastily. You can take your time to think it through, and then we can talk again.”
“There’s no need to think about it,” Audrey said softly. “Let’s just leave it at that for today.”
She didn’t even have the courage to look at Tyler. She immediately turned around and walked out of the private room.
Watching the door close, Tyler raised an eyebrow.
As Audrey walked out of the Grandeur Hotel, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Thinking about her performance just now, Audrey felt a heavy weight in her chest. She had acted like a defeated soldier fleeing from the battlefield. She returned home with a distracted mind and looked at her happy family of three, feeling even more suffocated.
She took a deep breath and said softly, “I’m back.”
“Why did you come back so soon? How did it go? When are you planning to get married? When will the wedding be? I think the next few days are all auspicious days…”
Emma Griffin’s impatient tone made Audrey’s heart ache. She interrupted, “Mom, he wasn’t interested in me. He has someone he likes.”
She knew that Tyler had someone he liked, and she heard that person was incredibly beautiful.
Not to mention Audrey’s current situation, even back then, Tyler might not have looked at her twice. Encountering Tyler now had brought her extreme embarrassment.
Emma didn’t care, saying, “So what if he has someone he likes? People get married and divorced all the time. I’ve made some inquiries. His family is wealthy. He’s also the only son in the family. Once you marry him, you’ll become a wealthy lady, and our family will rise again.”
Audrey suddenly felt powerless. Ever since the Griffin family had come down in the world, she had been treated like a commodity, pushed out and marketed over and over again. What was worse, she had to personally sell herself, allowing those disgusting men to judge her and insult her.
No one cared about her feelings. They only asked about the results of her blind dates and if the other party was able to help the Griffin family rise again.
As long as a man’s background could benefit the Griffin family, even if he was ugly or on his deathbed, they would be willing to force her to marry him.
Perhaps exhausted from dealing with these blind dates recently, Audrey suddenly felt a sense of disgust. “If you really think this way, why don’t you let my sister marry him?”
Smack!
A loud slap was the answer to Audrey’s question. Joseph, her father, stared at her with fury, scolding, “What nonsense are you talking? You want your sister to marry a man at such a young age?”
The Griffin family had more than one daughter, but now the fate of the Griffin family rested solely on Audrey’s shoulders.
Her sister remained radiant and unaffected, but Audrey had to endure mockery and humiliation in a sorry state.
Audrey couldn’t help but laugh at the statement. “At such a young age? She’s already 22 years old. That’s the legal age for marriage. Why not?”
“Audrey, what are you saying? I’m only 22. I’m still young. You’re already 25,” Amelia Griffin, who was sitting on the side, said in a sweet voice. “Besides, Mom and Dad are doing this for your own good, so you won’t suffer in the future.”
“So do you want me to give this great opportunity to you?” Audrey asked calmly.
“That’s enough!” Emma interrupted Audrey with displeasure. “This matter is settled. Tomorrow, I’ll talk to the Russell family about it. Your marriage must be finalized.”