While they waited for Lina to come back, there was another knock on the door.

Mathew Kim opened the door and a young man with silver hair and blue eyes walked in.

"I am sorry for the inconvenience that you had faced during your stay at our hotel, Mr. Ming." He apologized and then bowed his head respectfully.

This is the Head Manager Jordan Walker, a foreigner who was in charge of everything in La Lumière .

He was just informed that the famous Young Master of the Ming family was asking for last night's CCTV footage so he had rushed here to attend to his needs.

He passed the flash drive to Asst Kim and watched the man who sat regally on the couch.

Mathew quickly attached it to the laptop and pressed play. He then pressed fast forward until they reached the scene where Talia and her sister were talking to a certain waiter.

'If I'm not mistaken, that's the waiter who served me the last glass of scotch before I left.' Reuben's eyes glinted when he watched his past self pick up the glass and drink it in such a carefree way.

The Manager was trembling in fear when he saw that it was one of his own staff that had caused their hotel such big problems.

They watched how the same waiter had led the sisters up to this floor and even opened the door for them. A few minutes later, the waiter and Valerie left but there was no sign of Talia.

Mathew hit fast forward once again and this time it showed how Reuben stood before his door but did not enter.

"You know what to do right? Or do you want me to explain it to you?" Reuben looked up at the Manager and smiled sweetly.

People called his smile 'sweet yet deadly' because whenever he smiled someone else would suffer immensely.

Now that the manager had witnessed it, he understood why people used those words to describe his smile.

Manager Walker furiously nodded his head but his eyes widened when he saw the next scene on the laptop's screen.

Mathew's jaw also dropped when he saw how his boss had forced the woman inside the room that they were in right now.

He alternated his sight between the closed door and his boss.

'I never thought that the Emperor would do such a nasty thing! Disgusting!' He openly scowled at Reuben.

Manager Walker was staring at the woman being dragged inside when the laptop was shut with a bang.

When he looked up, he noticed Reuben's scary eyes watching him without blinking.

'How long do you plan on staring at her!?' His mood soured further when he noticed the manager's actions.

"Delete this part of the footage but give the rest to my assistant." He ordered and the manager could only nod in agreement.

Having sorted the issue with the footage, Reuben asked the manager to leave and warned him to keep his mouth shut about this incident.

--

When Lina entered the room the other man had disappeared and only Reuben was there working on his laptop.

Noticing her presence, he shut it down and motioned for her to take a seat.

She walked towards him and they just evaluated each other's outfits in silence.

'The man looks good in casuals as well as in formals.' She gave him a mental thumbs up.

'She's wearing normal clothes again.' He watched as she took her seat opposite to him.

Coincidentally, they both had worn black sweatshirts today which made it look like it was a couple's costume.

"Here." He passed the juice to her and she chugged it in a few seconds.

"Easy there, kitten! No one's gonna take it away from you." He chuckled when she put the glass down.

"Sorry, I'm used to having races with my brothers. Old habits." She sheepishly smiled and ate her breakfast like a proper lady.

"You have brothers?" Reuben, who always wanted siblings asked excitedly.

She just nodded and raised three fingers as she continued to eat.

'I consider those three as my own siblings so it's not a lie.' Lina tweaked the truth a little.

'So she has three brothers.' He was just happy to learn something new about his friend.

Lina stared at his big bony fingers and drooled just like on their first meeting, but stopped when she thought of how he had addressed her earlier.

"Ah... What's with the kitten?" Lina swallowed and raised her brows in question.

"Last night, your nightwear was a black cat, right? So…" He trailed off when he saw her frown.

"Excuse me! That's a black panther! Not a cat… I mean they belong to the same family but… You get what I mean right?" She stopped when she saw him trying hard to control his laughter.

"And how the hell did you get out of the bathroom when I clearly locked it?" She questioned angrily.

"Are you sure you locked it? It just opened when I turned the knob." He explained how he had opened the door.

'Oh my God! Does that mean something could have happened to me last night?' She panicked and her eyes widened.

Reuben scowled when he saw her face, he could easily read whatever nonsense was going on in her mind just by looking at her expression.

"Throw out whatever you are thinking right now!" He glowered.

"Like I said last night, I have absolutely no interest in sleeping with you." He crossed his arms over his chest and declared confidently.

"Good! Remember your words!" She glowered back.

