He nodded and leaned back in his seat. Sighing, he closed his eyes with exhaustion. A relationship can really take an emotional toll on a person.
As the car came to a stop in front of our destination, we got out of the car, and John stood nonchalantly at the side. Seeing the unconcerned look on his face, I nudged him with my elbow and said, “No matter what, you need to treat this seriously, okay? You’re not a child anymore. Since you’ve promised Uncle Louis, you need to respect yourself and your date later.”
“I know.” He looked at me expectantly. “Are you coming with me?”
I shook my head and held Ashton’s hand. “Nope. My husband and I will sit at the side while you talk with the lady. If I see you disrespect her, I will not bother to care about your matters anymore. You can do whatever you like.”
He pouted and nodded obediently. “Okay.”
John was about to head to the table that Uncle Louis had booked when Ashton and I were stopped by the host of the restaurant. Apparently, in order to enter this high-end restaurant, Ashton and I would need to make a reservation in advance.
John glared at the host. “What do you mean they can’t enter? You know what? Fine. We’ll leave. Tomorrow I’ll shut down this lousy restaurant!”
He then grabbed my hand, ready to leave. I was rendered speechless by his childish behavior. Thankfully, Ashton stayed calm and stopped John. “You should go in first. We will go in later.”
John frowned. “Why? Are you guys planning to leave me here alone?”
“I’ll call the owner of this restaurant and let him arrange a table for us. If not, Scarlett and I can’t go in,” Ashton replied.
John pursed his lips. “You know the owner?”
I knew John was just stalling for time. Fed up with his behavior, I crossed my arms and said, “John, go wait for us inside. Or else, we will leave immediately. This has nothing to do with us anyway. Now I’ll give you three seconds to move. Three, two…”
“I’ll go in now!” he shouted and stomped angrily away. As he went inside, he kept turning around and looked at me with puppy-dog eyes. “Scarlett, both of you must come inside, okay? Otherwise, I would be very sad.”
If we weren’t at a public place, I would have punched him to death.
Unable to continue looking at his immature behavior, I rolled my eyes. I then turned to Ashton and saw him on a call with the owner, saying, “Is Tasty Elements your restaurant?”
Seeing the curiosity in my eyes, he put his phone on speaker. A voice came from the other side of the line. “Yeah. I invest it for fun. You want to go there?” Is he Joe?
Ashton replied, “Yup. I’m in front of the restaurant now. Tell your staff to let me in.”
With that, he passed his phone to the host. The host took it over tentatively. Before he could say anything, Joe shouted, “Are you out of your mind? Why did you stop the customers from entering?”
The host was still baffled. “Um, hi. May I know who you are?”
Silence came from the other side of the phone, and Joe eventually said, “Give the phone back. You’re fired.”
Then, he hung up.
Three minutes later, a chubby man came out of the restaurant and smiled obsequiously at us. “Hi, Mr. Fuller and Mrs. Fuller. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience caused. Please come in. According to Mr. Quinn, your meal is on the house today, so please enjoy yourselves and order whatever you want to try!”
He then ushered us into the serene, classy restaurant, and we selected a table right next to John’s.
As Ashton ordered food for both of us, I cast my gaze on the lady sitting opposite John. She seemed gentle and virtuous, albeit a little cold and distant.
I continued to observe them. John seemed to have nothing to say, and the lady did not speak much as well. They continued to eat gracefully as if they were not at all affected by each other’s presence.
I then looked towards John and shot him a look, signaling him to find something to chat with his date. But he merely stared back and stuck out his tongue at me. Looking at his puerile behavior, I almost jumped out from my seat and beat him.
“Is she your sister?” the lady said. She was not loud, but the three of us heard her well. John and I froze immediately, and she continued, “Let’s eat together. The more the merrier.” As soon as she finished speaking, she stood up with her bag and walked to our table.
Then, she raised her hand and summoned the waiter. “Hi. Can you move us to this table? We’d like to eat together. Thank you.”
Seeing that she had sat down beside me, John rubbed his neck and joined us as well, embarrassed.
“Hi. My name is Emma Lyons. I’m thirty-three years old, a divorcee without kids, and I can no longer conceive. Currently, I’m working as a professor at K University. I guess you know about my family background, so I don’t need to say more about it. As for my past relationship experience, my ex-husband was the only romantic partner that I had. My current income is thirty thousand per month. I have cars and some properties. Therefore, I’m financially independent.” After Emma finished introducing herself, she met John’s eyes calmly.
