In less than 10 minutes Leyla had reached her destination. She stopped before an imposing building called Regal Tech. It was a company that became famous in the recent decade through a single product, ‘The Regal Tech Personal Assistant’ or RTPA for short. A piece of technology the size of a palm with the processing power of multiple tops of line computers. It took the world by storm.

It was her brothers’ company. They became billionaires a decade ago with their creation and since then, their company had ascended to become one of the top 10 greatest companies in the East blue continent’s States Union and was also in the top 500 globally.

Yes, they were currently so wealthy that nobody in the Regal family needed to work even a single day for the rest of their lives. Alas, such thought was against the family code. Their parent would have an attack if the suggestion was ever made.

The valet attendant came promptly to take her car keys as soon as she set foot on the ground. She left them to him and quickly went inside. She stopped at the reception but was instantly told to take the private elevator. After all, she was the top VIP on the list given to them. Leyla thanked them before taking the elevator.

She soon reached the top floor of the building which was essentially an incredibly huge office divided in two. Each side was occupied by one of the brothers and between them, there were a living space, a game space, and various installations which made one feel like this was not a workplace but the dream place of prepubescent teenagers.

“Oh? Ley you’ve arrived, how are you, on this fine afternoon?” Magnus the most lively of her siblings came out of nowhere greeting her. Leyla turned in surprise, she should know better. Her brothers had the bad habit of surging out of nowhere scaring the shit out of her.

“Hello, little sis.” Seiren the calmest amongst them also came up behind his brother. Leyla greeted them with a hug each.

“Hey, Seiren, Magnus.” While greeting them she took the time to observe them. They looked the same compared to one year ago. They were both tall at 189 cm, with dark locks and the same light blue eyes as hers.

They were handsome, charming, and eerily similar. The only way to distinguish them would be by the way they styled their hair. Magnus’ was chin-length and styled backward to avoid having his hair in his face As for Seiren, he was long, reaching his shoulder and kept in place behind his head with a jade-like hairpin. They looked to be her age despite being 28 this year. They both had the androgynous and youthful looks that made girls insane. Growing up, their houses were the theater of some pretty intense girl fights.

“I was fine until now, what do you want?” She answered before raising her guard while looking at them distrustfully. Because she had been at the center of numerous pranks and awkward situations of their design, she was wary when they wanted to ask her a favor.

“Is that distrust I sense?” Magnus looked at his brother as if he couldn’t fathom why she would be wary of them.

Seiren kicked Magnus in the arm with his elbow and spoke in a low tone barely moving his lips, “Don’t you remember last time?”

“Ah!? But that was a hazardous series of circumstances!” Magnus said. Leyla just looked at him deadpan.

“Ok, fine I promise, it’s nothing that outlandish, this time,” Magnus reassured.

“I sure hope so. Come out with it.” Leyla finally said.

“Why are you in a hurry? come sit, let’s have some coffee.” Seiren said and led her to the living area and sat her on a couch. Before long they were all seating facing each other and sipping a ridiculously expensive coffee.

“Stop dragging it, what exactly do I have to do?” Losing patience, Leyla said.

“It is simple. All you have to do is meet someone for us.” Magnus said.

“That’s it?” Leyla was puzzled and suspicious, this was the simplest thing they ever asked her to do.

“It’s a date,” Seiren added.

“A date!?” Leyla was startled. They had never asked her something like that before.

“Hum, well, not a true one. We just need you to distract the guy.” Magnus specified.

“Me? distract a guy. Have you not met me?” She asked them. Sure, she was pretty, beautiful even, but like stated before she had zero romantic experience with the other sex or her sex for that matter. Not to mention knowing flirting. If she tried it would just be incomparably awkward and painful to watch.

“Please Ley, we know how weird this sound. If that guy didn’t happen to see your picture in our office, we could have found another way, but unluckily the guy saw you and was adamant upon a date with you.”

Magnus pointed to the huge portrait hanging on a wall. It was hers; she had just turned 18 and her brothers had hired a hotshot photographer for a photo shoot to commemorate the occasion. They had their portraits surrounding hers. They all looked chic and regal like their namesake.

“What do you need from the guy, to be ready to go that far?” Leyla finally calmed down and asked.

“Well…” Magnus looked at Seiren.

“We can’t tell you, at least not at the moment.” Seiren was the one who answered me.

