Out of Town

Midori who was missing from the celebrations was actually already in the familiar Cayenne being driven away from the competition venue.

"Hey, what's with the rush? I thought we will be leaving tomorrow?" Midori furrowed her brows in confusion.

"I am taking this as travel time so that we can spend more time on other things. Besides, Aunty Aoi already agreed on this." Dan flashed his bright smile.

"My mom agreed that we will go somewhere for 3 days starting tomorrow." she tried to remind him.

"I called her today to ask permission regarding this and she agreed." He chuckled.

"Ha-How did you get her number?" She looked at him suspiciously.

"Relax. I called the home phone and they gave her contact details. I'm not that creepy to make people dig on the personal info of your mom...although I could..." He gave her a knowing smile while moving his brows up and down.

Midori gaped and looked at him unbelievably. Then she changed her expression as if remembering something.

"Hey! I haven't packed my things yet!" She panicked.

"Aunty Lan made sure your personal maid packed all your necessities. They're in the trunk." Dan was proud of himself for making all arrangements.

Just then, Midori looked out the window and realized that they have arrived at the airport.

"Air travel? I knew we were going out of town, but...uhm, I don't think Aunty Lan has my passport and visa." Midori was quite annoyed by how spontaneous things were going.

Dan flashed his smile, amused of her reaction. "Domestic flight."

The car stopped. The driver proceeded to empty the trunks of their baggage.

Before getting out of the car, Dan handed her a paperbag. "Go and change." He motioned inside the airport.

Midori complied. She went to one of the restrooms and started taking off her uniform in one of the cubicles. This time, Dan has given her casual clothes, a lilac ruffled chiffon blouse and white shorts, with a pair of white strappy flats. To her surprise, it came with a pair of seamless light gray underwear and white hairband. She reluctantly put everything on. She cleaned her face off from the makeup. Afterwhich, she assessed herself on the mirror and thought that the combination was pretty cute.

'This is too girly, even for his taste. I wonder if I'm just being his girlfriend for show.' She laughed at her own thoughts.

Before she went out, her phone beeped. She gently shook her head, thinking it must be Dan, impatiently waiting outside.

Dan flashed his brightest smile as she walked out from the restroom. He thought she was stunning even with casual clothes on.

She was still preoccupied with her phone, so he tried to get her attention.

"Something wrong?" he casually asked, trying to take a peek on her phone.

She immediately shoot up her gaze to him, and shoving her phone in her bag, shook her head smiling. "Nothing. They were just asking where I had gone to." Actually, this was partially true. Mei really sent her a message regarding her whereabouts, but it was not the notification which caught her attention.

Dan was not fully convinced, but he decided to play along, respecting her privacy. "Mei?"

"Mhm." She nodded, smiling and trying to pretend nothing was amiss. She brushed off her thoughts.

"Shall we go then?" he asked, trying to get her uniform bag from her.

She handed it to him and smiled. "Okay."

Midori was asleep most of the plane ride due to exhaustion.

Dan wrapped her in his arm, adjusting her blanket every now and then. He was still bothered by her facial expression a while back, but he knew that looking through her phone would just be too low.

Night has fallen when they arrived at the hotel.

The staff in black uniforms took their luggage into their room.

"Hungry?" asked Dan while patting her head.

"Mhm." she nodded while smiling. "I wonder how the restaurant looks like." She said this because the lobby has traditional decór.

Dan just smiled and held her hand. He led her to the lake.

Upon seeing the boat with a red lamp hanging on its side, Midori was astonished. Its table was also filled with traditional dishes with a steaming pot of tea.

"You don't mind eating like this, do you?" He lovingly looked at her delightful face.