It was a high end establishment as expected of Mr. Zou.
Claudia scanned the room when a waiter approached her. "Ms. Bai, please, this way."
She was ushered upstairs to a private room, a perfect view of the city could be seen. The trail of candles were what stole her attention though. on the other end of it was the dimly lit figure.
"Mr. Zou?"
He stood to pull out her chair.
"Thank you, er, you didn't need to!"
". . ." He pulled it out anyway then returned to his seat.
"Thanks again for your help."
He grunted.
Her smile stretched. He wasn't going to say anything, was he?
"I heard you turned down the offer for the new program. You didn't like it?"
His mouth opened slightly but nothing came out immediately. "It's a personal matter. I don't get along with the host."
"Oh? What they'd do to you?"
"We attended the same school for many years so they've seen me at my worst. It'd be fine if they had the tact not to mention it but he's quite the blabber mouth."
"Ehhh, It sounds like he'd make an entertaining host." She was envious. She wanted to see and know of those embarrassing moments of his.
"Yes. Many find him funny."
But not you, huh?
Claudia smiled. She's just happy she found something to finally hear his voice longer.
"Why are you smiling?"
If she voiced her true thoughts he'd probably stop talking as this man was rather shy even though he didn't look it with his frosty exterior.
"I'm happy."
"Happy?"
She caught herself. "That I get to meet with another co-worker like this, I get so attached to the other judges, it's always sad when the show ends I'll never know if I meet them again. But since we end up on many shows together with you I kind of feel like I made a real friend, you know?"
"... ... ..." He stared at her in silence.
Her smile waned. "What?"
"Nothing."
"Do you not like me?"
"I wouldn't invite you here if I didn't."
True. Michael Zou was an enigma and an incredibly hard person to get to know, when they first met he had been rather cold to her in comparison to now she would say his walls have melted a bit. Just a bit.
Claudia frowned. "You're always like this! At first, I think you may like me but then at times you act like you don't!"
He frowned in turn. "Ms. Bai... when you speak you're very... careless."
What?!
"I can't help but worry about you. You say things at times without thinking of the context..."
Right when Claudia filled her cheeks with air, the waiter arrived to take their order. Claudia rose up from her chair to leave, pissed, but recalling she owed him a favor shoved herself back down.
But before the evening could continue he got a call. He pulled out his phone from the breast pocket of his suit and stared for a long period of time before looking up at her, still not answering it yet he said.
"I'm sorry, I have to go."
"You haven't even answered it, how do you know?"
"Because of how this person usually is."
Her curiosity was piqued. "Who is it?"
He looked like he was going to answer. ". . ." But then he didn't.
Pissed, Claudia pursed her lips and stood up from her seat so fast the chair rolled over. "Remember today, I tried to pay you back okay! Don't say I didn't!"
But on her way to the door, her arm was seized.
Gingerly.
There was strength in his fingers but yet somehow it didn't hurt as he turned her around to say, "I'll drive you home."
___
"Can you believe it?!" Claudia gave an account to Mercredi who sat on the couch, blank-faced.
"So?" Mercredi asked.
Claudia's eyes nearly bulged out of her head. "What do you mean so?!"
"Did he drive you home?"
Claudia recanted her anger, a satisfied smile blooming on her lips in recollection but only for a second. "Yes. So what?"
"With the introverted... you shouldn't expect too much." Mercredi returned her attention to her sketch pad where she was in the process of drawing different ways to make the sandwich.
"What do you mean by that?"
"What Mr. Zou said about you not thinking over what you say when you say them...I agree."
"What?!"
"Do you like Mr. Zou?"
"Huh?" Claudia flushed pink for a second. "Yes! He's an interesting character!"
Mercredi stared but the light was reflecting on the lens of her glasses making her expression unreadable, this unnerved Claudia.
"Are you truly thinking of him as a friend?"
"Yes, what else would I think of him as?"
Mercredi hummed.
Claudia finally remembered why she was able to get along with him, it was because he was similar to Mercredi in this sense.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Why do you think Mr. Zou created the setting where the two of you could be alone?"
"Because we're both in the public eye, if we were seen together that could be misconstrued..." Claudia let the rest of her sentence dissolve into the air. "I-It's not like that!"
"Not like what?"
"Whatever you're thinking."
Mercredi's stare stabbed into her.
How was it possible for someone this innocent to exist? Well, Claudia had attended all-girls schools for most of her life and she was constantly socializing with other girls so how would subjects of the opposite sex not pop up sooner or later? How would she not be able to realize this matter for herself?
Mercredi hummed again.
Claudia hated it. "Stop humming! Just speak, why are you acting like that? Just spit it out! What did I do wrong?"
But Mercredi didn't know how to bring it up and ask directly, it wouldn't be any fun that way. Telling Claudia something was like robbing her of the opportunity to figure it out for herself. "It's your mindset. You're too carefree. You should be more careful around men!"
The corners of her lips became an upside down v. "Eddie don't be like that, you're starting to sound like my parents! Mr. Zou isn't like that!"
"Yes, Mr. Zou is a gentleman you are lucky he was anything else but not."
>.< "What are you saying?! Speak in a way that makes sense!"
"Just call him back." Mercredi sat up from the couch and sighed. "Man...I wish I had a man with such a dreamy voice like that inviting me out for dinner~"
Claudia flushed again. "I told you it's not like that!"
She watched Eddie go and angrily flopped herself in the chair. Her eyes misted at the sight of her phone. After thinking it over, she stayed up to wait five hours before calling him back.