Chapter 179 - Coincidence?

Lu Fang and Andrea avoided the Smiths at all costs, but somehow, the man bumped into them coincidentally.

Andrea preferred to work in the office whenever Lu Fang needed to be out. She was already feeling the discomfort of her growing belly. It was Gao Rou and Xio Hanxi who went with him instead.

Outside of Beijing, the man required the introduction of Gao Rou to a few operations executives, handling the water distribution of nearby residential and commercial areas. Coincidentally, the Smiths were taking a countryside tour and ate at the same restaurant where Lu Fang made lunch reservations. He ignored them completely.

When the father and daughter came up to them, the man had no choice but to answer. However, he was also quick to insinuate that he was pressed for time. As a result, Harold and Patricia merely exchanged greetings with Lu Fang.

He could not just abruptly end it with them as Andrea had promised Darwin Clark his revenge.

One of Lu-Wei Enterprises' business partner opened a new condominium building, and the man was naturally invited together with Lu Wei. Coincidentally, again, the Smiths were also invited.

Apparently, they had invested in the said partner's new project. Later he learned that Harold Smith invested not only in one but three other companies that were associated with Lu-We Enterprises. He slowly rooted his importance in the same industry in the hopes that the Lus would recognize his and his family's value.

Go Bolin made dinner reservations for the couple at their favorite restaurant and then again, coincidentally, the Smiths were around.

Andrea rolled her eyes, inwardly, scorning their presence.

"Mr. and Mrs. Lu, you looked like two celebrities that lit up the whole place!" Patrica came approaching the couple with the widest grin on her face. Harold and Pamela followed, also greeting the couple.

Out of the blue, Patricia boldly asked to have a picture with them. Naturally, Andrea and Lu Fang refused, but their persistence became irritating for Andrea. She suddenly agreed, surprising the man. In fact, she offered to take the shot herself, a picture of Patricia and Lu Fang.

The man squinted at his wife, but he was sure that a plan was in place.. Thus, he gave in and stood beside Patricia.

Andrea took Patricia's phone and turned her back at them, seemingly finding difficulty to locate the camera. It took her nearly a minute to get it ready for taking photos.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith were surprised to hear Andrea make the offer. Harold especially thought that Lu Fang's wife was so naïve.

"Okay. On the count of three, say cheese… One, Two, Three!"  

Patricia smiled happily but noticed that the camera did not make a sound. She frowned and instantly and at that very moment; the photo was taken.

CLICK.

"Oh, I think it was on timer, let's try again," suggested Andrea. "On the count of three, okay? One -"

CLICK.

Andrea captured Patricia looking down at her dress, fixing it while getting ready to smile.

"Oops! Looks like I was too fast this time! Here, let me take some more."

CLICK. CLICK.

"Can I see?" Patricia said, rushing towards Andrea to have a look. The smile on her face turned spoiled seeing the photos never captured the man's face. Lu Fang was either looking down or covering his face while some pictures only had the man's shoulders beside her. 

Patricia gave Andrea a fake smile then called for her father to take the shots instead, but suddenly, her phone went blank and froze. It disappointed her, but she promptly thought of using her father's phone. "Let's use Daddy's phone - "

"Oh, you know what, babe. I changed my mind. I want a home cook meal. Let's go," said Andrea before turning to the Smiths and bidding goodbye. 

The couple rushed outside to drive to a different restaurant before any of the Smiths could react. While in the car, Andrea scanned through Patricia's phone. 

Earlier, Andrea hacked into the phone, downloading an application from her private website. This was a program developed by Li Wen, but only for the use of spying onto one's device. While hacking was possible without the application, the technology makes it conceivable to transfer all data efficiently and timely, not just those through the network but also files saved on the unit itself. 

"Oh, my god!!!" Andrea's expression darkened with her discovery. 

"What?" asked Lu Fang while driving. 

Andrea flipped her phone to show the photo and said, "Check this out."

It was a selfie of Patricia wearing the man's shirt. There were a total of four photos with different shirts on her and just as Andrea suspected, she posted these photos online, captioned, "my darling's shirt keeps me sleeping at night."

The man almost puked out of disgust. He shook his head before saying, "Babe, we should not take too long to take care of these people."

"I know. The surgeon said Darwin would be ready in four weeks. We just need to hold our breaths till then."

She immediately deleted the photos include those that she took earlier. 

Days went by and the couple successfully evaded the Smiths, but because of Patricia's longing, she took the initiative of sending Lu Fang a picture of herself, half-naked with only her hands covering her breast.

Two messages then followed saying, "Frank, do you love my body?"

"Oh, gosh! I accidentally sent you the picture I meant to show my boyfriend, Frank… You see, your names were next to each other. I had your number from Dad, long beforehand."

Shortly,  the man changed his number.

It did not take long for Andrea to learn about the spy the Smiths had befriended at the office. It was one of Lu Fang's secretary, who they paid a regular fee of 2,000 USD per month to get information from Go Bolin and Arti. 

After checking the CCTV cameras Andrea found out that the said secretary would have a casual chat with the assistants, asking about the man's schedule. Periodically, she would secretly check on Bolin's calendar where Lu Fang's itinerary was outlined. This happened when Bolin was asked to come inside the CEO's office and when he goes to the restroom. 

Instead of firing the secretary, Lu Fang made audacious meetings, taking the Smiths for a ride in the city Beijing. On each location, they were always told that they had missed Lu Fang. 

"Mr. Lu just left."

"He canceled his appointment minutes ago."

Once, they were given hope, finding themselves in a very huge Chinese Restaurant. "Yes, Mr. Lu is inside, but they specifically told us not to disturb their meeting. We hope you can wait."

They stood by at the establishment for two hours until the receptionist told them that Lu Fang and his assistant had left an hour ago, taking another exit to the parking lot.