At ten o'clock at night, amidst a raging storm outside the window, a white limited edition Maybach Landaulet worth seven figures in U.S. dollars is parked quietly yet luxuriously outside Flomoon Tea House.
There's only one of its kind in the entire city, if not the whole country.
The driver, Xavier Estrada, takes a glance at the weather outside and then at his watch before reminding in a low voice, "Mr. Hawkins, we have half an hour left before the Tea House closes."
"Hmm." Bryan Cooper, seated in the spacious back seat, responds with a nod, still typing on his keyboard.
Ten minutes pass, and he remains unmoved.
At the moment, on the second floor of Flomoon Tea House, Carolline Ruiz is still sitting in a private room, where she has been since six o'clock in the evening. Over the course of four hours, she has only left her seat to use the restroom three times.
Her cell phone has run out of battery, and she has forgotten her charger.
When it died at eight, she spent the next two hours reading a novella provided by the Tea House, specifically for passing time.
Being a fast reader, Carolline was able to read a line in a single glance while skimming the pages, quickly finishing the book.
Now it's ten twelve in the night, and in eight minutes, the service staff will start closing up the Tea House.
Seeing Carolline still there, they can only refill her teapot once more as she places a 100-yuan bill on the table. "I'm sorry," she says. "I know you close at ten thirty. Don't worry, if the person I'm waiting for doesn't come by then, I'll leave."
At that time, she'll just wait at the entrance of the Tea House.
Carolline had made up her mind long ago. As she promised him, she would wait for his return, no matter how late. Even if it took all night, she would wait.
He wasn't just anyone, after all.
At five thirty, she reluctantly agreed to meet someone for a blind date. Based on her mother's advice, she had come to Flomoon Tea House to wait. As she sat there, bored, she suddenly saw him walking towards her.
Her heart began to race uncontrollably, and a few seconds later, he sat down across from her, glanced at her with a calm expression, as if he didn't remember her, and said, "Hello, I'm here for the blind date. However, I have something I need to deal with urgently. Would you mind waiting a little longer?"
"Yes, sure." Carolline could barely find her voice.
She never imagined, though, that "a little longer" would mean more than four hours, keeping her waiting until the Tea House was almost closed.
She hadn't eaten dinner yet, but she didn't feel hungry.
Her heart wouldn't stop racing, and it took an hour after he left to recover her composure and pull out her phone to play games.
After the phone died, she began reading a book from the Tea House's shelf, killing time until this late hour.
She had no idea when the rain outside had grown so heavy, accompanied by thunder and lightning.
Ailin Ferguson runs in from outside, clutching her head. Although it was just a short distance down the street, she was drenched. The main reason was that she noticed a luxury car parked in front of her shop. As a fan of luxury cars, her soul would be hooked whenever she saw one on the streets.
Of course, only the cars themselves attracted her attention.
Experience told her that most luxury car owners were middle-aged, bald, potbellied men well into their 40s. That's why luxury car windows were made from special materials that allowed the driver to see out clearly but prevented even a glimpse of the contents inside from the outside.