217 Back to the basics

"Eric! This is indeed a surprise. You had raved about this restaurant all those weeks ago and since then, I wanted to come here. I finally made it today," she got up and told him with a smile.

Wei also pushed his chair back and got up. Crossing his arms, he waited patiently for Jia Li to finish conversing with the slick looking foreigner.

Eric turned towards him, the next moment and extended his hand, "Hi, I am Eric. Jia Li and I work together."

Wei shook hands with him, while she informed Eric that he was a dear friend of hers from back home and was here for some personal work.

After chatting with them for a bit, Eric excused himself and went back to his table. He had been shocked to see Jia Li here with a stranger. He was a foodie and loved visiting new places in and around town with friends. But the last person that he had expected to see here had been that guy. The minute Jia Li introduced him, he recognised his name from the file. So, the past had come calling.

This wasn't good news for his tortoise speeded friend, who was probably busy building romantic equations in his head as his version of day dreaming. The man had given extremely proprietorial vibes to Eric, when he had stood there chatting with Jia Li for a minute. She had seemed oblivious to it. But then she seemed oblivious to most of the undercurrents floating around her!!

Suddenly, he was hit with an inspiration.

"The guy comes across as overly familiar. I thought Britishers were slightly reserved in their behaviour," Wei commented dryly, peeved with the way Eric had hugged her and kept touching her casually throughout the conversation.

"He is an American," she replied casually, her attention still snared by the food options.

"Drinks, with compliments sent by the gentleman sitting across that table," the server came to Jia Li's table and gestured towards Eric.

"Oh, there is a note as well," she exclaimed in surprise.

"Try the third dish on page 1, fifth on page 2 and 3-5 on page 3. You can thank me later," it said.

She laughed and raised a toast towards Eric's direction.

Wei's mood turned blacker as she proceeded to follow the blasted man's instructions. Who was he, exactly?

"I was wondering if it would be alright to visit Uncle Wang at the hospital," she started tentatively after ordering food.

Though she had met him briefly in Shanghai, he had been warm and kind towards her. But she was hesitating because of Mrs. Wang's presence there.

Wei told her that his father would be overjoyed to see her. They decided that she would visit him on the coming weekend. The dinner passed in an amiable manner, with Jia Li telling him about her current work profile in detail. He watched the animated expressions on her face and realised that she was actually enjoying her work. He tried staying away from conversational topics about back home because that inevitably may bring up Tang's name. He hadn't made up his mind about whether he wanted to tell Tang about him running into Jia Li here or not.

He knew that sooner or later, he would get to know it but a part of Wei wanted to keep her solely to himself before exposing her to the now 'single' Xie Tang. Though she had been angry with him when she left Shanghai but she also had deep feelings for the guy.

Wei wanted to savour these moments with her in the present and not think of the future. They finished the meal and waved a hand in farewell to Eric before stepping out of the restaurant.

"So where to now?" he asked, once they reached the tube station.

She looked at him in surprise and said, "err, aren't we going back to our respective abodes now? Its late in the night and I have work early in the morning."

"Hmm… that a fair point. So what are we doing tomorrow night," he asked.

"Uh, you want to meet again tomorrow?" she asked him in slight consternation.

Though he had not touched upon the topic, Jia Li was well aware of his feelings towards her. She didn't want to raise his hopes and be the one to dash them.

She opened her mouth to tell him so but he beat her to it, "I don't want to hear any excuses, reasons, future plans, past problems, nothing… just you and me in this moment. Do you understand?"

Jia Li tried to protest only to be shot down again.

He put his finger on her lips and said, "can we please go for a walk, the one where no one is allowed to speak more than twenty words each?"