3 A Dinner Appointment

Morning rays enlightened a European designed bedroom in a golden light. In the middle of it, there was a king size that seemed to be not enough to fill the spacious room.

A man laid weakly on it. His eyes were shut but sometimes, his eyebrows knitted as if he dreamed something bad. He shifted his body to the right and left, probably felt discomfort with what he saw in his dream before a sheen of moisture escaped from the corner of his eyes.

It was tears.

The man cried in his sleep. Suddenly, he screamed in fear, "No..."

The man woke up with his face that was deathly pale. Sweat perspired on his forehead and drenched his body. His pupils constricted with a trace of sadness in it. The hands that hold the quilt trembled slightly. His heart beat erratically as if he had just ran for several kilometers.

The man took a deep breath to smoothen his mood. After a while, his heartbeat back to its normal pace and his complexion got better. His trembling hands had stopped as he recollected the fragments of his dreams. He could not remembered everything in his dreams but he was sure about seven or eight points that it was all about himself and a woman he had never seen. In his dream, he saw the woman pushed him aside before a truck crushed her. The woman saved him by sacrificing herself.

When he witnessed how she sacrificed herself for him selflessly, an inexplicable feeling of sadness rose within and he felt as if the world had ended - he felt empty.

The man sat still on the bed for a few minutes, completely absorbed in his thought. Who was the woman? Why did she save him? When are where the accident happened? and many more questions emerged in his mind. He tried to connect everything so he could come up with a conjecture before he gave in. He was absolutely unable to conclude everything only by relying on his dream. Moreover, it was also possible that everything he saw in his dream was merely a dream that meant nothing. So, rather than thinking too much about it, he resolutely shifted his focus to his schedule.

He took his phone on the table beside his bed and dialed a number. The one whose number was called by him was his assistant. "Secretary Chang, what are my schedule for today?"

Secretary Chang replied from the other end of the line politely. "You have a meeting for collaboration with Li Corporation at 10.00 AM. After that, you have a dinner appointment with Miss Shen at 07.00 PM."

"Miss Shen?" the man asked in confusion. He didn't know who Miss Shen was as he had never known her in the first place. Moreover, he had never made such appointment.

Secretary Chang probably sensed his boss confusion as he explained, "Miss Shen is the heiress of Shen International. Your mother informed me to write it in your schedule."

The man kept silent, meanwhile, on the other end, Secretary Chang sweated profusely because he was afraid that the man would be angry because the dinner appointment was not his order. He was the man's secretary and he should only work according to his order but he couldn't defy the order of the empress dowager right? Secretary Chang was about to give his reason when the man spoke. "Ok. Only those two?"

"Yes boss."

The man didn't answer. He just hung up the phone and pondered for a while before he sighed helplessly.

His parents decreased his workload because of the report they got one month ago. They forced him to rest and spent his time at home but he refused the suggestion adamantly. His parents, after coping with their son's incessant request finally relented. They let him did everything he wanted to do but at the same time, they lessened his workload.

The man had used to work so hard so when he suddenly found his workload was not as much as it used to be, he complained about it but his parents played deaf. Only his mother said something to divert his attention. "Just wait. We'll arrange something else. It will be interesting for you."

The man, after listening to his mother coaxing finally calmed down. Interesting? Was it about another project? Or something that generated much money? The man smiled delightedly because the word 'interesting' made he think about a particular thing. His mother knew him best - money would be the only object that could excite him so whenever she said interesting, it would always be related to money.

For almost a whole month, the man waited patiently for the interesting thing that his mother said. After waiting for so long, he was unable to hold on and finally asked his mother. His mother didn't answer his question but she only hinted him to wait until Saturday. After he got his mother confirmation, he continued to wait in excitement.

Today was saturday, the day that his mom promised him about the thing. He asked his secretary about his schedule and found something different from his usual schedule - he had a dinner appointment, with a woman on top of that. When had he made such appointment? He confused before a realization dawned in his mind. His speculation was further confirmed by Secretary Chang.

The dinner was set up by his mother.

As he thought about it, another realization came up. Was the dinner appointment actually the interesting thing his mother said?