Chapter 522 Are You Free Tonight


    After Alice and David left for lunch, Le sat in the secretarial room alone. She was typing something in


    herputer. She pretended to focus on work while all her attention was towards Charles''s room. She


    could see the door from the corner of her eyes and eagerly waited for it to open. The door did not open


    until half an hourter.


    Le straightened her spine with the sound of the door. She hastened her fingers on the keyboard and


    dug her eyes into the screen to make herself look busy. She did not ever look up at Charles as he


    walked out of his room.


    The secretarial room had a transparent ss that separated it from Charles''s room so he could see


    that Le was working diligently. When he saw her sitting alone in her cubicle, he asked,"Why didn''t


    you go with them for lunch?"


    "Mr. Lu," a shocked Le stood up abruptly as she heard from Charles. Charles could not help


    observing the striking change in Le''s attitude. The fiery and desperate girl had sobered down to be a


    responsible mother. Rather reserved, Le looked at Charles and replied,"They are all busy with their


    work through out the day and seldom get any time to date. I don''t want toe in between them. More


    importantly, I still have some documents to read. As the proverb goes, ''a slow sparrow has to make an


    early start.'' I am just trying to catch up."


    Le was more optimistic than before. She could already see empathy for her in Charles''s eyes. Hence


    she curbed her aggressive nature and pretended to be genuine. For her, just a small step back for a


    giant leap she was nning to take. She had learned to make concessions in order to gain advantages


    from Charles. In this way, she believed that he would take the initiative to get close to her sooner or


    "It is difficult to work with an empty belly. You have to eat," Charles said with a frown. He stared at her


    and said,"Let''s go and eat something. Even I am hungry."


    As he finished his words, he asked her to get up from her seat and stepped ahead before she could


    react. Le got up from her seat obediently and followed him as he walked out of the office. Though


    Le couldn''t help but chuckled herself inwardly, she did not let her excitemente on her face.


    Charles walked her to a nearby restaurant that he had visited often with Autumn. After Autumn''s


    disappearance, Charles became a frequent visitor of this restaurant. It was not only the dishes in this


    restaurant that suited Charles''s taste and tter. He had some priceless memories with Autumn in this


    restaurant. Whenever he came here, he felt as if Autumn had never left. She was still there right beside


    him.


    After a long time Charles visited this restaurant with someone else. Usually, he ordered for himself so


    he ordered his preferred menu. Today, as they sat down, he handed over the menu card to Le going


    by thedies first etiquette. He said to her,"Look it through. You can order any dishes you want."


    Le smiled softly and obliged by ordering two dishes. "Is this your girlfriend?" blurted the banquet


    manager all of a sudden. The manager looked at Charles with spective eyes and smiled as he


    asked. Le was surprised to see how an outsider asked such a personal question to Charles.


    ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    Even Charles could not help but express his awkwardness with a frown. The banquet manager knew


    him very well since he was a frequent visitor of his restaurant. He came here often for dinner and


    ordered the same dish.


    He knew that Charles visited this restaurant to miss his wife. The manager was really moved by this


    gesture. He could not believe how a man could be so much in love with his wife who went missing. He


    was amazed to see that such love existed even to this day!


    The manager thought Charles had decided to let it go and move forward as he saw Le was here with


    him today. Secretly, even he was happy by the thought that Charles was considering moving ahead


    with another woman.


    Upon hearing the words, Charles showed his displeasure with a knitted eye brow as he stared back at


    the manager. Le tried to cover up the embarrassment and exined promptly,"No, no. You have


    misunderstood. I am not his girlfriend but just one of his subordinates."


    "Oh, really?" The manager spoke as his face turned red with embarrassment. He took a quick glimpse


    at Charles and apologized,"I am extremely sorry. I shouldn''t have misunderstood you. Well, I will go


    and ce the order for you. The dishes will be served soon and please wait for a moment."


    "Okay. Thank you," Le returned politely with a smile. The manager vanished out of their sight as fast


    as he could. It amused Le to see how he fled to cover up the awkwardness. She thought to her mind,


    ''Thank you for your misunderstanding Mr. Manager. These are the small things that will make Mr. Lu to


    consider taking me as a wife.'' However, on the face, she carried an innocent smile and said to


    Charles,"Mr. Lu, I am sure the manager was startled by your serious expression just now. Look how he


    just stumbled away."


    Le chuckled as she spoke.


    Charles maintained the same frown on his face and replied,"Le, in fact there is no need for you to


    exin it to him..."


    Smiling at Charles, Le responded as if she was an understanding woman,"I thought it was


    appropriate to exin it to the manager. After all you are just my superior. And I know that you don''t


    like to be misunderstood."


    The somber expression on Charles''s face did not change even after Le exined to him. He became


    silent and said nothing. Le was right. He did not like to be misunderstood by anyone, but he still felt


    that there was no need to give an exnation to a manager of a restaurant.


    Charles was truly sympathetic towards Le for her present situation. No matter what she might have


    done before, he could not deny the fact that she was an able employee. He was genuinely concerned


    for her. He was just afraid that Le would be too exhausted because of the long hours at work, and


    that was why he invited her to dine together. As he kept thinking about all this he became quiet and


    remained like that for a very a long time. His prolonged silence made the moment awkward.


