He didn't refuse. He took out his phone.
"Beep." A soft sound.
A brighter smile bloomed on Mia's face:
"Mr. Miller, the friend request has been sent. When you have time, please approve it."
She smoothly put away her phone and business card holder, and sat back in her seat gracefully. The whole process was calm and unhurried, showing strong professionalism.
William explained:
"Assigning clients private secretaries is also an extremely rare premium service within Chase. Only high-caliber clients like Mr. Miller receive such treatment."
This was both an illustration of exclusivity and an implicit compliment.
Ethan didn't speak. His eyes stayed on William's eager, expectant face for a moment, then passed over Mia's calm, focused expression.
Finally.
The corners of his mouth rose slightly, creating a knowing arc.
William caught this subtle expression, and the weight in his heart dropped with a thud! His face immediately filled with a clear, relieved smile.
Everyone was smart and understood everything—many things didn't need to be said.
The atmosphere that followed was much more relaxed.
William cleverly turned the conversation to New York's culture, anecdotes about NYU, and even discussed some tech products popular with young people today.
Ethan occasionally responded with a few words, his attitude easygoing.
Jessica sat quietly to the side, trying to digest the massive amount of information she'd received tonight.
Her mind had long since drifted away.
...
The meal lasted 2 hours.
It was already past 9 o'clock when they came out of The River Garden.
William insisted on personally escorting Ethan and Jessica to the parking lot.
It wasn't until he watched the sleek Ferrari's taillights disappear around the street corner that he slowly withdrew his gaze and breathed a long sigh of relief, his face showing a mix of satisfaction and excitement from completing a major task.
Tonight was worth it!
Jessica leaned against the passenger seat's leather upholstery, her eyes a little vacant, her brows slightly furrowed.
She repeatedly replayed the dinner scene: William going on and on about premium VIP services, his attitude so humble it was almost fawning.
And Ethan?
He mostly just listened, occasionally asking one or two key questions, and then casually chatting.
From beginning to end, he didn't seem to clearly nod in agreement to join the VIP program, nor did he shake his head and refuse.
"Do rich people... always talk business so vaguely?"
She couldn't help but wonder:
"Did this actually get done or not?"
She felt like she'd listened to complete gibberish, totally confused, but too embarrassed to ask the mysterious man next to her.
A strong sense of inadequacy welled up in her heart.
As a flight attendant, she thought she'd seen some of the world—flew to different cities, met all kinds of people.
But tonight's experience was like a hammer that shattered her past understanding.
The massive wealth gap and the subtlety and sophistication unique to elite circles made her deeply understand for the first time what "class difference" truly meant.
Looking back, her performance tonight had been like a complete "country bumpkin."
She had plenty of suitors, but at this moment, by Ethan's side, an indescribable sense of inferiority surged in her heart, as if she were an ugly duckling who'd mistakenly wandered into Swan Lake.
Ethan keenly noticed her silence and distraction.
"What are you spacing out about?"
Ethan's voice broke the silence, with a hint of lazy casualness:
"Call your colleagues and tell them to come out."
"Huh!"
Jessica suddenly snapped back to reality, like a startled deer, looking at Ethan blankly:
"Call... who? Why?"
She didn't realize what Ethan was referring to for a moment.
Ethan said lightly:
"Didn't your colleague say they wanted to hang out when we first left? Let's go out, and they can join us now."
For him, inviting a group of flight attendants to spend money at a bar was just pocket change leaking through his fingers—hardly worth considering.
"Oh~ okay."
Jessica nodded and took out her phone to send a message to her best friend Amy.
"Which bar are we going to?"
Ethan didn't answer immediately but picked up his phone and quickly swiped his finger across the screen a few times, as if searching.
A few seconds later, he announced a name: "Marquee."
He didn't know anything about New York bars, so he searched for the most popular one.
Jessica's finger paused, and she looked up at Ethan:
"Marquee?"
She wasn't unfamiliar with the name. Colleagues flying the New York route often mentioned it when chatting—the recognized top-tier nightclub in the city with frighteningly high prices.
She instinctively became worried:
"Will Marquee... be too expensive? I have seven or eight colleagues..."
Thinking of the possible bill amount, she couldn't help but add:
"And they were just kidding. Plus it's past nine on a weekend night—Marquee must be packed, all the tables already booked, right? Why don't we go somewhere else? I know a nice lounge bar..."
After listening to her words, Ethan complained inwardly: Did that dinner confuse you? Do I look like I'm short on cash!
"It's fine, just send them the address."
As he spoke, he slowly pulled the car into a temporary parking zone on the side of the road.
With one hand he opened Messages, clicked to accept Mia's friend request, and with the other hand gently stroked Jessica's thigh.
As soon as he accepted, Mia sent a message.
"Mr. Miller, please let me take care of you going forward. You can come to me for any financial matters. Additionally, I can be available 24/7 for your personal needs to provide you with the most attentive service."
"Personal needs..."
Ethan's eyes paused for half a second on those words, and the corners of his mouth curved into a playful arc.
He chuckled softly and whispered:
"We'll talk about that later."
Immediately.
He quickly swiped his finger across the screen, went straight to the dial interface, found the number he'd just saved and called it.
The other party answered quickly.
"Mr. Miller, what can I do for you?"
Mia's clear, pleasant voice came through the phone, with a hint of professionalism, sweetness, and exceptional competence.
Obviously, she'd already pinned Ethan's number and added a note.
Ethan didn't exchange pleasantries and got straight to the point:
"Book me a table at Marquee right now."
"Of course."
Mia on the other end said calmly:
"Do you have any specific requirements for the table? For example, location preference, budget range, or what bottles should I reserve?"
"It doesn't need to be that complicated. Just get a larger table that can seat seven or eight people."
Mia replied:
"Understood. Please wait a moment. I'll immediately contact Marquee's account manager to handle it. You should be all set in about 5 minutes. When you arrive at Marquee, just go to the front desk and give your name and phone number."
"Good."
Ethan responded and simply hung up.
He put away his phone and restarted the engine. The low roar of the Ferrari sounded again, merging into the night traffic.
....
At the same time.
In a twin room at the Courtyard hotel.
Amy was huddled on the same bed with several flight attendants from the same crew, eating snacks while binge-watching a hit show.
Suddenly, Amy's phone screen on her lap lit up, showing a message from Jessica.
She clicked on it casually, just glanced at it, and her eyes instantly widened.
"AHHHHH——!!!"
A scream loud enough to blow the roof off erupted from her mouth.
"What's wrong, what's wrong?"
"Amy, what the hell?"
Several other girls were startled by her and came over one after another.
Amy was so excited she could barely hold her phone steady. She pointed at the screen and said incoherently:
"Look... Look! Jessica sent a message! Ethan! Ethan's actually inviting us to go out! To Marquee! MARQUEE, girls!"
"Oh my god~"
"Are you serious? Marquee?"
"I didn't expect Jessica's boyfriend to be so generous! We just casually mentioned it and he's actually taking us to a bar!"
"Thank you Jessica! I've always wanted to go but it's way too expensive, woohoo~"
"Today's another day to envy Jessica."
"Hurry up! Touch up makeup! Change clothes! Forget the show!"
Ethan and Jessica had no idea about their excitement.
There are 90 advance chapters ahead in my Patreon. If you are interested can check it out.
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