Su Xuan turned and went upstairs.
Violet and Autumn exchanged a look and glanced at Wu Xiting.
Wu Xiting shrugged helplessly.
"It's your fault. Why didn't you go with Ai?" Violet scolded Autumn. "If you did, we'd be searching for two of you, so Su Xuan wouldn't have felt being left behind."
Autumn's face fell with deep regret. "I didn't expect she'd send Lin Shen home. If I did, I'd have gone with them."
Seeing Su Xuan returned to their room, Violent asked, "What shall we do now?"
Autumn shook her head.
"Do you have Lin Shen's phone number?" Violet had an idea. "Ai didn't bring her cellphone, but we can call Lin Shen."
Autumn shook her head again.
"How come you don't have his phone number?" Violet looked impatient.
"Why should I?" Autumn asked, "You don't, either."
Violet looked dejected.
"Let's go back first. We can't leave him in the room all by himself." Wu Xiting ran upstairs.
Violet and Autumn entered the room and saw Su Xuan was sipping tea calmly; they couldn't see a trace of displeasure on his face. Exchanging a look, they sat down.
Violet tried to find something to say. "He drank a lot and couldn't walk by himself. I guess Ai sent him home."
"Yeah. She'll probably come back in a while. Let's wait for her." Autumn scratched her head.
Su Xuan nodded with a smile and didn't say anything.
"Did you place the order?" Autumn asked.
Wu Xiting glanced at Su Xuan. "Yeah. Young Master Su didn't let me order lots of dishes, saying it's a waste of food if we can't eat them all. Besides, it's not healthy to eat a lot at supper."
"You save money." Autumn stuck out her tongue.
Wu Xiting chuckled. "Yeah. I prepared to have a big meal; but it turns out I'll spend a lot less than I expected."
They chatted, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
Soon, the waitress began to bring dishes to the table. In half an hour, all the dishes were ready.
But Xu Ai didn't return.
Autumn complained to Wu Xiting, "Obviously, the restaurant is not popular. There's no long lines of people waiting to be served; the dishes came so quickly."
With a twitch on his lips, Wu Xiting tried to look cheerful. "I think the dishes are good. Probably the restaurant has many chefs."
Autumn didn't reply.
Violet glanced at the door, but Xu Ai didn't appear. She scratched her head. "What do we do now?"
"Let's eat!" Su Xuan said with a smile.
Autumn shook her head immediately, "Let's wait some more."
"The dishes are getting cold." Su Xuan smiled. "She left without leaving a message for us. There's no reason for us to wait for her with empty stomachs."
Autumn and Violent exchanged a we-are-finished look.
Wu Xiting raised his hand. "Raise your hand if you agree to wait. I agree."
Violet and Autumn raised their hands immediately.
Su Xuan looked at them and chuckled, "So, the result is the same even if I don't raise my hand."
Putting down her hand, Violet said, "Ai never stands people up without a good reason. If she sent Lin Shen home without coming back to tell us about it, it means she was in a hurry and would come back as soon as possible."
"Yeah. So long as she promises something, she'll do it. If she didn't have a good reason, she wouldn't have left without telling us," Autumn agreed.
Su Xuan raised his brows. Sipping the tea, he smiled slowly. "It seems she only stood me up."
Violet and Autumn froze.
"This is not the first time that she stood me up. It turns out I'm the exception." Putting down the teacup, he said with a smile, "Let's wait, then."
Violet and Autumn exchanged a look, not sure what Xu Ai was doing. Xu Ai looked smart and calm, but whenever she saw Lin Shen, she'd lose her head.
A while later, Su Xuan's cell phone rang.
He glanced at the number and pressed the Answer button.
"Su Xuan, this is Xu Ai." Xu Ai's voice came from the phone.
Su Xuan's fingers tapped on the table as he asked, "Whose cell phone are you using?"
After a moment of silence, she said, "Lin Shen's."
Su Xuan picked up his teacup, lowered his head and sipped the tea. Then he asked, "Where are you?"
"I'm in Room 205."
Su Xuan's eyes glinted. "It's not 215?"
"No. Lin Shen got it wrong. It's 205," said Xu Ai. "Come over here."
Su Xuan raised his brows. "Are you sure you want me to go over there?"
"I wouldn't have called you if I wasn't sure," Xu Ai said after a pause.
"Okay!" Su Xuan hung up. Putting down the teacup, he stood up and glanced at the other three people who had been listening to his conversation attentively. "She's in Room 205. I'll go over."
Violet almost cheered. "I told you Ai never breaks her promises. Go now!"
