Chapter 92 Confession
Aria quickly put the Arthur situation out of her mind and focused all her attention on the garden design for Lance's friend's place. Everything else was secondary to her right now.
She spent the whole day holed up in her studio, carefully searching for flowers and bonsai plants. Fortunately, her hard work paid off, and she finally found suitable bonsai options.
Aria sent Lance several pictures of the bonsai plants, and he replied quickly.
"I think these work. Want to meet up and talk?"
Aria didn't think much of it and readily agreed, "Sure."
Lance quickly sent over an address. "I heard this restaurant is pretty good. How about we talk over dinner?"
Aria glanced at the sky, then thought about how Lance had been helping her get business lately. Having a meal with him really wasn't a big deal.
After thinking it over, Aria agreed, "Okay, I'll head over there directly in a bit."
"Great, I can pick you up if you want."
"No need, I'll go on my own."
Lance didn't push it. "Okay."
After they set a time, Aria organized all the plans she'd just drafted, ready to explain them one by one to Lance over dinner.
When it was about time, Aria drove to the agreed location on her own—a newly opened restaurant.
When she arrived, Lance was already there, waiting for her at the entrance. Seeing her, he quickly came over with a friendly attitude.
"I ordered some dishes. You can see if there's anything else you'd like when we get in?"
Aria just smiled lightly. "Whatever you arranged is fine."
"Alright, let's go in then."
"Okay."
The two walked in side by side, completely unaware that someone had photographed them standing together...
Lance had reserved a private room, which was quiet and convenient for their discussion.
After they sat down, Lance ordered a few more dishes, mentioned some dietary restrictions, then had the waiter start serving.
Aria took this opportunity to show Lance the plans she'd prepared and explained them to him.
During the process, Lance didn't say much, only offering his own views at appropriate moments. Their communication was quite harmonious, and they quickly finalized the plan.
"Perfect, I'll send these to my friend right now."
"Okay."
After Aria responded, Lance sent the plans to his friend. At that moment, the waiter finished serving all the dishes. "Enjoy your meal."
"Let's eat first and talk as we go."
Lance thoughtfully served Aria food with the serving chopsticks, and the meal went quite smoothly.
As the meal was wrapping up, Lance suddenly said, "When are you getting divorced from Arthur?"
Aria choked on her words, seemingly not expecting Lance to ask this question. She paused, looking at him somewhat confused. "What?"
Lance acted like there was nothing wrong with his question and continued, "Aren't you planning to divorce him?"
"How did you know?"
She didn't think she'd mentioned it, had she?
"Didn't you say you wouldn't be Mrs. Grant much longer? What else would that mean besides divorce? Plus, I heard Arthur's been spending all his time with another woman lately. And you still haven't divorced him?"
Lance spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Aria was left speechless by Lance's matter-of-fact attitude. When it came to Arthur, good news really never traveled, but bad news spread like wildfire...
Seeing Aria remain silent, Lance continued, "Don't tell me you still can't let him go?"
"No."
Lance looked at her like he was disappointed in her. "Then why not divorce him? What are you waiting for?"
"What makes you think I don't want to? It's just not that easy."
Aria sighed helplessly and took a sip of water.
Seeing this, Lance frowned slightly. "What? He won't agree?"
"It's complicated. Why are you so interested in this? Waiting to kick me while I'm down?"
Aria glanced at him, trying to sound casual.
"Of course not. I'm just wondering when I might have a chance."
As soon as Lance said this, Aria froze completely, disbelief flashing in her eyes, as if she'd heard something shocking.
"Lance, did you take the wrong medicine or something?"
Lance looked at Aria's completely disbelieving expression and smiled slightly. "I'm serious. Haven't you noticed you're much cuter than before?"
"Lance, are you possessed?"
Now Aria couldn't even drink her water. She stared at Lance with furrowed brows, looking at him like he was something dirty.
If Lance said anything else right now, Aria would probably be ready to get a talisman to ward off evil spirits.
Seeing that he'd really scared Aria, Lance sighed helplessly. "Alright, let's talk about this after you get divorced."
He hadn't originally planned to bring this up with Aria so soon, but Arthur's behavior lately had been too much. He didn't want Aria to be too hurt by it, so he brought it up directly.
If Arthur didn't want to cherish her, then let him regret it.
Seeing that Lance didn't seem to be joking, Aria frowned slightly, her expression becoming serious as she started to take this matter seriously.
When did Lance develop romantic feelings for her? Weren't they supposed to be rivals?
He actually liked her? Was he kidding? This was way too bizarre.
"Lance, I don't know when you started having these feelings for me, but I don't have romantic feelings for you. I just see you as a friend. You shouldn't waste your time on me. Besides, even if I get divorced, I'm someone who's been married before. We're not suitable."
Although she didn't know what was going on, Aria didn't want Lance wasting his time on her, so she rejected him.
Just as she said, in her heart, Lance was at most a friend, nothing more.
Seeing Aria's firm rejection, Lance wasn't upset. He just smiled lightly. "It's fine. Like I said, you can think about this after you get divorced. As for whether we're suitable or not, that's not for you to decide alone."
Aria was stumped by Lance's words and didn't know what else to say for a moment. Since Lance didn't mind, if she said too much, it would make her seem pretentious.
"Mm, we'll talk about it later."
Maybe Lance just had these feelings because he'd been in contact with her more lately. After a while, when he met other women, he'd realize what he felt for her wasn't actually romantic interest.
After that, neither of them brought up the topic again. They tacitly treated it as if it hadn't happened and smoothly changed the subject, discussing other topics related to landscape design.
After dinner, Lance walked Aria out. "Is it okay for you to drive this late? I noticed you didn't eat much tonight. Are you feeling unwell?"