"Merry Christmas Dear!"

A little annoyed with what just had happened, Mia kept looking out from the window.

'You stupid Mia…' She cursed at herself. 'Date huh? Christmas date? What is wrong with you? Why do you think of such stupid things? Yuna unnie also?....She is the one who puts such ideas in your brain…..Great, Mia. Now stop thinking about it and concentrate on your work.'

Deciding it to herself she looked at Ray who to her surprise was looking at her only.

"Huh? Umm…" She couldn't say anything as that gaze of him locked her lips.

"What is it dear?" He asked with a smile and looked in the front.

'Dear?' Mia sighed inside. 'So he's back to his usual self….'

He looked at her again. "Oh dear! Are you still holding those files? Come on. Put them into the back seat and sit comfortably." He beamed a smile.

'Now he cares about my comfort?' Mia thought. 'Where was all this concern when he literally threw that on my face!'

"So? You were saying something?" He asked.

"Uh….Yeah….Where is the site? Where are we going actually?" She asked.

"Oh! It's a little far away. It will take 2 hours to reach."

"What? Two hours?"

"Yeah. Why?" He looked at her.

"Umm….Nothing…It's just that, I thought we'll be back in an hour or so…"

"Did you have some work in the city?"

"Oh no no…It's not like that…" She said and looked out of the window.

'It's just that, I am a little —'

As she was thinking that to herself; 'Grrrrrrrr!!!!'

The sound of her stomach growling came out loud.

"Pfft! Hahahaha…" Ray burst out laughing as soon as he heard that.

Being extremely embarrassed, Mia held her stomach and looked down.

"Oh Mia!" Ray said laughing. "It seems you are really hungry."

'…..Yeah….I didn't even have a breakfast…' She thought.

"Huh? Did you say anything?"

"….No…"

"You didn't even have breakfast today, right?"

She looked at him surprised.

"I don't come to the café just to sit around. I have to keep an eye on my employees…"

"…."

"….Especially when one of them is my girlfriend!" He smiled.

Mia looked down again and loosened her hands from her stomach.

"Okay then. Lunch it is." He said as he turned the wheel.

~

In around 5 minutes, Mia found the car stopped in front of a huge 5-star restaurant.

He stopped the car, looked at her, "So, ready for the lunch?"

"Here?"

"Yeah."

"But it's the Christmas…."

"So?"

"And it's a huge restaurant…"

"?" He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean, for such places and on the day like Christmas, we have to keep reservations weeks before."

He just chuckled on what she said and opened the door to get out.

Then he went towards her side and opened the door for her.

She was still looking at him with uncertainty in her eyes.

As she opened her mouth to say something, he kept his finger on his mouth and said, "Shh…No more questions. Just come with me."

She closed her mouth which was opened and holding his hand, she came out of the car.

Ray gave the keys to the attendant and then both of them headed inside.

Looking at the huge entrance, those enormously large ceilings and the sparkling chandeliers hanging down from them, Mia swallowed. 'It's the first time in my life I'm coming to such place….I better behave properly…..'

Her hands around Ray's arms tightened the grip, showing her nervousness.

Ray felt it. So he took his right hand and gently caressed her fingers which were around his left arm.

As soon as they came inside they were welcomed by an attendant.

"Welcome sir and ma'am." He smiled slightly but a little stiffly and bowed to them.

"Kim Ray." Ray said.

Mia looked at him a little confused.

The guy quickly went through the list and nodded to himself. "This way please." He said.

"Heh?" Mia's eyes were opened wide in surprise. 'H-How?'

Expecting that look on her face, Ray just winked at her and smiled.

The attendant led the way to a table next to beautiful garden facing window.

The table was a little secluded from the other tables and seemed to be specially arranged.

The sweet fragrance of lilies which were kept in a vase on the table was very soothing.

Ray came forward and pulled out the chair for her.

She was still lost and couldn't understand what was happening.

With that stunned look on her face, she came and sat down.

He went and sat across her with the same smile which was resting on his face since he had seen her surprised.

"You…Wh…How….I mean…."

"Yeah I reserved this for today. Weeks ago." He said ending the suspense.

"Really?"

"Yup! Anything for my girl!" He chuckled.

She looked down, her cheeks showing a little hint of pink.

~

Both of them came out from the restaurant. The car was already standing in front of them.

Again Ray made her sit inside first and then he sat and started the car.

After driving for a while, he realized, she has been too quiet.

"Mia?"

"…." She was looking out from the window.

"Mia?" He called again.

"…Huh? Yeah. What?"

"You okay?"

"Umm…Yeah…" She smiled weakly.

He understood something was wrong. "Come on tell me. What is wrong?"

"…Umm…" She hesitated a little but then finally told what she felt. "I think….I don't know why…Maybe I'm not used to such places….But I felt a little…weird in there…"

"Burdened?"

"Yeah. Yeah. That's the word…..Burdened…" She looked down as she said the last word again.

"So? You…You didn't like this?"

"Ha? No no no. I didn't mean it like that." She denied quickly. "I liked it. I liked it a lot. But…I told you, I'm not used to such places and that's why maybe I felt that way…I'm sorry…."

"Oh no no, Mia. Why are you saying sorry? I should be the one saying sorry…."

"No. Ray…Please…Listen…"

"No. I just wanted our first date to be the best! I guess I went overboard…Hehe…" He laughed, scratching back of his head.

"No Ray…I didn't mean to hurt your feelings…I know you wanted it to be the best…I shouldn't have told you this…I'm sorry…"

"What are you saying Mia?" He said. "You should tell me everything. Whatever it is, you liked it, you didn't like it. You have to tell me. Otherwise how will I know? Right?"

"..."

"Don't keep anything to yourself. Okay?"

"….Okay….."

"Haha…" He laughed a little. "It's actually my fault that I forgot, you are not like other girls…"

"Like other girls? What do you mean?"

"I mean, if there was someone else here. She would have been really thrilled and impressed with this date. But you are not like others. Maybe after living in America for two years I kind of forgot how my Mia was…"

Mia looked at him and he looked at her. The disappointment was visible in his eyes. She felt really sad to see that.

"Next time…" He said. "I'll take you to a place which you would like for sure!" The sadness was replaces by the cheerfulness in an instant.

Seeing such a sudden transformation, she smiled at him, "Yes you will. I know."

He smiled back and went to put some music.

"I think you should sleep now…" He said.

"Huh?"

"I know you are tired Mia. You need some sleep. The journey is long."

"No. It's fine. I'll stay up."

"Mia…" He said with a hint of scolding. "This is your boss's order. I want my employee to be fresh at the time of work…"

"But—"

"No buts. Come on, sleep now."

Mia kept denying but in around five minutes she slept off before she could even realize.

"I knew you were tired…" He said as he looked at her soundly sleeping face.

~

The car stopped and Mia heard her name being called as she felt some taps on her shoulders.

Struggling a little, she opened her eyes. "Huh? What?"

"Mia…Mia wake up. We reached." Ray said smiling.

"Oh! We reached?" She wiped her face and rubbed her heavy eyes before looking out from the window of the car.

"Huh?" The place she saw before her was not letting her eyes believe it.

She sat up in surprise and opened the window of the car.

Then she looked back at Ray, who was smiling at her. "Merry Christmas Dear!"

"Huh?" She again looked back, out of the window and hurriedly opened the door.

A wide smile appeared on her face as she was looking at the place before her with tear filled eyes.

"I….I'm home!!!"

~