34 Small World (1/2)
A few days later,
Samantha arrived at her company.
”Good morning, Madam.”, Assistant Chen greeted when Samantha reached the private elevator from the underground parking.
”You look nice, are you going on a date later?”, Samantha asked Chen when they got in the elevator.
Assistant Chen touched her cheeks as she blushed, ”Is it very obvious? M-my mother set me up on a blind date at lunchtime. I originally said no because we've been too busy these days and I'm not really looking for a boyfriend right now.”
”Why not? You're young. You should date.”
”H-Huh?”, Chen was surprised by her boss' response.
The elevator doors opened, Samantha stepped out of the elevator with her assistant following behind. She opened the right drawer of her desk and took out a small silver box.
”You can't just go out like that.”, Samantha turned around and handed it to Assistant Chen. ”Here, I haven't used it. It's yours now.”
Chen received the box and read the label on it. In front of the small box wrote, La Prairie in bold. She wasn't such a huge fan of makeups but she has heard of this brand before. For a salary earner like her, this was an expensive lipstick that she would never buy for herself.
”Madam, are you sure? This is too pricey. I don't--”, she said as she tried to give it back to Samantha.
”It's okay, it was a gift but I don't wear lipsticks that often. It would just be a waste. Keep it.”
It was indeed a gift from Andrew Park a few months ago. She only remembered it today and thought that the best way to take her eyes off of it was to give it to her assistant.
Chen pursed her lips and Samantha added, ”Oh and take 2 hours break for lunch.”
”Thank you very much, Madam!” , she said before Samantha let her get back to work.
When Assistant Chen walked out, Alexander Li entered Samantha's office.
”Your assistant seemed very... cheery, than usual.”
Samantha chuckled, ”Yeah, she's going on a blind date at Lunchtime. I gave her a lipstick and a 2-hour break.”
”That's generous of you.”
”She deserves it.”
”What about you? You deserve someone too.”
Alexander said casually as he tried to gauge Samantha's expression. All she did was gave him a light smile.
”Nathan and I are going out for lunch today. Would you like to join us?”, he asked.
”Thanks but, I'm meeting my mom for lunch.”
Alexander spoke after several seconds of silence, ”Samantha... I know I'm not in the position to ask you about things like these, but... are you going to get back together with Nathan?”
”Did he tell you to ask me that?”
”No...”, Alexander smiled, ”Forget it, you don't have to answer.”, he said before he placed some documents on Samantha's desk... ”I... actually have some bad news.”