The coffee shop at Lampard, Sweet Hotel, is often referred to as the best place for blind dates.
Seeing men and women dressed formally sitting across from each other at tables, quietly chatting, made it seem like everyone was there for a blind date just like him.
Dylan, sitting across from the woman, clearly wore a bored expression on his face. As Dylan entered his mid-thirties, his parents became increasingly anxious. They feared that their son might never get married and grow old as a bachelor ghost. Dylan’s father, Zach, often nagged him, asking if he felt anything when he saw his rabbit-like nephews and nieces.
Honestly, Dylan did not feel a pressing need to get married. Living alone posed no issues for him, and all his friends were enjoying their glamorous single lives.
However, he couldn’t bring himself to voice his desire to live as a single man like Chief Prosecutor Alan Jay. If he did, his mother would surely collapse in despair, and his father would explode in anger.
This blind date was arranged by a friend of his mother. He had reluctantly gone on a few blind dates before due to his mother’s insistence.
But the women he met were all the same. They either plastered themselves with luxury brands to look pretty or exaggerated their gestures and expressions while wearing heavy makeup.
So, Dylan had tried to refuse this time with various excuses, but his mother, Mariana, pleaded earnestly.
“This time, it’s a woman recommended by someone I know well, so she must be decent. Just meet her once.”
Reluctantly agreeing to the blind date due to Mariana’s insistence, Dylan was already regretting it deeply.
“If you’re a prosecutor, you must be very busy, right?”
The woman, speaking with unusually red lips, emanated a strong scent of perfume. With her heavily made-up face, she blinked incessantly while talking, perhaps thinking it made her look cute.
Dylan, already disinterested, felt his irritation rise as she made such expressions.
“Being busy is good. Oh, but it’s okay. I can have fun on my own.”
When Dylan looked at her with a blank expression, she immediately interpreted it.
“I heard you have a younger sister.”
“Yes.”
In stark contrast to the woman’s chatty tone, Dylan’s responses were short and concise.
“Then… if you get married, will you have to live with your parents?”
The longer Dylan sat there, the more frustrated he felt.
As Dylan sipped his coffee in silence, the woman continued to chatter away.
“I wouldn’t mind living with my in-laws. I’m very sociable, so I get along with older people quickly.”
Dylan was not a patient person. If he stayed any longer with someone who grated on his nerves, he felt he might end up going crazy and needing to be hospitalized.
“I’ll get up first.”
“Excuse me?”
The woman’s eyes widened in surprise as she watched Dylan rise.
“If you live with me, you’ll be very lonely and unhappy. I hope you meet a good person.”
“What? What is this…?”
The woman, with a dumbfounded expression, was so taken aback that she couldn’t even form a proper response.
Without even glancing at her, Dylan turned and left the coffee shop without hesitation. Left alone, the woman felt humiliated by Dylan’s cold demeanor and cursed him under her trembling lips.
“Ugh, how annoying. What kind of jerk is that?”
******
At the same time.
Lola was sitting across from a man at the Sweet Hotel coffee shop, going through a blind date.
At 31 years old, she thought she was still young and beautiful, but it seemed her parents and those around her thought otherwise.
Her mother and aunt often introduced her to potential suitors, insisting that a woman’s success in life depended on marrying well.
“Look at your friend Gia. Didn’t she marry a Business magnate? And now she has a baby? See? That’s what success looks like.”
“At 31, it’s not a young age anymore. If you take too long to choose, you might end up with nothing.”
She didn’t think that was entirely wrong.
Lola felt a bit envious of Gia, who was happily married with children.
So far, she had gone on several blind dates but had yet to meet a suitable partner.
From the very first impression, today’s date was not promising. The way he looked at her felt slimy, like a snake. And the slurping sound he made while drinking coffee was incredibly irritating.
Moreover,
“As a psychiatrist, you must know what others are thinking, right? Oh dear! I’m already feeling pressured!”
He was speaking informally, throwing out casual remarks even though it was their first meeting.
With her head slightly bowed, Lola tightly gripped her mug, deep in thought.
How could she decline without making him feel bad?
“Is this your first blind date, Lola? Have you dated before?”
