Thankfully, the evening went by without much drama. My worries about the Chairman were unfounded. He only drank the entire evening and was carried away by Mr. Stephen Olsen and the Chairman's personal assistant. I am still not sure about what truly happened at the time I fell over Mr. Olsen. All that caressing and groping, I shivered slightly, remembering it. Hopefully, it was just some stupid misunderstanding.
I took my cell phone out to find 34 missed calls.
WTF!!
Just who had so much leisure to keep calling me? It's not every day that I receive so many calls. I quickly unlocked to see that 30 calls were from Robbie, 3 from Chef Samuel and 1 from Tanya. Looks like Robbie was worrying way too much. I felt myself go a little red in the cheek and near the ear. Being worried about and taken care of isn't that bad after all!
"Diana, I'll be heading back. Thank you for everything," I said to Diana gratefully. She has been a great mentor.
Diana, like always, gave me a dazzling smile, but this time her smile held some emotion. She said warmly, "Mention not. It was a great pleasure working with you, Tony. You actually have a talent for hosting."
"Nah! I would like to stick to cooking. I just find it much more relaxing and closer to my talent," I laughed.
"Ah! Such a loss!" Diana said, pretending to be sad, "Chef, be careful. I might recommend you if there is another large event and we are running short."
"Oh, come on!" I laughed again as I started walking towards the men's locker after bidding her goodbye.
I quickly changed and went to the parking area. I took out my cell phone to call back Robbie when it suddenly rang with a loud ring, surprising the hell out of me. Of course, it was Robbie. I picked it up to hear an urgent voice sounding,
"Tony, why didn't you answer my calls? Do you know how worried I was?"
"Robbie, I was working, and you know we cannot carry our cell phones to the workspace. So, naturally, I couldn't answer your call. I am completely fine. Don't worry."
"At least leave a message. I tried Tanya and Samuel as well. No one seemed to have any idea!! I was about to ditch my meeting with the hotel board to come to the resort. I couldn't even tell if you were alright or not!" Robbie said, half relieved and half worried.
This guy is always too much. He even informed Samuel of the situation. No wonder he called me thrice. Tanya, obviously, like me, is not allowed to bring her cell phone inside, so she did not notice. I can't believe this guy. He is a grown-ass working man and the CEO of such a large hotel chain with several responsibilities. How can he stress out about one person? Can he always come running if I am having trouble? Though, I thought that, in some part of my heart, I felt tickled and warm.
"Don't worry! You know I have faced several troubles all these years alone. I am not that helpless," I chuckled.
"You're not alone now, and these problems are a by-product of me being with you. So, I must take responsibility," Robbie said, seriously.
I smiled to myself. I can't believe how much he has matured in two months. Before, he would shrug off even the smallest of responsibilities. It was after all his fear of shouldering the responsibility of Twen that he rejected me, but now, he is willfully taking responsibility for his mistakes or any trouble that is coming our way. The only shortcoming is that he has turned into such a worrywart. The care and concern he has shown towards Twen and me were like that of a real responsible family member. Time does mature people!
"Okay! I get it! I will call you if I ever get into trouble that I can't handle," I said reassuringly.
I heard Robbie sigh in relief before saying in a softer, tensed voice, "I hope dad didn't give you a hard time! Dad was not picking up my calls, so I had to ring up mum. She is out of the country right now. If not for this emergency, I generally do not disturb her. For better or for worse, he never hangs up on her! I hoped that talking with her would make him busy enough to not pay attention to you. So, did he do anything? I hope he did not come to the kitchen to investigate!"
Ah!
So, that's what the call was about. I guess Mrs. Walker must have said something to Mr. Walker for him to not put me into an embarrassing situation.
No wonder he was in such a foul mood the whole evening!
Thanks to Robbie and his mother, I avoided getting into any trouble!
I smiled internally as I said with a chuckle, "No! You worried for nothing. Your dad simply drank the whole evening with his special guest."
"What special guest?" Robbie asked with curiosity.
I frowned. Didn't Robbie know that Mr. Olsen was coming? I opened my mouth to answer when,
"Tony?" I heard a call from behind me. I turned to see it was Tanya.
"Oh! Tanya, you're here! Just a minute" I smiled at Tanya before going back to my call. I quickly whispered to Robbie, "I'll talk to you later."
"Oh, you have something to discuss with Tanya?" Robbie asked, distracted.
"Yes! It's a very special day for her," I said with a smile in my voice, "Later then."
I hung up the call and looked at Tanya, who was standing where she was with an expression saying I-am-totally-not-listening-to-your-conversation!
"So, what's the urgent business that you called me for? It is almost 1 AM! God! It was a dreadful day! My dad has been calling me non-stop!" She said, sighing!
"Yeah, it has indeed been a very hectic day!!" I agreed gesturing her to follow me.
As Tanya walked after me, she made a false coughing sound before speaking with a not so innocent smile in her voice, "By the way, the CEO called me quite a few times. I wonder if he was worried about a certain someone."
"Shut up!!" I said, turning bright red.
Tanya giggled heartily. We reached my car when she stopped giggling and said in a mischievous tone, "The CEO does seem to pay a lot of attention to you!" I chose to ignore her poking and searched around my car's glove compartment. I heard her as I looked through, "What are you looking for? Is it something I forgot? You're being very suspicious!" Tanya narrowed her eyes.
I smiled when I got what I was looking for and turned to her while she was busily checking her cell phone. Today has really been a hectic day. I hope this will cheer her up. The moment Tanya looked up, I forwarded her two packages and said with a big bright smile,
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
Tanya blinked in surprise as she looked at the package and then at me.
"You-you remembered?" Tanya spoke through her astonishment.
"Of course, I do! It is our fourth year together. How can I not?" I laughed.
Tanya's eyes got a little moist as she put her cell phone back in her purse and took the packages. It was not a large one and didn't contain anything special, but Tanya looked overwhelmed.
"Thank you, Tony," she said gratefully.
"It's your birthday! You shouldn't be thanking me. Didn't you always say you wanted to spend time with your family during your birthday. So, I asked Chef Boris to give you a day off tomorrow. Have a great day with your fami-"
I couldn't even complete my sentence when Tanya threw herself over me, wrapping her arms around me,
"Thank you so much!" was all she could mutter.
I didn't think she would be so happy with this, but I am glad. It's her special day. She should enjoy it to the fullest. I smiled too. Actually, the one who deserves thanks was her, who stayed by my side as a great friend all these years. I put my hand on her back and patted her.
"Many many happy returns of the day! Hope all your dreams and aspirations come true."
Tanya nodded on my shoulder and murmured a 'Thank you' again.