The Day He Matured

“I do not promise anything to you but if one day your company wins the bid, I will try to support everything to go smoothly.” Harold withdrew his hand and replied.

“Then… I won’t bother you anymore. Wishing everyone a delicious.”

As soon as Leo left, we all sat down and continued eating.

As soon as I put two fried fish balls into my mouth, Caily suddenly called Richard’s name.

He was standing in the crowd. Looks like he’s going to buy food to take away.

My heart pounded with each step of Richard, not because I was nervous when I saw a man, but because I didn’t know how he would react when he knew I was friends with Harold and Brian was my boss.

“Richard.” I took the initiative to stand up and speak first.

“Hi, are you and Caily having dinner? I even thought you were at home, intending to buy some food to come to your house to eat together. I can’t call you.”

My hand quickly slipped into my bag, rummaged through, and pulled out my phone. The pitch-black screen gave Richard the answer. My phone was out of battery.

He smiled and nodded and turned his gaze to Harold.

“Ah, let me introduce you, this is Mr. Harold.”

“Hi, my name is Richard. Nice to meet you, General Manager Hana.”

Honestly, I was going to introduce more about Harold’s position, but before I could say it, Richard spoke up.

Yes, in the business world, there’s no one who doesn’t know Harold. Although they did not meet him in real life, he was quite famous, constantly appearing in newspapers.

“Hello. I really like your name. If we have a chance to meet, let’s have a meal together. Tonight’s dinner is like a snack.”

After saying that, Harold burst into laughter. Me and Caily also laughed. As for Richard, he just nodded and then pulled a chair next to Harold.

Richard and I haven’t seen each other for a few days, but he looks a lot thinner. I know he is passionate about business but he should also take care of his health.

If only there was a woman next to him, it would be great, she would remind him and take care of him.

I called the waiter to bring Richard a bowl of spicy noodles and then the four of us ate and talked.

It seems that Richard and Harold talk to each other very well. They are all businessmen, highly educated, have ambitions, travel a lot, and know a lot, so they constantly change topics.

Caily and I just focused on eating, there were things they said, I understood, but there were things they said, I heard as if ducks heard thunder, not understanding at all.

Perhaps every time I talked to these two men, they used the most common words for me to understand.

What word should I use to describe it? Roughly speaking, I’m the zero-level spicy noodle bowl, and they’re the top-level spicy noodle bowl. I’m a preschooler, and they’re professors, doctors… Something like that.

“Bella… Bella.” Caily suddenly touched my hand, and her voice trembled.

“Yeah, what’s the matter?” I asked while trying to chew the fish ball in my mouth.

I followed her gaze and I almost choked when I saw a scene resembling the scene from a few years ago in the Li Bai restaurant.

Brian is standing right behind Harold and Richard, next to him is Hellen.

Too bad luck. Is the owner of this restaurant also a friend of Brian’s?

I couldn’t just sit and pretend I was blind, so I swallowed my food quickly and stood up.

“Hello, director.”

Both Harold and Richard turned their heads to look at the same time.

What kind of strange situation is this? I feel like I’m a magnet specializing in attracting handsome, rich men.

But instead of feeling proud of myself, I was so worried that my whole body was cold.

“Oh, you and Hellen also go to eat here?” Harold spoke up, breaking the awkward atmosphere. At least awkward for me.

“Yes. James said that his restaurant opened today, so I came here to have a meal.”

“Hello Mr. Brian, and hello Miss Hellen.”

While Richard also stood up to shake Brian’s hand, Caily and I kept looking at the plate of fried fish balls.

That’s how Richard is, always keeping the minimum politeness even though I know he doesn’t like Brian after the accident in the past.

The proof is that he withdrew the loan documents from Sunshine Bank and borrowed money from another bank, even though when Sunshine Bank was having trouble, he was still one of the businesses that believed in Brian.

I don’t know what they said, but when my ears stopped ringing, I saw Brian and Hellen pulling chairs and sharing a table with us.

