26 Before the Date

Kai was nervous.

Kai was excited.

Today was the day.

After all the hee-hawing, talks, and such, they finally settled on the date and time.

Kai looked at himself in the mirror and scowled.

No, he looked ridiculous.

He took off his shirt and threw it on the floor, amongst the pile that was already forming there.

He wanted to look good but not pretentious.

He was going on a date to impress the girl that he fell for hard, not push her away.

He couldn't overdress nor could he be too casual.

After all, the date was a normal date.

Dinner, walk, or relaxing in the park, then home.

Not a movie.

What he wanted was time spent to get to know Lianne, not waste a couple of hours watching a show.

Luckily, Lianne was agreeable to his plans. Zero had no objections either but then again, Kai noticed that whatever Lianne said, Zero followed.

Did this mean that she liked the obedient type?

Then again, which person wouldn't like it when their beloved listened to them?

If Kai acted that way as well, would she think that he was faking it and just copying Zero?

Kai rubbed his head vigorously and shouted in exasperation. Going for meetings and take-overs were not this stressful.

While Kai was busy trying to figure out what to wear, Zero wasn't having that problem. He just reached into his closet, took out a white T-shirt and put it on, tucking it into his jeans.

He was only keeping Lianne company, so there was no thought in his mind about 'looking good'. Basically, he was just wearing what he usually wore.

However …

Just as he took one step away from his closet, he began to have second thoughts.

Just because he was keeping Lianne company, didn't mean he should be lax about the whole thing, right? After all, Lily was helping him out.

She didn't need to go out on this double-date.

What if she made an effort yet, he didn't?

Would he be belittling her genuine efforts?

Zero scratched his head, as he thought hard.

He turned to face his closet.

Fine.

He should make more of an effort. If he dressed too casually, it would really not be good since the place wasn't some hawker stall or something. He should not embarrass Lily, right?

With a sigh, he changed.

As for the main antagonist?

She was busy munching on a sausage roll while reading some manga.

She had another 10 minutes before Zero arrived to pick her up, and then they'd go and pick up Lily. They would be meeting Kai at the restaurant for dinner.

There was nothing she could do about the date and she wasn't trying to get Kai's attention, so she wasn't particularly bothered about dressing up.

She didn't really want to spend Kai's money either, so she was having a light snack before dinner so that she wouldn't order something heavy.

She wasn't the type to eat a lot anyway, so might as well have something she enjoyed rather than racking her brains trying to figure out what to order from the menu.

Lianne had actually already checked out the restaurant Kai picked.

The internet reviews on it were positive and it was a bit upscale. It wasn't so formal, though, and they didn't have any dress code so Lianne wasn't worried about not being allowed in.

Nothing too casual but nothing fancy either.

When there were five minutes left, Lianne finished up her snack and wiped her hands on the wet tissue. She was already dressed and only needed to grab a light sweater to put on.

She was in her dark blue capri pants, sleeveless white blouse with a round neck while her sweater was dark blue as well, to match her pants. As usual, she wore white flat court shoes as she didn't like heels.

Lianne stopped briefly at the full-length mirror in the corridor hallway before the door. She looked at herself to make sure she didn't have any crumbs on her lips, then put on some lip gloss and went down to the lobby of the apartment.

Naturally, Zero was already waiting, having arrived five minutes earlier than the appointed time. Lianne knew this, and would not go down earlier just because she knew he had arrived.

If she did, he would just turn up even earlier than that.

Zero was the type that believed he should not have people waiting for him - but rather, he should be the one waiting.

So, Lianne would always arrive on time while Zero would arrive either five or ten minutes earlier.

As she reached the lobby, she greeted the security and walked out. The moment she passed through the doors, Zero had opened the car door for her.

Lianne raised an eyebrow upon seeing Zero.

He was wearing dark slacks and a long-sleeve fitted white shirt that he folded up a bit till just below the elbow. He even wore dark dress shoes instead of his usual sneakers or loafers.

Lianne smiled to herself.

Lily is surely going to have a heart-attack seeing Zero dressed up.

She didn't say a word about his clothes, and instead, just thanked him as she entered the car. Zero gave her one of his rare smiles, thinking about the things he was going to do to Kai later on.

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Lily twirled in front of the mirror in her house.

This wasn't going overboard, was it?

She was only being used as a means to help Zero assess Kai, and that this wasn't going to be a real date.

But it didn't mean she should not act the part, right?

She took several deep breaths and patted her chest.

'Breathe in, breathe out,' Lily told herself, 'Come on, Lily, you can do it.'

She patted her flaming red cheeks while her mind was filled with the thought that Zero was single.

Wait.

But it didn't mean he didn't have anyone he was interested in.

Lily's face fell.

No.

If he did, he would have asked that girl instead, right?

….. So did it mean he was interested in her?

Lily's eyes went wide open at that thought.

No no no … it couldn't be.

Could it?

Lily fanned herself.

Focus. Focus.

She looked at the time and then at the mirror again.

She was wearing a simple dress shirt, with a belt and gold buckle. Her dangling gold hoop earrings were not too large and swung a bit beneath her ear. She had tied her hair up in a ponytail, though she had thought about letting it loose.

Lily nodded and made a fist pump.

Whatever today was, one thing was for sure.

She was going to enjoy this to the fullest.

She patted herself on the chest.

Now, if only her heart would stop beating so fast and the butterflies in her stomach would settle down.