Relationship Status: Mafia

Chapter 32

Alice POV

In the evening, we made our way to another restaurant that is occupied in the hotel. Since Anne is gone, I am on my own pick out an outfit, which proved more of a challenge than I initially thought. I tried on a dozen different dresses before I got an approving nod from Matsuo. He was a very picky man that I quickly discovered. The dresses that revealed too much earned a frown until he settled on one.

I wore a dark blue dress that reached my knees when I'm sitting. Zero cleavage was visible due to the halter top neckline, which is fine by me. As far as make-up goes, I copy the basics that Anne had done and covered the dark spots underneath my eyes before adding mascara. I added a touch of gloss to my lips so they didn't appear dry and cracked. My hair I simply washed and allowed the natural waves to remain but pinned the hair away from my face.

Next to me, Matsuo sat close to my side with his arm stretched out on the back of my chair. He dressed somewhat casual compared to me in a silk button-down shirt paired with dark slacks. Even as simple as the outfit was, Matsuo wore it well with class. I do not know how he does it.

We were sitting at the restaurant waiting for Serena to join us, who is running fashionably late. Zhen is seated at the table as well to my left side for dinner. He played on his phone as usual with a drink in front of him and occasionally sipped from it.

"What time did she say she'd be here? She's running late." I breathed out scanning the dining area.

"It was your idea to do this." Matsuo points out.

I pin him with a sideways glare, "Actually, my idea was for you to have dinner with her. We all know you're her favorite, if we're being honest."

He flashed a lopsided grin, "and leave my woman all alone. How could I."

I jab Matsuo with my elbow, and the only seem to anger him slightly, so I bite my bottom lip, trying to scoot my chair away from him, but he holds me in place. Then, Serena finally made her appearance strutting into the restaurant, scanning the room. When her eyes land on Matsuo, they light up. However, when she sees me, the smile drops from her big fake lips. I had to suppress my laughter at the face she made. Zhen grinned subtly to the side, trying to mask his amusement.

Serena approached the table in a green two-piece outfit that revealed part of her abdomen and a plunging neckline, leaving no room for mystery. As always, her breast is on display, kind of hard to miss unless you don't have eyes. Especially when she bent down, taking her seat directly in front of Matsuo at the round table. The extra company didn't seem to stop her when she greeted Matsuo and flashed him a big smile.

"Toma," she took her seat, gazing over at him. "Thank you for accepting my invitation. I was beginning to think you were avoiding me."

Once again, I had to suppress a chuckle behind my hand, earning a nudge from Matsuo's elbow in my ribs.

"Don't thank me, it was Alice who encouraged me to come." His eyes land on me with a sneaky smile.

As soon as he mentions my name, Serena's eyes land on me in surprise, and then I can see the disgust surfacing in them. I manage to put on a small smile before taking a sip of wine to ease my nerves.

"Well, cheers to a wonderful dinner." She raised her glass with her lips pursed in a fake smile.

Zhen scoffed at Serena and then tried to cover it with a cough when she glared at him. It's nice not to be one on the end of her glare for once, but the night just started. I'm sure more is in store for tonight.