Mr. Villain's Lovely Wife

Chapter 200

"To be honest, you are so different from the woman that I was expecting to meet today. But I can't say I am disappointed." Ian Morcant smiled. "Tea?" He offered the current tea before him. "I brewed it myself."

"I can see that," Izzy gave him a smile.

"It's Silver Needle-harvested in Fujian, China. The leaves are only picked for a few days each spring,” lan said, carefully pouring the tea into the smaller cup in front of her. "The growers claim that the best batches come from a specific altitude, around 1,200 meters. They dry the leaves in natural sunlight. No machines. No shortcuts."

Izzy accepted the cup but didn't drink yet.

lan leaned back slightly in his chair. He rested one arm along the edge of the table. “The first time I had it, I was nineteen. I was visiting an investor in Hong Kong, someone who believed in formalities. He poured me a cup and said, 'Don't speak until you taste it.' I thought it was odd. But I did as he asked."

He looked at the tea in his hand, fingers wrapping around the delicate porcelain.

"I didn't get it at first. It tasted like nothing to me. Subtle. Almost too quiet to notice. I told him so. He smiled and said I wasn't wrong-just impatient." lan's mouth twitched slightly, not quite a grin. "He explained that some things don't hit you with flavor or strength. Some things ask you to slow down. To pay attention." Izzy nodded once. She finally took a sip.

lan continued, "Later, when the investment went bad, that same man refused to pull out. He said the company needed time. He waited. Three years later, it was one of the best decisions he ever made."

Izzy set her

cup

down.

"I still don't love tea," lan said. "But I make this one when I know I need to stop and think. Not react. Just observe."

He looked at her for a moment, not with suspicion, but with focus.

"I knew who you were on paper. In reports. In summaries. I didn't expect this version of you in the boardroom today. That's not a criticism. It's just an observation."

away. She let him

Gregory expected you to walk in and ask

this your way of telling me I made

start testing you differently now.

up her cup again. "Good," she

didn't press further. He simply took another sip of

the head of a multimillion-dollar company. On paper, it looked impressive. Too impressive. And she knew better than anyone that nothing that

before setting it down. "You're talking like someone who isn't

flinch. He smiled. "Doing your research is always a

cufflink, a subtle motion more out of rhythm than need. "I wouldn't deny it. The one who wanted

"That's not what

No sharp movements, no visible posturing. He didn't dominate the space around him. He just occupied it fully.

thought about Liam-how he always entered a room like it owed him something. His confidence was loud, sometimes reckless, always deliberate. Ian wasn't like that. He didn't

out to

Instead, she looked down at the tea, then back at lan.

answer immediately. He reached for the teapot and refilled his

said, "is something I've been asking myself since the day I took this

took another sip of the tea. She waited for something to hit-flavor, bitterness, anything. But it didn't. It was quiet, almost like drinking warm water with a hint of... something. She wasn't even sure what. It wasn't

She smiled to herself.

"What do you

like something I'd get at a wellness retreat. The kind where they

a small nod, as if

guess I'm not that patient either," she added.

folding his hands loosely in front of him. “Most people

considering him again. "So, you're saying I need to slow

said. "I'm saying people will expect

nodded once. That sounded more