I closed my eyes and forced myself to not think about these things. The accumulated exhaustion from the past few days soon caught up with me, and I fell asleep shortly after.
The sun was already high up in the sky by the time I woke up the next day, but I could afford to sleep in as it was the weekend.
A quick glance at the alarm clock revealed that it was ten in the morning, and I stretched lazily in bed as I didn’t feel like getting up just yet.
Sleeping in during weekends was probably a luxury for every white-collar worker out there.
However, I got a call from Yuval right as I was about to go back to sleep.
We aren’t supposed to meet up until two hours later… Why is he calling me so early?
Although I was somewhat annoyed by it, I answered his call anyway.
“There’s still quite some time before our date, Mr. Lambert. May I ask why you’re calling me so soon?” I asked coldly.
“Oh, I just wanted to ask you if you’d like me to come pick you up at your place later?”
Yuval sounded both a little nervous and excited at the same time.
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll just hail myself a cab later.”
I couldn’t help but feel a little repulsed at the thought of him coming over to pick me up, so I refused his offer without any hesitation.
“All right, then. I’ll wait for you at the place that we have agreed upon.”
I could hear the disappointment in his voice when he said that, but I didn’t care about that.
Having lost all sleepiness after hanging up the call, I got out of bed and changed into a light-colored dress before applying some makeup to complement it.
Natalie reminded me to give it my best when she saw me leave the house, and I rolled my eyes at her before heading off to meet Yuval at a Starbucks café.
The interior was very well decorated, and Yuval was already waiting for me inside by the time I got there.
“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” I said with a faint smile as I sat down in front of him.
“No worries. It’s only natural that men wait for women, after all.”
I noticed the look of surprise in his eyes when he first saw me, and simply smiled in response without saying anything.
After what seemed like forever of awkward silence, Yuval looked up at me and asked nervously, “I think we’re quite suitable for each other, Ms. Garcia. Would you be interested in taking things a step further?”
Of course, his question was completely within my expectations as he had made his intention clear when he called me up last night.
While I didn’t have any feelings for a stranger like him, he was indeed a rather suitable candidate for marriage.
After hesitating for a bit, I decided to try dating him.
“I have attended the blind date with the intention of getting married, Mr. Lambert. If that is what you seek as well, then I suppose we could try dating and see how it goes from there,” I said calmly with an expressionless look on my face.
He probably wasn’t expecting me to say yes so quickly, as he froze in surprise for a brief moment before looking at me excitedly.
“Of course, that is exactly what I am looking for! Rest assured that I am a very reliable and responsible man, Ms. Garcia!”
Yuval quickly gave me his word, but I did not share his excitement. If anything, it only added on to my stress and anxiety.
After having a cup of coffee, Yuval suggested that we go for a walk to spend more time with each other and know each other better. I had wanted to refuse his request at first but agreed to it in the end as I couldn’t find any reason to turn him down.
Because we were still strangers at the time, we didn’t know what to talk about and simply walked in awkward silence along the pavement.
Right as I was contemplating to excuse myself, Yuval spoke up all of a sudden, “Wait!”
I frowned slightly in confusion when I saw him staring at the top of my head.
Yuval ignored my confused look and reached a hand out, which made me incredibly nervous as I didn’t know what he was going to do.
“There’s a leaf on your head,” he explained after picking a leaf off my head, much to my relief.
Phew! For a second there, I thought he was going to do something intimate! Although I have agreed to try dating him, we are still considered strangers, and I’m not too comfortable getting intimate with him just yet!
“Thanks…” I thanked him coldly when I saw the awkward smile on his face.
Yuval struck me as a gentleman with how polite he was during our conversations instead of trying to touch me at every opportunity he had.
I took a glance at his handsome face and was about to say something when the familiar voice of a man came from behind.
“What the hell are you doing, Anna?”
I turned around immediately and saw Michael standing next to a car and glaring daggers at me.
Many days have passed since I last saw him, and I found myself trembling uncontrollably all over in panic and confusion.
What’s he doing here?
He began making his way towards me while I was still in a daze and stared me down.
Yuval noticed something was off and asked with a frown, “Ms. Garcia, who is he?”
“He…He’s my boss…” I explained with my head held low in shame.
Now that I’ve finally found a suitable candidate whom I might marry, there’s no way I could tell him about my indecent relationship with Michael!
“Are you sure that’s all I am, Anna? Just your boss?” Michael questioned me coldly, having gotten a lot more furious after hearing my explanation.
In my state of panic, I quickly looked away to avoid his penetrating gaze.
Didn’t he want me to pretend that we’re strangers in public? Why would he come to me like this? Isn’t he afraid of our secret being exposed?
“What are you doing here, Michael?” I asked him nervously, unsure of why he had shown up like this.
