The Meeting

How could there be someone who was so rude, wildly arrogant yet so… good at writing? Anna Carlsson wondered, as she scrolled down the web pages. It was an article written by a man who called himself "Mr. Bitch", and Anna, the coordinator of her wealthy cousin's cosmetics company, was going to meet him this afternoon. "You are more social than any of us." Her cousin told Anna when she asked if she could cover this "significant" task. But only Anna knew that her cousin was just too lazy to come herself and too scared to make her husband do that – it was a running-about errand, meaning that only informal employees at the company had the time and qualification to take over the mission.

Basically, it was not an honored thing.

Mr. Bitch set the meeting at an expensive café in Takoo, the most luxurious commercial zone in the entire city. Anna had been there once, and as far as she remembered, one cup of coffee cost at least 50 yuan and one piece of cake was worth an entire 6-inch cake sold at the bakery 20 kilometers westwards from that very place. Anna hoped that she wouldn't be the one who paid the bill – her cousin wouldn't compensate the cost for her, her cousin didn't even offer to cover the taxi fares.

Anna changed myself into a very plain set of clothes – a pair of jeans, sneakers and a white T-shirt. She had a handbag that was newly bought at a rebated price, ten times cheaper than MK, but looked, in her own opinion, much better than those heavy boxes displayed on the window shelf.

Anna still thought so as she passed the MK store five minutes before the café meeting started. Unsurprisingly, this branded bag store was situated precisely next to that expensive café. Anna took another look at the newest version which was surrounded by several Chinese mid-aged women before turning around and walking into my meeting place.

The café looked brown. Everything inside was painted with brown colors – the chairs, the tables, the counter, even the hair of the waitresses. What was the café's name again?

Anna was just trying to come up with an answer when she saw that man. He was seated in a quiet corner, thumbing through a colorful magazine. Every now and then, he glanced at the watch around his wrist, and then switched his eyes back to the page. He looked thoughtful and he looked patient.

But could that be the man? Anna wondered. His profile was nothing more than a vast sea and his social media information showed nothing more than what his article had already displayed.

There were not many men at the café at this weekday hour, and they were either busy typing on the computer or playing games on the mobile. Anna decided to take a risk – what outcome would it be other than a moment of embarrassment, which happened to be hundreds of times anyway.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Bitch?" Anna came to his table and asked timidly.

The man looked up hearing her voice, and she was startled. He was not an ordinary man. Yes, he was a human being, but he looked very different from most of the men at this café, from most of the men out there on the street, or even from most of the men on TV and film screens.

He was better.

He had a pair of black eyes and his smooth hair was trimmed in a neat way, fitting the light blue blouse on him perfectly. He smiled at Anna, showing two rows of naturally white teeth, and then he stood up and presented her a hand-shake gesture.

"Yes, are you Anna?" He said.

Anna looked down at his hands. His fingers were long and possessed a color of cream, and his lips were thin and moist. As for his voice, well, it sounded more like a beautiful piece of music played out of the best-tuned cello, low and melodic, appealing and enchanting.

"Oh, yes…" Anna replied, with an even lower voice. "I am Anna, nice to meet you."

Anna offered her hand too. He took it gently and the warmth not only wrapped up her tiny hand, but also her heart.

Anna let go of the handshake first, pulled out the chair and sat down. She almost couldn't breathe out of nervousness and excitement. No one had told her that he was such a good-looking guy!

"Do you want to drink anything?" He asked. Anna followed the voice and found that he was still standing by the table. She immediately stood up out of politeness and replied. "Yes, please, I, umm, Matcha Latte, please."

"Okay." He said smilingly. "Sit down here and I will get one for you."

Anna nodded and took her seat. He disappeared from the table and a moment later, he came back with the bill and a table number.

"They will deliver them here." He said to Anna who nodded and answered with a very tiny mumbling sound. "Okay."

"Excuse me?" He couldn't catch my whispers.

"Nothing, I was just mumbling." Anna quickly waved my hands at him.

He smiled again. Oh god, Anna whispered in her heart, please don't let him smile again, I would be trapped in his charm and forget about my work!

"I, ehhh." Anna started, thinking that it would be better if they could get to business as soon as possible. She just couldn't afford any more distraction.

Before Anna could say anything more, two waitresses brought their drinks. They were chuckling as they placed the drinks down in front of them respectively. Anna noticed that one of them threw a weird glance at her before she left – was it a look of jealousy, or was it a look of hatred? Anna didn't know, and she didn't care. But what Anna could be certain about was that this man was indeed a head-turner in every girl's eyes, herself included.

Anna took a sip from the Matcha Latte she just ordered and gave out an enjoying sound of my own accord.

"Wow, this Matcha Latte tastes excellent! The powder must really be imported from Japan!"

Then came the silence. Not until this moment did Anna realize that she probably made too loud a sound, so every guest next to them turned towards her, giving a look of either astonishment or confusion.

Anna quickly put down the cup and spun her look at the man right in front of her. It was just a few seconds but her mind told her that it had been centuries.

"You know a lot about food." He finally said.

"Ehh, I…umm, a bit." Anna replied, almost whispering again.

"Then we will have a lot to talk about." He continued.

Anna looked up at him in surprise.

"Aren't we going through… the brand collaboration here?" Anna asked, feeling confused.

"Don't worry about that." He said in a relaxing tone. "It is already settled, I signed the contract five minutes ago."

Anna felt that the world was spinning around her, or perhaps it was she who was spinning with the world.