1 Chapter 1.1

The mother and daughter duo sat on the front porch admiring the tranquil scene. They hadn't done this in a while due to their busy schedules.

"I don't need you to cave into family pressure. Your dad and I support your every decision. Just be who you are, and let mom and dad do the rest, alright?"

Tina looked at her mom as the sunlight bounced off her skin, making her look angelic.

"I understand mom. Thank you."

They held each other's hands, trying to pass off warmth to calm their hearts.

Tina's family wasn't complicated, at least, not the immediate family. Her paternal grandmother, granny Martha was patriarchal. Fortunately for Tina's family, they had two daughters, Tina being the eldest, and Lina being the youngest. The two girls were 3 years apart. Due to this, Martha was not a huge fan of her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Lawrence. Heck, she wasn't even a fan of any of her granddaughters, and she had quite a lot of them. Albeit, she still made her appearance every once in a while, in Tina's family, because Mr. Lawrence was her first and most doted-on son.

Tina Lawrence, 27-year old interior designer, has never been in a relationship. Hardworking she was, beautiful she was, however, a bit dimwitted when it comes to love. Because of this trait of hers, she lost seven chances of being in a relationship since her college days. She believed that anyone who treated her right deserved the same, but never viewed it as them having any interest in her.

She seemed a bit standoff-ish, but she was the kind of person who found it difficult to make the first step. All of her six friends reached out to her first, and as they slowly came to understand her, they loved her. She wants to be in a relationship, but every time the thought of having to share her bed with another person popped up, she laughed and dismissed the relationship idea.

Like that, she dismissed it until 28 started to knock on her door, and Martha was starting to get impatient waiting on her first granddaughter to bring in a great-grandson.

The next day as Tina walked into her office, she found a new file on her table. Without even opening it, she knew it was a new client. Her thought was confirmed when her assistant walked in to brief her about the case.

"Hi Tina. So, your new case should be a powerful person. He came into the office this morning and the CEO received him. I have never seen that man so humble before in my 6 years of working here."

Even Tina was surprised at this point. It should be known that CEO Gabriel was anything but humble. He boasted everyday about his new accessories that worth more than the whole office building, his new girlfriend with a DD chest and thin waist, his new Bugatti, his new grills, and new everything.

"If he has that much money, he should get a hair transplant," Kyra, Tina's assistant, would joke anytime he came in to deliver his daily dose of bragging.

"So, what I am hearing is that my new client is a big shot, and I should be careful," Tina said, and Kyra nodded in reply.

"Okay. Got it."

"You have an appointment with him later today. You'll be having lunch together. I put it in your calendar. Good luck." Kyra waltzed out before Tina could invite her along. She knew trouble when she saw it, so she didn't want to be anywhere near that new client.

"Tina would do great on her own," she snickered before walking off to her desk.

After settling in, Tina took a look at the new client's profile. It was arranged neatly, a little too neat. There were pictures with in-depth analyses of what he wanted. She praised him for knowing quality, but some of the materials would take a while to be delivered, so this project was going to go on for a while.

The morning went by and soon it was time to head off to her lunch meeting.

"Kyra, are you sure you don't want to come?" She asked on her way out.

"Although he is a hottie, I'll sit this one out," Kyra replied with a smile.

Tina nodded before getting into her car and driving off. Kyra's reaction piqued her interest in this client.

"This meeting should be very interesting," she thought to herself.