Dinner

Behind a pile of folders —the height of an iMac — Selina's head buried between pages of proposals. It was the busiest time of the year, and she had taken everything too lightly. Now that her vacation was over, it was time to compete with other companies in gaining profits. Black ink trailed after her swift pen movements, leaving comments on different sections of the document. A few knocks disrupted the peace in the office and stopped the pen in her hand from scribbling further.

She looked towards the brown colored door and answered, "Come in."

At this time, the only person who would knock on her door would be her secretary. Without thinking twice, she permitted the person to enter as she spun the pen between her fingers.

As expected, her secretary walked into the office and announced her following week's schedule out loud. "CEO Hui, this is all you have planned for next week's schedule. If there are any changes to your schedule, please inform me so I could make proper adjustments for you."

"Actually, there is one thing. The event on Wednesday night happens to clash with my plans. Since it is a regular champagne party to celebrate for some holiday, it shouldn't be mandatory to attend. Help me prepare a gift and send it over to the host. I have a more important occasion to attend to. Thank you." Selina handed her the files she had completed signing and marking to her secretary.

Once her secretary exited the room, Selina dialed Jason's number and informed him about having dinner on Wednesday night. "En. Hubby! I want to have dinner with Alfred on Wednesday. Make sure to leave your schedule empty for me. I've checked your schedule already, and it said you were free that evening. I booked you, so you better not ditch me unless it is absolutely more important!"

"Haha, what could be more important than having dinner with my wife and feeding her? Let me know which restaurant, and I'll have Aaron reserve the seats. By the way, why did you want dinner all of a sudden?" He thought it was weird for her to suggest having dinner outside since she preferred homemade food more. Normally, they would buy groceries together and make food at home.

"Oh. The situation is like this..." Selina explained the details to him and her uneasiness about Jessica's family dinner. She thought she was being paranoid about it, but Jason went along with her request for dinner. Instead of telling her she was overthinking, he insisted on helping her.

The duration of their call lasted twenty minutes before Jason reminded her that it was time to get off work. Since it was her first day working, she had a lot of work to bring home. There was a stack of documents waiting for her to review and bring back the next day. Therefore, Selina decided to continue working on them until Jason arrives to pick her up.

Perhaps because she hasn't worked for a while, the week passed by extremely fast. By the time she knew it, it would be time to get off work. However, she didn't stop working even after she went home. Frustrated by the stacks of documents she had to bring home almost every night, Jason became stricter on her sleeping schedule. He practically had to take the files away from her hands in order to have her get sufficient rest.

On Wednesday evening, Jason walked into Selina's office as per usual. With one hand in his pocket, he walked over to her desk.

"Mrs. Hui, are you ready for our dinner appointment?" Jason chuckled when he found her in a daze.

"Ah! You're here! I'm ready to leave. Just give me one more minute to finish reviewing this last line." She quickly skimmed through the last line of the document and stuck a note on top of it.

"Mm. Take your time. I came fifteen minutes early to pick you up." He assumed that she would be too engrossed in work and forget about the time. Therefore, he finished work earlier than usual to give her extra time to pack up essential files.

Half an hour later, the couple arrived at Sangria restaurant, where a middle aged man waited for their arrival by the entrance. Recognizing Jason from a distance, the middle aged man quickly met the couple halfway.

"Good evening, Mister Hui! I am the manager of Sangria restaurant. I will be leading you to your reserved table. Please follow me." He politely gestured as he led them inside the building.

"Thank you." Jason and Selina replied.

Once the two of them settled at their table, Selina started looking around for Jessica. However, there weren't signs of her arrival yet. She double tapped her phone and realized they were earlier than the scheduled appointment time. Since Alfred wasn't here yet, Selina decided to use the restroom before ordering from the menu.

"Excuse me, where is the ladies room?" She asked the waiter who was pouring lemon water into the empty glasses at their table.

"The ladies room is down the hall to the left of the bar counter." The waiter paused his actions to answer her question.

"Thank you." Selina stood up from her seat and headed down the hall.

On the way to the restroom, the strong air conditioning blew cold breezes similar to a blustery winter's chill in Selina's direction. Shivering, goosebumps began to spread on her arms. She rubbed her bumpy skin, trying to soothe it. An odd silence in the surrounding took her by surprise. Other than her table, every single table was empty. She shook head thinking about the liveliest timing when restaurants were usually full and this restaurant was empty. No reservation tags were placed, which meant that nobody booked these seats.

"Miss, is there anything I can help you with?" A waiter approached her, breaking up her thoughts.

"Huh? No. I'm looking for the restroom." She smiled at the waiter and walked towards the restroom.

After a few minutes passed, Selina finished her business and walked out of the stall. While rinsing her hands under warm water, she squinted in deep thought. "During his time, the restaurant should have at least half the tables full. How come nobody is here? Could it be that someone reserved the entire place?" She thought of the possibility of Wang family creating this opportunity to trick Jessica. Several ideas filled her mind, and each of them only deepened the frown on her face even more.

She walked in front of a hand dryer and placed both hands under the machine. The loud blowing noise startled her, diverting her attention towards her dried skin. Sighing, she pushed the door opened and walked out. Right when she almost reached the side of the bar counter, she overheard the conversation between a waiter and the manager. Instinctively, she retreated a few steps backwards.