"Uh…would you like to stop for breakfast? We are still a couple of hours away from York but we are on target," Ying Hui"s voice brought her back from the pa.s.sing scenery. He had been feeling awkward when she had first entered the car. Her perfume had been distinctly floral, just like the t-s.h.i.+rt which she was sporting. He had been taken aback at her attire of t-s.h.i.+rt, jeans and boots. Apparently Eric had asked her to dress informally for the college event. In the current avatar, she looked much like one of those college kids anyways, what with her no make-up face and hair up in a ponytail.
She was even behaving like one, pressing her face onto the window and delighted by the sights outside. But all that had somehow made the atmosphere normal in the car.
Jia Li turned towards him at the mention of breakfast. She shook her head with a smile and nearly brushed past him to reach the back seat where she had placed a big bag.
"Eric had warned me about bad congestions and delays on the road. So I came fully prepared," she said.
Unzipping the bag, she placed it next to her feet and started pulling out items from it.
"Here is the black coffee, as you like it. Would you prefer a cookie with it or a chicken sandwich?" she enquired.
Hui took his eyes off the road and looked at her in amazement. She had spread a towel over her lap and was bringing out various items from that bag of hers. There was a plethora of condiments coming out. Suddenly, it felt like a picnic which his mother used to arrange for him and his father, whenever they went on a road trip.
His father was extremely fond of his mother"s cooking, despite being a skilled cook himself. The family often used to embark upon such trips in his childhood.
But because of his extremely busy study schedule and then research and setting up of the company, he couldn"t recall the last time he had spent quality time with his parents. Despite his insistence, they continued to run their small eatery out of Marylebone and refused to retire.
"Umm… would you like something else, instead? I only have some crackers, fruits, m.u.f.fins and nuts apart from this. I should have got some cheese but I forgot," she prattled on when he didn"t reply.
He came out of his reverie and replied, "chicken sandwich is fine. Thank you."
Jia Li poured coffee in a mug which she had brought from home. Placing it carefully in the compartment near the gear control, she unwrapped a sandwich and handed it over to him. Hui was supremely conscious of the domesticity of the present scene. It wasn"t a bad feeling…he realised.
Jia Li, on the other hand, was worried that the finicky boss may throw the sandwich out of the window, keeping in mind her level of culinary skills. Without a kitchen and necessary equipments, she had boiled the chicken on the induction stove. Shredding and grilling had occurred on the plug point of her laptop table. The result had looked edible, but at that time, she hadn"t thought of being judged by her stickler boss.
"You have added mustard to the sandwich?" he asked after the first bite.
Jia Li tried to keep an unfazed expression on her face and replied, "yes, doesn"t it taste better than the normal tepid version?"
He grunted what seemed like an affirmation to her query. They finished the rest of the journey in near silence again. But a smile hovered on both their lips, hers, enchanted with the view outside, his, with an unknown warmth spreading in his limbs.
Shanghai, Tang"s cabin
Work pressure was at an all-time high for Tang ever since Wei and his father left for London. In the midst of all that, the last person whom he wished to see, was his father.
"Is it anything urgent or can it wait? I am really busy here," he said, the minute Mr. Xie entered the room.
"Let"s meet for drinks tonight. Choose a place. You and I need to talk," he replied.
"I have absolutely nothing to say to you nor am I interested in anything that you wish to tell me," Tang snapped.
"I know how you can speed up the process of your divorce. NOW, if you are interested, come to the Imperial Hotel, sharp at 7:30 this evening. Make sure you are not late, even by a minute," his father said cryptically and left the cabin.
Tang frowned at his father"s out of turn behaviour. It was suspicious enough that he was trying to help him find a way to accelerate the divorce proceedings. Considering that he had been dead against Tang getting a divorce from his beloved Mei Zhen, why would he suddenly wish to help him? On top of that, he wanted to do so over drinks, instead of simply telling him the same, right here at office. What was up with him???