Chapter 4.1

After returning to her room, Tina picked up her phone to read her favorite novel before going to sleep. Just as she was about to turn to the next page, a call came in and her finger hit the answer button.

Accepting that she could no longer ignore the call that had already been picked up, she answered it normally.

"Hello! Tina speaking."

Hearing no reply, she spoke up again, "who is speaking?"

Thinking it was a spam call, she was about to hang up. The novel was getting really good, so this phone call was ruining her good time.

"It's Jeff," she heard the low voice as she was about to remove the phone from her ear.

Jeff? The only Jeff she knew was her client, and usually her clients only call during business hours. So, this definitely was not the Jeff she was working it.

"Jeff who?" she asked in order to be certain.

After a brief pause, "Jeff Strider."

She shot up into a sitting position.

"Oh! Hi Jeff. I wasn't expecting a call this evening. Is anything wrong with the project?" She asked with a bit of surprise in her voice. Her heartbeat was racing, and her index finger was playing with her loose hair.

"Nothing is wrong with the project. I just wanted to see if the number on your card was fake or not hahaha," he ended with an awkward laugh.

Tina laughed, "why would I give you a fake number? That's just silly."

His excuse was so cute. But why would he make up an excuse? Was something really wrong with the project?

Tina never made a guess that the reason for the late-night call could be because Jeff had an interest in her. When it came to love and feelings, she really was a dimwit.

"Yeah silly. What are you doing up this late? Don't tell me you're working," Jeff said.

"No, not working. Just reading a novel so I could fall asleep." The smile on Tina's face was getting bigger and she didn't notice all of these signs; the smile, fast heartbeat, hair curling, none of it.

"Oh! that sounds nice."

A brief pause ensued.

Clearing his throat, he spoke up again.

"Seeing that I have you on the line, do you want to have lunch together sometime? Last time, I noticed we had similar interests, so I was hoping to get your feedback on something."

Since it was work related, she had no reason to refuse.

"Sure. Is tomorrow fine with you?" she replied enthusiastically.

"Tomorrow is perfect. I'll pick you up. Good night."

Before she could turn down his lift, Jeff already hung up.

"I can drive on my own," she muttered while grinning ear to ear.

If Tina listened carefully to what Jeff said, she would realize that it had nothing to do with work. He wanted to meet her to get to know her better.

But who could blame the girl? She was simply too excited.

She got up from her bed and went through various outfit for tomorrow's "meeting" with CEO Jeff. She could not afford to look shabby. She did this until her phone rang again.

"This is Tina speaking," unable to hide her happiness.

"Why are you still awake?" Jeff asked.

"Novel was too interesting."

"I forgot to ask what meal you'd prefer. Seafood? Korean? Indian? Chinese?"

"I have no food allergies, so I'm good with whatever."

"Let's do seafood then."

"Sure. Why are you still up by the way?"

"I had something on my mind."

"Oh okay. Don't let me keep you up then. See you tomorrow."

"Okay. Sleep tight," Jeff said a little reluctantly before hanging up.

After going through several outfits until 2 in the morning, Tina slept sweetly with a smile plastered on her face.

Morning came, but she snuck out of the house before anyone saw her to avoid any interrogation from her parents and unpleasantness from her granny. She was wearing a fitted cream blazer with the accompanying knee-length skirt. Underneath, she wore a simple pink ruffled blouse and pink pumps to go with. Since her "meeting" was not until noon, she kept her high bun in place, and went to work as usual.

Throughout the morning, her thoughts drifted towards Jeff and his mannerisms and speech. The rule of not mixing business with pleasure flew over her head, and she just enjoyed every bit of conversation they had had.

The feeling of getting to know someone was really good. While she was reeling in the moment, Kyra came knocking on her door.

"There's a package for you outside," she said sneakily before running off.

Confused, Tina looked at the time and seeing it was getting closer to noon, she took her purse and keys with her to get the package and wait for Jeff at the same time since he was picking her up.