“Okay, I will." Luca nodded. She looked closely at Nina's expression and asked, “Nina, did something happen?"

Nina asked in surprise, “How did you know?"

“It's written all over your face." Luca gestured at her by pointing to her own face.

Nina had been frowning since just now, so she must have encountered something unpleasant. When Luca observed her face, she was able to tell.

Moreover, she had been friends with Nina for so many years. How could she not know?

“Yeah, something happened." Nina forced a smile.

“How about we make a trip to the cafe next door?" Luca invited her as she reckoned that Nina needed a place to vent her feelings right now.

“No, I shouldn't disturb your work..." Nina shook her head. Even though she did have the urge to get it off her chest, how could she hold up Luca's work?

“I took a leave, and my throat is aching, so I want some lemon tea," said Luca as she held Nina's hand and walked out.

Nina had no choice but to follow her.

Both of them made it to the cafe, and because they went during office hours, it was quite empty.

Luca and Nina sat in the corner of the cafe, and when the waiter came to get their order, Luca ordered a cup of lemon tea while Nina ordered a cup of fruit tea.

Only after the waiter left did Luca ask, “Tell me what happened."

“I. It's Jean." Nina sighed and told Luca everything from Pierre giving Jean money, to the money getting stolen by Marie, and finally about Jean borrowing money from Percy.

Luca's eyebrows furrowed slightly while listening to her talk.

Once people turned bad, it would be difficult for them to become good again. Even if Jean were to completely change his ways, he would still be the same.

“So, did Mr. Mallory lend him the money?" asked Luca.

“Percy said he couldn't bear seeing him starve to death on the streets, so he lent him a hundred dollars. It may not be much, but I just feel awful." said Nina. It was not because of losing the hundred dollars. She just felt helpless. This content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .

Jean was already past 30, yet he still had to beg others for money to the extent that he even had to ask others for a hundred dollars.

Was that what a person in his 30s should be doing?

“Your brother is really a loafer. Nina, have you ever thought about finding him a job?" Luca asked as she thought that perhaps it would be better for him to have a job since he had not been doing anything since he was released from prison.

"He has a criminal record, and the people in A City are not very kind to people with criminal records. What's the use of him having a degree? For higher-paying jobs, once they find out about his past crimes, there's no way they'd hire him. His arrogant *ss won't settle for the lower-paying ones either!"

So what if he studied abroad? He failed every interview anyway.

With a criminal record, having studied abroad was not a bonus point. It gave him negative points instead.

After two tries, Jean completely gave up on the idea of finding a job.

Nina had advised him before that he could get a job with lower requirements. He was capable, and his boss would eventually be able to see that too. Hence, he could get promoted then.

However, Jean refused. When he was presented with an interview opportunity, he would reject it.

"In that case..." Luca frowned as this Jean matter might drag on for Nina's entire life.

"I remember that Brilliant Architectural Design LLC..."

The moment she spoke, Nina immediately shook her head. "Not there."

"Why?" Luca asked as Jean also majored in this field, so why not?

"I'm afraid that he'll bring down the company if he joins, to be honest. You know Bianca, right?" Nina whispered and started muttering when Bianca was mentioned.

Luca nodded to indicate that she knew her.

"Although Brilliant Architectural Design LLC is under Mr. Crawford's management, Bianca was the one who established the company. Jean and her. sort of had a thing, but Jean was the one who took her for granted. After some things Jean did, they both had a falling out and they finally broke up. So, he holds a grudge against Bianca and Luke. If he were to work in Brilliant, it'll only be a matter of time before the company falls apart," Nina explained the reason why she did not dare take this risk.

Screwing up a construction company was not a hard task.

Leaking a blueprint alone would cause the company to lose a hefty amount of money.

If Jean were to work there, he could easily get hold of a blueprint.

Luca fell silent as she did not expect the past to leave such a huge impact on the present.

"I'm even more reluctant to let him work at Mallory Corporation as he's the type of person to take words to heart and make a big fuss out of it. If he pisses Percy off, I dare not take the blame," said Nina as Percy had brought it up before.

He mentioned that Jean could be a bodyguard or whatever, but Nina knew that Jean would never be Mallory Corporation's bodyguard.

If he were to enter any other department, he would mess things up for the company. Even if he did not, Percy would still somehow face trouble because of Jean.

The best way to keep clear of trouble was to steer away from the source.

When Percy proposed the idea, she refused to accept it.

"It's not easy, I see," Luca muttered.

Nina nodded. She only had connections to Brilliant Architectural Design LLC, but she was afraid to let Jean in as it was too big of a risk.

Luca sighed. "So what now?"

"I don't know either. I had intended to not give him any financial support and keep the resources on my mom's side in control so that he would turn over a new leaf and find a job, but little did I know..." Nina was utterly helpless.

The waiter served the drinks they ordered.

Nina bit the straw as if she was taking out her anger on it.

Jean did not have a job, nor did he have any money, but he sure knew how to make things up.

Ever since she got together with Percy, he felt like he had a backer supporting him. Everywhere he went, he used her and Percy's name to buy stuff on credit. Although not many people believed him, he still gave Percy a headache because of this.

"Didn't Jean use to love studying? Why not send him abroad to further his studies?" Luca suggested. If Jean had a higher level of education, perhaps the people here would ignore his criminal record and hire him.

"Does he look like an academic person now? But Luca.." Nina paused and looked at her. "Don't you hate him a lot? How do you know so much about him? How do you know he majored in architecture?"

Luca was stunned. Did she slip up? She hurriedly said, "I remember you've mentioned all of this to me before."

Nina held her chin and furrowed her brows while she tried to recall the time she mentioned such things to Luca. "Ha I?"