"Oh yeah, I have to visit someone so I won't join you guys, here take this card to pay for the food," said Francesca and handed one of her many credit cards.
"Thank you CEO Shen." said assistant Wen and bowed when she was on her way to the elevator.
"CEO Shen, are you going to visit your parents?" whispered Lisa.
"Yes," said Francesca, and unlocked her phone.
"Do you want me to join you?" asked Lisa.
"No it's okay, just go and enjoy with the other guys," said Francesca.
They walked over to the parking lot house and found right away her red Ferrari in the private area only for the CEO, chairman, and VIP guests' parking place. Francesca unlocked her car and Lisa opened the trunk and placed the sunflowers carefully inside. She closed the trunk and walked over to the driver seat where Francesca was sitting scrolling on her phone.
"I think it's gonna rain soon so remember to take the umbrella from the trunk with you CEO Shen," said Lisa.
��Okay thank you, Lisa! Enjoy eating with the others," said Francesca before the windows rolled up as she drove towards the exit.
Once she was out of the building one of her favorite songs from the most well known Korean-American rapper Jay Park started to play.
[Beautiful like a flower]
[Life is like a flower]
[I won an award, send them to me]
[Send me flowers]
[The beginning with the flowers]
[The end with flowers]
[When I leave this world]
[Give me flowers]
Lisa went inside once the car was gone. She was about to take the elevator back upstairs when she heard a car driving in and turned around when she thought it was Francesca. A Roll-Royce ghost black badge stopped in front of her and the door opened. Kevin walked up with a rose bouquet and smiled at Lisa.
"You must be Lisa," said Kevin.
"May I know who you are and how you know my name?" said Lisa politely while her right arm was behind her back reaching out for her secret dagger.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm the CEO of the Lee Corporation, Kevin Lee," said Kevin.
Lisa released her dagger once she heard who he was."Are you here to meet CEO Shen?"
"Yes, is she still here?" he asked.
"I'm sorry but CEO Shen left to visit her parents," said Lisa and immediately covered her mouth with her left arm. She knew she screwed up when she mentioned that Francesca was meeting her parents to a stranger.
"Thanks for telling me where she is," said Kevin before he entered his car and drove off.
Lisa facepalmed herself and called Francesca right away but was sent right to voicemail. She soon gave up calling her because she knew that Francesca never answered her calls when she visited her parents. Her phone started to ring and she immediately answered without looking at the caller ID.
[Hello? CEO Shen, I'm sorry, but I told a man called CEO Lee where you are.]
[Lisa you are so stupid, and I thought you were smart.]
[Matthew? Why the fuck are you calling me? I thought you were Big sister.]
[Hey I don't use that name any longer, I use the name SPADES, and do you think big boss will call you when she is going to visit her parents? How dumb are you? I think you need to check your IQ again, and what is wrong with your hair?]
[Shut up you! I made a mistake, and what is wrong with my hair you piece of shit. Wait how the hell do you know how my hair looks like? Are you here?.]
[Nup, I used the CCTV camera in the parking lot.]
[You fucking pervert stalker.]
Lisa ended the call and looked up at the CCTV camera right above her and showed her middle finger to the camera before she went inside the elevator.
...
At the graveyard
Rain droplets fell on her head, slowly wetting her hair. She held out her palm and felt smudged the droplets that kissed her skin. Closing her eyes, she tilted her head backward and faced the gloomed sky. The sound of drizzling pounding on dirt and the smell of nature relaxed her tensed body.
"Mom dad, do you guys remember when I came home one day wet because I forgot my umbrella and I got a cold for almost a week? From that time you guys will always make sure that I have my umbrella with me. Guess what, your daughter just forgot her umbrella once again even though she is grown up." tears were rolling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry for not visiting you guys that often. I'm a bad daughter!"
An umbrella covered her unexpectedly as she was done talking.
"Lisa, I told you not to come." said Francesca and turned it around.
She saw Kevin holding two bouquets of roses on his left arm and a big black umbrella on his right arm. Francesca was shocked and turned away to wipe her tears. He placed the flowers right beside her sunflowers quickly and paid his respect to her parents before he took off his blazer jacket with one hand while the other hand was still holding the umbrella over Francesca.
He placed his blazer jacket over her shoulder. "You just became the CEO of the Sheng corporation and you're already not taking care of yourself. How do you think your parents would react?"
"How did you know I was here?" asked Francesca, ignoring his question.
"Does it matter? I came to your office to congratulate you and found you here." He said while smiling at her.
Her stomach suddenly started to rumble when she was about to say something and had her arms around her stomach.
"You didn't eat, right? Let's go and eat," he said, holding around her shoulder gently so she couldn't deny him.
Once they were gone a man came out behind a big tree not far from her parents' tombstone and smashed Kevin's flower before he threw them to the side and placed his purple Hyacinth right beside Francesc's sunflowers.
He looked at Nathan and Evelyn Shen's tombstones. "I'm sorry."
They walked over the parking lot and saw his assistant June standing outside with an umbrella waiting for them. Kevin opened the door to the shotgun seat and gestured for her to enter the car.
"I drove here with my car," said Francesca and pointed at her red Lamborghini.
"Hm, what about you letting my assistant drive your car back to the Shen mansion?" asked Kevin.
Francesca looked at assistant June before she gave him her car keys. "Please just park it in front of the mansion."
"Yes, miss Shen," said assistant June.
Francesca entered the car and Kevin gently closed the door. "If you meet elder Shen, just say that I took her out to eat."
