After Panda has made sure that my fever is down, we set off for home. It feels weird being driven around by Panda King himself. He has been acting on edge and jumpy since yesterday. I still don't know what has made him nervous.
I check my phone again for any messages from Ciarra but there is nothing. I just want to know if she is okay. I was actually planning to introduce Pan and Ciarra to each other but I guess I'll have to wait for another time.
"You've been checking your phone a lot." Pan says glancing sideways at me as he drives.
"I'm just wondering if Ciarra is alright." I confess.
He smirks, "Your girlfriend is fine. If she really cared about you, she would have contacted you."
"What's so funny?" I ask in irritation. Is he laughing at me?
"Nothing." He says and reverts back to his poker face as he drives.
I look out of the window. We still have an hour to go.
"What are you doing?" I ask as Pan stops the car outside a restaurant. It looks quite expensive and posh.
"Having lunch." He unbelts himself and opens the door.
Reluctantly, I walk out of the car. Right on cue, my stomach grumbles loudly and Pan laughs.
"Come on."
Glaring at his back, I follow him inside.
"What do you want to eat?" He asks once we have sat down at a table. I glance through the menu and check the cheapest thing which happens to be a steak. But the price is still expensive.
"I'll just have a steak." I say.
He nods and calls the waiter. "I'll have the same. And get us two glasses of champagne."
"Isn't it too early to drink?" I say.
Pan shakes his head, "There's never a fixed time to drink good wine."
I roll my eyes, "You can even sound convincingly intelligent sometimes."
He grins, "You just found out? I am always intelligent."
"Exactly how big is your head?" I say sarcastically.
Pan winks, "There's something else that's big too..."
My face turns scarlet as he glances down. What is he up to now? What intelligence? I must have been fooled for a moment.
"Stop being disgusting." I groan, hoping no one heard him.
"What's the problem? We're both men."
I almost forgot about my act. "Y-yes. We are but we're in a restaurant right now." I say quickly.
As the steak arrives, I hungrily start digging in. I can feel stares as I inelegantly wolf my food down. The champagne is poured in two wine glasses and I sip some between bites.
Pan's laughter makes me glance up at him.
"What?" I ask.
He shakes his head and chuckles, "You're really hungry."
"Weren't you?"
"I was but you're..." His eyes glance at my face as he gestures, "You have some gravy near your lips."
I rub at the side of my lips, "Is it gone?"
"No, not yet." He picks up a napkin and leans over. "I'll do it."
As he wipes the corner of my lip, the strange warmth erupts in my chest. Pan is taking a weirdly long time to clean the gravy. I glance down and find him staring intently at my mouth. His thumb softly brushes against my bottom lip.
"Pan." I say quietly. This is becoming awkward.
He seems flustered and I see the pink tint on his ears as he moves away from me.
"There was more gravy than I thought." He says quickly.
"Yeah."
***
Maybe it's because I just recovered from a fever but I feel tipsy just from that one glass of champagne. Fortunately, Pan is fine and able to drive.
I keep thinking about his thumb on my lip and the way he was staring. Was he really only wiping the gravy?
"Pan, what are you going to do about the police case?" I ask, trying to stay sober.
"I'll just wait for the truth to be unveiled. Although Theodore Emmet edited the CCTV footage so it only shows me hitting him, the full footage should still be saved somewhere. The police will get it eventually."
"Are you sure? Wouldn't it be easier for you to retrieve the footage before Theodore Emmet tells his people to delete it? He is rich too so he can easily bribe someone to do it." I say.
Pan glances at me with a smile. "You don't disappoint me Tin. You really know how to think."
"Is that a compliment?" I ask, rolling my eyes.
"Maybe?" He shrugs with a grin.
"Hey!" I whack his arm.
"Let's rest first then we will go and get the CCTV evidence."
I stare at him, "We? Since when did I agree to go?"
"You're my bodyguard. Of course you have to follow me like a shadow." He smirks, satisfied.
Panda King, just you wait.