Autumn nodded and urged him to go, too.
After Su Xuan left, Violet and Autumn heaved out a sigh of relief.
Autumn patted her chest. "His presence is so intimidating. Whenever he smiled, I had chills running down my spine. I felt so nervous."
Violent agreed. "It felt as if time had frozen. I was terrified that Ai would stand us up."
"You over exaggerated." Wu Xiting was amused. "Su Xuan doesn't look so cold or terrifying."
"We didn't!" The girls said at the same time. "His smiles look warm and charming but also terrifying. You don't know how much Ai liked…" They paused and said, "Oh, we don't want to talk about him."
Wu Xiting blinked. "It turns out the rumors are true!"
"What rumors?" The girls asked.
"Xu Ai pursues Lin Shen," Wu Xiting said.
The girls snorted and pursed their lips. "She's never told him her feelings; it doesn't count."
Wu Xiting looked curious. "I've been wondering about it. Tell me about Xu Ai and Lin Shen."
Autumn shook her head, not daring to betray Xu Ai again; she was afraid her boyfriend would one day hear stories about her.
Violet shook her head, too; she didn't want to talk about Lin Shen because she had become Su Xuan's fan.
Wu Xiting waited for a long while, but no one answered him; he had to give up.
"Ai called Su Xuan with Lin Shen's cellphone. It feels so weird." Violet said after a moment.
Autumn had the same feeling. "It's indeed weird. But Ai doesn't lose her head over Lin Shen today since she remembered to call Su Xuan."
Violet totally agreed.
Su Xuan walked out of the room, turned a corner and saw Room 201 down the corridor on the other side of the hall.
The door was closed. He knocked on the door lightly.
A voice came from inside, "Come in, please." It wasn't Xu Ai's voice.
Su Xuan pushed the door open and saw many people sitting around the table, men and women, old and young. Xu Ai sat next to a middle-aged woman who held her hand tightly. The woman was on the thin side but had great complexion; dressed elegantly, she had a fine deportment. On the other side of her sat Lin Shen.
Lin Shen supported his head with one hand while the other hand gripped a bottle of pills on the table. He didn't look drunk; sitting steadily at the table, he gazed at the bottle.
Glancing around, Su Xuan rested his eyes on Xu Ai.
Xu Ai stood up and said to the middle-aged woman with a smile, "Aunt, I told you I came with my boyfriend. Now that he's here, you can believe me. Can I go now?"
Surprised, the middle-aged woman looked toward Su Xuan, so did the others. Instead of looking embarrassed, he stood there with a smile, looking elegant and noble in his casual clothes. She stood up slowly and asked with a smile, "Are you Mr. Su?"
"Hi, I'm Su Xuan." Su Xuan nodded with a smile.
"Hi, I'm Lin Shen's mother. Today's Lin Shen's birthday and the family came here to celebrate it for him. When Ai came, I thought…" She paused and then continued with a smile, "It turns out she came with Mr. Su. I misunderstood."
Su Xuan's smile was warm. "Oh, today is President Lin's birthday." He beckoned at Xu Ai. "I was wondering where you were. We were waiting for you and the dishes are getting cold. Come on."
Xu Ai nodded and said to Lin Shen's mother with a smile, "Aunt, sorry for interrupting your dinner."
"Don't mention it. I appreciate it that you delivered stomach pills to Lin Shen and let the waiter bring in the watermelon juice to relieve the effects of the alcohol." Lin Shen's mother loosened her grip on Xu Ai's hand. "I can't keep you since you're here with friends. Come and see us another day."
"Okay!" Xu Ai walked to Su Xuan's side with a smile.
Su Xuan took her hand and said to the people who were looking at them, "The meal is on me. Aunt, please enjoy it. We need to return to our room now."
"No, you can't pay for our meal." Lin Shen's mother shook her head immediately.
"Ai-Ai and President Lin are classmates and I'm her boyfriend. Since we're here, we'll pay for the meal as our gift for the birthday. Aunt, please accept it." Su Xuan smiled.
Lin Shen's mother looked toward Lin Shen.
But Lin Shen still stared at the bottle as if he had entered another world. Sitting there motionlessly, he looked as if he didn't hear the conversation or see Su Xuan.
His mother had no choice but smiled and said, "Thank you."
Smiling, Su Xuan left the room with Xu Ai.
After the door closed, the people in the room fell silent for one minute.
Then Lin Shen's mother said, "It turns out the news is true. I thought the entertainment news was all faked."
"Where there's smoke, there's fire," one person replied.
