A Love Trap

Chapter 59 Hot Pot

Ashley was astonished at what Greyson had just said.

He was already 24 -

one year older than her!

But age had been kind to him and he looked younger than he actually was.

Ashley was silent, not wanting to say anything.

"Ellie, did I say something wrong? Ashley looks unhappy," Greyson asked Ellie, confused.

"Oh, it's nothing!" Ellie said. "She's just a little surprised by your age. Can you guess how old she is?"

"22 or 23?" Greyson said tentatively.

"Correct! She's 23. And you know how much girls are bothered by looking older. Ashley's one year younger than you are, but people think she's your older sister. Could she be more upset?" Ellie said, her face a picture of concern. But at the look on Greyson's face, she couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"I guess you could take Ashley to be your elder sister, only she's younger than you," Ellie joked, handing Ashley another cruel blow.

"Okay, shut up, Ellie!" Ashley rasped, glaring at Ellie.

"I'm sorry if that bothers you. I do look younger than my own age, so every time I go out and people see me, they think I am still a juvenile," Greyson said gloomily.

"It's okay. You look cute," Ashley said.

"Yeah, I know. I love the way I look," Greyson smiled.

Gazing at Greyson, Ashley became speechless again. He was cute, but so much cuter when he smiled.

"Where do you work?" he asked. And then as an afterthought, he said excitedly,"Maybe we work in the same company but we don't know that we do!"

"Ha ha, Little Greyson, you are so cute!"

Greyson stiffened at the nickname.

He had never thought that Ashley would call him that.

Greyson hated being called 'Little Greyson' and lost his temper every time someone called him that. But strangely enough, he kind of liked it when Ashley used it on him.

If Francis were here, he would definitely have taken Greyson to task for bending the rules for Ashley. 'It would have been a hell of a fight, ' Greyson mused.

"We used to work for the Luo Group at one of their small branch companies. We've quit now, though," Ashley said.

"Why did you quit? Did anyone bully you there?" Greyson asked, genuinely curious.

He wasn't like Andrew, who had dug up all of Ashley's personal information. Greyson had just done some superficial investigation about what had happened to Ashley and Ellie at the Luo Group.

"No, we weren't bullied. We were just tired of staying there. We thought that after resigning, we could do what we really enjoy doing and never have to answer to anyone. Does that make sense?" Ashley said, rather sheepishly.

"Absolutely," Greyson nodded.

"So, have you figured out what you really want to do?"

"Yes, we have. It's just a matter of finding the right place to start off,"

Ellie said. The memory of what had happened while looking for a good place angered her instantly.

'What is the matter with Lena? Why does she have to go against Ashley and me?' Ellie thought to herself.

Lena had tried so hard to make them leave the Luo Group. And now that they had finally left, she wanted them back?

She thwarted their efforts to rent an available store every single time. Lena obviously did that on purpose and only wanted them to go back to her and grovel at her feet, begging her to go easy on them.

However, Ashley and Ellie had different plans. They had decided to never go back to Lena. Ever.

Greyson sensed that something was fishy from Ellie's tone.

And being the nosy guy that he was, he rolled his eyes and asked,"What happened, Ellie? Why didn't you get the place?"

"It is all because of Le...?" Greyson's innocent face made Ellie want to spill everything for him. But Ashley raised a finger to her lips and shook her head slightly.

Ellie wasn't stupid. Ashley's gestures were enough to make her understand and shut her mouth.

Puzzled, Greyson looked at Ashley.

Ashley smiled at him,"It's nothing, Greyson. We can handle it ourselves. Didn't you say that you were hungry? Let's go have lunch. It's almost noon."

Ashley pinched Ellie's arm surreptitiously.

There was a sharp intake of breath before Ellie echoed rather too eagerly,"Yes! Yes, let's go have lunch now."

Ashley didn't want Greyson to get involved. It would be better to keep it from him, for his own sake. 'After all, he can't afford to go up against the Luo Group, ' thought Ashley.

Yet, what she didn't know was that the Luo Group was no match for Greyson. He could remove the Luos from J City with just a word if he wanted to.

"Greyson, do you eat spicy food?" Ashley turned to Greyson and asked.

Greyson nodded in response.

"Great then! Let's go have hot pot!" Ashley said excitedly.

"Do you like hot pot?" Ellie asked Greyson, looking sideways at him.

He smiled and nodded at her.

Inside, he was terrified.

'Hot pot?' he thought to himself. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

'What is this hot pot?'

He had never even heard of hot pot, let alone tried it.

Upper class people like Greyson nitpicked about food and only ate precious, delicate food.

And hot pot was only popular among civilians like Ellie and Ashley.

So it was reasonable that Greyson had never eaten it before.

They arrived at the hot pot restaurant. Although it was noon, there were only a few people there, enjoying their lunch.

Ashley and Ellie often came to this restaurant. The food here was fresh and the soup in the hot pot was pungent and spicy. And this was the authentic Sichuan hot pot that they absolutely loved.

The three of them settled down at a table by the window.

Greyson quickly adapted to the new environment without any discomfort. No matter what questions Ashley and Ellie threw at him, he answered quite charmingly.

When asked what he'd like to eat, he smiled every single time and said that he was fine with anything and everything. His answers charmed Ashley and Ellie even more and his amiability further appealed him to them.

Although Ashley knew that Greyson was older than her, she saw him as the younger brother she never had. He looked so young and adorable.

Not until the waiter brought the pot onto their table along with the other dishes they had ordered, did Greyson feel astonished, but he recovered his calm quickly enough.

This was the first time he was seeing someone eat food like this.

All three of them being a fan of spicy food, Ashley took the liberty of ordering a spicy, glowing red, hot pot soup that had peppers floating in it.

After the soup in the pot had boiled, the two girls began dropping the food into the pot. Most of the food they had ordered was meat, but there were also a few vegetables in there.