A few seconds later, Elena hit the send button. "Done," she announced.
"Thank you," Mark smiled while stealing a few glances at her. Fixing his gaze back on the road, he stepped down on the accelerator pedal.
Five seconds later, he broke the silence, "You know, you are free to ask whatever questions you have for me." He had caught her staring at him through his peripheral view. "What do you want to know?" he asked.
"You and your brother are very close," Elena said with her gaze ahead, refusing to make eye contact.
A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "It is normal for families to be close. Wasn't there a tight bond amongst your nuclear family members?"
At that question, Elena was silent. She fiddled with her fingers as a memory from her past played in her head. And just when Mark was getting worried that he had touched a sore spot by mentioning her family. She answered, "We used to be very close, and we still are."
"Good," he sighed in relief.
"But what I mean is umm… it's hard to see children of wealthy families relating very well. They are usually fighting for properties and over business deals and inheritance," Elena clarified.
She was truly surprised to see Mark relating very well with his younger brother. It was something unexpected, but she was happy to see them close. Their interaction, plus the wording Mark used to send that message to Eric, proved they had a close bond.
The light in Mark's eyes shone brightly. Just to catch a glimpse at her, he released his foot from the accelerator pedal.
"Well, the truth is that I'm not sure about the members of my extended family, but Eric and I are really close. But when we argue, I don't think you would really want to see that scene," he said with delight in his eyes.
"You two argue?" Elena gasped. She looked like she had just discovered a secret that shouldn't come to light.
Mark broke into a low cackle. "We are humans, Elena. We all have different personalities, thoughts and ideas, so we are bound to clash when we are close."
Elena thought for a moment to see how true that was. Realizing that there were truths in his word, she nodded in understanding.
"Well, I will tell you something in return so we can be even. It's just my nuclear family that is close. And, I can't remember the last time I ever argued with my mother. Since my father passed, we have become even closer."
Hearing her mention her father, Mark could read the sadness in her tone. He felt bad for making her feel down and quickly apologized for it. He would hate to ruin her evening.
"Elena, I'm really sorry for making you sad."
"It's fine." She waved her hand as a small smile highlighted her face.
Mark made sure she was really okay before turning his full attention back to the road. "I could really use a glass of wine right now." Just then, a notification sound went off on his phone.
"Who is it from?" he asked without bothering to look over. His phone was still in her hands.
Elena narrowed her eyes at the phone screen before replying, "Eric."
"Oh… Please read the message out," he pleaded.
Fortunately, the phone screen was still unlocked so all Elena had to do was to click on the message so it could open to her.
"All right, but don't lead her into…" Suddenly, Elena stopped. As her eyes were reading faster than her speech was reading for him, she got to see the next words and felt a breath stuck in her throat. She couldn't go on.
One. Two.
Mark waited for two seconds yet no other words were said to him. He was forced to steal a glance at Elena. "What happened? That's all?"
Quickly, she overturned his phone so that the screen was laying face down on her thigh. "I think you should read it yourself when you are free."
"Did he tell me not to kidnap you? Hahaha… just finish reading the text already. We are adults here. No child is in the backseat."
Mark guessed that his younger brother must have written something worth putting Elena in a spot and for that reason, he wanted her to finish reading the text.
Elena caught the amusement in his eyes, plus how he was biting down the laughter stuck in his throat and felt a sense of embarrassment wash over her. Maybe it was time to start behaving like an adult as he said.
Having made up her mind, she turned his phone screen over to complete the text. "Don't lead her into your bed tonight or you won't be remembered as a gentleman."
As soon as Elena finished reading the message out to him, she turned off the phone screen and slipped his phone back into the phone holder attached to his car.
She was done.
All of this movement didn't escape Mark's eyes. He caught and understood of all them. In fact, he was amused. Stealing a glance at her, he caught her ear reddening and cleared his throat.
He itched to clarify something to her before she escapes because there was already an awkward silence between them.
"Don't worry, you are not going to end up in my bed tonight, that is not my intention." A soft sigh escaped from his lips as he explained further, "As my brother said, I want to remain a gentleman till the end of today."
Elena was overwhelmed with a particular thought until they arrived at their destination.
'Oh, that means if he didn't want to be remembered as a gentleman tonight, I could have landed in his bed?'
---
Some minutes later, Mark pulled the car over in front of a restaurant called, 'Dine á Me'
Seeing a valet coming to take the car away, Elena understood that he had brought her to a good place, As expected of him.
Catching sight of the name, she asked as she followed him in, "Is this a French restaurant?"
"Not entirely," he answered just before stopping at the front desk. He smiled at the foreign man there and spoke in French.
"Bonne soirée. Une chambre privée deux. Mark Wang."
Translating to English, his words meant, 'Good evening. A private room for two. Mark Wang.'
Elena was left amazed at his fluency. How many more languages could he speak?
Was he like her that knew a couple of foreign languages because she very well understood French?