"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH. MY. GOD!"
Mia squealed excitedly, seeing the three stone ring that was gracing Tiana's ring finger.
Tiana, Mia and Phoenix were currently in a cafe near Phoenix workplace. Tiana had come to Intan Jewellery headquarters to discuss her modelling work for Intan Jewellery while Mia had joined them later, after both Tiana and Phoenix had done with their meeting at the end of office hours.
After they had settled down and sent their order, Mia's eyes caught the dazzling ring on Tiana's finger when the latter gracefully placed her hands on the table to showcase her ring and caught her friend's attention.
Mia was so happy with the news of Ethan and Tiana's engagement, she hugged Tiana and they both jumped and squealed in happiness.
"We need to celebrate this news! This is a call for a party!" Mia couldn't hold herself from the merriment.
"Let's have a small party among us on Friday night," Tiana agreed. They will have a big engagement party to announce her and Ethan's engagement for sure, but she still could hold their own little party with her close friends.
Mia pulled Phoenix, who was sitting nonchalantly to join them for a group hug.
Tiana scrutinized Phoenix with her eyes. "You don't seem surprised. Did you know about this?"
"Yes. I know about it," Phoenix simply replied, unfazed.
"What?! Since when did you know? How come Brother Ethan told you, but not me, his sister? That's not fair!" Mia pouted unhappily. "And since when did you become buddy buddy with Brother Ethan?"
Phoenix turned her poker face towards Mia.
"I learned about it on the day that I bumped into you at Le Graff Shopping Mall Park. I happened to be at the Intan Jewellery store when President Han came to purchase the ring."
"So you knew this even before we went hiking at Sunny hill?" Tiana widened her eyes in surprise.
"Yes." Phoenix bobbed her head.
"Wow Phoenix, if I was you, I already spilled the beans long ago. This is too exciting to keep it to myself. No wonder Brother Ethan didn't tell me," Mia said begrudgingly, but then she shook those thoughts away and beamed a smile and looked at Tiana in sparkling eyes. "Sis Tiana, tell us how Brother Ethan proposed to you."
Tiana's pretty face blushed at hearing Mia's questions, but a dazzling smile was plastered on her face, remembering Ethan's heartfelt words when he proposed to her.
"Uuuuu… It must be a good proposal. Hurry, tell us!" Mia teased Tiana seeing her reddened face.
"What did you want to know?"
"Everything, of course!"
They all sat in their seats and Tiana started to elaborate to them how Ethan had proposed to her.
While telling the story of Ethan's proposal to her, Tiana stopped and looked at Phoenix and squinted her eyes.
"Wait. So you must know that Ethan planned to propose on our anniversary, that's why you suggest getting a couple's thing?"
"I know that he will propose, but I don't know the details. I just assume since you said your anniversary is coming. I just suggest a suitable present," Phoenix shrugged.
"Thank you, Phoenix," Tiana said gratefully.
Tiana resumed her tale on the proposal, and Mia kept squealing every now and then in giddiness.
Once Tiana finished her story, both Tiana and Mia turned to give a mischievous smile to Phoenix.
Phoenix looked at them innocently, wondering what was up with these two ladies in front of her.
"So, Phoenix, I had told you about my weekend. How about you share with us about your 'meal' with Ashton," Tiana wiggling her eyebrows teasingly.
"Well.. we ate fish, vegetables and fruits."
"….."
"….."
"That's it?" Mia asked.
"Yes."
Both Tiana and Mia narrowed their eyes at Phoenix, not believing her word at all.
"Elaborate," said Tiana, while folding her hands in front of her.
"How?" Phoenix replied, confused.
Before Tiana could open her mouth to speak, Mia put her hands up and stopped Tiana.
Mia fixed her sitting posture and faced Phoenix, "How about this, let us ask questions, and you just answer," Mia said.
"Yes! That's it! We ask, you answer," Tiana, second Mia's suggestion, bobbing her head.
Phoenix saw the anticipation and persistence on their faces, and she knew that she couldn't get away from this.
"Fine. Five questions only," Phoenix spread her one hand, showing her fingers.
"How about ten questions," Mia showed both her hands, negotiating with Phoenix.
"Forget it then. It's just a meal."
"Okay, okay. Five questions," Mia and Tiana looked at each other, then relented, they had the same thought in their mind, 'It's better than nothing.'
Mia licked her lip and rubbed her hands together like she was just presented with something that was too good to pass.
"Okay. First question, where did you guys go?"
"Lin's Farmhouse Restaurant."
"Farmhouse?" Tiana asked with a weird face.
"Yes."
"What did you guys do at the farmhouse?" Tiana asked with furrowed brows.
"We had our meal."
"You guys just eat?" Mia asked disdainfully.'Tch, brother. Did you really just eat together only?' she silently chided her brother in her mind.
Phoenix looked at Mia and Tiana and saw that they were not impressed with her answer. Both of their faces were like being splashed by cold water.
Phoenix thought that she should clarify more of what they did at the farmhouse, "We feed animals, pick vegetables and fruits and go fishing."
Tiana and Mia head snapped towards Phoenix.
"For real?!" Mia widened her eyes.
"Yes."
"Did you guys do anything else?" Tiana continued to ask.
Pursing her lips, Phoenix said to them, "You guys already asked five questions."
"What?!" Both Mia and Tiana were downcasted.
'Tsk, It's there really nothing juicy that is going on from their date?' Tiana asked in her mind.
'Seriously brother? You take Phoenix to a farm?! What kind of date is that?' Like a deflated balloon, Mia felt like her brother had just popped her bubble of imagination of seeing him with Phoenix together.
Phoenix was still new to all of this. She was just slowly getting used to having a friend to hang out with, she usually just sat there silently listening to Mia and Tiana talking whenever they hang out. She was still having a hard time expressing herself to them, that was why she didn't know how to tell them about her 'meal' with Ashton. What was more, she was still trying to figure out the strange feeling that Ashton makes her feel.
The hardest thing in life was having feelings in your heart that you couldn't put into words.
Seeing the despair in her friends' faces, Phoenix braced herself and cleared her throat and said, "Well, the farmhouse was gorgeous and its surroundings were peaceful and picture perfect. I had fun feeding the animals and selecting the greens that were fresh for our meal, and it was nice to sit by the pond in silence, waiting for the fish to take our bait."
Hearing Phoenix's words, both Mia's and Tiana's eyes brightened. Phoenix was feeling better, seeing that they no longer had a crestfallen look on their faces. So she continued telling them about her meal with Ashton.
"The owner of the farmhouse packed us food from the extra ingredients that we have picked and caught. So Ashton brought us to a recreational park with a waterfall in that area. We stay until it is almost dark, and go back to the city," she summarized her days with Ashton to them.
Mia sighed loudly in relieved. It seemed that her brother was not hopeless at all. She was worried for a minute there.
Phoenix told about her day to them in her usual flat tone. They were hoping for some excitement from Phoenix, but what did they expect? Phoenix was Phoenix, she was a special case. Other women might have jumped in excitement just by having a mere contact with Ashton, what was more if spending the whole day with him?
Mia and Tiana then looked towards each other. Like sending a secret signal, they agreed to help Ashton by slowly pushing Phoenix towards Ashton. Slowly but surely.
Phoenix was only telling them about her Saturday, she didn't tell them that she had spent both her Saturday and Sunday with Ashton. They only wanted to know about the 'meal' on Saturday, right?