Luca did not think that the cleaning lady had any intention of buying spoiled ingredients to deceive her.

The cleaning lady nodded while she listened to her. She could not help but secretly exclaim how considerate Luca was.

After all, she would have to buy many ingredients to make hotpot. If she came here to buy the ingredients alone, it would be a problem for her to carry everything back to the apartment although it was not far away from here.

The cleaning lady pushed the trolley and asked, “Ms. Craw, how many people are you inviting over to have hotpot?"

"It's just me," said Luca.

"Huh?" The cleaning lady thought she heard it wrongly.

Luca knew why she was surprised, so she explained, "I'm suddenly craving for it, but I don't like the commercial flavor of hotpot sold outside. So, I plan to cook it at home."

"Okay." The cleaning lady nodded. She had no idea what the young people today had in their minds.

Luca walked in front while the cleaning lady pushed the trolley behind her. After a while, she had already picked up a lot of ingredients.

The cleaning lady looked at the ingredients in the trolley and thought that Luca would probably not be able to finish everything if she was really making hotpot for herself. She looked at Luca's skinny figure. It would take days for her to finish all these ingredients.

After Luca finished choosing the ingredients, she received a call from Nina.

"Luca, where are you?" Nina sounded like she was in a rush. At the same time, Luca noticed that it was noisy on the other end as though Nina was beside the road.

"I'm in a supermarket. What's the matter?" Luca asked.

"Can I go over to your place?" Nina said. She was avoiding Percy. Sue had just told her that Percy would be heading to Brilliant. Before she found out why, she clocked out and left immediately.

She did not even want to go back to her apartment at the thought that the man might be looking for her.

Nina had no choice but to look for Luca, who was still on leave. After all, she could not stay in the company or return to her apartment.

"Alright. I'm almost done with grocery shopping. You can come over first. I'll be back soon." Luca hung up after she said that. She took a few boxes of sliced beef out of the freezer in the supermarket after learning that Nina would be coming over.

Nina enjoyed eating beef slices when she was having hotpot.

The cleaning lady reminded her when she saw Luca grabbing a few more boxes. “Ms. Craw, the beef slices won't taste as good if you leave them in the freezer for too long.”

"A friend will be joining me for lunch,” said Luca. Then, she grabbed some other hotpot side dishes.

After checking out at the cashier counter, they both carried a big bag and left the supermarket.

The cleaning lady thought of carrying the two bags herself, but Luca refused to. She thought would be able to share the load with her if both of them carried one each.

Nina reached her apartment not long after they returned to the apartment. She pressed on the doorbell hastily.

Luca went to open the door.

She saw Nina standing at the door with an anxious look on her face. The weather was not even hot out there. Still, there were beads of sweat on her forehead, causing her makeup to smudge a little. She asked, "Nina, what happened to you?" Text content © .

"Will you believe me if I tell you that I got chased by a ghost?" Nina took a breath. She glanced behind her as if she was afraid someone was following her. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw no one behind her, then she walked into the apartment.

"No," Luca shook her head and replied honestly.

Nina sighed helplessly. "Luca, you lack a sense of humor. But seriously, the person who's following me is scarier than a ghost."

Luca knew what was going on once she said that. She closed the door and did not continue to ask any questions. "I'm planning to make hotpot for lunch today. Care to join me?"

"Hotpot? It's my favorite. But don't you still have wounds on your body? You should be taking light meals. Otherwise, you'll regret it when you're left with scars on your body." Nina reminded her.

"The wounds are long gone. I don't have to worry about scarring. I figured you'd enjoy eating hotpot, so I bought a lot of ingredients. Oh yes, I bought a few boxes of sliced beef too," said Luca. She walked toward the dining table. The ingredients she bought just now were not kept yet.

"Sure. They're my favorites. After you reminded me about it, I just remembered that it's been a long time since I had a hotpot. It's time to break my vegetarian diet." Nina looked around the living room, then her gaze fell on the balcony.

There was a man's garment hanging there.

Even though she was seeing it from afar, Nina could still recognize the quality of the garment.

It was not any usual men's clothing.

She became alert at once. "Luca, are you staying together with someone else?"

"No," Luca said, "I'm staying alone. When did I start staying with someone else?"

"Then the garment hanging out on the balcony..." Nina pointed at the men's clothing on the balcony.

Luca understood at once. She paused her gestures for a moment and explained, "It's because it's dangerous now. That's why I hang man's clothing there. Perhaps it can help prevent something bad from happening. Oh, you should do that too. It's safer that way."

Nina still doubted it, but Luca's explanation made sense. She believed what she said for the time being. "Sure, it's a good idea. I'm going to get something later to hang it at home."

Luca smiled when she heard that Nina seemed to believe in what she said. Then, she put the ingredients in the fridge.

She deliberated for a moment, not knowing whether or not Luke would be coming today. She then sent a message to him: [Nina came over today.]

She intended to inform Luke about it and ask him not to come to the apartment today. It was to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings.

Luke did not reply.

The cleaning lady was cleaning up the kitchen. Luca realized there was nothing she could do here and said, "Nina, I still have some work to do. Can I leave you here? Just make yourself at home."

"Alright. Don't worry. I won't disturb you when you're working. Go ahead, I'll leave you to it. I'm fine here." Nina made the okay hand gesture, and sat down on the couch, scrolling her phone.

Sue was reporting the situation to her through Instagram.

She told her that Percy's assistant called not long after she left the office, claiming that Percy had an urgent meeting to attend and he could not make it today. Hence, the business discussion was canceled.

Nina recalled the car that followed her when she was on her way here.

She suspected that Percy was in that car. He had probably followed her here.

"Doesn't he have anything else to do?" Nina muttered.

Luca walked out of the kitchen with a glass of warm water in her hand. She happened to hear what Nina said and asked, "Why? Who is it?"

"Ah, it's nothing. Hurry up and get back to work. We'll have a hotpot together when you're done with your work." Nina snapped back to her senses and answered her with a smile on her face.

"Alright." Luca smiled and nodded her head. She walked into the bedroom and continued to translate the documents.

Nina was distraught. She replied to Sue: [I got it. I'm with Luca now. Find me on Instagram if there's anything else. Leave the unimportant jobs. I'll go back and deal with them tomorrow.]

It did not take long for Sue to reply to her message: [If he's really looking for you, you may be able to avoid him today, but can you run away from him forever? I think you should deal with it head-on if there's any misunderstanding between both of you. Otherwise, not only are you delaying your work but you're ruining your life too.]

Nina read her message and let out a sigh. What she said made sense, but Percy was not a man who could be reasoned with!