'Can I not have a normal conversation with this woman?' Reuben shook his head.

The rest of the breakfast went on smoothly. Not because they had sorted their problems out but because either of them refused to talk to the other.

"When are you going to check out of the hotel?" He finally broke their silence because it was suffocating him which was a whole new feeling for someone who enjoys his silence.

'Hmph! He was the first to break!' Lina celebrated in her mind but there was no change on her face.

"I have an entire spa day reserved today. Treatments, massages, and best of all booze!" She cheered as she told him about what her day would be like.

"You certainly can use a relaxing massage." She pointed to his tired face and made a 'tsk tsk' sound.

'What's so wrong with my face?' He immediately touched his face.

"No thanks, you can enjoy all that girly stuff by yourself." He rejected her suggestion and glanced at his watch.

It was 9:00 and he had to leave if he wanted to attend that international video conference they had at 10:00.

"As if I asked him to get a massage with me. Hmph!" He looked up when he heard her disgruntled murmurs.

Rolling his eyes, he got up from his seat.

Right at that moment, Mathew Kim came back inside the room and whispered something in his ears to which Reuben just nodded.

When Reuben went to get his stuff and Mathew just stared at Lina who was wiping her mouth after eating.

'Was what happened last night consensual? Because I do not get the vibe of someone who was assaulted when I look at her calm face.' He assessed the situation and decided to give his Emperor the benefit of the doubt.

"Hi?" feeling his intense gaze on her, she smiled and waved at him.

"Good morning, Madam!" Mathew Kim bowed down and greeted her respectfully.

'The future Empress deserves respect for talking to the Emperor without trembling.' He gave her a thumbs up.

'Is something wrong with his brain?' Lina was confused when she heard his words and saw his actions.

"I'm not so old that you have to call me 'Madam'." She waved her arm around.

"If I'm not offending you can you tell me how old you are?" He straightened his back when he felt Reuben's fierce glare but he did not turn to look at him.

"I'm 22 this year. Why?" She questioned him back.

'Oh, so she's not as young as she looks. At least my boss isn't a pedophile.' He sighed then thought of how to answer her.

"It's just that Miss looks so young, I wanted to ask for your secret. You see, my wife is pregnant and she's obsessed with skincare products." He shifted the topic but when he started speaking about his wife, he just couldn't shut up.

Lina listened to him patiently and even answered his questions as well as recommended some stuff for his wife.

"I would love to meet your wife someday. She sounds like a lovely woman and is lucky to have such a loving husband!" She gushed at how much Mathew cared for her.

"Don't. She's a brat in real life. He makes her out as a saint but she isn't." Reuben spoiled their bonding moment by poking his nose.

The new friends both scowled at the same time and Reuben was amused when he saw how quickly she befriended his assistant.

"Asst Kim, we better leave now." He pointed to his watch and gestured for him to hurry up.

Mathew quickly added Lina to his contacts and promised to arrange a meeting with his wife.

'How can that sour face have such nice people surrounding him?' She stuck her tongue out at Reuben who was walking towards the door.

Suddenly, he turned around and caught her in the act while Mathew silently giggled.

'Fuck!' Lina awkwardly smiled when she saw his smug face.

"I was just about to leave but I realized that I do not have your number. How would I contact you if I wanted to?" He innocently asked as he passed his phone to her.

'We are friends now so I think it's okay to exchange numbers.' Lina shrugged and added her number in his phone.

"I knew you wouldn't refuse me, after all, we did spend the night together." He winked at her and walked out of the room.

'What just happened?' Mathew was dumbfounded to see how Reuben effortlessly flirted with Lina and left like a boss.

'Boss? Oh right, I have to leave!' He picked up Reuben's stuff and rushed after him.

Lina stood in the same place for a couple of minutes, shocked at his words, and then blushed when she woke up from her daze.

'Asshole! That will make people misunderstand that we did something ecchi last night!' She stomped her feet and went in to wash her face.

Looking into the mirror, she was greeted by her beet-red face. Her mind went back to the last sentence he spoke before leaving and once again she blushed.

Patting her face to shake off the dirty thoughts from her head, she picked up her purse and walked to the door.

When she opened the door, she saw the man who should have already left by now, still standing with Mathew by his side.

"Reuben? Why are you still here? You seemed so eager to leave earlier." She sneered at him and closed the door after coming outside.