Later that day…Ryn stood up and shook her hand with both the men. The meeting went well and Ryn signed the contract for the endors.e.m.e.nt of the SS perfume.
A man helped to take a picture of them and she quickly sent it to Mei Li.
"We will send you the itinerary for the promotion," the manager said with a smile.
"Send it to my manager," Ryn said.
The two men walked her to the door.
"Thank you again for giving me this opportunity," Ryn said before saying goodbye. Inside her mind, she was screaming for them to stop interrupting her escape. She needed to eat. She was starving!
She walked along the road, searching for any restaurant or café that would grab her attention. Of course, she was hungry but she needed delicious food to make her truly happy.
She finally decided to stop at a noodle stall. The smell from the broth pulled her even though it was so far away. She found an empty seat and sat on it with her eyes shone brightly toward the older woman pouring the beef broth into a huge bowl. She asked for one and smiled happily when the woman asked big or small.
"Big," Ryn replied without thinking. She already saw how huge the bowl for the big size and wanted it.
"Are you sure, little girl?" the older woman asked, eyeing how thin this younger woman was. Was the girl so silly? She stepped forward holding two different sizes of bowls. "Are you sure you want this one, not this?"
Ryn pointed at the huge bowl. She knew it was a shock for everyone who did not know her to see how much she ate.
"Are you sure?" the woman asked again. She just needed to confirm. She hated seeing leftover in the bowls.
"Yes, aunty. I want the big bowl," Ryn confirmed with a smile.
"Okay…" the elder woman finally went back to her stall to make Ryn"s order. Of course, she was mumbling under her breath about a girl pretending to eat when she doesn"t eat at all. Always pretending in front of her boyfriend, forgetting that Ryn came to her stall alone.
She placed the huge bowl of hot noddle on the table where Ryn was seating. She placed the chopsticks and the plastic spoon into the bowl. "Your noodle."
"Thank you, aunty," Ryn smiled happily.
The first thing she did was taking out her phone to take a picture. It would be posted to her Instagram account. She also took a photo of the older woman who was busy preparing orders from the other customers.
Instead of posting the photos immediately, she started to devour the meal. It was delicious. She always believed in her nose power. If she smelled it good, she knew it would be good.
Her cheeks and her lips reddened from the spicy food. She loved it so much even though she had to blow her mouth a few times because of the hotness of the food and the spiciness. Eating spice food in an empty stomach? Mika would not dare to do it but for delicious food, Ryn would do this again and again.
So good, she closed her eyes in ecstasy. So delicious.
Once she was done devouring every single piece and every single drop, she finally put the empty bowl aside and drank a gla.s.s of tea. Then, she finally opened her Instagram account to post the photos. The sentence she put underneath the photos was "I can smell this noodle from afar. So delicious."
She did not forget to tag the location, just in case anyone wanted to come here and try. Of course, the truth was she tagged the location for just in case she wanted to come back and forget the location of this stall.
She paid the price with a huge smile and walked happily toward the bus stand, rubbing her full stomach. She finally could think calmly now with her stomach all full.
The elder woman walked to the table with a frown. She was expecting to see half-eaten bowl but to her surprised, it was so clean, she did not think she needed to use soap to wash it. She looked at the way the thin woman was heading, confused. Did that woman drop half of the bowl to the ground? Without much thinking, she lowered to the ground to check.
It was dry from any soup. It was clean from any ingredients.
Did this mean the thin woman actually finished the whole bowl all by herself?
She was stumped.
Ryn, unaware of the shock the noodle seller was having, looked around for a taxi. She needed to return to pack her bag so she could leave for the airport. Mei Li already sent the information about the flight she was going to take later today.
But when she reached her hotel room, she remembered that she needed to tell Jeremy about what happened this morning. She needed Jeremy to take precaution just in case Jennifer"s company created a false story because of what happened. Knowing Jennifer, it was no doubt the company would spin the truth to their own like and would bring Jeremy into the story as well.
Groaning under her breath, she locked the door and threw herself on the bed. She took out her phone and speed-dialled his number. She did not have to wait long before he answered the call.
"Hey, love," his husky voice made her toes curled.
She gulped. What was he doing sounding husky like that? Did she interrupt his wet dream or something?
"Are you alone?" he asked.
"Hmm…"
"You"ve done with your work?" he asked.
"Hmm…"
"I do too," he said with a grin.
"Hmm…"
Her mind was actually blank. The real reason why she called him was forgotten when she heard his voice seducing her.
Ah… she could not continue like this. She must stay firm with herself. She needed to remember the real reason why she was calling him. It was important. She knew it was important. If it wasn"t, she would not call him when she was supposed to pack her things.
But she could not remember what it was.
"I miss you…" he said. "How long do we still need to be apart? I don"t think I can"t continue like this…"
She blushed hard at his words. She missed him too. Of course, she admitted that her feeling was not as deep as him. She still kept some part of her heart to herself. She still needed to protect herself.
Just in case…
"One more week. Seven more days. A hundred and sixty-eight hours. Ten thousand and eighty minutes. Ryn, why do we have to be apart for so long?"
"I…" she did not know what to say.
"Hmm… listening to your voice at least make my heart feel better."
She covered her face with a pillow. She really could not talk with Jeremy now without blus.h.i.+ng.
"Do you miss me too? That"s why you call me?" he asked hopingly.
She gulped. She tried to remember the reason why the call was made? What was it?
"Baby?" His heart pounded when she did not say a word. She did not agree with him nor disagree with his words. Did she change her mind and wants a breakup?
His face paled at the thought.
Three weeks apart and she decided their relations.h.i.+p was not working? But they did not even spend enough time together to rebuild their relations.h.i.+p.
"I don"t agree," he said quickly, not waiting for her or asking her reason why for the call. He was too scared to hear her saying "let"s break-up," and "I don"t think this is working".
"Excuse me?" Ryn was quite in a puzzle when he said that suddenly. Don"t agree to what?
"I want us together. I don"t want to break-up," he said hurriedly.
She was speechless again. Why was she having this kind of reaction when talking with him? Couldn"t he just listen to her for once before making his own conclusion?
"Are we? You want to break-up with me?" she asked with a frown.
"No… I love you. I don"t want to break-up with you," he cried desperately.
"Then, why are you talking about breaking up with me?" she asked back. What happened on his side that giving him this weird idea?
"I didn"t… I… I thought that…"
"Stop making a stupid a.s.sumption," she said quietly.
"But…"
"J, don"t talk about this topic unless you want us to be history again," she warned.
He was scared when he heard this. It was her last warning and he knew she would do something if he kept talking about this.
"I won"t. I won"t. I promise," he promised hurriedly.
She sat up and looked at the television"s screen. It reflected her image. She pursed her lips and even flipped her hair. It was childish but she needed a few seconds to calm down.
"Jeremy, can we speak formally, business?" she finally asked, remembering why she called him in the first place.
"Of course. What do you want? I"m behind you in everything," he said quickly.
"Err…" she paused before spoke, "This morning Jennifer made a scene at the restaurant where I was having breakfast."
"WHAT?" he almost jumped to his feet when he heard this. Jennifer? The Jennifer who kept bothering him for years?
"That Jennifer," she confirmed with a heavy sigh.
"What happened? Tell me everything," his eyes narrowed in controlled anger. What did Jennifer do? Did she hurt Ryn? How was Ryn right now?