Assistant June waited for them to drive first before he walked over to her car and drove her red Lamborghini back to the Shen mansion.
"So where do you wanna eat?" asked Kevin while focusing on the road.
"Hmm, everything sounds fine to me. I'm not a picky eater," said Francesca while she texted elder Shen that she was eating outside.
"Then let's go to my favorite restaurant," said Kevin and sped up.
He parked his car and rushed out to open the door for her but was too late when he saw her stepping out of the car looking at the big building. He was a bit disappointed but brushed it off. They went inside and took the elevator up to the restaurant. The waiter recognized Kevin the moment he came out of the elevator and led them to the table right beside the window which gave them the beautiful view of the city. He pulled out the chair for her and walked over to the other side to do the same. The waiter handed them the menu and waited patiently for their order.
Francesca looked at the menu and was so hungry that she couldn't choose because everything sounded delicious. "CEO Lee I mean Mr. Lee, do you have any recommendations?" asked Francesca, looking at him.
"Everything here is delicious but I recommend the steak and the salad here," he said smiling to her.
"Oh," she said looking at the menu.
"Hm, well then it will be two New York Strip and Greek salad," said Kevin while looking at the waiter.
"Would you like to start with any drink?" asked the waiter.
"Is it any type of wine you wanna try, Miss Shen?" asked Kevin.
"Oh no, I'm fine. I don't like drinking alone since you're gonna drive later on," said Francesca.
"Well then we will have Ariel Cabernet Sauvignon 2013," said Kevin to the waiter.
The waiter nodded and walked away and came back shortly with a black bottle. Pouring elegantly into two beautiful wine glasses.
"Please enjoy!" said the waiters and left.
"Aren't you driving later?" asked Francesca, looking confusingly at him.
"Oh I ordered an alcohol-free wine since you like wine," said Kevin after he took a sip.
"And how do you know that I like wine? asked Francesca.
He almost choked hearing her question. "Eh II...I heard it from grandpa Shen."
"Oh," said Francesca even though she didn't believe him.
He started to cold sweat when she was looking suspecialy at him, but before he could come with another excuse the waiters suddenly came with the food. He sighed in relief and made a mental note to give extra tips to the waiter for coming at the right time. Francesca's eyes sparkled when she saw the delicious stake in front of her and was about to cut it when her plate was suddenly taken. She looked up and saw him smiling while he was cutting the stake for her.
She thanked him and started to eat her stake happily. They ate and started to talk about a topic they both were very interested in which was business. He somehow managed to answer all her questions even though he didn't really pay much attention to her questions. He was daydreaming and woke up from daydreaming when she picked a tomato from her plate and asked him.
"This is a tomato, correct?"
He nodded and tried to remember what she was talking about.
"But-" She starts craving into it with a knife and makes a rose. "It could be a rose in my eyes. See? In the end, we all share it. Everyone is happy. So business doesn't need to be strictly depending on the rules that are implemented. Rules are dead and could be changed. But humans are changing trends like switching undergarments. You can find ways to make the max out of it and make many people happier. "
"Right," he replied.
They were done eating and were about to pay, Kevin was pretty quick handing over his card to the waiter.
"Thank you. Here is your card and your receipt, enjoy the rest of the evening." said the waiter and left soon after.
"Ehm Mr. Lee, why did you pay for my portion? You know that I'm not gonna let you off because you were quick to pay for the dinner right?" said Francesca, smiling at Kevin.
"Oh you don't have to," he replied smiling back to her.
"But I don't like it when people pay for me," she said.
"Then it will be your treat next time," he said, smiling at her before he got off the elevator.
She followed him and they walked out of the building. Kevin's Roll-Royce was parked in front of them and a valet guy came out and handed the key over, Kevin received the key and gave him some money before he opened the car door for Francesca so she could enter the car.
The whole car ride was quiet. Francesca was on her phone replying to some messages while Kevin was focusing on the road. He felt a bit awkward and decided to turn the radio on and a beautiful song that somehow described his feeling for her came on.
[Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh-ohh]
[Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh-ohh]
[Don't ask why I can paint a picture of you in my mind, love]
[All my life]
[I never thought someone would make me feel so high]
[But here you are]
[There's no touch or feeling]
[Pleasure or pain]
[Anything like the way you're runnin' through my veins]
[No breathe or beauty]
[No sound or sight]
[That ever made me feel the way you do tonight.]
[I just can't take my eyes off you]
[Tell me anything you wanna do]
[I just can't take my eyes off you]
[Nothing I can do about it]
[Nothing I can do about it]
The car stopped in front of the Shen mansion once the song was over. He looked at her while she was unbuckling her seatbelt.
"Hey before you go, congratulations on obtaining the new positions as the CEO of Shen Corps. I wish you the best in the upcoming terms," he said and handed a bouquet of roses to her from the back seat.
"Oh...thank you for the roses and for the dinner! Ehm drive home safely," said Francesca and got out of the car.
He rolled down the window on the passenger side. "See you soon!." and drove off.
Meaning of flowers:
- Sunflowers symbolizes unwavering faith and unconditional love.
- The purple Hyacinth symbolizes sorrow, "I'm sorry, please forgive me."
- Roses symbolizes love and romance are the perfect.
N/A: The songs I included in this chapter are one of my favorite songs and I hope you will listen to it too.
1. Song: Code Kunst - Flower Feat. Jay Park, Woo, and Giriboy.
2. Song: PRETTYMUCH - Eyes off you.