Tristan wasn’t satisfied. “No other room is as good as the premier suite. Take me to her. I’ll sort this out myself.”

Cathy said, “Aria went to pick up her mentor. She won’t be back soon. You can wait outside.”

Tristan glanced at the six girls and suddenly realized something. “Did she take my room just to invite you all to dinner?”

Neil said, “Mr. Palmer, the private room belongs to Ms. Saxon.”

Tristan was about to say something else when someone cut him off. “Hi, Mr. Palmer.”

Tristan saw who it was and stammered in surprise, “Hi, Mr. Kramer. I didn’t expect you to come here so soon.”

Johnny nodded, then turned to Cathy and offered his hand. “Glad to see you here, Ms. Shaw.”

Cathy replied, shaking his hand, “You too.”

Johnny glanced at the rest of the girls with a friendly smile. “Are you all here for dinner?”

“Yeah, we came with a friend,” Cathy replied.

“Friend?” Johnny asked, suddenly interested, “Are they all members of the State Security Bureau?”

Cathy nodded. “Yes.”

Tristan froze in surprise. He thought, ‘What? Are they all from the State Security Bureau? How did Aria know so many people from there? No wonder she got the premier suite. She’s not letting it go now.’

Tristan turned to Johnny and apologized, “Sorry, Mr. Kramer. The premier suite was taken by my niece.”

Johnny looked surprised. “Is Aria your niece?”

Tristan nodded. “Yes.”

Johnny seemed to realize something and turned to Cathy. “Is Aria part of your team too?”

There was no reason to hide it, so Cathy nodded. “Yeah, she’s with the State Security Bureau too.”

Johnny smiled, and he finally understood why Benjamin was so fond of Aria.

Tristan was left in shock. On the way to their private room with Johnny, he texted Zoe quietly. [Aria is with the State Security Bureau.]

Zoe was taken aback when she saw the message, and she nearly dropped her cup. Joseph glanced at her and said, “What’s wrong?”

Zoe said, “I’m just a bit shocked that Aria is with the State Security Bureau.”

Joseph dropped his fork onto the table.

Luke’s eyes went wide. “Really?”

Silvia said, “Yes, it’s true. I’ve known that Aria was one of them long ago.”

1/2

Lincoln, back from overseas not long ago, looked at them and said, “She’s also Mono’s student.”

Joseph’s eyes widened in disbelief. “What did you say?”

Lincoln said, “The legendary painter Mono I tried to learn from is Aria’s mentor. She’s his only student.”

Joseph was overwhelmed by the shocking news. Full of regret, he sighed deeply and got up slowly. “I’m full. I’m going back to my study.”

Joseph trembled slightly as he walked. He thought, ‘I can’t believe I drove away such a talented girl. I must have lost my

mind.’

Someone messaged Lincoln that Mono had returned to the country, and he just sighed.

During his time in Fraibia, he had persistently sought Mono’s guidance and finally got a chance to learn from him. However, Mono warned him not to show up in front of him after coming back, and definitely not in front of Aria.

Aria picked Mono up at the airport. She went to grab his luggage, but Gael stopped her. “I got this.”

“Gael, I just want to help,” Aria said.

Mono said, “Gael, let her be.”

Gael smiled and said, “Madelyn came all the way here. She must be tired.”

Aria pouted and said, “I’m fine.” She paused and turned to Mono. “Mr. Smith, I recently joined an organization and met a few friends there. I’m having dinner with them. Why don’t you join us? I’ll introduce you to them.”

Aria didn’t have many friends, so hearing her mention that was rare. Mono nodded. “Sure, as long as they don’t mind that I’m a boring old man.”

They won’t. You guys are my family,” Aria said.

Mono couldn’t help but smile. “You’re always so good at cheering me up.” He thought, ‘Looks like falling in love isn’t all bad. Fine, I won’t interfere in her relationship with Owen anymore.’