Page 41 of Strictly Against Policy

Armando was Eric’s best friend, and they had been friends since elementary school. They were also similar in nature: warm and soft spoken. It was no wonder he married his high school sweetheart, Jenny Her, not long after Mary and Eric got married.

But I barely remembered anything about Mateo aside from the fact that he and Armando were brothers.

“Do you want me to give him a commission or date him? Because those two are completely different things,” I replied.

“Just go on the darn date, Lina. He’s a good guy,” stated Mary.

I looked her in the eyes, giving her a wry smile. “No.”

“That’s too bad. We’ve already set up a day and time for you both at Natsuki. Considering how hard it was for us to get a reservation, the two of you have no choice but to say yes.”

I raised my eyebrows at them. Natsuki is a popular sushi restaurant in Sunset Valley. Reservations there were harder to get than concert tickets for pop stars. I had never even been there. Last year, I failed to get a dinner reservation to celebrate my thirteen-year friendship anniversary with Mary. I even tried to book it three months early, too.

“How were you able to do that?” I asked.

“Connections,” smiled Mary. “You need to go and tell me all about it!”

“Who cares if you don’t end up liking the guy? At least you get great food out of it,” shrugged Eric.

I couldn’t help smiling. “You two almost sound more excited about the food than the actual date you set me up on.”

Mary laughed. “We are excited! But I know you have high standards when it comes to men, so I doubt Mateo would check every box.”

I pursed my lips, acknowledging the truth. The last time I had a crush on any man was a classmate back in college, and he was similar to Andy. Kind, well-liked, attractive, and most of all, reliable. Even if Mateo met every criterion I wanted in a partner, it’d take time for me to truly let myself fall for him.

“Since we’re talking about men and your prospective choices, I didn’t know you were close to Jonathan Lo,” Eric said, sounding casual.

He glanced around my new place. It had barely been a week since I moved in, so many of my things were still packed in boxes.

It had also only been thirty minutes since he and Mary had gotten back from their trip. They came here directly. I insisted on picking them up at the airport instead, but they denied my offer and drove here at once.

He arched a sharp eyebrow at me. “I’m surprised. You didn’t even tell us that you were moving.”

I swallowed down the heavy emotions fighting to clog up my throat. “I didn’t want to burden either of you with my immediate need to move, and . . . I didn’t want to worry you two.”

“So, you asked Jonathan?”

I shifted in my seat. “Yes.”

“Your previous lease wasn’t up for another nine months, Lina. Did something happen that you’re not telling me about?”

“It’s not that I didn’t tell you about it.” The inflection of my voice was a mere sputter. “It’s just that I didn’t want you to stress about it.”

All the lightness and laughter we just shared vanished as Mary frowned and Eric’s eyes flickered with worry. “Lina, how could I not? You’re practically my sister. You need to tell me what happened,” demanded my best friend.

“I-I—” I couldn’t speak. I calmed myself before I could continue. “Neng came by the pharmacy while you two were out of town, and Jonathan stepped in and scared him away. Mary, I’m grateful he was there to help me. But it was so fucking embarrassing for him to find out my own brother was harassing and stalking me . . .” My chest rattled with a long breath.

Her lips parted, attempting to say something, but couldn’t. She gripped my hands, silver lining her eyes.

Eric spoke in her stead. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Lina. All that matters is that you’re safe.”

“How the fuck did he find out about your new workplace?” asked Mary, upset.

“It was through Mai,” I whispered.

“That fucking bitch!” cursed Mary, heaving. “I knew it!”

“Yeah. It was because of her,” I mumbled.