The Alchemists

"Hello, good evening, Finland. I didn't expect to see you here," Noah said, "Maybe it's fate. Tomorrow we will meet for the last time to sign the contract, right?"

The air between Caspar and Finland seemed to drop a few degrees when Noah mentioned the word 'fate'. The girl saw how Caspar's smile disappeared and his face stiffened.

"Eh... yes, good evening, Noah." Finland nodded. "Are you staying at this hotel?"

"Yes. When we made a hotel reservation last month, I read that Moon Restaurant is quite special, so at the time we booked a table for dinner on our last night in Singapore." Noah looked at Finland with a smile that disgusted her. He glanced at Caspar and nodded slightly, "I won't interfere with your romantic dinner. Good night."

He threw a teasing smile at Finland before returning to his table.

"Who is that?" Caspar asked, clearly unhappy.

"Corporate clients," Finland said. "Don't bother."

She tried to continue eating as if nothing had happened, but she felt sick to her stomach. Noah's way of looking at her was truly disgusting. Finland gulped down her champagne and excused herself to the rest room.

"Are you okay?" Caspar asked when Finland stood up from her chair.

"I'm okay... just a little nauseous. I want to go to the rest room to clean up." She raised her hand to calm Caspar down, "Maybe I caught a cold. The food and drinks here are perfect as usual... It is not the restaurant that made me sick."

She walked quickly to the toilet. Finland realized that many pairs of eyes were following her every movement and she became even more upset. Why can't people mind their own business?

When she reached the restroom, she looked at herself in the mirror. Seeing her plain and tired face made her feel worse. She should have washed her face and worn at least some light make up after taking Jean to the airport.

Her face looked so dull because she didn't stop crying when she was walking from her office to Jean's apartment earlier that day. She was really sad that her friend was returning to Paris...

Of course, the girls in this restaurant didn't know how her day had been and just judged her on her current appearance. She was just deemed not good enough to be with a man as handsome and rich as Caspar.

She finally washed her face and applied a thin layer of lipstick to make her face look fresher. Ugh... she still felt sick of the way Noah looked at her earlier.

Finland remembered that Jean pretended to be her boyfriend when she was eating at De Lune a few days ago. Now Noah must think that she was having an affair with another man because she was eating at Moon Restaurant with Caspar.

His knowing look and smile seemed to indicate that he knew Finland was having an affair... or maybe he thought that she was an escort…

Ugh... if Atlas Corp weren't such an important prospective client for the company, Finland would not be so courteous to him. She took one last glance at herself in the mirror and walked out of the restroom.

"Hello, Finland."

Finland was very surprised to see Noah waiting for her in the hallway outside the restrooms. He smiled very broadly, and immediately nausea in Finland's throat returned.

"Hello, Noah. What are you doing here? The men's toilet is over there," Finland said, pointing to the end of the hall. "Excuse me."

She was about to walk away when Noah grabbed and pulled her hand.

"Tomorrow, after signing the project contract, I will fly to Bali for the weekend and enjoy a weekend getaway there before returning to Seattle." Noah smiled slyly, "I need an Indonesian to accompany me there because I don't understand the language."

"Everyone in Bali is good at English," Finland said as she tried to pull her hand away, but Noah did not let go.

"I don't like to beat around the bush, I want you to accompany me to Bali." Noah said finally. "If you are not willing, then there will be no contract signed tomorrow. We will work with another marketing company."

"What do you mean?" Finland became angry. "I'm not that kind of woman!"

"Don't pretend to be an innocent girl," Noah said in a mocking tone. "You're going out with Jean, but you just kissed another man tonight. I've also heard rumors that you are a wealthy businessman's sugar baby. So, you must be used to serving a lot of men."

"Let go of my hand!" Finland pulled her hand with all her might and slapped Noah. "How dare you!"

Noah grabbed his cheek and became very angry.

"You…!! How dare you slap me! Because of you, tomorrow Atlas Corp will not sign any contract with LTX International. I'm the decision maker for this project. You should have been good to me!"

He turned away with a loud snort.

Finland was stunned. She must hold onto the wall to support herself. It's impudent that Noah accused her of being a sugar baby and asked her to accompany him on his vacation to Bali...

Tears slowly dripped onto her cheeks.

She really hated people who use their power to oppress others.

If the contract with Atlas Corp was cancelled tomorrow, Finland knew that she would be scolded at the office... They would not understand even though it was not her fault.