Planning Dinner

As the week went on, Xia Biming drowned herself in more work. By the end of the week, she had already drawn out twenty new pieces for the fall collection. She managed to juggle sketching with her business meetings regarding the opening of her boutiques in Europe.

One boutique was going to be opened in Paris while the other two were going to open in opposite sides in London. The location of the six pop up shops were still yet to be determined but Biming was doing research on where the best places would be. She needed to utilize these to her best ability since each pop up shop was only going to be open for one week each.

Her eyes started to ache as she left her blue-light filtering glasses at home. She decided to put a pause on the pop up shop location research since she still had a month to finalize it. She turned to look out the window for a refresher.

Not wanting to do research or sketch any more designs, she made her way to the corner of her office. This corner had a mannequin standing with lots of fabric standing to the side of it.

All the fabric was what Biming had planned to use for the fall collection. She grabbed her scissors and started working with the fabric, manipulating it however she wanted.

Sometimes if she couldn't draw up a design, she would start working on the pieces in this way. Using the mustard yellow silk fabric, she wrapped the bodice of the mannequin in horizontal pleats leading up to the chest where she loosened it. The neckline was straight and gave off a boxy square look with thick straps on the shoulder. This was to compliment the structure of the bodice.

The skirt was made using the same fabric. It was a loose flowing skirt, but Biming felt that it needed something more. She added a transparent cheetah printed fabric over the skirt meticulously, blending the two fabrics into one. The hem of the cheetah fabric was not as smooth and even. She wanted this dress to give off a flirtatious vibe.

Satisfied with the dress, she started to sew it together as she took the pins holding the pieces up. She was halfway done hand stitching the dress together when her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID to see that it was her mom.

"Hi mommy, why are you calling?" Xia Biming answered as she sprawled herself on the couch inside her office.

"Can I not call my own daughter to ask how she's doing?" Li Wei Shu felt a little hurt but brushed it off as she thought that her daughter was probably still slaving away in her office. And she was correct.

"Mom, I don't mean it like that. What can I help you with?" Biming felt a little bad for answering her mother that way.

"I know, honey. Are you still in your office? It's already past 7, you should go home and rest up. Don't work too hard. You're already doing so well." Mother Xia knew her daughter's tendencies and couldn't help but worry.

"Yeah, I was just working on a new dress and time flew by. I didn't realize the time; I was just so focused on the dress."

"Well I'm glad I called then. Don't forget to eat properly okay, love? Oh by the way, the Xues got your thank you gifts and Madam Xue was beyond bliss. She wanted to invite us for dinner tomorrow. Are you free?" Li Wei Shu really wanted her daughter to agree but she didn't want to come off as too pushy.

"Yeah I'm free tomorrow. Where do they want to eat? Just message me the place and time. I'm going to head home now. I love you mom." Xia Biming couldn't say no to her mother.

"Okay! I'll message you as soon as I call them back! Drive safe okay honey!" her mother ended the call so happily.

Xia Biming laid on the couch lifelessly and wondered how the dinner could possibly go tomorrow. She came up with two possible situations. One would be that the elders wanted to push her with Xue Changmin, but she didn't know how to feel about it. The other would situation was that this was just a courtesy dinner, and the two wouldn't need to meet again afterwards.

Feeling tired from her thoughts, Xia Biming stood up and collected her things to head home.

When she reached home, it was already past 8 pm. Due to the traffic, her route home took double the time. She made herself dinner and ate on the couch in front of the TV while watching the news.

The news was covering how Xue Investments was starting a new project with some big shots in Europe. It was really big news since the economy in Europe was very different compared to Asia's. She found Xue Changmin to be a really capable man. The picture they used in the news highlighted his features and showed off his charisma. She noticed that the shirt he was wearing was the green dress shirt she had sent him earlier this week.

She smiled at the thought of that. 'I did really good picking that shirt out for him. I'm amazing. Hehehe.' She thought to herself and finished her dinner.

The next morning, Biming woke up early and remembered that she hadn't done much exercise the past week. She checked her phone and confirmed the dinner that night with her mom.

She then threw on some running tights, a sports bra, and a light breathable sports jacket. She messily braided her hair and grabbed a pair of wireless earphones as well. She filled her water bottle and made her way to a near by park.

The park near her penthouse had a trail and meshed into a longer trail. She planned to run a little longer today to make up for the week. She had just entered the part of the longer trail and found that it was a lot busier than normal.

She was starting to feel warm and the sweat started to form a thin layer on her. She decided to stop and take a drink when she almost ran into a slow-moving mom with a triple stroller for her triplets.

'Oh god, I hope I never have to take care of three children. Especially all at one time.' She loved kids, but just imagining having three kids made her tired.

After getting her drink, she took off her jacket and tied it around her waist. She continued to jog on the trail when she reached a fork in the trail. She decided to go right when a dog came out of nowhere and ran right between her legs, tripping her.

Biming was a little slow as the fall was unexpected, but she still managed to catch herself with her forearms. Unfortunately her legs were stuck, and she landed on her right hip. She fell to the side of the trail, which was just some loose gravel. This caused her arms to be lightly scraped and the side of her hip as well since the momentum of the fall caused her slide.