You Are The Apple of My Eyes

Chapter 687 An Unknowing Pawn In The Game

James wore a purple suit, looking elegant and stylish. He looked more serious now, but that had to be because he was running the Time Group in the place of John whose whereabouts were still unknown. Two months ago, James had gone independent to concentrate on his own entertainment company.

Although James previously claimed that he didn't need the support of his family and managed to run J Entertainment Company on his own, only few people thought highly of him. Countless others still came to make deals, mostly to curry his favor, because of his connection to the Shi family.

The Zheng family's company was just a small one compared to the Time Group. Miles Zheng, Debra's father, came to personally negotiate a partnership with James, but it was unknown if he just wanted to gain favor with a member of the Shi family or if he really thought highly of the man.

The Zheng family mainly engaged in food processing and had no ties to the entertainment industry. James not only planned to open an agency, he was also preparing to invest in movie production— mostly to support his wife, Emma, an up and coming director.

J Entertainment Company had only been running for less than a year so it had yet to make a lot of profit. James wanted to cooperate with others. Someone leaked the news. Now, many companies wanted to form partnerships with James and Emma.

Miles was one of them.

Emma was standing next to James. When the two of them saw Michelle, they stopped. The others stopped as well.

"Mimi?" Emma had been very busy recently. She didn't know that Michelle had turned off her phone for a month. They hadn't seen each other or been in touch for a long time. It was inevitable that the woman to was going to be surprised by their sudden meeting.

James seemed more surprised than Emma. "Mimi, why are you here? Are you here to join us for lunch?"

The owner of the restaurant was a rich young man who was also a playboy. That man's family praised James every day, and he hadn't had a moment's peace until he opened a restaurant to stop his parents from nagging.

He opened a restaurant not to make money. To put it bluntly, only rich people could come to this place and they had to be one of his acquaintances to make a reservation.

'Mimi has been complaining about being poor. Why would she come to this restaurant?

Could it be because of the girl next to her?'

When James looked at Debra, someone cut in, "Miles, isn't that your daughter? Debra, right?"

The speaker's surname was Wen and he was a friend of Miles from work. He recognized Debra because he had seen the girl before. He glanced at Michelle and said to Debra, "I see you're here to eat with your classmate."

"Yes, Uncle," Debra greeted the man and then looked at her father. "Dad."

"Debra," Miles responded and then smiled kindly at the other girl. "Michelle, have a good meal with Debra. You should visit our house when you have time."

"Thank you, Uncle." Michelle smiled sweetly. When she turned to look at Emma and James, her eyes shone like stars in the night sky. "Emma! James!"

Emma smiled gently as she asked, "Are you having lunch with your classmate here?"

"Yes, this is my roommate, Debra. Debra invited me to dine here today. I didn't expect to meet you and James. What a coincidence!" Michelle held Debra's arm.

"Yes, what a coincidence." James smiled. Michelle found that his smile wasn't genuine at all. He seemed different from the James that she knew. Maybe he changed after becoming a president.

Michelle decided not to think too much about it. She just felt really happy upon seeing them.

James examined Debra and then glanced at Miles.

"It must be fate, Miss Zheng, that Debra is Mimi's roommate." James sounded a little cynical as he spoke.

Miles, who had ulterior motives, understood what James trying to imply. But he was prepared for this moment. "It is fate, I guess. Michelle, have a good time with Debra. We have business to discuss, so we're going ahead."

"Well, Mimi, I'll treat you to a meal next time," James promised before turning to his wife. "Honey, you haven't seen Mimi in a long time, right? Since this is your first meeting in a while, you two should talk. You can join us later."

"Okay," Emma agreed, knowing what James meant.

Before leaving, Miles patted his daughter's head and smiled dotingly. He told Debra and Michelle to enjoy their meal, and to order whatever they wanted to eat or drink.

The elite group left and disappeared through the door of a private room.

Debra looked uncomfortable. She didn't say much but she had kept her gaze trained on her father. After seeing her father's scheming face, she realized something.

Miles seemed to have noticed and guessed what she was thinking. There was a hint of warning in his smile before he departed.

