Chapter 142

Juniper, a self-proclaimed foodie, took charge of ordering. While she was occupied, Liliana turned to Douglas. "I signed up for the AuraRun Design Contest."

"Really?" A smile touched his lips. "I knew you would."

"I did." Liliana gathered her long hair and tied it back with an elastic band. "The preliminary round is in a week. It's an online submission."

"Six days, actually," Douglas corrected gently. "Submissions open at eight in the morning on the seventh day. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"If you have time, I'd love to get your thoughts on color palettes," Liliana admitted. She'd spent so much time focused on her day-to-day work that while she had a decent grasp of the major design trends from the last couple of years, she was rusty on the finer details-the subtle nuances of color theory that could make or break a design.

"Of course. I'll put together the latest color boards when I get home. You can stop by my office during your lunch break, or just message me anytime after work." Thanks to his position at Cyan, Douglas had access to cutting-edge digital color palettes that were updated every few days, which would be a huge advantage for her.

"What time do you usually finish work?" Liliana asked, suddenly remembering what Juniper had said about how busy he was. She felt a twinge of regret for asking for his help.

Douglas considered it for a moment. "Just message me whenever you have a question. If I'm free, I'll reply right away. If I'm busy, it might be a little later. Is that okay?"

"Yes, absolutely," Liliana said quickly. "Whenever you have a free moment is fine. There's no rush."

"What's no rush?" Juniper asked, looking up from the menu. "The divorce?"

Liliana's smile twitched.

"We're not in a rush to eat," Douglas said, shooting his sister a fond, exasperated look. "Did you order everything you wanted?"

Juniper nodded enthusiastically. "Of course. Since you're paying, I didn't hold back."

Douglas blinked. "I thought you were treating them."

"You're a grown man having dinner with two women. How could you possibly let us pay?" Juniper teased him shamelessly. "An attitude like that is why you'll never find a wife."

Her bluntness made Liliana laugh. "Alright, alright, I'm paying."

"See? My brother's destined to be single forever," Juniper declared with a dramatic eye-roll. "Making a woman pay for dinner."

Douglas just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, a resigned smile on his face. He didn't argue further.

Soon, their food arrived, and the

conversation shifted to the movie

สั้นๆ

they had just seen. Two hours later, their gathering came to an end. Douglas drove them back to the movie theater, and Liliana got into her Maybach.

Juniper rolled down her window. "Look at her, driving a luxury car her husband bought her. She's gorgeous, too. She's totally winning at life she exclaimed then rolled the window backup adding perfectly timed jab. "Too bad that jerk Forrest has a mistress."

"I told you not to bring up Cedric in front of her," Douglas said quietly, waiting for

Liliana's car to pull away before following her out of the parking garage.

"The window was up! She couldn't hear me," Juniper protested, sticking her tongue

out.

She was right. Liliana hadn't heard a thing.

But Sylvia, standing by Douglas's car, had caught every word.

Actually, she'd only caught the first part-the comment about the expensive new car. So the divorce is off and he bought her an even nicer car? Is Liliana showing off now?*

A wave of resentment washed over her. She felt like Liliana had just one-upped her.

*I won't let you stay smug for long!*