184 Longgg Day

"And when I told him that it would only embarrass them, maybe even irk them, Hui told me that one shouldn't be embarrassed to accept their mistakes," Eric shook his head in exasperation.

"Can you believe the man? I spent the next ten minutes extracting a promise out of him to not bring this topic up in front of them," he said.

Jia Li was laughing by the time Eric finished with his narrative, peppered with exaggerated facial expressions.

"Are you sure you didn't want to be an actor instead of a corporate slave? I see bright future for you in that arena," she told him, laughingly.

He looked at her in surprise. Hui had said the exact same words to him an hour ago. But he was prevented from saying it out loud. The clients had arrived. Jia Li went ahead and welcomed the two gentlemen who descended from the car. Speaking with them rapidly in Mandarin, she introduced Eric and ushered them in.

Jia Li's cheeks were aching with the polite smile which seemed to have frozen on her cheeks sometime during the past few hours. To compensate for her boss's scowl, she made sure that her lips were stretched in some sort of a pleasant expression perpetually. Initially she had hoped that he would relax his facial muscles but as the conversation progressed, he only became fiercer.

"Maybe, we could break for lunch now and reconvene later?" she suggested politely.

The clients looked relieved at the suggestion. Directing them towards the rooftop café of the company, she excused herself to intercept Eric before he reached them.

"You need to tell Mr. Ying to relax his demeanour a little. At this rate, he would scare these guys away," she spoke in hushed tones to him.

"What happened? I had gone away only for the past half hour," he replied, referring to the important conference call, for which he had excused himself from the group earlier.

"Without going into detail, let me say that the warmth left the room with you. Anyways, they are waiting for you at lunch. Let me not hold you back any further," she said.

Few kilometres away, Piccadilly Circus

"I have seen the reports. Your father's case is not as hopeless as it appeared initially. I am prescribing some more tests. Get them done. Also, I want you to start him on this medication right away. In the meanwhile, let me check my schedule. My secretary will inform you about when can we bring your father here," the doctor told Wang Wei.

Wei breathed a sigh of relief. He had been bracing himself for the worst possibility. As a result, the doctor's words came as a happy surprise. He assured the doctor that they will follow the instructions carefully. With a light heart, he walked out of the clinic. His flight was scheduled to take off that night. He decided to go to the iconic Hyde Park which was the closest to where he was standing currently.

It was nearly lunchtime. He picked up a couple of sandwiches from a vendor and strolled in the garden, munching away. The place was teeming with kids and adults alike, despite it being a working day. Maybe it was the sunshine on a cold winter day which had brought everyone out to play.

"Jia Li would have enjoyed it here," was the thought which came to his mind right then.

Standing at one corner of the rooftop, Jia Li looked towards Hyde Park.

"What a wonderful day to be out in the park today! Wish I could take off these heels and the jacket and soak in some sun sitting there," she thought wistfully.

It turned out to be a long day. By the time Jia Li saw off the clients at the office's porch, her back and feet were both ready to murder her. She couldn't wait to get back home and stand under her tiny shower.

"Good work today, Jia Li. All your research on their preferences paid off. I Hope that they left this place with some warmth in their hearts despite someone's anti-social behaviour which could have put the nearest glacier to shame," Eric said, referring to Hui's behaviour during the day.

She laughed at his words but refused to take the entire credit.

"I don't think it would have been possible without your smart timely interventions which kept the conversation flowing. I was only worried that they shouldn't expect us to entertain them for dinner. I don't think that Boss would have been able to keep up the polite veneer for a minute longer," she shuddered.

"You are talking about Hui? I don't think those guys could have tolerated us for even a second more. They were longing to leave since the afternoon but the negotiations needed to be wrapped up. I guess they wanted to swallow the entire bitter pill in one go rather than go through the torture piecemeal," he replied with a shake of his head.