"Mimi, you should be training with your club now, right? I just graduated so I'm a little busy. How have you been doing recently? Are you staying at your house or at the club? Your parents aren't home. You club is full of boys, right? You should move and live with us. Dora can accompany you. What about if I send a car to pick you up and bring you to the club every day?"

Emma said so much in one breath. She really cared for her cousin.

Feeling very loved, Michelle was happy. She rubbed her head against Emma's shoulder again and again. "I'm fine, Emma. Thank you. There is another girl in the club. Don't worry. I'm not alone."

"That's good." Emma patted Michelle's head and then looked at Debra, who was dazed and silent. "Hello, Miss Zheng. Where's your reserved table? Let's go and have a cup of tea, if that's alright with you."

"Oh, right. Sure," Debra replied, finally coming to her senses and leading them to their reserved seats.

Their table was out in the terrace which was full of flowers. From there, they could see half of Lexingport City. They had an excellent view and it was relatively quiet. The nearest table was at least five meters away from theirs.

There was a swing beside their table. It was made of vines and decorated with small flowers. The flowers exuded a faint fragrance when a breeze passed.

As soon as they sat down, a waiter brought them tea and fruits.

Debra poured a cup of scented tea for Emma and said, "Please try this."

"Thank you, Miss Zheng." Emma took a sip and then pushed a plate of sliced watermelon in front of Michelle. "Eat this. The watermelon is sweet."

"Well, okay." Michelle had just tossed a grape into her mouth. Then scooped up a piece of watermelon with her spoon. It was sweet and cool so she ate more.

Seeing her roommate eat so fast, Debra couldn't help worrying. "Don't eat too much, Michelle. It's iced."

"Miss Zheng is right. You shouldn't eat too much of this." Emma saw how reluctant Michelle was to let go of her spoon which made her smile and shake her head. "Don't just focus on the food. If you don't say something, your classmate might feel embarrassed. It's my first time meeting another classmate of yours aside from Lydia and Austin."

Michelle had to admit her manners were lacking. She immediately put her hands together and apologized, "Sorry. I didn't mean it. Please forgive me."

She rubbed her hands, looking very sincere. Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

Debra burst into laughter, her embarrassment dispelled. Like usual, she poked Michelle's forehead and teased, "You'll gain weight if you continue to eat like this."

"I won't." Michelle rubbed her forehead. "Why do you and Leon like poking my forehead?"

"What did you say?" Debra cast a sidelong glance at Michelle. "Did you just curse me?"

"No, I didn't. Why would I curse you?" Smiling wryly, Michelle sat straight. "Debra, let me introduce you again. This is my favorite cousin, Emma. Emma, this is my roommate."

"So Miss Zheng is your roommate." Emma smiled and pretended to be jealous. "You said I'm your favorite cousin. Why haven't you told your roommate about me? I know you've talked a lot about

Nina with your roommates."

"Michelle once said that she has a cousin who is a top student," Debra said. "She praised you every day and seemed really proud of you. But she didn't mention your name."

"Really? Mimi, did you forget my name?" Emma complained.

"I forgot to tell them your name," Michelle admitted with a shy smile.

"I also didn't know that James is Emma's husband. I thought you and James were just friends." Debra was really shocked to discover that fact just earlier.

She couldn't believe it even now.

What was more incredible was that she was being used as a pawn by her father. Miles must have known about the relationship between Michelle and the Shi family a long time ago.

If Debra was honest, she was actually closer to Rainy, but her father never paid any attention to Rainy. Debra naively thought that her father just wanted a lovely daughter like Michelle, but it turned out that her father could be quite the schemer.

If Debra managed to enter James' circle, she would have a connection with the Shi family.

Emma looked from Debra to Michelle. Michelle nodded as she told her roommate, "Because there's nothing to talk about. Emma and James' marriage has nothing to do with us. I'll tell you about mine when I get married."

"You? Married? You should probably find a boyfriend first," Debra taunted, rolling her eyes at Michelle.

'Boyfriend?'

Befuddled, Michelle lowered her head without saying anything. It seemed unlikely that Leon was going to be her boyfriend.