The Ex-Wife They Begged To Keep - Chapter 171: Chapter 171

When Keith said this, he even lowered his voice on purpose. It was hoarse and indistinct.
Those words felt like they burned her ears. Serena's ear tips turned red in an instant. She went back to her room under Keith's gaze, her heart still beating at a strange pace.
'How... How is he so good at flirting?' Serena thought to herself.
Watching Serena rush off, Keith thought she was even cuter. A smile spread across his eyes. After a while, he went back to his own room. "Good night, Seri."
The next day, as soon as Serena got to work, Lana rushed over, looking like she'd found a savior.
"Help me, babe! We've got a problem." Lana pulled Serena into the office and then handed some files to her.
It was an order Serena hadn't handled before, one that Lana was in charge of. It was just a regular order for a designed ornament. But as Serena looked it over now, she realized the client's requirements were a bit odd.
"With this kind of material, and wanting fine carving, it'll probably break," Lana couldn't help complaining. Even though she thought the client's request was totally impossible, after being asked repeatedly to redo it, she had to come to Serena.
"It is a bit strange, indeed," Serena muttered.
From the client's description, they didn't seem like someone who knew nothing about design. But their requirements really were odd.
Serena frowned and said, "I'll first design a version according to what he said, send it over, and see what happens."
It was just an ornament, so Serena drew up the draft quickly. Lana looked it over and thought it met the client's requirements quite well. She let out a sigh of relief and sent the draft over.
But less than ten minutes later, the client sent the draft back, saying they weren't satisfied.
Everyone had seen Serena's ability lately. There were very few cases where rework was needed, let alone something like this. She had clearly designed it completely according to the product requirements, but it was still sent back directly.
"Do you think this guy's just here to mess with us?" Lana had already been shot down so many times and was already pretty ticked off. Now, seeing how unreasonable the client was being, she had even less patience.
The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. After all, their studio had taken off so fast. They probably ruffled some feathers.
"Maybe we should ask this client to meet up. Talking through the requirements face to face should clear up any communication issues," Serena said.
Lana's suspicions weren't totally off, but they had no proof. If they upset the client for no good reason, it could hurt the studio's reputation.
Hearing that, Lana just nodded, agreeing with Serena. "I'll reach out right now." Lana pulled up the client's contact info and dialed.
It took a while for someone to pick up—a man. "What do you want?"
Lana turned on the speaker. She was so mad that she knew she wouldn't say anything nice, so she'd better let Serena handle it.
"Hi, this is from the studio. I'm Serena. Do you have time to meet with us to go over the ornament design details in person?" Serena asked.
Serena's voice was like a soft stream, professional but warm. Lana really admired her sometimes. No matter what, she stayed so calm. So reliable.
When the man heard why they were calling, he said no right away. "No time. If you can't come up with a decent design, you should think about your own issues. Don't bother me. I'm busy."
His tone was a bit sharp, but Serena didn't get discouraged. "If you feel we can't design something that works for you, we're happy to give a refund."
If they couldn't make him happy, they'd better end the collaboration early and let him find a better fit. But after she said that, the man clearly hesitated.
"Fine. It's just a meeting, right? Come see me tomorrow at noon." The man gave a specific time and location.
Lana thought this was even more fishy. "This guy's definitely up to something. We were nice about it, and he said no, but as soon as we mentioned ending the contract, he caved right away."
Serena shook her head. There was no way to tell what he was planning for now, but she believed if they just focused on doing their work well, no one could find fault with them.
"We'll see tomorrow," Serena said.
The next day, at the set time, Lana and Serena got to the café, but the man wasn't there yet.
"We hit traffic, and there are only three minutes till our meeting time. How is he not here?" Lana checked her watch, with a bad feeling in her gut. And sure enough, it wasn't until 40 minutes later that a man finally turned up late.
"You must be Serena and Lana?" The man's tone was sharp. Lana forced a smile. "We thought maybe you'd forgotten our meeting. You're 40 minutes late. You could've at least sent us a message."
The man looked unconcerned and sat right down. "I'm the client. You waiting for me is only right. Now, quit wasting time. You wanted to talk in person about fixing the design? Let's get started."
Lana was about to argue, but Serena pulled her back.
"Okay." Serena took out paper and a pen, ready to talk through things with the man seriously.
Two hours later, Serena had revised the details four times. The man didn't even glance at them before saying, "It's just so-so. Let's leave it at that. I've got other stuff to do. You two really know how to waste time." With that, he stood up and left.
"Whoa, that gets my blood boiling!" Lana had one foot halfway out, but Serena pulled her back.
"Calm down. There's no point getting mad at him." Serena's voice was flat, and there was no smile on her face. "The version he finally agreed to is nothing like his original request. You were right. He's just here to mess with us."
That made Lana even angrier. "Then, why would you stop me? I should go give him a piece of my mind right now and let him know my time's valuable, too!"
Serena just gathered up the drafts from these revisions, her gaze cold. "We're doing well right now. It's not surprising to run into this kind of thing. We'll put the evidence together, and we won't end up losing out."
If Lana hit him now, it would only cause more trouble. They were in the right, but that would make them look like the ones in the wrong.
Lana calmed down a bit and saw Serena's point. She let out a snort. "He'd better not bother us again. If he does, I won't let him off so easily next time."