Noreen glanced left and right, making sure there was no one else nearby. Once she was certain Henry was talking to her, she pulled out her phone, found a video, and played it at full volume in response to him.
“Are you okay? Are you okay? Are you okay?” The voice from her phone echoed loudly.
Henry’s expression soured; his opinion of Noreen dropped even lower.
Noreen, for her part, couldn’t have cared less what he thought. As soon as she’d had her say, she tapped her card and left without a backward glance.
Not far away, Healy—dragged into a blind date against his will—caught the entire exchange. The moment Henry started giving Noreen a hard time, Healy’s instinct had been to step in and defend her. But before he could do anything, Noreen had already handled it herself.
Her approach was… unconventional. But honestly, it was hilarious.
If he hadn’t been stuck in his own awkward date, Healy would’ve gone over to say hello to her.
His date, noticing the smile that wouldn’t leave his face, took it as a good sign. She tried to keep the conversation going, but Healy ended the meal early and apologized to her.
She looked genuinely confused. “Can I ask why?”
She knew she was attractive, and her family background wasn’t bad either.
Healy paused, and at that moment, a certain face flashed vividly in his mind.
He gave her a straightforward answer: “I’m attracted to people with a sense of humor.”
Meanwhile, when Henry returned to the private dining room, his expression was noticeably sour.
Inside, Bianca was chatting with Ethan. She looked up when Henry walked in. “What took you so long?”
“Got held up,” Henry replied, not interested in elaborating.
Hearing that, Henry understood immediately. No wonder Noreen was always copying others and resorting to questionable methods to snatch projects. She was the worst kind of player in the industry—the kind Henry despised most.
He already disliked Noreen; now he found her utterly contemptible.
After the meal, the trio went their separate ways. Out in the parking lot, Ethan spotted Scott, still driving that battered old Volkswagen.
It matched Scott perfectly: shabby and down on his luck.
The car had seen better days—today, it wouldn’t even start. Scott was hunched over, fiddling with wires to try and jump the engine when Ethan rapped on his window.
Scott looked up, his brow furrowing in annoyance the moment he saw who it was.
But Ethan, never one to read the room, leaned casually on the window and taunted him, “Still driving this heap, huh? Scott, how do you keep ending up further behind? Or did you forget why your ex dumped you in the first place?”

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