The Crystal Bracelet

On a Date

Gavin left the next morning to travel to Qinzhou. He wanted to walk around the area near the hotel and see the information that was reported in the proposal for himself. He felt like a simple restaurant was not the answer. There were plenty of regular restaurants all around. He wanted something that would stand out. When they arrived at the White Dolphin Hotel he stepped out of the car and instructed Gou to handle getting checked into the rooms he wanted to walk around the hotel for a bit.

The hotel lobby was grand and had shiny tile floors and tall pillars with beautiful wood accents all around. The second floor overlooked the main floor and appeared to have meeting rooms up there. Gavin went to the second floor and walked to the railing to look out over the lobby. This was exactly the view he wanted to see. He was going to be up all night changing to proposal to a second floor restaurant with bar and dance floor. This was going to be full service entertainment right in the hotel lobby. Not just open to guests, but open to the public. It would be a win-win for the hotel as well as for Sun Entertainment Group.

On Thursday Lily went about her day as usual but she didn't feel like having the same café biscuit for lunch. She sent a text to Sue to let her know she was in the mood for something spicy.

Haitian?

Perfect!

Lily and Sue took a cab from the entrance to the University over to the Haitian Snack Booth. It was authentic Haitian food but a few dishes were extra spicy. They both took their to go boxes and sat on a park bench nearby. Sue was chatting away about some new guy in her world literature class. He was from Hong Kong but he was gorgeous. All the girls were trying to get close to him. He was fairly tall and had dark hair with blonde tips on the front. He practiced Hapkido martial arts and studied Art and Literature because he wanted to one day be in martial arts films like his idol Jackie Chan. Lily listened to all this information and nodded appropriately. Sue went on and on and Lily just silently ate her Haitian food. When the two girls took a cab back to class they were almost late. They ran through the doors giggling at their near tardiness. Lily made it back to her class just as the professor was about to shut the door. He gave her a knowing look letting her know she barely made it. She smiled a small smile and hurried to her seat.

When the day was over Sue sent a text to Lily.

Several of us are taking the new guy to ZhenZhen come with us.

Lily considered it for a moment. She had already finished her paper and it was ready to be turned in on Friday. Since it was Thursday night and she didn't have Fin watching over her she decided to go out.

ok what time?

7pm. Don't be late – look cute.

Lily replied with the emoji sticking it's tongue out.

Lily left her apartment at 6:40pm and hailed a cab to ZhenZhen. It was raining pretty heavily and she didn't want to arrive soaked. She put her hair in a bun again with the little tendrils framing her face. She didn't wear any makeup with the exception of her lip gloss. Since Sue told her to look cute she put on a green flowing dress that had beautiful flowers all over it. It was one of those wrap dresses that you put your arms in the sleeves and then wrapped the dress around and tie it at the front. If you weren't very careful one pull of that tie and the entire dress would be opened exposing your personal garments. It hugged Lily in all the right places and had pretty ruffles on the sleeves. Lily felt beautiful in the dress. She slipped on a pair of golden sandals. They were dressy enough without being too dressy.

When Lily walked through the door of the restaurant several male patrons turned and watched her as she walked in. She knew that Sue would have a table in the back by the rich men and the private rooms. Lily was blissfully unaware that men were watching her. She saw her friend and the "new boy."

"I thought others were going to be here." Lily said as she greeted Sue.

"They are coming." Sue squinted her face at Lily.

"Lily this is Tommy." Tommy stood and put his hand out to Lily, when Lily went to shake his hand Tommy turned her hand over and kissed the top of her hand. Lily blushed thoroughly.

"Charming." Lily said politely.

"Nice to meet you Miss Lily." Tommy sounded so formal.

"It's just Lily."

"Well I ordered some soup while we wait on the others." Sue interrupted. Sue had a look on her face almost like she was jealous.

The other two girls arrived, the same two from the night club when Lily caught Xave cheating. Lily's mind went to Xave again and she couldn't help but wonder if he was ok. She didn't want to be with him but she didn't want him hurt either. Sue noticed Lily's far off expression and nudged her under the table. Lily smiled at Sue and Sue gave her a look like "what's wrong?" Lily shook her head no and picked up her water to drink.

While Lily was sitting at the table listening to the four of them talk about their World Literature class gossip – or rather they were filling Tommy in on the gossip – Gavin was in the backseat of his car scrolling through his work emails. He had a successful meeting and the owner of the White Dolphin Hotel agreed on the spot to a restaurant night club and couldn't wait to get the project started. Gavin was in a great mood having secured a contract and the hotel owner didn't gouge him on the percentages. Sun Entertainment bore all the remodel expenses and White Dolphin allowed whatever design choice they would choose. Sun kept 80% of the profits and White Dolphin got 20%. White Dolphin stood to make more money as any guest who needed overnight stays after drinking and dancing would be 100% profit to the hotel. Gavin opened the latest email from the security team. The photo showed Miss Lily in a beautiful green floral dress with a young man kissing her hand in ZhenZhen restaurant. Gavin's face soured. He stared at the photo and his heart was pounding in his chest. Jealousy was coursing through his veins. The angle of the picture didn't show that Sue was sitting behind Lily, so it appeared as though Lily was on a date with this young man.

"Gou! Go to ZhenZhen! NOW!" Gavin bellowed from the backseat.

Gou knew that meant to speed and get there quickly. He stepped on the gas and changed the GPS to ZhenZhen. Time of arrival was 36 minutes from now. Gou was going to make it in 30.