It was late in the afternoon when Lena woke up. She stayed a bit late last night, revising her romantic evening with Kris on Sunday.
Today, she already took off her day for work since she had her dinner date with Ming later in the evening. It has only been a little over 24 hours since she last spoke with Kris and she was already dying.
Lena did not know if she was torturing the man or herself. The news finally broke out about Andy canceling his wedding with Eva Wu and breaking off the engagement. It did not go into details but some news outlet said that Andy finally left the pauper.
Madam Yang though, her body was found drifting along the ocean with her head cut off. Authorities said she was murdered and an investigation was ongoing. Her funeral will be on Sat.u.r.day and her entire family was mourning.
Lena laughed. No one would mourn her.
Lena went to her living room to watch a few romantic movies to motivate her before getting ready for her date. Lena did not take the date seriously but she still had to give a face to Ming.
She tied her hair up in a nice bun and held it with a hairpin. She wore a turquoise mini dress. She put on some earrings and that was it. Lena chose a casual formal shoe with a two-inch heel.
Ming texted her that he was outside her apartment. Lena grabbed her purse and walked out. He was already out of his car, ready to open the door for Lena.
"h.e.l.lo, you look nice today." He complimented her.
"You too!"
Ming was wearing a navy suit so it matched Lena"s colors well today. He opened the door for her and she sat down. He walked to the other side and drove.
When they arrived, it was a local casual restaurant like the Italian one they went last time. Ming parked the car and opened the door for Lena. They walked into the restaurant together.
Ming already reserved a table for them. The waitress led them to their table and Ming pulled the chair for Lena. Ming was definitely a very fine gentleman today, but not hers.
They both ordered and the waitress filled up their gla.s.s with some red wine to start. Lena took a sip of the wine.
Ming looked at her. She was not sipping the wine normally but sipping it to taste it. Smacking her lips softly together to taste it.
He smiled. "You"re going to reject me again, aren"t you?"
Lena looked at Ming wide eyes and placed the gla.s.s of wine back on the table.
"How do you know that?"
"I just do."
Lena knew that Ming was playing mind games with her. "I think you are the one who is going to reject me."
"Why do you say that?" Ming asked.
Lena smiled. "You don"t even like me yet you say you will make me fall in love with you. You lied about that. I just... can"t figure out why you"re spending your time pretending to chase me." Lena took a drink.
"Am I that easy to read?"
Lena laughed. "Yep. Am I?"
"Sometimes... but you are.. or were.. going to reject me though right? I was at least correct on that." Ming tried to give him some credit too.
"Yeah. I prepared an entire speech."
"I want to hear it." Ming replied.
"Ok... but can we do that after the food? Just in case you bail out on the bill for me rejecting you."
Ming burst into a laugh. "Of course."
So after they had an amazing dinner, they both just chat about the Woman"s fas.h.i.+on show and the recent craziness in the news. After a few laughs, Lena stopped her smile. She got into her role of the whole speech she had prepared for Ming Zhao.
Lena reached out her arm and held Ming"s arm across the table. Her eyes were those of a puppy. Ming smiled when he knew what Lena was up to and let her do her play.
"Ming Zhao, you"re a nice man... but I can"t love you." She removed her hand from his and put it on her heart. "My heart... already has someone in it. And, he"s the only man for me. Can we just be friends instead?"
"One minute."Lena coughed, getting out of the role and took and drink of wine. "Okay... where was I?"
"Friends."
"Oh ok." Lena cleared her throat. "If you don"t want to be friends, then...when we walk out of the restaurant, my two bodyguards are going to knock you out, drag you out back, choke you to death. and throw you into the ocean so I won"t have to marry you."
Ming burst into another hysterical laugh, so loud the other people stared at their table.
"I think we should leave," Lena smiled.
They both left but it was heavily raining outside. Since the restaurant was local, parking was normal and they park further away from the entrance.
"You wait here, I"ll drive the car around." Ming said.
He ran out in the heavy rain to go to his car. He was soaking wet but one person getting wet was better than two. He drove the car around and Lena goes inside. She looked at Ming and he was wet, his clothes dripping onto his seat, soaking it.
He drove Lena to her apartment and the rain has stopped by then.
"You"re drenched. Wanna go inside to change before you leave?" Lena offered.
"It"s fine." Ming sneezed.
"See you just sneezed. You"ll get sick and then Madam Zhao will force me to marry you. Come inside and get change."
Ming looked at Lena then nodded. He drove his car further and used the outdoor parking. They both walked to Lena"s apartment together.
Kris was busy the whole day. Apart from him being irritated today, he tried to keep it down the entire day. He had meetings with his shareholders today, regarding their rise in stocks and their international companies.
Later that night, he had a meeting with his private security team. He was yelling at them for that one day his mother went missing for a few hours. He doubled up the security on Madam Li. He just got rid of Madam Yang and agitated the Bai family. Although they don"t know yet, it was good to always be cautious.
Kris got out of his last meeting. He walked into his room with Collin following him in. Kris looked at the clock and it was 8:30 p.m. He looked at his phone and there was still do text from Lena. He sighed.
Collin cleared his throat. Kris ignored it and send Lena a text.
Kris: Did you eat yet?
Collin cleared this throat again.
"What!" Kris shouted.
"Uh... Today is Friday."
"I know that." Kris sounded annoyed.
"Miss. Shen has her date today..."
"What?" Kris stood up. Of course, Gary mentioned it once too. He had been so occupied with Lena"s weird behavoir that he forgot that she had a date. "How long ago?"
"Uh... I think an hour and half ago?"
Kris instantly dialed Lena"s phone number. She should be home already.
"h.e.l.lo?" The phone got connected but a man"s voice spoke.
"Who"s this?" Kris asked.
"Who are you?" The man replied.
Through the phone, Kris heard Lena"s voice shout.
"Ming-ge! Are you still in the shower?" Lena yelled, but Kris could only hear her faintly.
"Not yet, I was waiting for you!" Ming shouted back.
Kris instantly hung up. He grabbed his overcoat and ran out of the door.
"Where are you going?!!" Collin shouted.
Ming smiled at the call that just got disconnected. Obviously, he knew that the caller was Kris, his caller ID showed up. He just couldn"t help but tease the man. Payback...
"I already put the clothes on the bed. Did you not see it?" Lena spoke through the door.
"Uh... Oh.. I see it now." Ming lied.
"Well, hurry up... I need to sleep!"
Lena was confused. Inviting him in for a free change of clothes turned to him needing a shower before leaving. She already offered him clean clothes, she could not be mean and deny the poor man his shower too. Lena already rejected him twice now.
Ming already finished changing his clothes before he picked up the call. Lena must have left her phone in the guestroom when she brought him clothes and a towel.
Ming got out. He thanked Lena and left. Lena went to clean the guestroom a bit and noticed that she had left her phone there. She checked it but there was nothing. Ming already erased the history.
It was a bit humid after the rain. Lena changed into a sleeveless, silk nightgown. She flopped onto her bed and tried to finish her romance movie.