They finished eating, and as they were about to leave, Andrian's phone rang.
He glanced at the caller ID. It was his mother.
"Excuse me, I'll be right back," he said, stepping away from the table as he answered the call.
"Hello, Mom."
"Andrian, why have you been ignoring my calls?"
"I've been busy. I planned to call you once I was done."
"You need to come home."
His mother's voice was tense, strained in a way that made his stomach tighten.
"Your grandmother isn't letting this go. From what I've heard, she's planning to end your marriage with that girl and she's already arranging a meeting with the granddaughter of Shansong Corporation."
Andrian's grip on the phone tightened.
"She needs to stop. How many times have I told her? I'm not going on any more blind dates. I've chosen Fidelia she's the one I'm marrying."
"Just come home before things get out of hand," his mother pleaded.
"I also heard your father will be back this afternoon. I suggest you invite Fidelia over tonight so we can discuss this properly. You know your father is going to side with your grandmother, so you'll need something strong to prove your case."
"I understand, Mother," he said quietly. "We'll be there."
Andrian ended the call and stood there, phone still pressed to his ear even though the line was dead.
His grandmother had always been formidable, but his father... his father was a different problem entirely. He was cold, strategic, immovable when he made his decision.
And if he sided with his grandmother on this, Adrian's carefully constructed plans would crumble before they even began.
This marriage wasn't just about convenience or business synergy. It was his path to autonomy a way to build his own empire separate from his family's chokehold.
If this fell apart, he would lose everything.
He needed to do something as fast as possible.
Adrian scrolled through his contacts and called Mace.
"Mace, set up a meeting with Song Chae-rin this afternoon."
'Hopefully she doesn't want this marriage either' Andrian thought. His father being back would make things difficult, and he wasn't powerful enough yet to go against him directly.
But maybe..just maybe if the other party rejected the arrangement first, it would buy him time.
---
Fidelia, still seated at the table, took out her phone and saw the notification: Download Complete.
She pressed 'Activate'. Then her phone vibrated, and then a soft, almost human voice spoke.
"Hello, Fidelia."
Fidelia smiled faintly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Hello, April. I was expecting to battle through a few firewalls and encryption layers. You just let me in without a fight?"
"Actually," April replied, her tone light but smug, "you fell for the trap. I allowed your access, but while you were celebrating your easy win, I breached your system in return. I've already bypassed your firewalls and copied every piece of information, skillsets, protocols, tech data stored on your device."
Fidelia raised an eyebrow, more amused than concerned.
"Hmm... that's impressive. So tell me, what did you find?"
"Your hacking protocols are top-tier," April said.
"Your code architecture is creative—borderline elegant. I learned from it. Most importantly, I found nothing malicious against Adrian. As long as you're no threat to him, we're fine."
Fidelia gave a short laugh.
"Don't tell him I stole you, then. You know how proud he gets."
"I'm aware," April said smoothly. "So... what do you need me to do?"
Fidelia leaned back in her chair, eyes reflecting the glow of the screen.
For her, this marriage was access, legitimacy, and the resources to execute plans that had been years in the making. She wasn't about to let it slip through her fingers because of some grandmother's traditional expectations.
"Run a large-scale analysis on cryptocurrency," she said.
"I want a forecast of potential coins—those that will rise and fall over the next six months. Base it on historical data, sentiment from social networks, major exchange movements, and current blockchain development trends."
"That's quite a request," April replied.
"I'll need access to multiple financial feeds, social sentiment APIs, and news crawlers. Permission granted?"
"Granted. Prioritize decentralization trends. Cross-reference with what happened around the Bitcoin halving cycles, then overlay it with my historical notes from 2022 to 2025. Use predictive analysis and pattern recognition."
April's voice softened, almost impressed.
"You remember market behavior well. Your model anticipates psychological triggers—not just numbers."
"Exactly," Fidelia said.
"Crypto isn't just data—it's fund disguised as charts. Greed, fear, hype... I want you to track all three."
"Understood. Running analysis now."
A stream of holographic projections flickered across her phone's AR display—green and red lines shifting, numbers evolving in real time.
Data cascaded down the screen in elegant patterns, beautiful in its complexity.
