February 14th, Valentine’s Day, a Saturday.

Early in the morning, Natalie Townsend was jolted awake by a call from her boss, Quinlan Hutchinson.

She squinted at her phone — barely six o’clock.

Even old Grandpa Zhang downstairs, who punched that crooked tree every morning like it owed him money, hadn’t started his routine yet.

If Quinlan was calling this early, it could only mean one thing: dragging her in to work overtime. And of course, the unpaid kind. When it came to squeezing every last drop of value out of his employees, no one did it more “professionally” than him.

Natalie forced herself awake and picked up. Quinlan’s booming voice blasted through the speaker.

"Kid, tough trip, huh? Come to the office today, let’s all celebrate Valentine’s together. Free milk tea and fried chicken."

Knew it.

Her flight yesterday had been delayed till midnight. She’d barely slept a few hours — her soul was still boarding the plane. She truly didn’t want to bruise Quinlan’s ego, so she pinched her throat and tried to sound convincing.

"Sorry, the number you dialed is invalid. Sorry, the subscriber you dialed…"

She froze. She didn’t even know how to say “invalid number” in English.

Silence came from Quinlan’s end, and when she didn’t continue, he clicked his tongue.

"Natalie, with that accent of yours, even if the oyster stench was weaker, I still couldn’t pretend not to notice."

Quinlan, the second-generation boss, had been shipped off to the UK when he was young. His English was so smooth he could swap dirty jokes with British guys in a proper London accent.

His management style was Western too — as long as you got your work done, he never acted like some untouchable boss.

Natalie shrugged. With a thick enough skin, nothing in the world could embarrass her.

"Alright, I’ll tell you straight. Constantine Pemberton’s company suddenly informed us they’re doing the audit today. Get over here and at least fill up the headcount. We can’t look worse than them, got it?"

Quinlan paused, then added,

"And dress up a bit, would you? Such a pretty girl wearing black every single day — what are you, a mountain bandit?"

He hung up right after, giving her zero chance to argue.

Damn… this totally counted as workplace PUA. Absolutely did.

Natalie Townsend let her legs go limp and flopped right back onto the bed.

No doubt about it—Quinlan Hutchinson must’ve figured that on Valentine’s Day, anyone with a partner wouldn’t budge, so he’d just squeeze the single dogs like her for extra labor.

Fine. If the boss wasn’t planning to act human today, then she might as well embrace her role as a delicate little flower.

She’d known about the audit from Changtian Industrial before she left for her business trip. It was supposed to be next week anyway, and it had nothing to do with her admin department. The main targets were tech, production, and procurement.

Changtian Industrial was the biggest listed company in Harbor City, with subsidiaries in new energy vehicles, shipbuilding, construction—you name it.

Quinlan had thrown in tons of manpower and money just to qualify as one of their suppliers.

If you hugged a big enough tree, even the breeze felt like support. With Changtian’s annual order volume behind them, their company wouldn’t have to worry about surviving anymore.

Quinlan had even sworn up and down, painting this big pretty pie in the sky, saying once they passed the audit, everyone’s salary would be adjusted upwards, and there’d be celebrations all around.

Thinking of that, Natalie suddenly didn’t feel sleepy at all. She flipped off the bed instantly.

***

Quinlan stood waiting at the industrial park entrance, wearing a sharp, perfectly tailored designer suit. His hair was gelled up, face glowing with excitement, grinning so wide his gums showed. The man looked happier than a groom on his wedding day.

Until he spotted Natalie puttering over on her pink little scooter… his round face instantly dropping into a long, stretched-out frown.

Natalie glanced down at herself. Yup. She’d worn that ankle‑length black puffer coat.

She’d been half‑dazed earlier, saw the low temperature outside, and grabbed the warmest thing on the rack without thinking.

She hadn’t even bothered to wash her hair—just twisted her shoulder‑length strands into a messy bun on top of her head.

“Boss, listen to my… my defense—wait, no, I mean, let me explain,” she said, tripping over her own tongue.

That coat was actually expensive—bought through a Korea Dongdaemun agent. She’d blown two months of salary on it.

“Natalie, come here.”

The one speaking was the sales director standing beside Quinlan—Vincent Avalon.

He always wore a pleasant smile, but in reality, he was notoriously hard to deal with. Everyone in the company was afraid of him.

"Got an important task for you today. Sienna Ferguson from Tech is out for a prenatal checkup, so you’re filling in for her during the audit. All the audit files are in the tech department cabinet. Just follow the filenames and you’ll be fine."

Natalie Townsend didn’t dare argue with Vincent Avalon. She simply nodded.

Vincent looked pretty satisfied with her cooperation. His smile warmed up a bit, and his tone suddenly turned soft for no reason.

"The auditors coming today include one of your college buddies. Don’t just stand there like a statue. Be a little sweeter, talk to your senior, build some rapport, got it?"

Natalie instantly understood. Quinlan Hutchinson hadn’t dragged her in to work overtime—she was here to socialize.

After all, rules were rigid, people weren’t. If she could score some personal points with an auditor, things would go way smoother. And this lousy idea? Totally something sly old Vincent would come up with.

Natalie hopped off her little e-scooter and zipped right up to Quinlan, shamelessly teasing him.

"Boss! That’s gonna cost extra!"

Never miss a chance to beg for a raise.

Quinlan actually laughed from irritation, rolled his eyes, and shooed her away.

Men. When he tricked her into coming in early, his attitude sure wasn’t like this.

...

The audit team from Constant—Constantine Pemberton’s company—arrived right at nine.

First came a dark blue Buick business van. Quinlan and Vincent rushed forward to pull the door open.

They were a bit far away, so faces weren’t clear, but based on hair volume alone, the three auditors looked about the same age as Quinlan.

Natalie widened her eyes, trying to figure out which one was her college mate.

Didn’t matter who it was—one look from Quinlan, and she’d chat the wrinkles off that person’s face if she had to.

Anything for that raise.

Right after, a black Mercedes GLS rolled into the industrial park. Even from a distance, the glossy paint caught the sunlight and flashed that unmistakable “expensive” vibe.

Under everyone’s stare, the door swung open, and two young men stepped out—one tall, one shorter—both slim and sharp-looking.

The taller guy was dressed way too lightly for the weather. His tailored suit skimmed perfectly along his waist, making his long legs look even more straight and clean-cut. The sun that came out after the rain hit his face, and his skin was so fair it almost looked translucent, like he didn’t even belong in this dimension.

Natalie Townsend swallowed hard. If this mouth‑watering marble‑skinned guy were actually her college buddy, she’d gladly pour tea, chat him up—heck, even sacrifice her dignity a bit if needed.

Quinlan Hutchinson and Vincent Avalon rushed forward to start round two of polite greetings.

The man gave a slight nod. The gold rims of his glasses caught a faint blue sheen. Even when he smiled, not a single facial muscle bothered to join in.

All manners, zero warmth.

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

People this aloof were really rare. Besides Carson Lowe, her ex, this guy was the only other one.

This type always carried that cold, distant vibe, like they came with a “strangers keep out” warning label. When they actually looked pleasant for once, you still didn’t dare get too close.

But Natalie had zero resistance to this ascetic, keep‑your-distance type. She always wanted to poke at them, stir things up a little.

Once Quinlan finished with the small talk, the whole group started heading toward the office building.

The closer they got, the more uneasy Natalie felt.

Why did this pale, cool‑toned guy… look kind of familiar?

The overlap between the man in front of her and the one in her memories kept rising. Sirens started blaring in her head.

No way. No freaking way.

This couldn’t actually be her old college classmate… and the ex who dumped her four years ago…

Carson Lowe?