Wrong Flirt, Right Trouble: His Uncle Pulls Me Close

Ivy Sherwood and Quentin Blackwood had made plans to go to the beach for the weekend. Old Master Mercer smacked Miles Mercer on the head. “Where’s Nina? Did you scare her off?”

Ordinarily, Nina Scott stayed at her own place, so she and Miles Mercer didn’t actually see each other much.

Nina Scott, for her part, had said she was especially busy with work lately and was staying at her office, which was why she wasn’t coming home.

“I didn’t,” Miles Mercer said, rubbing his head.

“Then how come I haven’t seen Nina in days? It’s the weekend, and even your sister is out having fun. And it didn’t even occur to you to ask Nina out. Call Nina right now and ask her out for tomorrow.”

“Grandpa, Nina Scott is busy.”

“Busy with what?”

“With work.”

Old Master Mercer smacked him again. “She’s busy with work, and it doesn’t occur to you to help?”

‘Help?’ Miles Mercer had no idea how he could possibly help. He didn’t know anything about the fashion industry, and it didn’t seem like Nina Scott’s company was short-staffed.

‘I wonder if Nina is short on money. If she needed money, that’s something I could help with.’

“Call her right now! Do it!”

With the old master dead set on making him call, Miles resignedly took out his phone and dialed Nina Scott.

Nina Scott answered with a yawn. “Hello?”

“It’s me.” His voice was deep and low.

“Miles Mercer?” Nina Scott recognized his voice. She sounded utterly exhausted, her phone pressed against her cheek.

“Are you free tomorrow? Let’s hang out.”

Nina Scott’s eyes flew open. ‘Miles Mercer is actually asking me out?’

‘Grandpa must have put him up to this!’

“Is Grandpa there with you?”

“Yeah.”

‘I knew it,’ she thought. ‘There’s no way Miles Mercer would have invited me out otherwise.’ “I guess I can,” she said, “but I have some market research to do tomorrow. If you’re free, you can just come with me to the mall.”

“Okay,” Miles Mercer agreed.

Looking at his hopeless eldest grandson, the old master added an instruction, “When you meet a girl, you have to bring a gift. Even for your own wife, you should prepare surprises.”

‘What do girls like?’ Miles Mercer wondered. ‘Or rather, what would Nina Scott like?’

The next day arrived quickly. Miles Mercer woke up early, picked out a casual outfit, and even styled his hair.

He spotted the cologne his little sister had given him. ‘It would just expire if I left it there,’ he thought, ‘so why not use a little?’

Miles Mercer sniffed his shirt, then looked himself over. ‘This should be okay, right?’

Nina Scott hadn’t expected Miles Mercer to come and pick her up from her building.

“Did Grandpa tell you to come here, too?” Nina Scott assumed Old Master Mercer had also instructed Miles to show up.

Miles Mercer didn’t deny it, though the old master hadn’t been quite so specific with his instructions.

“This is for you.” He retrieved a large bouquet of flowers from the car.

Nina Scott hadn’t thought Miles Mercer would prepare such a gesture. ‘Grandpa must have told him to do this, too. Otherwise, how would someone so dense ever think of this! The flowers are quite beautiful, though. They look very fresh, and the arrangement is so artistic.’

“Did you have these specially prepared?”

“No, I saw a poor little girl selling flowers on the street and just bought them on a whim.”

He would never admit that he’d had them custom-ordered yesterday, and that the flowers had been picked just last night before being flown in.

This bouquet alone cost six figures or more.

‘Tch, it’s wrapped so nicely. Anyone can tell it was carefully prepared. How could it be something just bought from a little flower girl?’

Nina Scott held the flowers, and it was clear she really liked them.

Although it was just a bouquet, it was a pleasant surprise for Nina Scott. No one had ever given her flowers before.

Nina Scott brought the flowers inside before leaving with Miles Mercer.

It was the weekend, so the mall was crowded. Nina was actually just out to browse, check on her own store, and see how other stores’ sales were doing.

Nina Scott’s studio didn’t cater to the low-end market, but the mid-to-high-end market was extremely competitive. She was here to do more research and observe how the clothes in these shops were selling.

Nina Scott led Miles Mercer into a store and asked, “What do you think of these designs?”

All of Miles Mercer’s clothes were bespoke; they were delivered to him seasonally by a personal tailor. He’d never really paid much attention to off-the-rack designs.

Miles Mercer said, “This is all womenswear. I wouldn’t know.”

“Just tell me if you think they’re pretty.”

Miles Mercer nodded. “They look nice.”

Nina Scott tossed two words at him: “Low effort!”

With that, Nina Scott walked over to the cash register.

Miles Mercer didn’t understand how saying they looked nice was “low effort.” A sales associate came over. “You must be a friend of our boss. This whole collection here was designed by our boss personally. It’s been selling like crazy.”

Only then was Miles Mercer surprised. ‘So these are all Nina’s designs,’ he realized. ‘I had no idea.’

And this was actually Nina Scott’s store. The shop itself was quite large and stylishly designed.

The clothes were arranged by season and color, which looked quite striking.

Nina Scott was over by the counter looking at the quarterly report. Miles Mercer walked over and cleared his throat.

“What is it? Throat acting up again?”

Miles Mercer began, “I just took a closer look. The clothes… they’re actually quite nice.”

“Is that so? What’s so nice about them?” Nina Scott asked.

Miles Mercer racked his brain before finally coming up with four words: “Great sense of design.”

“You know about design sense?” Nina Scott was skeptical. ‘He really has no idea what he’s talking about; he’s just making things up.’

Miles Mercer said, “I don’t, but you do.”

Though it was just a few simple words, Nina Scott felt like she understood what he meant.

‘Whatever. I’ll let it slide since he doesn’t know any better.’

After Nina Scott finished up, she dragged Miles Mercer to the store next door to have a look.

This store specialized in formal gowns, and none of them were cheap. Nina had only intended to browse the designs, but her eyes landed on a particularly beautiful dress.

‘This design is interesting. It looks like it would be comfortable and easy to move in, not to mention stylish.’

But one look at the price tag: ten million!

‘That’s robbery!’

Nina Scott shook her head. ‘This store is even more ruthless than I am. For ten million, the dress might as well be made of gold.’

However, Miles Mercer simply said, “Go try it on.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but this dress cannot be tried on. It’s a display piece. If you wish to try it on, you must purchase it first.”

Because of the exorbitant price, no one had ever purchased it.

Miles simply pulled out a card. “Then I’ll buy it.”

Seeing him being so extravagant, Nina Scott quickly snatched his card away. “Have you lost your mind? If you’ve got that kind of money to burn, you might as well just give it to me.”

But just then, a scornful laugh came from nearby. “Heh, what an interesting little show you two are putting on. No money, yet you come here pretending to be big shots. One pretends to pay, and the other pretends to stop them.”

Nina Scott: “…”

Hearing this, Nina Scott tsked. “I was just wondering what dog had gotten off its leash and started barking. And it really is you, Yara Scott. I thought you were locked up for good. Who let you out?”