Lin Shen's mother sighed and said to Lin Shen, "Xu Ai is a good girl. When I saw her last time, I could see she liked you. How come…"
"Alas, Sis, young girls of nowadays always go for better targets. Compared with Su Xuan of the Empyrean Group, our Shen is not his match," a guy interrupted her.
Lin Shen's mother looked at the stomach pills and watermelon juice on the table. "Lin Shen can't hold alcohol. Each time he gets drunk, his stomach aches. Today he got drunk but didn't bring pills. The girl went to the pharmacy to buy medicine for him. She treats him quite differently…"
"Really? She said every employee would do that when the boss had a stomach ache," one person responded.
"You're naive if you believe that." Lin Shen's mother rolled her eyes at the person. Then she looked at Lin Shen, asking, "How are you feeling? Do you feel better after taking the pills?"
Lin Shen didn't move.
His mother was worried. "Are you still in pain?"
"Shen, how are you feeling? Say something! If I knew you'd drink so much, I wouldn't have drank with you," one guy said regretfully.
"It's your fault." Another person scolded him, "You know Shen has a stomach ache whenever he drinks alcohol, but you still drank with him."
"I'm happy since Shen won a big project today."
"Humph. It's your fault anyway."
"Okay. It's my fault."
"Drink some watermelon juice. You just took the pills and it takes time to sooth your stomach." Lin Shen's mother was concerned about her son. "I told you many times not to work so hard. It's not worthwhile if you lose your health. You can't bring Lin Corporation back to its peak overnight."
Suddenly, Lin Shen picked up the glass of watermelon juice and drained it. Standing up, he said, "I'm fine. The pain will pass. Are you finished? Let's go."
"We're finished!" The others nodded.
"Are you okay?" Lin Shen's mother looked at him in concern.
Lin Shen nodded and walked out of the room before others.
There was no sign of Su Xuan or Xu Ai outside.
Su Xuan pulled Xu Ai out of Room 205. Turning a corner, he looked at her and smiled. "I was surprised when you called me for help. I thought…"
"What?" Xu Ai asked mildly.
"I thought you stood me up again," said Su Xuan.
Xu Ai was about to mock him when she caught the word, "Again?"
Pausing his steps, Su Xuan looked at her and said earnestly, "Are you saying you don't know you stood me up and let me wait three and a half hours on our blind date?"
Xu Ai widened her eyes in disbelief.
Amused at her expression, he asked, "What? You look so surprised. Can't you believe that I was your blind date?"
Of course not!
Xu Ai stared at him.
The blind date was Su Xuan!
Su Xuan!
How could he be Su Xuan?
She had never imagined that the bind date she stood up was Su Yu!
After a while, she finally snapped back to her senses. Disbelievingly, she asked, "Were you really… the guy… of my blind date?"
Su Xuan chuckled. "Why are you so surprised?"
Xu Ai scratched her head. "My mom knows you?"
Su Xuan shook his head. "I met your father several times when I was abroad. I've never met your mother."
"My dad?" Xu Ai looked at him.
Su Xuan nodded.
Xu Ai was puzzled. "My dad knows you, but my mom doesn't. But how could she set you up with me if she has never met you before? She even called me a dozen times to remind me of the date. Why?"
Su Xuan looked at her.
Xu Ai was puzzled. "My mom likes you because my dad likes you?"
Su Xuan shook his head with a smile. "I don't know why. But I guess you dad likes me and thinks I'll be a good husband, so he told your mom about me…"
Xu Ai rolled her eyes. "If that's true, then they are blind."
How could he be a good husband?
Su Xuan was amused. "You seem to have prejudice against me."
Xu Ai snorted.
Gazing at her, he asked, "I've wanted to ask you why you stood me up after you promised to meet me?"
Xu Ai looked at him. Under the bright lights in the corridor, his eyes looked earnest and seemed to have magical power in them. She looked away and said, "Why so many questions?"
Su Xuan chuckled. "You don't want to answer it? Or you dare not answer it? Or maybe you can't answer it?"
"I can and dare answer it!" Xu Ai turned her head and said forcefully, "That day, I was in the company working on a bidding document. I could have finished it in time, but the sudden entrance of Blue Ocean Commerce interrupted our plan. We had been sure we'd win the project, but the involvement of Blue Ocean made us spend two more hours on the document. I didn't think my date would wait hours for me, so I didn't go. I hadn't wanted to go anyway."
"I see!" Su Xuan nodded. Touching her cheek, he chuckled. "I brought it to myself."
"What do you mean?" Xu Ai looked at him.
He sighed. "It was my idea that Blue Ocean entered the bidding for that project to draw out Billions Sun."