Ideal Date
Ideal Date
She watched as his eyes were ready to shut. She realized he was tired, having back-to-back meetings the entire day. He only had a thirty-minute break during lunch and he was back to the conference room again.
"Finish it tomorrow. I also put aside my work so we can have dinner," he said.
Seeing her not budging, he said, "I want to have dinner with my girlfriend."
Yanmei's eyes lit up, hearing this new side of him, just tickles her to the bones.
She rested her face on her fist as her elbow did the same against the table, chuckling. She said, "Well, I guess if the boss says so, I have no choice."
After fixing her things, Yanmei left with Anton. They walked side by side, but after reaching the elevator, Anton's arm was already around her waist.
While they were inside his private lift, Yanmei was taken by surprise, receiving a peck on the side of her head. She giggled before wrapping her arms around his waist. She said, "You missed me that much?"
"Hmmmm… I miss your shampoo," he teased.
"Whatever Yeong!" She smacked him in the chest as she remained close to him.
Only then did he say, "I suppose, the owner of the shampoo too."
Getting off from the elevator, Yanmei noticed how Anton had stepped outside the elevator first and came back realizing that they should walk together. He put back his arm into her waist, and they slowly made their way to the building lobby.
She could not help but feel proud of how he was trying to watch his every move.
Getting into the car, Minsuh was the happiest to see the couple in a less awkward situation together. He had the biggest grin on his face as he said, "Ms. Yanmei, boss. I'm happy to see you together again - I - I assume."
"It's fine Minsuh, I get what you mean, and we sorted out our misunderstanding," clarified Yanmei. She turned to Anton, who rested his head back.
Anton shut his eyes for a moment as they drove, but made sure to pull Yanmei closer to his side.
"Yeong? Maybe we should just go home. You look tired," she expressed her concern over him.
He hummed and massaged his forehead before he said, "No, you've gotten too thin. You need a little beef fat."
She pouted her lips before looking at her waist. Even if Iseul or Chun-Ho was always there to get her anything she wanted, the first week following their return from Indonesia just got her losing appetite. Most often than not, she ate very little.
"Okay, steak it is," she said.
The couple was off to the same restaurant where their dinner was previously interrupted by Baek Hei-ran. Anton had earlier asked Junsu to make dinner reservations for him and Yanmei.
It was there that they further chatted about the terms of their renewed relationship. Yanmei wanted to make sure there weren't any gray areas to their earlier agreement. At the same time, she wanted to make sure he had expectations of her for that required compromising.
"Can you go back to learning martial arts?" He asked.
"Of course, I intend to," she said with a smile.
He then cleared his throat and said, "This." He touched his chin. "This." He touched his hair. "And This." He grabbed onto his beige coat and said, "This is only on special occasions."
"I much prefer my old look," he added.
Yanmei nodded, appreciating his honestly and said, "Yeong, I never imposed that on you, by the way. Regardless of what you wear, I love you still. Of course, I think you look uniquely handsome the way you are now."
"Hmmm... Like I said, on special occasions," he added.
"Aside from that, I only have one other reminder… I don't like seeing you with other men so not unless it's a very important meeting, I don't want you speaking with them… alone," he said as he put a table napkin on his lap.
She raised both her brows and thought back. He was referring to Sun Haneul again. She said, "Okay. I'll be more… self-aware."
As soon as their salad arrived, she first tossed her own. She studied him for seconds before she said, "Yeong, I never got to thank you earlier... Thank you for trying... Thank you for doing this for me."
Anton took a deep breath. He looked sideways before returning his gaze at her. He said, "Hmmmm. I suppose your welcome is in order."
The couple had a splendid dinner. Much to Yammei's surprise, she was able to finish an entire steak. She concluded she felt happier than before being able to instantly bring back her appetite.
After finishing their wine, they decided to rest for the night. Anton leaned back in his seat before he said, "Your place? Or mine?"
She flushed, thinking about how to decide. Eventually, she said, "Mine."
"Okay. I'll just grab some clothes and I'll see you in your suite," he said before wiping his lips with the table napkin.
While the couple made their way to the exit, a male server, wearing gloves cautiously took Anton's drinking glass and utensils and placed it inside a zip-lock bag. His eyes roamed the establishment, making sure ho one was eyeing him as he did this.
The male server then quickly made his way to the back of the restaurant and made a call. "Sir, he finally came back to the restaurant. I will check the glass and utensils to see if I can get prints."
"Good," said the man on the other line. "Have someone constantly follow them around so we can get more prints and pieces of evidence... When we have enough, Anton Yeong will finally fall."
Anton was exhausted that night, that he failed to notice a motorbike had been following Minsuh since they left JKW Investments. Neither did Minsuh notice. They remained at ease as they made their way to the Gwan Luxury Residences.
When Yanmei arrived at her apartment, she felt anxious. It had been two weeks since they slept in the same bed. She wrinkled her nose of the possibility of them making love that night.
She rushed to bathe herself and wore a sexy sleeping dress. She lounged at the living room for half an hour until her doorbell finally rang.
Opening the door, she found Anton already in his pajamas, carrying on his back; a suit for the next day's work, looking fresh and already bathed.
He said, "I think I might sleep outright."
Pouting her lips, she hugged him by the waist and said, "I'm sorry. Let's go take a rest."
"Why are you wearing something sexy? Were you expecting something to happen tonight? Or have you been wearing that while I was not sleeping next to you?" He said with his eyes narrowed.
Yanmei chucked before closing the door behind them and said, "No, I just wore this tonight, and of course, I wore this for you, but it doesn't matter. I'm just happy we are back to normal. Okay?"
She guided him into the bedroom and let him rest on the mattress as she set aside his suit.
Anton remained to sit-up and waited for Yanmei to join him on the bed. Only when she went under the sheets, did he slide down to rest himself.
Just before they shut their eyes, Anton asked, "Tell me about your ideal date. Where do you want to go?"
She chuckled and said, "Are sure about that?"
"We'll see," he said.
"I want to go to the beach," she said. "But since you don't like - "
"Okay. I'll take you to the beach soon," he said. "Anything else?"
Yanmei could not believe her ears. She looked up at him and said, "Are you sure?"
"I already said it," he said with a weak voice, his eyes ready to close. It was evident that he was tired. "What else?"
"I - I wanted to go to the zoo and feed elephants and turtles." As she rested her head on his chest, she bit her own lip, thinking how Anton would react.
"Fine, you'll wear gloves... and a face mask," he said.
She could not help but giggle. She'd much rather skip the zoo if that was the case. She started adding more to the detail including fishing, camping, and towards the end, she said, "I also want to paint pottery! I heard those are fun."
"Hmmm… Okay, let's do one every weekend… So far, there seem to be no remnants of Project Zero. I think, generally, it's safer for us to go out."
Yanmei could not explain her happiness hearing they will finally be able to go out and have a proper date. "Really Yeong? I'm so excited." After seconds of just beaming she asked, "Yeong, what about you? What did you want to do?"
"I just… want to be with you. Whatever it is, I just want to be with you."
His words pierced through her heart. She realized how much their two-week misunderstanding must have made an impact on him that he was willing to do more for her.
She pulled herself up to face him and pecked on his lips. She said, "Thank you, Yeong."
"Hmmm… going to the beach, though… How do you feel about wearing a full-body swimsuit?" He seriously asked.
"No! That's weird!" She protested. "It's worse than bringing umbrellas to the beach!"
He let out a heavy sigh. Anton realized, he will need to rent an entire island so Yanmei can have her beach experience.