"Serena!" Patricia ran over and patted me on my shoulder.
I was still lost in my dilemma, and the sudden jolt startled me. My hand twitched,
and before I knew it, I had identally hit the send button.
Staring at the screen which showed that the message had already been sessfully sent, my mind wentpletely nk. I turned to Patricia with a forced smile. "Patricia, you''d better have a really good reason for this. Otherwise, you''re gonna get it from me."
She froze. "W-Well... It''s nothing urgent. If you''re busy, I... I can just ask someone else."
I heard the notification for a new message. I picked up my phone and saw that it was from Alex. He had epted my invitation.
Instantly, my mood flipped from stormy to clear skies. When I looked at Patricia again, my expression had softened into one of benevolent kindness. "Alright, maybe it''s not that serious. What did you need?"
"Oh." She eyed me cautiously as she handed me some documents. "It''s just this data here... I don''t really understand it."
"No problem," I said with a smile. "I''ll send you the breakdown in an emailter."
She blinked in confusion before turning to leave. She suddenly spun back around after taking a few steps. "Serena, are you dating someone?"
I shook my head. "No."
"Then... are you hitting menopause early? These mood swings can''t be good for you."
I rolled my eyes. "Do you not have work to do?"
She left with her notebook with her while I, in much better spirits, booked a restaurant and began looking forward to the end of the day.
The moment the clock struck 5:00 pm, I got up and left. Taking L''s advice to heart, I decided not to
overthink things and went sent to
Alex''s office without hesitation.
"Serena? What are you doing here?" Oliver looked at me, puzzled.
"I have dinner ns with Mr. Hastings," I said with a smile.
"Oh, I know that," he said. "What I meant was, he left ten minutes early to wait for
you downstairs. Didn''t he text you?"
I blinked in surprise. "He already left?"
"Yeah," Oliver Said, looking even more confused. "Mr. Hastings only ever leaves early when he has ns with you. The moment he stepped out, I knew it had to be you who asked him out. Looks like I was
right."
That one sentence shattered my carefully maintained confidence.
I dragged my feet downstairs and
spotted Alex''s car, which was
parked by the entrance. Before I came out, he had been watching the
door intently, but the moment, ''
stepped outside, his gaze casually
drifted elsewhere.
I hurried into the car. "I got caught up with something at the office. Have you been waiting long?"
"I just got here," he said smoothly. Then, with a straight face, he added, "Judging by that serious look on your face, are you worried I''ll eat you into bankruptcy?" Whenever he lied, he had a habit of changing the subject with randomments. That habit hadn''t changed since we were kids. Suddenly, my thoughts were all over the ce.
"Don''t worry," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "We''re eating at my ce tonight. Lilian''s cooking is excellent."