    Anxious yet embarrassed, Le was eager to strike a conversation with Charles, but she was unable to


    speak. They sat facing each other without exchanging a single word. Charles waspletely lost in his


    thoughts.


    Fortunately, the banquet manager happened to step in once again. He served them the dishes and


    even gave them aplimentary dish which provided a chance for him to start the conversation to


    Charles. "This is also one of the specialty dishes of our restaurant and it isplimentary for you. I am


    sorry to have misunderstood you. I hope you don''t mind. Enjoy your meal," said the banquet manager


    politely and walked away.


    Le took a bite of the food and eximed,"Wow, it tastes good."


    Le looked around and checked the ambiance of the restaurant. Indeed, this was not a luxury


    restaurant. Rather it looked very ordinary like just a run off the mill snack bar. Le grinned and said,"I


    didn''t expect that you would like to eat in such an ordinary restaurant though the food here is really


    good."


    "Isn''t it a good ce?" Charles asked. He smiled as he recalled the days when he dined out with


    Autumn. They would just stop by any roadside stall and savor new dishes. The very thought about the


    good old days spent with Autumn brought a smile on his face. Indeed if you were in a goodpany,


    the ambience of the ce did not matter as much. So many priceless moments shed through his


    mind.


    He continued to smile as he recalled the past. Le watched him smiling and understood that he must


    be missing Autumn. She interrupted him and asked,"Mr. Lu, you look so happy. What make you so


    cheerful?"


    "Oh, it''s nothing. I just remembered something from the past." His face changed as he walked back


    from his trance to the reality. And slowly the smile on his face faded away. Le noticed how his world


    started and ended with Autumn even after she did not physically present with him. The years of


    separation had only made the love to grow in his heart. Now it had be a cocoon for him that he


    was so very happy to be in.


    Strangely for Charles, he did not savor the food as much as he did when he ate alone. Perhaps it was


    because he did not order the usual stuff that he was used to. He just ended up after taking a few bites.


    "Mr. Lu, howe you are eating so less? It looks like you are already done." Le looked at Charles''s


    eyes and waited for his response. Charles had never been a scanty eater as far as she remembered.


    She was minutely noticing the changes in him.


    "Yes, I am full. Never mind. You can enjoy your meal," Charles replied indifferently but politely.


    "Mr. Lu..." Le remained silent for a while and asked,"Did you oftene here with Autumn before?"


    With a lot of hesitation, Le brought up Autumn. Perhaps it was not the right time yet. But she had to


    get to the depth of the matter. She needed to figure out the reason why he loved Autumn so much.


    "Yes, I always dined with her in this restaurant." Charles nodded his head and continued,"Autumn liked


    to eat at these small restaurants. Though these ces look ordinary, but surprisingly, the food in these


    restaurants tastes very good. I often came here with her before since it is close to mypany." One


    of rarest qualities that Autumn had was to find out something special out of ordinary things. This quality


    of hers made her so different from the rest.


    If it weren''t for Autumn, Charles would have never dined at such a small ce. And that of course


    meant that he would have missed lots of delicacies that he happened to explore during his dining


    encounters with Autumn.


    In this respect, Autumn yed an important role in bringing about many changes in his life.


    In these years since she disappeared, Charles explored many such roadside food joints that offered


    delicious food at a very low cost. He loved to dine in these ces. He had decided that he would take


    Autumn to dine at these ces if he could see her again someday. The very mention of Autumn and


    assuming her possible presence in his life gave Charles the impetus to get along with his life even if it


    came with an ''ever-again'' tag.


    "It sounds so romantic. I really didn''t expect you to condescend to eat in such an unconspicuous


    ce," Le replied diplomatically. Her eyes narrowed down with jealousy. She realized that even if she


    achieved her goal to get married to Charles, she would never be able to take Autumn''s ce in his


    heart. And the very thought of it stung deep into her heart like a needle. Le felt the overpowering


    shadow of Autumn over her head even though she was not physically present. It only made her go


    green with jealousy.


    "You just said the food at these ces always tastes good. Mr. Lu, I have a presumptuous request,"


    said Le with a smile. Charles looked up at Le and was quite surprised to find her staring at him


    motionlessly.


    "What is it?" Charles asked sounding rather confused and skeptical about what could be in her mind.


    "Don''t be so anxious, Mr. Lu." Le looked into his anxious eyes and gave a reassuring smile. She then


    continued,"Mr. Lu, do you remember you promised me to dine out with me when I left yourpany


    several years back?"


    "Yes, I still remember it," said Charles while nodding his head slightly. He could remember his promise,


    but after that so many things happened one after another, no one took the initiative to mention it and it


    was left unsettled. "Why do you mention it now?" asked Charles.


    "Mr. Lu..." Le hesitated for a while and then spoke in a soft voice,"Are you free tonight?" She finally


    spoke her heart out to Charles. He stared at him with a very hopeful expression in her eyes. However,


    to her disappointment, Charles shook his head slightly and declined her invitation politely,"Thank you,


    but I am upied tonight."