“Great, that’s just peachy. So let me get this straight, you want me to go on a date with someone I don’t know for a reason I can’t know!?” Leyla spoke ironically but she didn’t say no.

“Pretty much. On the plus side, he is handsome, additionally, he is rumored to be a principled person in our circles. He is just incomparably stubborn and old-fashioned. Here is the picture.” Magnus quickly said and sent her a picture of the man with his RTPA when he saw that she didn’t immediately refuse the request.

After all, they had thought that they would promptly receive a ‘no’ as soon as they asked, as their sister was not a social animal. Unexpectedly she took the time to think about it. So, pressing the iron while it’s hot they tried to convince her.

Receiving the notification, Leyla pulled out her assistant. She clicked on the message and a picture appeared before her eyes. It was a man looking to be 24 but had a gaze that told of history spanning numerous years. He had midnight-colored hair and grey eyes. His face was fine and angular, he had his hair bound in silk and was wearing an old school luxurious suit.

Somehow besides his physical appearance, the man had a draw that couldn’t be ignored. He was certainly beautiful, model-worthy even. Magnus stared at her face to not miss any shift in her expression.

“So?” Seiren asked.

“What’s his name?”

“Does that mean you agree?” Magnus asked excitedly.

“No, it means what’s his name?” Leyla answered evenly.

“His name is Celion Volere. He is a young antic owner and collector. His collection is particularly impressive.” Seiren said in response, seemingly absentminded as he mentioned the collection.

Leyla stayed silent, seemingly deep in thoughts. Magnus and Seiren held their breath afraid to bother her. They knew that she was trying to come to a decision. They were willing to let her work it through if that pushed the odds in their favor.

After a couple of minutes,

“Ok, fine tell him I agree. Blame my passion for the arts.” Leyla agreed while giving a pretense. In reality, she had agreed because she had a weak spot for her brothers. For a long time, she was not always the nicest to them, because of her insecurities and the comparison their parents always drew between them. As such, she had always felt guilty, thus when asked something by them she rarely said no.

Calling her a ‘brother-con’ would be an exaggeration but, this was their relationship’s dynamic. The second reason she agreed was because of the man himself. Of course, it wasn’t because she fell in love with him at first sight. It had more to do with curiosity. Like why does a man she never met before ask to meet her by giving such a ridiculous reason? Naturally, she didn’t believe the so-called ‘smitten with a gaze’ myth. Simply because, though she was pretty she didn’t have such transcendent charm that she could seduce a man through a picture.

“Great, take this.” Magnus sent a ridiculous amount of money to her account.

“Hey, say, how do you think I should take this?” She showed her bank account to Seiren.

“Come on, you know it’s not like that, the money is for clothing. I told you the guy is pretty old school. If you are to meet, he will surely invite you to an unreasonably fancy place. And since it’s for us, I wouldn’t expect you to use your own money.”

“Yes, yes I know, I am just messing with you.” Leyla let out a smile. Seiren stifled a laugh and Magnus smiled wryly.

Her previous relationship with them had left them unknowing when she was joking sometimes. She used to be cold toward them for reasons they couldn’t possibly understand. This is a prime example of why raising your children through constant comparison with their siblings was damaging for their relationship with each other. What was there to be said? The Regals were unique parents with seriously norm diverging opinions.

“Well, I suppose I will start preparing for it? Anyway, take care. I will leave you to your jobs.” Leyla said before rising. “Ah, yes send me the ID of the guy, so I don’t make an asshole out of myself when he contacts me for our date.”

“You got it. You can stay, you know? We aren’t doing much besides giving directions and signing papers.” Magnus put his hand behind his head and got comfortable on his chair.

Skeptical, Leyla threw a gaze at Seiren who nodded easily. “Is that so? why then, are you always missing when it’s time for our family gatherings?” Leyla asked smiling knowingly.

Startled Magnus sat straighter and said with a serious face. “Even though we aren’t that busy we still need to be here in case of problems. Ah. Yes, also work travels happen frequently.”

“What he said.” Seiren concurred.

She left their office while laughing tickled, behind her, she could hear Seiren asking, “Why did you say we weren’t doing anything?”

“How was I to know that she would use this to raise the matter of our absence from the family’s gatherings? Besides, I only said that to make her stay a moment. You know we don’t spend much time together these days.”

In the elevator, she smiled. She was happy about the way her relationship with her siblings had turned out.