Stood up

Few minutes to the closing hour, Ivy got a message from her boyfriend, Alfred. He invited her out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Ivy beamed with excitement and accepted the invitation without hesitation.

She then began to tidy up her desk and powered off her computer. After doing the necessary things, she took her handbag and made her way to the restroom. She relieved herself, retouched her makeup and washed her hands.

After making sure she's not looking bad, she strode out of the restroom. She went back to the office, bade her colleagues goodbye and took off before the closing hour.

"Who cares... It's just five minutes to the closing time." She said to herself as she hurriedly walked to the parking space to get her car.

She hoped in and sped off happily to meet Alfred. She really wanted to first Alfred to get to the restaurant today, because it's always being him waiting for her whenever they go outside to grab a meal together.

Luckily for her, the road was free and in no time she got to her destination. She messaged Alfred to ask of his whereabouts. She was relieved when he replied that he's still at work.

Ivy went inside the restaurant, made a reservation for a table for two and followed the waitress to their table. She ordered a bottle of wine and told the waitress she will order the dishes when her partner comes.

Ivy sipped her wine gracefully, while waiting for Alfred. Ivy chatted with Mira to check up on her, she was so immersed in her phone that she didn't notice when someone walked up to her. She checked the time and realized that it's past an hour already and Alfred isn't there yet.

She raised up her head to see if he's around, but was surprised to see a handsome stranger staring lovely at her.

Ivy stared questionly at the stranger in front of her, "Heyyy, how can I help you?" She continued to access the stranger with a squinted brow.

The man in front of her smiled apologetically to her, "Forgive my impudent behavior, beautiful lady. I was so caught up admiring your beauty that I failed to follow the proper etiquette. My name is Brian, and I would love to get to know you more if you don't mind."

Ivy controlled the urge to rolled her eyes and faked a little smile. She was about to respond when her phone rang, "Excuse me for a moment, I need to take this call." Without waiting for his response, she picked the call and whined softly. "Alfred, what's wrong? Are you still busy? What? You won't be able to make it down here anymore? Okay, it's fine. Take your time, I understand." Ivy hanged up the call and stood up in a bad mood. She completely ignored the person in front of her and walked to the cashier counter, paid for the wine and left the restaurant without looking back.

Ivy was so down after she was stood up by Alfred. She hoped in her car, took out a stick of cigarette and smoked sadly. After smoking six sticks of cigarettes, she felt slightly better. She adjusted her mood and drove off to Alfred's apartment.

She decided to go wait for Alfred at home and order takeout at his place. The thought of seeing him soon elevated her mood, she hummed happily to herself.