I want to leave here. Should I pretend to have a stomach ache and ask Richard to take me home? Maybe Caily has eaten enough, right?

As for Richard, I will cook instant noodles for him and put two more eggs in the bowl of noodles.

After thinking for a while, I put my hand on my stomach and frowned.

“Bella, what’s wrong with you?” Richard quickly recognized my expression and quickly asked.

“Maybe I have a stomachache.” I answered.

“Did you bring your medicine?” Caily asked.

Oh, of course, I brought my medicine, but I won’t nod. I shook my head vehemently.

This play was so honest that even Harold was fooled, he offered to take me home, but I refused, turning to Richard to ask for help.

“We’ll leave first.”

Richard spoke up and then helped me out of the restaurant. Caily also ran after us.

Leaving that place, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief, the atmosphere just now was so frustrating.

After taking Caily to her inn, Richard continued to drive the car toward my inn.

Maybe he knew I was pretending, so he didn’t mention going to the pharmacy to buy stomach medicine. We’ve been close for two years, how could he not notice?

“Can you cook instant noodles for me?” Richard suggested when the car just stopped.

“Yes.” I smiled and replied softly.

Because I was afraid Richard would feel sad when he ate alone, I took some cakes, sat next to him, and savored little by little.

Listening to him talk, I just found out that in the past two days, he was on a business trip in the mountainous area, taking many majestic and beautiful pictures of nature. He just got back to the city at six o’clock tonight.

It seems that he does not know anything about Harold’s comment line because he does not surf Facebook, he also created an account but has not logged in for a long time.

“Richard.”

“Uh, you just say it.”

“AD Company is a subsidiary of Hana Group and currently, Brian is appointed as sales director. He let me be his personal secretary. As for Harold, I’ve only known him for a few days.”

Although Richard did not ask, I still reported the current situation first.

He gently reached out his hand, brushed away the stray hairs in front of me, and smiled. The smile is kind but sad.

“Bella, I still say that, if you feel tired and too difficult, please come to my company.”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Tears welled up in my eyes, I couldn’t hold back my emotions, so I laid my head on his shoulder to find a little warmth.

Of course, I was tired, so tired that I wanted to give up. However, I really don’t want to give up.

Life is still long, ahead is full of thorns, if I am not strong enough to face the present, how can I continue to live?

I can’t just depend on others, I have to grow up.

Nothing is permanent. Before, when I was with Brian, being cared for and worried by him little by little, I thought that I didn’t need to grow up.

However, that love story did not last long, and now, I have to shoulder it all by myself.

“Thank you, Richard. I’m fine.” I let go of his shoulder, gesturing for him to continue eating.

Richard gave his phone to me. I took it and quickly sent all the pictures of the mountains and terraces to my phone.

So beautiful, I feel so small when I look at the pictures. If I have the opportunity, I will definitely go to that highland once, immerse myself in the majestic, unspoiled, and beautiful nature to relax my soul.

Soon after, I posted them on my personal page with the caption: “Please return me to the innocent area at that time, not knowing melancholy because of my wandering life.”

Less than a minute later, the notification came, and the first person to drop the heart was Harold, he also commented that he would take me there and asked if it was the northern mountainous region.

I quickly responded that was correct. Just like that, the number of responses under the comments increased gradually.

I don’t know if he has returned to the company or is still sitting at the restaurant, but I didn’t ask.

“Do you only take pictures of the scenery, not yourself?” I was playing with the phone and asked Richard.

“Yes. In the future, if I have the opportunity to take you with me, I will take pictures for you.”

That’s right, Richard doesn’t like taking pictures of himself. He lives very realistically, not virtual like me.

After last night, my followers increased, and waiting messages also piled up.

Most of them are people I don’t know who send friend requests but I don’t agree so they become followers.

I’m not a public figure, I don’t stand out so they won’t want to follow me. They made friends with me just because the general manager of Hana Corporation suddenly enthusiastically liked and commented on a girl’s photo.

As far as I know through a few lines of comments from strangers, he has never interacted like that with anyone before.