Within the next 20 minutes, we stopped outside a posh French restaurant. I wasn't complaining now as I was starving. The slice of toast and bacon has long been digested. Mr. Grumpy waited for me to get out of the car. He gestured me to walk and followed me closely. As we walked in, the Maître beamed at him.
"Mr. Holden! Such a pleasure to host you. Let me take you to your reserved seat." The Maître was walking in front.
'Well, does that mean he called the restaurant ahead to book a table?' I shouldn't be surprised. He is such an organized person.
I've never been to this restaurant and I was awed how beautifully it was decorated. Our table was semi-circular and was arranged in such a way that we were tactfully hidden from the restaurant crowd but had a nice view of the outside. The Maître placed the menu and left us to choose the food.
I was a bit lost for I had no clue what to order. Not many times had I entered a posh restaurant. The menu card had a lot of French terminologies which was new for me. I didn't understand much about the main course though I decided that I'll surely order Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich as the Dessert. My mouth watered as I looked at the colorful pictures of Macarons. I looked up to find the blue eyes boring into me. But this time, there was a smile playing on his lips. Encouraged, I closed the menu book.
"Mr. Holden, if it's okay, could you order something good for me? I don't understand much of the French cuisine."
"Chicken, Beef or Seafood?" he enquired.
"Anything fishy would do!" I grinned at my joke. Luckily, he flashed a smile too.
"Bouillabaisse for the Lady and Steak Frites for me" He placed the order and looked at me. The Maître smiled and nodded. He served the wine and left. Now that Mr. Grumpy had smiled a couple of times, I was a bit comfortable. I took a swig of the white wine and immediately sputtered. The tartness of the wine caught me by surprise. As I coughed, he slid towards me to rub my back. A blush crept my cheeks. I've managed to embarrass myself again. I was a bit uncomfortable because of his close proximity. I controlled myself.
"I'm sorry Mr. Holden. I wasn't paying attention while drinking the wine." I managed.
"That's okay Ms. Wilson. Wine should be swished around in your mouth to absorb the flavors. One takes time to develop the taste for wine." Was he pitying me? His tone was not patronizing though. Let me not overthink as at least he is talking something to me.
"You should've let your hair loose. It looked good." Did he just compliment me? Wow!
"Err. Thank you, Mr. Holden. " I wasn't sure how to accept this compliment. "Ahem, I wanted to know, why did you actually invite me today?" It's not that he needed my inputs or help in anything.
"Why do you think I invited you, Ms. Wilson?" He looked amused.
'Can you not answer a question with a question? How on the earth would I know what you think? God! Sometimes I don't even know what I think!'
"Well! I thought since we are going to work together, maybe you wanted us to know each other better?" I bluffed.
"Good Idea. Tell me about yourself." He leaned back and stretched his legs. He was looking at me with full attention and I facepalmed myself.
"Well! I'm from Florida. I completed my education from there. I moved to San Francisco about a year back. I was initially working with the –"
"That information is available in your resume. Tell me about yourself. Your family and friends?"
"Err..." I wasn't very comfortable talking about my personal life with him. There's no big deal but he's practically a stranger, isn't he? I took a second to compose myself.
"My dad left us when I was very young and my mom took care of me. My mom's still in Florida. She remarried when I was 15 and Ron is a really nice guy. I visit her once in a couple of months. They have a daughter, Clara and she's in school and I visit them once in a while. I stay here with my friend Steffi and she's working as a receptionist in The Plaza Premium." Surprisingly, it was an easy flow.
"And your boyfriend?" He was still smiling.
"Err... Mr. Holden. I lied. I mean Joe was my boyfriend and he's still in Florida but – but we are not together right now" I replied a bit haltingly. I wanted to come clean. He didn't ask me the reason for my lie or any other details. I was glad. I wanted to know about him too and just then the food came.
"Bon appétit Madame, Monsieur" The Maître placed the food in front of us.
"Dig in!" He said and I literally did dig in. The food was mouthwatering, the fish so succulent that it melted silkily in my mouth. I stuck to plain water this time. I didn't need any more episodes. As we finished our meals silently, I was framing questions in my mind to ask him.
"So now, tell me about yourself Mr. Holden" I was so curious to know more about him.
"You already know a lot Amelia." 'Did he call me by my first name? Halleluiah!' "I'm the eldest in the family, older to Ethan and Francesca. I was taking care of the company business from New York and Los Angeles. Last year I was in China to set up our Beijing center. You've already met my Father too."
"Are you married?" Oh shoot! I have no idea why I asked that. Maybe coz he looked old enough to be married or maybe coz I wanted to know. I could feel the blush creeping up. Fuck! I'll be looking like a beetroot now.
"Not yet" his eyes were studying me. The smile was gone. I wonder if I touched a raw nerve. I could see his eyes darkening again.
'But he also asked me about my boyfriend, didn't he?'
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be prying or to hurt" I mumbled. He nodded and gestured the Maître for the check. Shoot! I didn't even order my dessert! Maybe I should have opened my mouth after I ordered.
"Would you like to order any dessert?" The Maître asked expectingly. Mr. Grumpy raised his brows at me questioningly. How do I say that I would like to when Mr. grumpy has become even more grumpy. I decided to decline.
"No Thanks!" There goes my Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich!
I guess I did upset him because he did not look at me or talk to me post that. Did he have a blotched engagement or something? I must remember to check it on the internet. I'm sure there will be something in there. These days, the internet has answers to everything.
Post lunch we went for two meetings. The first one was in a club wherein the administrators were giving a walk-through of the entire facility and talks were going on upgradation. The other one was a fairly small one with one Mr. Davis in a coffee shop. During their talks, I got a call from the CIA member. I excused myself and came out of the Café.
"Chris!" I was happy to talk to her. The past week was so busy that I missed our lunch hour get-together too.
"Where are you, Amy? You're so busy that you can't even call? Okay listen! Ivan, Debbie, Christoff and I are going to the club tonight. Christoff's friend Brian is also joining us. You better join." She was like a non-stop train. Christoff is Chris's boyfriend and works in a software firm. Ever since I broke off with Joe, she'd been unsuccessfully trying to become a matchmaker for me. Brian was the latest suitor in the queue.
"I'm not so sure Chris. I'm with Mr. Holden and he is still in meeting" I looked inside the Café and found Mr. Grumpy staring right back at me. My heart skipped a beat. I turned back "I'll catch you if possible or else, I'll give you a call. Okay?"
"You better be at the Purple Lounge by 8." We spoke for another ten minutes and then she hung up. As I turned around, I crashed right into a wall. Just that it was Mr. Grumpy's chest. My mobile dropped and he caught me by my arm before I fell. I clutched his black shirt for support. Shit! Not again please.
"Careful Amelia. You need a constant caretaker." Was he smiling?
"I'm so sorry Mr. Holden. You must be thinking about how clumsy I am. I just didn't expect you to stand behind me too close" My volume tapered down. Oh boy! I made it sound as if he intentionally wanted me to crash onto him. He raised his brows.
"Our job for the day is done. Shall we have dinner and then I will drop you at your apartment." He wanted to know.
"Thank you Mr. Holden but I will skip the dinner. I need to meet my friends at the Purple Lounge. So, it would be great if you could just drop me at my apartment?" I picked up my mobile. Thank God it isn't broken.
"Okay. Let's go" As if on cue, Martin brought the car in front of the Café. We climbed in. He was back to his papers. I had no role in today's entire program but at least now he calls me by my first name and I consider that itself huge improvement. As my apartment loomed near, I turned to him.
"Thank you, Mr. Holden. I had a good day today" I smiled but he just nodded.
'Argh! At least say something!'