Chapter 41: Mia Stanley
The third floor was indeed a café—spacious, luxurious, and accompanied by soothing live music.
Mateo noticed many couples on dates as well as beautiful women relaxing with their friends.
They weren’t just attractive; they were eye-catching and glamorous.
One woman with wavy blonde hair caught even Mateo’s attention.
She wore clean white shorts, showing off her tall, slender, yet curvaceous figure, along with a pair of long gold earrings and a pearl necklace.
When she smiled, her red lips made it difficult to look away.
Although her companions were also beautiful, they faded into the background because of her presence.
Mateo thought only Alice could compare to her, though Alice carried herself in a more modest and reserved manner.
Surely this couldn’t be the blonde woman those gangsters had been talking about. If it were her, even ten thousand dollars would be nowhere near enough.
From what Mateo could see, only two tables remained available among the dozens scattered throughout the café.
He and Thomas took one of them in a distant corner.
"So, what would you like to eat?" Thomas asked after they sat down.
A waiter approached their table without even being called.
"Boss..." he greeted Thomas politely, and Thomas gestured for him to wait.
Mateo browsed through the menu.
There were far too many choices, but the Asian dishes caught his interest, perhaps because he had eaten Japanese food earlier that day.
"One fried rice, one grilled duck, and this milk coffee," he said after reading for a while.
Thomas nodded before telling the waiter, "Make four servings of each."
"Yes, sir."
The waiter nodded and headed toward the kitchen.
"Who are the other two servings for?" Mateo asked in confusion.
"The portions here are small. I eat two servings myself," Thomas explained. "Considering you’re a skilled martial artist, you probably need a lot of food too, right?"
"Mm, yeah..." Mateo nodded.
Naturally, if the portions were small, they wouldn’t be enough for him.
His gaze continued wandering around the café.
Most of the customers were probably students from the university, but there were simply too many students for him to recognize everyone.
Like any ordinary man, even though he already had a girlfriend, Mateo still found himself unconsciously glancing at the blonde woman more often.
Perhaps because he looked too many times, she suddenly looked back at him just as he was staring.
He panicked, but instead of being offended, she smiled at him.
"Um... Mateo," Thomas called with an amused smile.
Mateo immediately felt awkward.
"Do you know who she is?" Thomas asked.
"Who?" Mateo naturally had no idea.
"Mia Stanley. She’s the daughter of the famous singer Anna Stanley. We went to the same high school, though she only graduated this year."
"What? Anna Stanley has a daughter?"
Mateo was stunned.
He certainly knew Anna, one of the most popular pop singers of the past twenty years.
"Come on, celebrities have plenty of private matters the public never hears about," Thomas replied casually.
"No one knows who her father is. She uses her mother’s surname and lives with her grandparents in City Z."
"So she’s also a freshman at this university?"
"Yeah, just like you."
"I didn’t see her during orientation."
"That’s normal. There were so many new students."
"You’re right..." Mateo smiled wryly.
Not long afterward, their food arrived, and the aroma only made him hungrier.
This was his first time seeing fried rice in person, even though he’d known about it from the internet for a long time.
"Thomas, is this really free?" he asked, wanting to make sure before eating.
"Come on, don’t worry. This entire place belongs to me—even the building and the land," Thomas replied with a chuckle.
Hearing that, Mateo finally began eating.
He was already starving.
Even so, he deliberately ate in a composed manner so he wouldn’t ruin his image.
After only a few bites, he frowned as a gentle and elegant woman’s perfume suddenly drifted into his nose.
Shock immediately filled his face when he turned to the side.
Mia Stanley was now standing right beside their table.
Thomas looked surprised as well.
"Mia, is something wrong?" he asked, clearly familiar with her.
"May I join your table?" she replied.
Her voice alone was pleasant to hear, which wasn’t surprising considering her mother was renowned for having one of the finest singing voices.
"Of course, no problem. But what made you want to sit here? I think this is the first time you’ve ever come to my table," Thomas said.
"I’m not here for you. I’m simply curious about the man who’s dating Alice," Mia answered as she sat down and looked directly at Mateo.
Mateo could only wear a strange expression while she smiled and carefully studied his face.
"What is it?" he asked in confusion.
"How about we introduce ourselves first?" she replied, extending her hand toward him.
That made Mateo a little nervous, but refusing would have been impolite.
He accepted her handshake.
Her hand was so soft that it almost tickled him.
"Mateo Allen..."
"Mia Stanley... By the way, who do you think is prettier—me or Alice?" she suddenly asked after stating her name.
Mateo had no idea how to react.
Why would she ask something like that?
"Alice is prettier," he answered.
There was no way he would claim another woman was more beautiful.
"Really? Then why do you keep looking at me?" she giggled.
Mateo found himself at a complete loss for words.
"Don’t feel guilty. It’s not your fault. It only proves that you’re a real man."
Mateo, "..."
He scratched his head.
"Miss Stanley, are you a close friend of Alice’s?" he asked, changing the subject and addressing her formally.
"Just call me Mia. I used to be one of Alice’s close friends, but our friendship fell apart."
"Fell apart? Why?"
"Naturally, there was a reason, but I can’t tell you. Still, I’m the person who knows Alice best. If you ever want to know what she likes, you can ask me. I’m sure I can help make Alice fall even more in love with you."
Still smiling, she placed her phone in front of Mateo.
"Write down your phone number," she added.
