The Birthday Revelation
Crestwood, Riverside Hotel.
It was nine p.m. A birthday party was in full swing in the inner hall on the third floor of the hotel. Unlike the brightly lit outer areas, the inner hall wasn't overly dazzling. The lighting, a mix of various subdued hues, cast onto the exquisitely decorated walls and carpet. Paired with pleasant jazz music, it created the perfect party atmosphere.
"Lettie, I heard you went on a blind date the other day?" Just as the birthday girl, Miss Chloe Davis, asked this, Scarlett Smith had just taken a small sip of wine, letting it linger in her mouth.
The spicy taste spread across her taste buds, and hearing the question, she nearly choked.
...How did the news get out so fast? She had just gone on the date!
"Quite the little birthday girl, aren't you? So well-informed?" Scarlett swallowed the wine with lingering fear and turned her head. "You even found out about a blind date I had in the States?"
"Hey—my brother knows him. He mentioned you when he visited today, and I just happened to overhear." Chloe's eyes widened suddenly. She lowered her voice slightly, her excitement level rising several notches. "You didn't deny it! So it's true?!"
Indeed, just a few days ago, Scarlett had experienced what could be considered her first-ever blind date.
—Though it had been unsuccessful.
And truth be told, it wasn't exactly voluntary. To put it bluntly, she had just obeyed her elders, shared a meal, and met someone. But strictly speaking, calling it a blind date wasn't wrong.
"So? Any potential? Did you hit it off? Lock eyes?" Firing off a rapid series of questions, Chloe added, "This guy had nothing but praise for you to my brother!"
Scarlett's blind date, the eldest son of the Cheng family, was good friends with Chloe's brother. They were the kind of brothers who told each other everything, and they hadn't avoided her during their chat. At first, Cheng Yi's praise was somewhat subtle, but for some reason, he got carried away, his compliments growing increasingly extravagant, almost elevating her to celestial status.
At this moment, Scarlett tilted her head slightly, her expression seeming to search for the right words.
She had a small face with pure, beautiful features. Her off-the-shoulder gown fully revealed her swan-like neck and collarbones. One hand still held her wine glass.
Her wrist was slender, the porcelain-white skin forming a stark contrast with the dark red liquid. The scene was strikingly captivating.
Chloe had known she was a beauty since they met, but after three years apart, her allure had reached new heights.
No wonder young master Cheng got so carried away.
Chloe stared at this celestial visage before her.
After a few seconds, the fairy finally spoke, answering each question in order: "No potential. Didn't hit it off. Not my type."
"..." Chloe couldn't help but roll her eyes dramatically.
Didn't hit it off.
That line again!
They'd known each other for ten years. Back in middle and high school, Scarlett had earned the nickname Heartbreaker.
According to statistics, she was the girl who had received the most confessions from all sorts of 'grass' – class hunks, grade hunks, school hunks, you name it.
And back then, Scarlett's reason for rejecting this multitude of 'grass' was almost always the same.
— Didn't hit it off. No spark.
If the face didn't appeal, romance was impossible.
As the decade-long best friend of this particular Heartbreaker, Chloe knew all too well that although Scarlett looked like a fairy, deep down, she was a bona fide, seriously looks-obsessed person.
She could gush endlessly over women who matched her aesthetic, yet when it came to men, she was impossibly picky.
"You spent these years at Harvard, fine if the foreign hunks weren't your taste, but with so many eligible young men here at home, still none of them appeal to you..."
But... for a lifelong honorary member of the Appearance Matters Association to never encounter the face she loved most...
Well, that seemed pretty tragic too.
Thinking this, Chloe immediately retracted her sarcastic thoughts.
She casually joked, "And I think the man who'll finally make your heart flutter probably hasn't even been born yet, Scar. You'll just have to wait patiently for him."
Scarlett naturally picked up the thread: "Hmm, and then?"
"Hmm?" What 'and then'?
Scarlett drew out her words slowly, "I'll wait for him to grow up... He is born, I am already old."
"..." Chloe blinked. "Huh?"
Scarlett: "A passionate one-night stand, only to have to run away with an unexpected pregnancy."
"???" What kind of cheesy, silly poem was this? And it even rhymed!
Yo, is this 911? There's an i***t here, please take her away.
Chloe wore an expression that said 'You've lost your marbles': "... Wait, did Harvard teach you how to write doggerel? Have you had too much to drink? Do you need some peanuts to sober up?"
Scarlett had indeed drunk a bit much. Amused by Chloe's reaction, she couldn't help but laugh for a long time.
Scarlett had a few more drinks with the birthday girl, but noticing the increasing number of people wanting to chat with Chloe, yet hesitating to approach because of her, a stranger, lingering nearby—their glances practically screaming, "Haven't you hogged Miss Chloe long enough? Isn't it our turn?"—she started to feel a bit bored after receiving too many of these looks.
She placed her empty glass on a nearby waiter's tray and said, "I'm heading out, sweetheart. I haven't adjusted from the jetlag since getting off the plane yesterday, and I have something to take care of tomorrow. Let's hang out properly another day."
"Alright, go get some rest," Chloe paused. "But you've only been back for a little over ten hours? What could you possibly have to do tomorrow?"
Scarlett hesitated for a moment, then remembered that this would soon be public knowledge anyway, so there was no harm in saying it.
Smoothing her hair, she said offhandedly, "Going to donate a building to Crestwood University."
"Pfft..."
