Mo Qingchen stared at her lips intently as they closed down on the fork and waited for her reaction. Her taste buds were assaulted with the strangest flavor. The bitterness almost caused her eyes to clench shut before she pulled them wide open.

  "What the hell was that?" she hissed as she grabbed her glass.

  "Paddlefish caviar with steak tartar." He reached over with his fork and scooped up some for himself. "Do you like it?"

  She frowned. "I suppose I don't dislike it." Her nose scrunched up tightly. "I thought you wanted to treat me to good food. Are you taking revenge for something?" she asked, taking another sip of her water.

  So bitter.

  "Not everything can be as sweet as your drink of choice, Qian Meng," he said knowingly.

  "Well, I suppose you enjoy bitter things. Much like your drink of choice, Qingchen." She squinted. It was the first time she had called him by his name. His eyes widened slightly and then he glared at her. She had said his name with the intention of infuriating him. "Chen Chen, why do you like bitter and black things?" she asked.

  She could literally hear Mo Qingchen's mind melt. That nickname probably blew his mind and aged him ten years.

  "Because that's how my soul looks," he replied bluntly. Qian Meng rolled her eyes. "But you would know all about black and bitter souls, wouldn't you? That's why you eat so many sweet things. Even your obsession with diet coke during university showed what you prefer…… black, cold and poisonous."

  Qian Meng wanted to laugh.

  "You two are really close. I didn't know that," Bai Ye Qing concluded. "How do you know each other?" he asked casually, but the other two could hear that his hackles were rising.

  "Our families are in the same industry. We attended the same parties, galas, charity balls. Our parents constantly compared the two of us so that we could compete and try to beat one another at everything. Qian Meng was also my sister's best friend in college so I saw her a few times when I picked up my sister from the university." He shrugged.

  "It does seem we have had a lot of intersections in our life," Yun Qian Meng pondered.

  "It's a pity our parents are enemies. If we had known each other without being compared all the time, our personalities would have drawn us closer to make us inseparable allies," Mo Qingchen commented. He had a faraway look in his eyes and he raised his glass towards Qian Meng. He raised hers and took a sip of her water.

  "Honestly, I trust my enemies more than my friends and family. My enemies don't stab me in the back or try to take the things that are mine without reason." These words were a sharp slap to Bai Ye Qing's face. Even an enemy was better treated than him.

  "The entrees are not enough to fill me up. Did you decide on what you want to eat?" Yun Qian Meng asked Bai Ye Qing. He nodded.

  The waiter's crisp accent rang from beside them. Mo Qingchen placed his order with ease, his Swedish fluent and impressive. Yun Qian Meng hadn't noticed it before when he was being so rude, but it was rather attractive when Mo Qingchen spoke in a foreign language.

  She ordered her bit, keeping it safe and asking the waiter for his recommendation. Then, everyone turned to Bai Ye Qing.

  His head popped up and he said, "I'll have the renytterfile." He was confident. The waiter's amused gaze informed him that he had butchered the pronunciation. But there was nothing to be embarrassed about that.

  Mo Qingchen cocked his head to the side. "You've had Scandanavian food before?" he asked curiously.

  Bai Ye Qing smirked, realizing that he must have made an excellent choice. "I haven't. But it seemed like the obvious choice."

  Qian Meng sighed and shook her head. She knew some of these dishes because she had traveled all over the world. Even she wouldn't order this dish.

  "I never thought you could be interesting." Mo Qingchen's voice was filled with genuine awe and frustration.

  "He is an anomaly, isn't he? Persistent and unembarrassed after all the humiliation we have put him through." Where she got the confidence to outright humiliate Bai Ye Qing, she didn't know but if she had to guess, she would say Mo Qingchen made her bolder.

  "You're persistent too," he replied softly, ignoring the last part.

  Yun Qian Meng tried another bite of the caviar. It actually tasted good once she was accustomed to the bitterness.

  "Hey, this actually tastes good," she said with surprise. Mo Qingchen smiled.

  "Of course. At first, things that seem bitter may actually be good while those sugary treats you like spoil your health and cause you pain." His eyes were piercing. Qian Meng couldn't understand his words, but they seemed to be a life lesson.

  "Not bad," she admitted. Her fingertip lightly followed the rim of the glass before she raised her eyes to his. "And what other bitter pill do you want me to swallow?"

  Mo Qingchen didn't respond right away, instead, he lifted his glass to his lips for a long drink of water, keeping their eyes connected all the while.

  He lowered the glass, his lips glistening. "There are a lot of pills I wish for you to swallow," he admitted somewhat reluctantly.

  Just as she was about to ask what those things were, the meals were placed down in front of them. She hadn't even noticed the waiter standing there, which was weird considering how observant she was.

  Much to her relief and Bai Ye Qing's, the food looked amazing.

  Bai Ye Qing looked down at his plate and sighed with relief. A plump and juicy steak with a variety of vegetables surrounded it. He glanced over at the others and saw that they had ordered different proteins. He chuckled to himself.

  "Is something funny?" Qian Meng asked.