"I'm Li Qin Yao," she answered after a few seconds of hesitating. Li Qin Yao could almost feel her ears getting hotter whenever she heard his voice, speaking on the other line.
There was a brief silence before he spoke again. "You in the Gold Sushi Restaurant this evening."
Li Qin Yao nodded her head, and then she noticed how stupid her action was. There was no way that he could see her nodding from the other line. "Yes." She replied shortly.
He let out a long breath. "I believe you have my phone in your hands and yours with me. We must have switched our phone by accident this evening."
"I think so too. I tried to call my phone, but I believe it was in silent mode."
"I noticed," he spoke. "There are almost 30 missed calls. I'm sorry. I didn't notice this sooner. I was in a meeting with a friend."
"That's alright."
Her forehead scrunched as he recalled his conversation in the sushi restaurant earlier. The one who called him in the restaurant, was it not his sister? How did he end up with meeting a friend?
Wait! This is not the problem right now!
"Do you think we can meet up so that we could have our phone back? I'll wait for you in front of the restaurant," Zhang Yu Han said.
Li Qin Yao glanced at the clock on the wall. It was ten minutes to twelve. Usually, at this time, she would be in bed, sleeping. But today, she can't sleep because her phone has been missing. "Now?"
"Yes. Is there something wrong with that?"
"The train has stopped operating around this time. I could get a cab, but it's hard to get a cab on time like this," Li Qin Yao told him.
"Where are you?" Zhang Yu Han asked. He was surprised when he heard that she would have to take a train or a cab to get to the restaurant.
"I'm in B City," she bit into her lips.
"You're not from Y City?"
"No," Li Qin Yao said.
"I see."
There was a long silence between them.
Zhang Yu Han was about to offer to go to B City and see her when he heard her voice again.
"How about tomorrow morning?" Li Qin Yao suggested.
Zhang Yu Han thought about her suggestion for a while and decided that it was a suitable arrangement. It hasn't been long since Zhang Yu Han returned to the country. He was more familiar with Y City and the Capital city as he stayed in both cities frequently.
"Okay. Tomorrow morning it is," Zhang Yu Han said. "Hold on."
Li Qin Yao heard a muffled voice on the other line and assumed that he was speaking to someone else.
"Since you're in B City, I'll meet you at Coffee Sanctuary Cafe around 7 in the morning just the opposite of the train station, will that be okay?" he said when he gets back on the phone.
"Sure," she said. "So, uh, I'll see you tomorrow?"
Li Qin Yao withdrew the phone away from her ears and was about to press the red button when she remembered something else. "Wait!"
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry. Can you check if anyone was looking for me?" Li Qin Yao said. "I think you should be able to check that without entering the passcode."
"Your mother called you five times, and I picked up her call and explained this situation to her. She said to call her whenever you can," Zhang Yu Han said. "I hope you don't mind. I answered your call without permission."
"Oh. Oh. No. That's alright. Thank you for explaining to my mother. She would be worried when she couldn't get to me," Li Qin Yao heaved a sigh. She made a mental note to call her mother the first thing when she got her phone back. "Anyone else?"
"No. That's it."
Li Qin Yao was in a daze. So, her boyfriend, Chen Hao, did not try to reach her phone? Was he furious when she didn't meet him tonight? It looked like she has some coaxing to do.
Li Qin Yao quickly snapped out of her thought and said, "Uh… You don't have anyone trying to reach you."
"Okay. I know. Please ignore all calls if anyone is trying to reach me. I will get back to them later."
She nodded. "Sure. No problem."
"I'll contact you via this number if I need to reach you again," he said. After a few seconds, he added, "And you can call this number if you need to reach me."
"Hold on. Let me get a pen and paper to write it down."
Just like that, the two people exchanged their contact details and promised to meet at a coffee shop in front of the train station in B City.