Stephen looked at her with concern as he said gently, “You can tell me anything if you want to.”


    Mnie tried to force a smile. “Thank you for apanying us all day. You must not have eaten yet. I’ll buy you dinner.”


    She wanted to avoid talking about her grandfather to Stephen. Stephen looked at her deeply.


    He changed the topic and asked Mnie, “You seem to be getting along well with Xander?”


    Mnie nodded. “He’s a nice person.”


    “You must be the first person to say that.” Chuckling, Stephen recalled Xander’s personality before saying, “Maybe because you and him are alike.”


    Mnie had never thought they were alike. She felt Stephen was trying to find a topic to talk about, so she went along with it.


    Only a few restaurants were nearby, and it was crowded because of dinner time. Almost everyone eating there were patients and their family members.


    Stephen and Mnie went to a mall nearby.


    Mnie did not have much of an appetite. She asked Stephen, “What would you prefer to have for dinner?”


    Stephen looked at her. “Let’s have beef stew. It’s simple and tasty.”


    Unexpectedly, Stephen’s phone rang as soon as they entered the restaurant.


    He excused himself apologetically before going out to answer the call.


    Mnie asked the waiter for the menu and took out her phone.


    She had been busy looking after her grandfather after work and had her phone on silent mode inside her bag.


    After taking it out, she noticed she had an unanswered call and two message notifications.


    Both were from Yana, asking where Mnie was.


    Mnie called Yana back. Yana picked it up as soon as the phone rang. She was still working overtime in the office and sounded sad. “Hello, Mnie. Why did you call?”


    Mnie said, “You called me this evening. What’s up?”


    “This evening?” Yana was startled and said, “Oh, Mr. Scott came to the office to ask for you this evening. I thought he was looking for you because of something urgent.‘


    Eugene hade to look for her.


    Mnie frowned. “Why was he looking for me?”


    212


    “I don’t know. Mr. Scott didn’t say anything when he heard you had gotten off work.”


    Stephen came back when he hung up the call. His brows were knitted, and he did not look quite happy.


    Taken aback, Mnie asked, “What’s wrong?”


    “Nothing. Simon invited me for a meal,” said Stephen as he sat opposite Mnie and took the menu. “Have you ordered?”


    Stephen, Simon, and those guys were best friends who grew up together.


    However, Stephen had slowly distanced himself from Eugene for some unknown reason.


    Mnie looked at the table and said, “Simon might be looking for you because of something urgent. Why don’t you have dinner with him instead?”


    Stephen shook his head. “It’s okay. He has been boredtely and wants me to apany him. You’ve lost much weight after that business trip to Prime City.”


    Mnie said, “Not that much.”


    Chuckling, Stephen said, “Xander will return to Jepton in a few days, and we can have a meal together. What do you think?”


    Mnie was fine with it. Stephen said nothing more and ordered the food ording to Mnie’s preferences.


    Stephen was indeed considerate and did not mention anything about her grandfather. Instead, he asked Mnie about the exhibition she went to with Xander.


    Stephen seemed to admire her more after talking about the finance exhibition she and Xander were working on. “I knew you had a talent for this.”


    Mnie got into this industry because of Stephen’s encouragement.


    It was a happy meal, and Mnie’s mood was better.


    She had to return to the ward to look after her grandfather. However, just as they walked to the mall entrance, they saw someone familiar with a cigarette between his lips and scrolling through his


    phone.