"You say it."
"We're together just for the fun, no love involved."
Lucas paused, his eyes narrowing slightly. "What do you mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like, we both get what we want, just having fun together. Mixing in love would be ridiculous."
Ariana had decided she'd never talk about love again in her life.
The most fragile thing in this world is the so-called love—whether it's from parents, between lovers or among friends, it all changes.
When you think about it, money is the only thing that stays constant.
"I'm with you for the fun, if you stop making me happy, I'll kick you to the curb anytime!"
"OK, whatever you say."
Suddenly, Lucas stepped forward and scooped Ariana up in his arms.
"What are you doing? we haven't even finished eating!"
"You said it yourself—just fun, no love, let's talk about fun now."
"…"
Early in the morning, Ariana was left feeling dizzy and disoriented.
She had to admit, this man really knew what he was doing!
She even started to worry a little that being with him might be too much for her to handle.
The sheer joy made Ariana forget all about the jade pendant issue.
First of all, whether what Lucas said about it was true still needed to be verified, after all, he was from the Dynasty Club and they were known for spinning tales.
Even if it were true, Rose would never be interested in his status, Even if he found her, she would likely just scoff and ignore him completely.
Ariana woke up, rubbing her neck, Lucas kissed her shoulder and she quickly pushed him away.
"Still early, want to sleep a bit more?"
"No, I have to go to work today."
"Work?"
"Yeah, how else am I going to support you?" Ariana playfully pushed Lucas's forehead.
Lucas, being the caring partner he was, went to make breakfast and reluctantly saw Ariana off as she left for work.
Ariana drove to Summer Decor Company.
The Summer family originally dealt in real estate and Summer Decor was one of their businesses, though real estate had been tough lately, the decor business was doing well.
Especially since Ariana joined, business had been booming and she even won a prestigious interior design award, making Summer Decor quite famous.
Over the past year, Ariana had single-handedly achieved seventy percent of the company's performance, while the remaining eight designers combined only managed thirty percent.
Initially, Ariana didn't even like this job, she pursued interior design to please Charles and chose this career path for him.
She knew exactly what she meant to Summer Decor, so she couldn't resign just yet.
She figured she might as well earn more money and pay back the Summer Family and then they would be even.
Just as Ariana sat down, the general manager, Patrick Liu, clapped his hands, "everyone, let me introduce our new design director, Claire Summer, let's give her a warm welcome."
Ariana looked up and saw Claire, her smile fading away.
The room filled with enthusiastic applause.
"Hello everyone, I'm Claire Summer, I'm looking forward to working with all of you and hope to learn a lot," she said in a sweet, charming voice that was the kind men liked but women often found annoying.
Most of the applause came from the men.
Ariana, however, spoke up directly, "Mr. Liu, didn't we agree that once I completed the Jiangnan Mansion project, the design director position would be mine?"
The room was silent.
Patrick's face turned from pale to flushed.
Everyone in the company knew that Ariana had the absolute advantage, if she became the design director, no one would object.
"We can talk about this privately later," Patrick whispered.
"No need for private talks, let's discuss it now, you announced this in front of the entire company, so explain it in front of everyone, let them understand," Ariana replied coldly.
Her sharp gaze landed on Claire, her childhood friend and confidante. Claire had taken everything from her and now she dared to reach for her job, her career!
If Claire dared to reach, Ariana wouldn't hesitate to cut her hand off!
Patrick felt stuck between a rock and a hard place, one was his top performer, the other was the boss' daughter, he couldn't afford to offend either!
"Ariana, this is a decision from the group, Claire is Mr. Summer's daughter."
Everyone suddenly understood, it was the heiress of the company, after all, that explained everything.
Ariana was momentarily lost in thoughts, when she first joined the company, she went through the normal process of applying, interviewing and internship.
Charles said she couldn't rely on her wealthy family name to gain experience, so she kept her identity a secret.
For nearly four years at the company, no one knew she was the heiress of the corporation!
But when it came to Claire, she openly revealed her status as the heiress.
"Mr. Liu, since I'm new here, everyone is unfamiliar with my abilities, suddenly being parachuted in might make it hard for me to gain respect, how about I have a little competition with Ariana to see who is more capable for the position?"
Patrick was grateful to Claire for giving him a way out of the situation.
Ariana looked at Claire, wondering where she got the nerve to challenge her!
After all, everything Claire knew, Ariana had taught her.
"Ariana, what do you think?"
"I have no objections."
"Great, then it's settled, coincidentally, SUN Group is looking for a designer for their luxury apartment project here in our city, whoever secures the contract will become the new design director, how about that?"
"Alright, it's a deal," Claire replied with a confident smile, clearly having a plan in mind.
"Taking on the SUN property, huh, Liu? you've got guts," Ariana teased.
She knew about the development—it included nearly a hundred townhouses, if they could secure this deal, the company wouldn't need to open its doors for business for three years.
"Is Designer Ariana scared?"
"If you're not scared, why should I be?" Ariana scoffed, turning her face away.
"Then it's settled, everyone here is a witness!" Patrick smiled, then turned to Claire. "Miss Summer, let me take you to the office."
Patrick had a strategy in mind. While a designer's main task is to design, securing a major deal for the group requires connections more than anything else.
Claire was the heiress of the Summer Group and the future daughter-in-law of the Sheen Family Group, her network was certainly broader than Ariana's.
Although Ariana was the top designer in the company, she rarely got involved in promotions; she focused solely on design.
So Patrick figured that it was most likely Claire who will secure the deal.
This way, he wouldn't upset Claire and Ariana would have to accept it.
Ariana opened her laptop and immediately started researching.
She set a goal for herself: one billion.
She wanted to earn a billion for the Summer family to repay them for all the years they had taken care of her.
She didn't want people gossiping about her and she definitely didn't want the Summer family pointing fingers at her, calling her ungrateful!