Chapter 69 - Who Are You Texting?

Noah has been checking his phone since he sent a message to Jess and didn't get any reply at all. He already lost count of how many stores they have entered, but it still surprised him how women got their energy when shopping is involved. 

It seems like his daughter got her mother's enthusiasm when it comes to spending his money. He isn't complaining though. He would buy this whole store without blinking an eye if his daughter says the word.

He peeked on his phone once again. Still no message. What could have made Jess so busy as not to answer his messages? They were supposed to just check some furniture. He felt a tinge of annoyance. He was debating within himself if he should send a message to Antonio in the office and ask him to check Jess' Instagram. 

He sighed and shoved his phone in his pocket when his daughter came running with a purple dress in her hands. Soraya, the security acting as her nanny, followed closely behind. 

"Daddy, look! Isn't it pretty?" she pressed the said dress in her small frame, then twirled around the store, showing him how pretty the dress is. He smiled widely at her daughter's happiness. He would die to ensure his daughter would be this happy all the time.

At the same time, a headache starts to creep from the back of his head to his temple. Seeing so many frill dresses in every color imaginable is giving him a migraine. He would sit down in a six hours business conference but this shopping spree is slowly killing him. 

But a promise is a promise. He promised his daughter a shopping date. Then shopping it is. He looked at Soraya who was a few steps behind his daughter who was still prancing in the middle of the floor. It was not just for security reasons that he requested the store to be close but also because he wanted his daughter to shop to her little heart's content. 

He wanted the two weeks that Lucille is with him to be full of good memories. 

While he was watching her daughter dashing from one dress to another, he noticed Soraya grimacing at the back. It seems like she is one of those few girls who don't enjoy going through stores to play dress-up. He put a mental note to give her a bonus after this job is over. 

Soraya is good with her job. The fact that she is a music teacher is a plus. He is planning to hire her as Lucille's governess and send her to Shanghai once her daughter returns to her mother. He wanted someone he could really trust watching her daughter 24/7. Call him excessive but with the attempted kidnapping that happened in the past, he couldn't help being overprotective with his only child. 

"Daddy! Which dress should I get - this lilac or the peach one?" 

Lucille was standing in front of him expecting him to make a serious decision over a lilac and peach dress when both of them looked the same in his eyes. He did what any good father would do, he bent his knees so they could see eye to eye. 

"Princess, why don't we pick both." his daughter's lips started to pucker with what he said, so he added, "You look absolutely stunning in both of them!" 

Her face lights up! And his heart just melted into mush. 

"Thank you, Daddy!" she skipped joyfully back to the waiting store assistant to add the two more pretty dresses to the pile she has already collected. 

He shook his head in amusement. His daughter has been calling him in her accented 'Dahdeh' all this time. And with that just one word, his credit card slips out of his pocket smoothly, without any complaint from him. 

He grinned like a proud daddeh!

The avalanche of clothes goes on for another two hours. Before he speaks up to take a break to buy some gelato. He watched Jin and Soraya sighed with relief when finally the Little Miss stopped running all over the shopping street, dashing from one store to another, picking up dresses like she would never see any more clothes in her young life.

"Boss, I will have the shopping bags in the car. But I think we don't have enough space for all of them in the car." Jin scratched his head. 

"Let the store deliver the rest of the clothes to the office. Then asked one of your men there to bring it at home."  He won't let any stranger go into his apartment floor to deliver the items his daughter bought for herself. 

"Noted, Boss." 

He took Lucille's small hand into his to stop her from running around. He wondered how she could still have so much energy after all that shopping. Soraya was waiting in front of them, and opened the door of the Italian restaurant for him and Lucille. 

"I want a seafood carbonara, Daddy," she said even before she sat down on her seat. "And some Margherita pizza." 

The waiter scribbled her order in his notepad as fast as she said them. 

"What drinks do you have?", she smiled widely to the young waiter that couldn't help but return her smile. 

"For the young Miss, I would recommend our soda slushie?" he said in his heavily accented English. "Does the young Miss like grapefruit?" 

"I love grapefruit!" Lucille clapped her hands eagerly. 

"Then, Grapefruit Soda Slushie, for the young Miss." he then turned his attention to Soraya to get her order.

"Give me whatever the young Miss is getting," she said, winking to Lucille who ended up giggling. 

The waiter repeated Lucille's order to confirm, then looked at Noah for his order. He was busy checking his phone for any message from Jess while Lucille and Soraya were giving their orders to the waiter. 

"Daddy, I need to use the toilet," she said. Soraya stood up at once to pull her chair and join her to the toilet. 

He didn't lift his head from his phone and just nodded to his daughter. 

"Sir, are you ready to order now?" he tentatively asked him. His eyebrows were knitted and the young waiter was feeling uncomfortable with the coldness surrounding his aura. 

"Give me a pepperoni and basil and cheese pizza -- Uhm," he picked up the menu and glanced over the list of pasta, "A Bolognese and Orecchiette ai Cime di Rapa. We have another person coming in." he unnecessarily explained why he had to order for two persons when Lucille and Soraya were done with their order. 

He closed the menu and handed them back to the waiter. "Don't forget to send the Aperitivo, please." 

"Yes sir. Right away, sir." the young waiter hurried to the kitchen to have their order place for the chef. 

He picked up his phone again and decided to call Jess since Lucille and Soraya were still in the bathroom and their order would take time before it got served. The phone just kept on ringing. The longer the phone call went answered the deeper the lines on his forehead were etched. 

Jin returned from putting all the shopping bags in their car, and when he saw that the boss was in a foul mood, sit down on the vacant chair quietly, and just poured himself a glass of water. 

He was about to end the call when an annoyed voice answered. 

"Hello Jess, did I catch you in a bad time?" he wondered what could possibly ruin her mood in a furniture store. 

"There is no good time, Noah. What do you want?" 

He was taken aback by how harsh her voice and her question were. Furniture store must have tested her patience the way he was tested with the mountain of frilly dresses. 

He cleared his throat and glanced over Jin who was eating the appetizer that the waiter brought to their table. He couldn't speak freely to Jess with him within earshot. 

"Sorry," he cleared his throat. He doesn't know what to say to Jess who's clearly having a bad day. He never called any of his women in the past to check on them. 

"Why did you call?" 

Her tone went softer but he could still hear the annoyance. He threw another glance at Jin, swallowed his saliva, and said, "I miss you." 

Jin choked on his Aperitivo!

He gave him a murderous and looked at the phone that went dead in his hand right after he told Jess that he missed her. He was about to dial back but decided against it. Instead, he types a message to send her. He re-read what he wrote then cringed. He deleted it, then typed another one. 

He was still on his phone typing, and deleting his message to Jess for he was panicking about why did she drop the call when he told her he misses her! 

"Daddy, who are you texting?" 

Lucille was back from the toilet with Soraya. Jin snickered upon hearing Lucille's questions. 

"No one, Darling. Let's eat."