Chapter 29 - Necessary Expense (1/2)

”No, sir. I hate potatoes. I totally hate potatoes.”

Tohru James blinked several times at Yanee's bland answer accompanied by an equally bland expression and threw back his head and laughed. What a silly girl!

He didn't mind it at all, though. Instead, a mischievous glint shone in his eyes.

”Then shouldn't you have ordered something else?” he suggested as he raised a hand to call forth the waiter, but Yanee stopped him.

”It's alright,” she said hurriedly as she semi-dove onto the table so she could touch his arm to stop him from calling staff.

Tohru looked at the hands anchored on his arm and his face lifted in amusement.

”Er… I-I-I…” she stuttered before her voice trailed off as she realized what she'd done.

He watched as Yanee turned scarlet like a ripe tomato with her eyes wide and quickly let go of his hand as if burned. She returned to her seat looking annoyed which amused him further.

”You, what? You don't want to order something else?” he prompted and she shook her head. ”And then?”

”I'm on a diet. But I forgot,” she said afterwards through gritted teeth and he now understood why she was so upset with eating some potatoes.

Tohru had ordered salad earlier before she arrived, and so, when the food came, he immediately switched their plates.

”Er…boss? It's not a potato,” she said as she stared at the variety of greens on her plate.

”It's not potato? Then heavens must have heard your silent prayer,” he told her with a wink as he opened his plate and used his fork to start eating Yanee's dish.

Seeing that he's eating the potato dish she had ordered in her stead, her eyes widened before an emotion akin to sadness passed in them and was reflected by her small smile.

”Right. Heaven's heard that potato's bad for me,” she commented enigmatically as she started eating her greens.

Tohru then wondered if he should have let her eat the potato instead. She had looked like someone who was reminded of something that's bad for them. Even if she was reluctant, she had chosen to let it go than try and fight him over for it.

He wondered what happened. But he didn't say anything as he was sure that he wouldn't get any answer from her anyway. Yanee, as he had surmised already from the beginning was like a wild deer: cautious – too cautious. She looked like someone who'd totally bolt towards the opposite direction when he showed his real intention.

It was why he was doing all these troubles in the first place. If she was more inclined to romance, it wouldn't be this complicated that he needed to rally his group of friends to help him out.

”So, boss, what are you doing here?” she asked.

Suspicion laced her voice, and he cleared his throat to try to make things more professional. He shrugged. ”I received a call from one of the interviewees and he seems to be here in South Korea so I came.”

Yanee frowned. ”Wouldn't it be better to email me about it instead, boss? I mean if there are changes in the itinerary?”

Tohru grinned. Indeed, it's hard to trick this girl. But he had already prepared an answer to that. He couldn't tell her the real reason after all. If he told Yanee that it was because of his brothers' long-distance PDA with their wives that he felt like seeing her too, she would be shocked.