Chapter 13: Chapter 13 The tea
The waitress concluded that they must be a couple who were having a fight.
But what sort of fight would they have for the woman to deny knowing the man?
If not for the fact that her job required minding her business, the waitress really wanted to know what the "tea" was.
Alana on the other hand replied.
"Yeah, I still have your phone number but I don’t have your account number."
She still wondered why he had acted so cold and distant near the bathroom earlier, as if he didn’t know her?
Never mind, it was not her place to dwell on it.
Stephan’s deep eyes fixed on her, lingering until Alana’s face flushed crimson.
Did she seriously want to refund him?
He still found it hard to believe she wanted nothing from him.
In all his years of life, he had encountered so many people that wanted to take and take from him.
But this woman...why did she seem different?
Was this a new tactic?
He then casually lowered his gaze and fiddled with his phone.
He called out his account number to her and Alana promptly transferred the money to him.
Stephan gave a curt nod before turning to leave, his expression cold and distant.
Watching the man’s receding figure, Alana couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Thank goodness he hadn’t mentioned what they’d agreed upon. He must have forgotten.
The very next moment, Eve pounced on her, her face alight with curiosity.
"Lana, who was that tall, handsome guy? He’s got such style!"
Alana eyes darted nervously. "I don’t know him. It was just that a waitress accidentally charged our bill to his card. So I had to transfer the money back to him. And I sent him the receipt on WhatsApp."
Eve chuckled. "Ah, not knowing him now doesn’t mean you won’t know him later! Maybe this is how you meet your true love. If he doesn’t have a girlfriend, why not give him a nudge? You’re single anyway. A top-notch hunk like that comes along once in a blue moon, you can’t afford to miss out!"
"Well... I’d rather not."
Alana couldn’t bear the thought of further contact. She just hoped they’d never cross paths again, each encounter felt like walking into a wall of awkwardness.
Eve batted her eyelashes. "What do you mean, forget it? Meeting is fate, and what’s more, If you got a boyfriend this gorgeous, imagine how impressive it’d be to bring him out in public! You’d never have to worry about any other scumbags bothering you again!"
Alana sighed. "Still, I’ll pass. Even if I fancied him, he probably wouldn’t fancy me back. Besides, he doesn’t exactly look like the single type."
Eve stroked her chin. "True enough. Looking that handsome, how could he not have a girlfriend? He might even be a playboy. Well then, forget it. I’ll just introduce you to one of my boyfriend’s other friends instead!"
Alana released a breath she didn’t even know she was holding.
She really didn’t want to meet with anyone.
Blind dates could really be stressful.
*******
Stephan stepped out of the restaurant and walked towards his car.
Gary, already seated inside, rolled down the window, revealing his chiselled features. "Why did it take so long to settle the bill?"
Stephan opened the passenger door and climbed in. "Got caught up in something... quite troublesome."
Gary raised an eyebrow, curiously. "What sort of trouble?"
"Flirting with a lady?"
Stephan shot him a withering look.
Gary, relishing the drama, pressed on, "I saw it clearly just now. You and that girl in the white dress not only exchanged contacts, but chatted for ages too."
"Oh man, you’ve really taken a liking for her, haven’t you? I was surprised to see you hitting on her already."
"I wasn’t."
"You were."
"If you don’t believe me, that’s your problem."
Gary shrugged. "Fine. You’re not interested in her, but I am. I’ll go after her. That settle it?"
The words had barely left his mouth when he met Stephan’s icy glare.
"Don’t you dare."
Gary scoffed. "And you claim you’re not interested in the girl? If you truly weren’t, why would you react so strongly when I say I’ll pursue her?"
Stephan frowned. Was he interested in her?
He didn’t think so.
"She’s got a boyfriend. Go ahead and pursue her if you don’t want to make a fool of yourself."
"Oh, so she’s already taken. No wonder you looked so glum, someone else beat
you to it."
Stephan gasped.
He decided not to engage with Gary any further. His sharply defined jaw lifted slightly as he turned his gaze to the car window.
Just then, he spotted Alana leaving the restaurant with her best friend. The pair were waiting for a ride at the restaurant entrance.
A car arrived first, whisking her friend away.
Alana remained waiting where she stood.
The young girl stood alone at the crossroads, her eyes straining with impatience, looking rather pitiful.
Stephan pressed his tongue against his jaw, snorting derisively.
She had a boyfriend already, if anyone deserved pity, it was him feeling sorry for her, not the other way round!
He shot Gary a glance. "Aren’t you going to drive?"
"I saw you staring at that girl the whole time and thought you might want to invite her in the car."
Stephan retorted, "Why would I ever help anyone?"
"Fine, I’ll be off then!"
A black Bentley drove off in the distance.
Alana watched the black Bentley disappear and, for some reason, felt a wave of relief wash over her.
While the car had been parked there, she’d felt an intensely pervasive gaze fixed upon her.
It had weighed upon her like an invisible pressure.
If she had to guess, the man inside the car was probably him.
Alana picked up her phone to check. She had just transferred the money to the man, and even sent the receipt.
But he didn’t reply.
Well, it wasn’t surprising.
He was a rude jerk.
Alana didn’t dwell on it. Her taxi arrived, and she opened the door and climbed in.
*********
Back home, utterly exhausted.
She took a quick shower, thought of nothing, and lay down on the bed.
Before sleeping, she set an alarm for herself.
Her phone beeped, she frowned seeing that the money she had transferred to him had been reversed.
But it had said successful before.
She clicked on WhatsApp to see that he was yet to even read her earlier message of the receipt she had sent.
Frowning, she logged into her bank app again and sent the money again, this time, it didn’t go through but shortly after a message was sent to her Gmail that the receiver had to approve of the payment before it went through.
What kind of bank did he use?
She had never heard of this before.
Why was simply sending money to him proving to be complicated?
Ugh! This man!
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