She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 994

After hanging up, Swain sat frozen at his desk for a long time.

The lighting blueprints were spread out in front of him, but the lines blurred together. He couldn't focus on a single detail.

Staring at the contact card his mother had forcefully forwarded to him, he warred with himself. Finally, driven by guilt and pressure, he added the girl's number. She messaged him almost immediately. Her texts were warm, polite, and completely unpretentious. She even offered to treat him to a casual dinner.

Swain didn't have the heart to reject someone so friendly outright. He rationalized it in his head: *I'll just go, make some polite small talk, and tell my parents we didn't click. That'll be the end of it.*

Helena had always been good to him. They had built a real foundation together. He wasn't going to betray her.

When the weekend arrived, the location was a trendy, viral restaurant tucked away in a quiet alley in the East District. It was notoriously hard to get into, with a line wrapping around the block.

Swain arrived thirty minutes early, grabbed a queue ticket, and waited patiently.

The girl arrived a few minutes late. She was wearing a soft cream sweater, radiating a warm, effortless elegance. As she walked to the front, almost every guy in the vicinity turned their head to look at her.

Even Swain felt a jolt of surprise. It made absolutely no sense that a woman this striking needed to be set up on blind dates. She must have guys lining up for her.

When she sat down and realized he had arrived early enough to secure them a table right away, she immediately apologized, blaming the city traffic, and asked what he wanted to drink.

Swain waved it off, telling her it was no problem. As dinner progressed, he found himself shockingly relaxed.

She asked about his job, and he told her about stage lighting design.

"Lighting is everything," she said earnestly. "It doesn't matter how talented the performers are; without the right lighting, the magic just isn't there."

She mentioned she loved going to indie theater productions in her free time.

Swain realized he was talking far more than he had intended. The conversation flowed effortlessly, utterly lacking the arrogant, high-maintenance energy he usually associated with women who looked like her.

"So... do you think you'd be open to getting to know each other better?" she asked with a bright smile. "Because honestly, I think you're really great."

Swain's throat tightened.

The woman sitting across from him was flawless. Her career, her family background, her looks—everything about her was perfect. Objectively, she was a much safer, better bet than Helena.

Faced with such a massive temptation, Swain's resolve violently wavered.

"Can we?" she prompted softly.

"Thank you," she breathed, stepping back, the tips of her ears flushing pink. "Let's keep in touch, okay?"

Swain looked down at her, his Adam's apple bobbing, and before he could stop himself, he murmured an agreement.

Neither of them noticed that every single movement had been witnessed by Helena through the floor-to-ceiling window.

She had been feeling suffocated in her apartment and decided to get some fresh air. She had won a promotional voucher for a free meal at this exact restaurant on an app, so she figured she'd treat herself.

She had just pulled a queue ticket at the door and was dialing Swain's number, fully intending to ask him to join her, when she looked up and saw the entire scene unfold.

Inside, Swain's phone vibrated. Seeing Helena's name on the screen, he panicked, shoving the girl away from him and scrambling to answer it.

"Hey! Helena, hey," he stammered, his voice laced with unmistakable guilt.

Helena stood perfectly still by the entrance, staring right at him. "Are you still busy? Where are you? I can come meet you for dinner."

Swain instantly cupped his hand over the receiver, turning his back to the window and stepping into a corner to muffle the restaurant noise. "I'm—I'm still at the office. Working late. I won't be able to make dinner tonight. How about a late-night snack? Whatever you want, I'll pick it up on my way home."