The sun was up bright and early, casting rays of warmth into the penthouse. Biming woke up before her alarm went off. It was going to be a long day for her as she needed to finish up her sketches for her fall collection.
After having a light breakfast of yogurt and berries, she dressed herself for the day. Keeping in mind the dinner with Xue Changmin that night, she slipped on a royal blue sheath dress with a v-neckline. The sleeves were three-quarter sleeves and ended just past her elbow. She kept her accessories light and finished her look with a pair of white pumps. She drew her hair into a tall slick ponytail which gave her an edgy chic style.
She busied herself into the sketching app that she had on her drawing tablet. She only needed to design about eight to ten pieces to complete the fall collection. This wasn't just like any other collection; it was going to be the collection that defined her stance in the European market.
She needed to make sure that every piece would be suitable no matter the color, fabric, or style. Before she could finish up her second design of the day, her head started aching. Her migraines were more frequent in the last month.
There was a knock on the door that took her attention away from the pain, "Boss, your cousin Fang An Xi is here. She wants to have lunch with you." Assistant Lin stood in the doorway awaiting her answer.
"Thank you, Lin Zhi, let An Xi through for me."
Fang An Xi made her way into the office. Her face went from cheery to sour when she noticed the mess of the office. There were fabric scraps scattered over half the room and the other half was filled with travel books and crumpled up reports. Then she saw her cousin's pained face.
"Ming, what's wrong? Why is your office so disorderly?"
"I've just been busy and haven't had time to clean. I don't like when others clean my space." Biming liked to clean up after herself so she always remembered when and where things were used.
"Are you sure that you're busy and not just creating more work for yourself on purpose?" Everyone knew that Xia Biming was loading up on work so she could use it as an excuse for not meeting up. "Ming, are the headaches coming back?"
"Mmm. They've been happening more frequent."
"Maybe you should take it easy. Did you eat lunch yet? I brought us lunch. It's from a new restaurant." Today, Fang An Xi came prepared.
An Xi quickly cleaned up the seating area in the office and gestured for Biming to come join her. She opened the boxes of lunch and the smell instantly permeated the room. In one box, there was lightly seared tuna steaks garnished with thinly sliced scallions, sesame seeds, and a drizzle of soy sauce. In another box contained some chicken and vegetable dumplings. In the last box, there was spicy braised squid with vegetables. An Xi then handed Biming a smaller container that was filled with steamed white rice.
"Hurry and eat, I have been craving seafood and this place specializes in it. I know you love seafood, so I ordered it for us." She placed some squid on top of Biming's rice.
The lunch really was delicious. The girls talked about new movies that were coming out and if they were worthy of making the time to see it. Fang An Xi really just wanted to come and distract Xia Biming from her workload.
"I heard about the dinner with the Xues from auntie. What are you going to do?"
"I don't know Xi Xi. I just want to work on my baby, but they won't let me. They keep pushing me to be with Changmin."
"He doesn't seem so bad. I know I was telling you those stories the other night, but Wang Xuan said he's changed."
"Huh? Since when you do hang out with Wang Xuan?" Now Biming was getting skeptical about these two.
"Who said we hang out?! I just bumped into him at a bar the other night…" Fang An Xi lowered her head, but Biming could see how red her ears were turning.
"Uh huh, uh huh. Don't expect me to tell you anything if you're not willing to spill either." Xia Biming poked An Xi in her side which caused her to jolt up.
"Ming! I came here to cheer you up, how could you bully me? I even brought you a delicious meal." An Xi pouted and whined before she curled up next to Biming on the couch.
"Hahaha, okay I won't tease you anymore. I'm really grateful for having such a caring little cousin." She hugged her not so little Xi Xi.
"Now tell me about Xue Changmin."
"There's really not much to tell. But I am meeting him for dinner tonight."
"WHAT?! Where are you going? Is that why you're dressed so prettily today?"
"Hey, what's with how I dress, are you saying I'm not well dressed all the other days?"
"No no no! It's just that you look extra charming today." An Xi pacified the quick tempered Biming.
"Whatever. He asked to have dinner at restaurant X. So I naturally needed to dress up a little more."
"Restaurant X?! I've heard that that place is known for having exquisite dishes and the most romantic setting in the whole city!"
Fang An Xi's words panicked Xia Biming. 'Romantic? I don't want any kind of romance with him. I just thought it was going to be a simple dinner.'
After chatting with An Xi a while more, they bid their goodbyes. While exiting the building, she pulled out her phone and texted someone with a mischievous smirk.
At the same time in the CEO's office in Xue Investments, Wang Xuan dropped by to pester Xue Changmin. Was this really a coincidence?
"Bro! I came by with some lunch! It's from a new restaurant that just opened up. Come try it with me." Wang Xuan set up the food on the table and Changmin joined him.
The boxes contained the same dishes that Fang An Xi had brought over to Xia Biming.
"So… What are you going to do about the Xias?"
"I don't know. Xia Biming pushes all ideas about dating away and closes herself off more. I invited her to dinner with me tonight."
"You move quick Chang! Best of luck."
"Don't get excited over anything just yet. It's going to be a long road."The boys finished their lunch quickly and returned back to their work.
When 6 pm hit, he rushed to finish reading the project reports on this desk and drove himself to restaurant X.