C103

"Lisa, don't you think we're fated to be together?!" He slouches back in his chair and smiles at me.

I put down my knife and fork, and looked up. "Have you and Lou Shaotang been friends for too long?" My tone was mocking.

When I came back to myself, his smile returned.

"He came back in advance." I lied to him again.

He raised his eyebrows and whistled. "What a pity. I wanted to meet him and get to know him."

I chuckled. "He's not the same as you."

"You know about it again?!" He scoffed disdainfully.

"Of course." "No," I said firmly.

He leaned forward, placed his hands on the table, and leaned his head forward. "So tell me, who am I?"

"I don't look like a good person," I said to him in a rare truthful tone.

He pressed his lips together, still smiling at me, not angry.

To be honest, I was getting more and more wary of him. I kept having the feeling that he wasn't as frivolous and casual as he seemed.

His and Lou Shaotang's personalities were completely different, how could the two of them be brothers?

With this doubt in mind, I cleared my throat and asked him: "How did you and Lou Shaotang get to know each other?"

"Are you interested in him?" he asked me point-blank.

I was startled and shook my head in denial. "No, I'm just curious."

After he finished speaking, a trace of guilt flitted through his heart.

Franco gathers me and props the tip of his tongue into his mouth.

"Steven and I were business partners a long time ago." After a moment, he casually said, "It's just that after he became a vegetable, he lost contact with us. We also got back in touch not long ago."

"Business partner?" I was surprised. I thought they might be alumni or something, but I didn't expect it to be this relationship.

"What? Was it a surprise?" Franco saw through my thoughts and said with a self-deprecating smile, "Did you not expect me to look like a sloppy businessman, but a serious businessman?"

"Seriously?" I chuckled and said in a half-joking, half-serious tone, "Are you in a serious business?"

He didn't look like someone who would do a proper trade, but I didn't think that Lou Shaotang would get infected by the dirty business.

Hearing the tentative tone in my words, Franco's face hardened and he stared at me in silence, his hand pausing at the ignition.

I also held him tight, feeling uneasy, wondering what he was going to say.

After a while, he suddenly laughed again. "I don't think so."

His smile was unruly, his tone playful, his manner playful and playful, but I caught a deep, cold glint in his dark brown eyes.

I couldn't help but squeeze my hands.

Upon seeing me calling the waiter to pay the bill, Franco took a card out of his pocket and handed it to the waiter first.

"How can I accept this?" I smiled. Although I felt embarrassed, I didn't show any sign of refusing.

"If you feel embarrassed, stay with me for a while longer." Franco said as he signed the form.

"Sorry, I still have things to do."

"It doesn't matter," said Franco with a smile, "I'm not busy anyway, so I'll stay with you." Then he asked, "Where to next?"

I thought about it. I was going to a lot of attractions, and it would be nice to have him as a local, so I didn't refuse. "Eiffel Tower," I said.

"Alright, let's go." He stood up and helped me into my coat.

Because it was too late, we only went to the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. He said he would take me to the Louvre the next day, but I told him I would be back in Seahold tomorrow. He was rather surprised, saying that he didn't expect me to leave so quickly. He also said later on that it didn't matter, that I would definitely come again in the future.

I laughed at his prophetic tone and said, "That's not necessarily the case. I don't really want to go to a place I've been once before."

"No, you will, and settle down."

Settlement?

I trembled as I stared at him. His expression and tone were very certain, and for some reason, the feeling of unease I felt earlier rose up from the bottom of my heart.

After saying that, he waved for a taxi.

Paris was a rainy city, and it was early winter, so the temperature was even lower. Even in the taxi, I felt cold.

"Is it cold?"

Franco's enchanting voice, full of magnetism, slipped into my ear. As I turned my face from the window to him, my cold hands warmed and I looked down.

I reflexively pulled back.

Looking at his empty palm, Franco looks up at me. Seeing that I seem to be a little unhappy, he habitually props his mouth up and apologizes. "I'm sorry, I was just afraid that you'd be cold," he says apologetically.

"Thank you, I'm not cold." I smiled without a smile and put my hand in my pocket.

"Lisa, you're afraid of me."

"Why should I be afraid of you?" To be honest, I was really wary of him now, but it wasn't to the point of being afraid.

"I don't believe it." I answered with absolute certainty.

It wasn't that I was deliberately trying to outdo him, but that I was sure I would never fall in love with him. Let's not talk about me and Qiao Chenfei getting married, even without Qiao Chenfei, he would not be my type.

"I will." His smile faded, his face grew serious, and he spoke with more certainty than I did.

I pulled my lips together, didn't take it seriously, didn't want to continue the meaningless conversation with him, and turned back to the window.

After that, we remained silent until the car arrived at the hotel.

After getting out of the car, I saw that he wanted to send me up, but I rejected him because it was too late, so he didn't insist.

Just as I was about to say my goodbyes, he suddenly said: "Di Jin."

"What?" I was a little confused and didn't understand what he was saying.

"My Chinese name." He said, "My father was Chinese and his last name was Zhai."

"Oh." I nodded knowingly, not too surprised, because he looked more oriental, and I'd guessed before that he had more Chinese blood in his genes.

"What about you?" he asked.

I hesitated, thinking it would be okay to tell him. We wouldn't see each other again.

"Tu Ying." "No," I said.

He smiled, hugged me, and greeted me.

"Jet 'aime." He whispered in my ear.

My heart skipped a beat. Although I didn't know French, I knew what that meant.

It was "I love you."

I was surprised to feel that he was very fond of me, but I never expected him to be so generous with his confession. However, thinking about it, he was educated in the West and was not reserved in expressing his feelings, so he could just say what he wanted to say. Besides, someone like him might have said that to countless women.

Thus, I didn't take it seriously. I graciously smiled and said, "Goodbye."

Without waiting for him to get into the taxi, I turned and walked into the hotel.

"You were with him all day?"