Then Anna hugged and kissed the children goodbye.
“Mommy, be safe,” Matthew said.
Anna tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Remember to get more rest. You might want to spend more time with Tammy’s friend, by the way. I think she’s adorable.”
Matthew gave an awkward smile, thinking Anna had misunderstood something. Anna hugged Tammy then. It wasn’t until then that she realized her daughter was already taller than she was.
“You’ll be free when I’m not around, Tammy. But I hope you can spend more time on your studies this holiday.”
Tammy turned her head away and ignored Anna. She’d only found out Anna was leaving yesterday, so she’d been upset all night and hadn’t even eaten.
“Well, there’s not much else I need to say. Goodbye, guys.” Waving her hands at them, Anna then walked toward her colleagues. She hadn’t gone more than a few steps when she heard Tammy’s voice, “Mom, I’ll take care of everyone! I’ll keep an eye on Daddy for you. I guarantee no other woman will ever come close to him!”
Thank you, Tammy. That’s so sweet and considerate of you. I’m so lucky to have a wonderful daughter like you. And guys, I’ll return home safe and sound. I promise. At the thought of that, Anna began to cry. She didn’t turn around, afraid the children would see her tears.
The plane flew smoothly through the night, its cruise lights constantly flashing. Anna sat back in her seat, gazing out the window. She couldn’t see anything because it was so dark outside. She wasn’t looking out the window but was thinking about Wayne and the kids as they walked away from the airport.
“Madam, how can I help you?” The flight attendant asked as she brought Anna a blanket, pulling her mind back to the present.
“A glass of wine, please,” Anna replied.
The flight from England to Fleosil would take a day. They had to get to work as soon as they arrived, and there was no time to rest. So, everyone on the plane was sleeping at the time. Anna couldn’t sleep, so she thought a glass of wine might help.
***
Meanwhile in Birmingham, it was already day. Alicia kept telling Tammy to hurry up and leave the house. “Hurry up! The driver has already arrived! We’ll be late if we don’t leave right away.”
Tammy yawned as she left her room. She asked, “Why are you in such a rush?”
“I’m not in a rush! This is the first major task I’ve received since becoming your assistant. Of course, I have to take it seriously!”
The meeting was held at a posh downtown club. Alicia and Tammy arrived half an hour ahead of schedule. They each ordered a glass of juice and waited for Evan, the representative sent by the company, to arrive.
“Evan!” As soon as she saw a man walk in, Alicia stood up and waved at him enthusiastically.
Tammy looked at her and asked, “Have you ever met him? How did you know what he looks like?”
Alicia remained smiling. She whispered to Tammy, “I had planned ahead of time. I went through his Instagram posts from the last two years.”
“Amazing!” exclaimed Tammy, giving Alicia a thumbs up from beneath the table.
Evan was nearly thirty years old. He was dressed formally and carried a briefcase. He smiled when he saw the juice in the hands of the two girls. He said, “You two are much younger than I anticipated. Working at such a young age should be difficult.”
Tammy casually bit into her straw and said, “All jobs are difficult to do. It has nothing to do with age.”
Alicia stepped on Tammy’s foot under the table. She knew Tammy’s last business partnership was canceled because she had spoken too casually.
“Please don’t mind what she said, Evan. We are young, but we know the rules. For this collaboration, we came up with three options,” Saying that, Alicia handed her iPad to Evan.
“Let’s not rush into this,” Evan said as he set the iPad down. He ordered himself a cup of tea. Then he continued, “The copy of the post is unimportant because what we really care about is the KOL’s fan base. Amber doesn’t have a lot of fans, and we have other options. My boss finally agreed to this collaboration because I strongly recommended Amber.”
Hearing that, Tammy laughed and said, “You’re quite insightful.” Not wanting Tammy to ruin the talk, Alicia kicked her under the table again, telling her to stop talking. After that, she put on a smile and said to Evan, “Thank you so much.”
Evan said, “Amber is very attractive, so I think maybe she should consider modeling. She’d make far more money shooting posters and videos than she would do business promotions.”
“Sorry, we don’t have that in mind right now. We are only thinking about doing simple promotion work,” Alicia shook her head and said.
“No, don’t reject me so quickly. In fact, I believe you should think about it further. I’m free this afternoon.”
At that moment, a waiter served him tea. And then, Alicia stood up to help Evan in pouring the tea, uttering, “I believe we should respect Amber’s opinion on this matter. Amber currently has no plans to pursue advertising endorsements, and she enjoys participating in e-sports behind the scenes. In fact, this is beneficial for…”
“Young people have their own dreams. I understand that,” Evan said. Then, he touched Alicia’s hand.
Instantly, the teapot landed heavily on the table with a loud clang after Alicia’s hand shook. She drew her hand back and stared at him, stunned.
Tammy was engrossed in a game on her phone at the time. When she heard the sound, she looked up to see Alicia with an embarrassed expression. “What’s wrong?” Tammy asked suspiciously.
“Nothing,” Alicia said as she sat down.
“Today’s tea isn’t very good, so we’d better talk about it later,” Evan gave Alicia a disapproving look. He then walked away, carrying his briefcase.
“Evan!” Alicia was worried, and she shouted, “Wait!”
Before she could say a word, however, Evan gave her a room key and said, “I’ll be in Birmingham for a few days on business and will stay at this hotel. You can come to see me this evening if you’ve made a decision. We can talk about it again.”
Tammy instantly understood everything when she saw the room card. She frowned and was about to get up and argue with him. Yet, Alicia tightened her grip on her shoulders and told her not to act on impulse.
“That pervert!” Tammy shouted after Evan left.
As it was the first time that Alicia faced this situation, so she had no idea what to do. “He just touched my hand,” she muttered.
“What?” Tammy yelled after hearing that. She stared at the room card on the table and shouted, “That pervert is so screwed!”
In the evening, a hotel waitress pushed a food cart to a room door. She then gently pressed the doorbell. After hearing the doorbell and opening the door, Evan gave her a suspicious look.
“Sir, this is the meal you ordered,” the waitress said. She was dressed professionally in a brown uniform. At the time, she was smiling politely at Evan.
“But I didn’t order anything,” Confused, Evan said to the waitress.
“Really? A lady ordered a meal for you this afternoon and asked that we deliver it to your room,” With her head low, the waitress uttered in a low voice.
Hearing that, Evan smiled and said as the image of Tammy popped up in his mind, “Oh, I know who that person is. Please come in.”
“Okay.” The waitress walked into the room with the food cart. A few seconds later, she stopped, turned around and asked Evan, “Would you want me to open the wine for you?”
“Sure.”
“Sir, you can start with a cup of tea. The wine will taste better if you drink the tea first. This is the Earl Grey tea that the lady ordered for you. She said It’s your favorite.”
With his legs crossed, Evan sat at the table. Taking the tea from the waitress, he sipped his tea slowly with a smug expression on his face.
“All right, have a nice evening,” the waitress said, pushing the food cart out the door.
“Wait. I didn’t say you could leave yet,” said Evan.
Panicked, the waitress froze and asked, “What else can I do for you, sir?”
Evan took out two twenty-dollar bills and placed them on the food cart, saying, “Here’s your tip.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.