---- Chapter 236 Thalia nearly choked on her tea. "Seriously, Lucia?" she said incredulously. "You''re really something else. I''m Asher''s girlfriend, and you''re asking me to bring my boyfriend to his admirer''s birthday party?" She wasn''t angry-just genuinely baffled by the audacity. Lucia raised her hand in a solemn oath. "I swear, I''m just trying to check off this one thing that''s been on my wish list for years. You can be all lovey-dovey with him right in front of me-I don''t care!
I just want him to show up to one of my birthday celebrations. Just once." "Come on, Thalia, please?" Lucia pleaded, actually tugging on Thalia''s arm like a child. "I promise I''m not plotting anything. Just this one time?" Thalia frowned, considering the bizarre request. "I swear I won''t try anything with him," Lucia pressed, her expression earnest. "Consider this my way of putting a final period on my years of unrequited feelings." ---- After a long moment of silence, Thalia sighed.
"Fine." Lucia''s face lit up. "Thank you! Let me take you to lunch as a thank you." Ata private dining room in an upscale Italian restaurant, Thalia, Lucia, and Asher sat around a round table. Lucia handed the menu to Thalia, letting her order first. Authentic Italian cuisine. Thalia ordered several of her favorites, including garlic prawns. She''d loved prawns since childhood. At home, the housekeeper would shell them for her, but here it was just the three of them.
Once all the dishes arrived, Thalia took a prawn and put it on her te, ready to peel it herself. suddenly, chopsticks appeared and deftly lifted the prawn from her te. ---- Thalia looked up to see Asher already peeling it, his expressionpletely natural. His long, elegant fingers made even this mundane task look graceful. Thalia blinked in surprise, instinctively ncing at Lucia. Lucia sat frozen, her expression darkening.
After finishing with the first prawn, Asher dipped it in sauce, holding it by the tail, and ced it back on Thalia''s te. "Thanks," Thalia said quietly as she picked it up. Before she''d even finished the first one, Asher had already peeled a second. Lucia''s smile became strained. "Ash, I had no idea you were the type to peel prawns for someone." The heir to the ckwood fortune, who''d grown up with staff catering to his every need, surely had never needed to peel his own prawns before.