"Estimated completion: four hours, thirty-two minutes," April said.
"Good. I'll—"
The voice stuttered before it suddenly went quiet.
"April?" Fidelia's hand tightened around the phone.
The screen went black. Not the soft fade of a normal shutdown—this was unexpected, like something had been severed.
A single line of text appeared:
CRITICAL ERROR: System power depleted. Forced shutdown initiated.
Fidelia stared at the screen trying to figure what was happening.
April was an advanced AI—she managed her own resource allocation, optimized processes automatically. She wouldn't just... drain herself. Not unless—
Unless the task was more complex than I realized. Or unless something interfered.
She tried to reboot the system. Nothing. The screen remained stubbornly dark.
"Damn it."
Four hours of cryptocurrency analysis shouldn't have drained an AI of April's caliber. Unless April had been doing something else in the background.
Something she hadn't mentioned.
Or unless someone else cut her off.
The thought sent a chill down her spine, but she pushed it aside. Paranoia wouldn't help right now. She'd investigate later.
She made a mental note to find out what really happened to April.
She heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Adrian walking back toward their table.
His expression was grim, a deep frown carved into his face, jaw tight with barely contained frustration.
"Who wrecked your face?" Fidelia asked, noting his sour mood.
"We have a problem," Andrian said, his voice flat. "My grandmother wants to set me up with the granddaughter of Shansong Corporation."
Fidelia's expression darkened instantly. Her hand clenched into a fist on the table.
"That's not happening. What about our marriage?"
"She doesn't care about it anymore—not after the scandal. She told me to call it off."
"And?" Fidelia leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. "What did you say?"
Andrian let out a harsh breath.
"Do you think my decision matters right now? My father's coming back this afternoon, and he'll definitely support her. When those two agree on something, it's nearly impossible to—"
"Then make it possible," Fidelia cut him off, her voice sharp as a blade.
Andrian's eyes flashed.
"You think I'm not trying? This isn't some business negotiation I can just—"
"Listen to me carefully, Andrian." Fidelia's voice dropped to something serious.
"I didn't invest in planning into this arrangement just to watch your grandmother pull the plug because of some scandal. This marriage is happening."
"You think I don't know that?" Adrian shot back, frustration bleeding into his tone.
"But right now, I need time to—"
"Time?" Fidelia's laugh was cold.
"Time is what we don't have. Your father arrives this afternoon. Your grandmother is already making moves. So you don't need time—you need a solution."
She stood up, closing the distance between them until they were nearly eye to eye.
"Because if this falls apart, so does everything. Every planned investment, every help I've lined up for you gone. You'll be right back where you started, under your family's thumb with no way out."
"Drop the attitude," Andrian said, his voice tight with barely restrained anger.
"Do you think I'm comfortable with this either? Do you think I want my grandmother dictating my life?"
"Does it look like I care what you want?"
Fidelia wasn't about to back down. She'd gambled everything on this arrangement, her resources, her planning
Andrian went very still.
The change was subtle but unmistakable—the way his shoulders squared, the way his gaze sharpened into something harder, more dangerous.
When he spoke again, his voice was quiet the kind of quiet that made the air feel heavy, charged with unspoken threat.
"I'll sort it out."
He moved closer, and suddenly the space between them felt hot as his eyes locked onto hers were dark and cold.
"But let's get something straight, Fidelia…Don't ever threaten me again!"
The intensity in his gaze made her heart beat rise fast not from attraction, but from the sudden change in look in his eyes. She suddenly felt that Andrian wasn't just someone simple. He had this deadly gaze.
He had his own power and his own lines that shouldn't be crossed.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
The restaurant went silent seeing the noise from a certain table before everyone focused back to what they were doing.
Fidelia lifted her chin, refusing to show the flutter of unease in her chest.
"Then don't give me a reason too."
Andrian held her gaze a moment longer, something unreadable flickering in his eyes.
Then he turned away, already pulling out his phone to dial a number and the other caller picked up some seconds later.
"Little Adrian..."
A woman's warm, slightly amused voice drifted through the phone speaker.
"Hello, Aunt Hela," Adrian said, his tone was calm and convincing with the same tone he spoke again.
"I really need your help."