After leaving Mr. Hadid's office, Iris returned to her desk and began studying the document she had received. Although she was familiar with the subject matter and terminology, she wanted to be cautious and read through them carefully to avoid any mistakes.
"Another round of working overtime," Iris thought bitterly. She had become accustomed to this kind of life, but at least she no longer had to worry about going home late and facing Lucas's sulking.
–
Lunch time arrived quickly, and Iris and Anna went to the cafeteria on the ground floor. Two female colleagues, Chloe and Carol, asked if they could join them for lunch, and Anna gestured for them to sit.
As they sat down, Chloe grinned, "I heard you guys got the interpretation job for the Theo Kilias' Medical Center! Congratulations!"
Carol leaned in, wearing a gossipy expression, said in a low voice, "I learned that Theo Kilias is quite a ladies' man and a playboy…Did you see the news? They said he took another stranger woman to a hotel again! Right last night!"
Listening to their conversation, Iris furrowed her brow and pondered, "Theo? Taking a woman to the hotel? Could that mysterious man actually be Theo Kilias?"
She immediately dismissed the absurd thought. Real life wouldn't be like a TV drama, if there was such a thing as coincidence, she should have bought a lottery ticket, she has a great chance to become a billionaire.
"He must be a playboy!" Carol added, and everyone at the table burst into laughter — except Iris.
"I don't care about that!" Anna said with an unabashed smile, "Although I don't watch soccer games or chasing idols, but I'll definitely go and take a photo with him after we finish our work!"
____
Days passed, and Iris spent each day preparing the interpretation and researching informations needed for this job. She was incredibly busy, often working until 10 pm, and frequently found herself being the last person to leave the office.
Amidst the busyness, Thursday finally arrived.
Iris arrived at Theo Kilias' Medical Center early in the morning. She was confident in her ability to handle the tasks of the day, and her only wish was to not encounter Lucas. She simply didn't want to see him again, especially not today.
The event was scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. Iris' colleagues, including Mr. Hadid, had already arrived and were busily making their final preparations.
Suddenly, there was a commotion at the entrance. A group of security personnel surrounded a man, with numerous cameras flashing, and people were calling out, "Theo! Theo! Look this way!"
In an instant, the entrance was crowded with people, and the venue became lively.
Noticing the situation, Mr. Hadid called out to Iris, "Iris!"
Hearing the boss calling her, Iris walked over, holding the documents. She heard Mr. Hadid lowered his voice and said, "The host has arrived, Mr. Kilias. After the media finishes taking photos and doing the interview, we should go and greet him. I'll also introduce you to him."
Iris nodded in response, glancing towards the crowd at the entrance, but couldn't make out which one was the protagonist of the day, Mr. Kilias. He was completely surrounded by the crowd, so Iris obediently returned her attention to the documents.
After about ten minutes, Mr. Hadid gestured to Iris that they could go and greet the host. Iris followed Mr. Hadid through the center of the venue and into an office room.
As the door opened, she saw a tall man with his back turned, speaking on the phone. "I see. "
As the man finished his call and turned around, their eyes met.
It was the mysterious Theo from that night!
Iris was raging inside, but maintained her calm on the surface - after all these years, she had long since learned to hide her emotions, especially Mr. Hadid was here, she has to stay calm and reliable.
Iris looked at him, he wore a grey suit that suit him a lot, you could see his broad shoulders and beautiful muscular lines were looming under his clothes – formal enough but not to solemn.
'He's not only a star, but also very stylist.' Iris thought to herself.
Theo knew he would encountered her here — it was him who asked Mr. Hadid to choose Iris to do this interpretation job. And he did want to see her reaction after seeing him in this office, but the result was unexpected, because it seemed that she was so calm and she acted like she had never met him before.
But he expected more. He hoped he had impressed her that night, he hoped at least she could show some kind of surprise of any emotion than calmness or expressioneless.
So he decided to make a little fun of her.
Theo held out his hand to Iris, "Nice to meet you Miss, I'm Theo Kilias, and," he paused, staring at Iris as if he was trying hard to find out shock and panic from her beautiful eyes, but there was nothing but calm, he added in a deep voice,
"You look familiar to me. Have we met somewhere before?"