FULL NOVELXO Chapter Double Date
It became evident that Kyle had been trying to get in touch with me to tell me about this unexpected dinner of ours.
"Was the traffic bad?" Ace asked to make conversation.
"It's the usual. Should we order to get it out of the way?" Elizabeth suggested.
She waved her hand elegantly and the manager quickly provided two more menus for Elizabeth and Kyle before he stood and waited patiently for us to place our orders. I had completely lost interest in the food options available by that time and it didn't matter that Ace had mentioned that the food here was good and that it would suit my liking. Whatever appetite that I had died a quick death and all I could focus on was trying to come up with a plausible reason as to why Elizabeth was joining us on our dinner date.
"What would you like to have, Rina?" Ace asked as he turned to look at me.
"Umm...can you just order for me?" I replied without even glancing down at the menu in my hand.
"Sure..." Ace replied casually before talking to the manager to place orders for us.
I could feel Elizabeth's eyes on me and when I looked up, I found her looking straight at me with an unreadable expression on her face for a moment before her lips curved into what looked like a pleased smile She seemed to be in a very cheerful mood despite having crashed my dinner date with Ace. On top of that, I had no idea why she decided to drag Kyle along.
Did she willingly bring him here or did he drag himself along with her?
For the life of me, I had no idea what was going on or why we were all having dinner together this way. The four of seated at one table together for dinner was one of the weirdest occurrences that had ever happened in my life. Kyle looked a little tired like he hadn't been getting enough sleep for a period of time while Elizabeth looked radiant and perfectly dressed.
Compared to her, I realized that I was probably not dressed to impressed at the moment. The walk that I went through during my little mission left my hair in a slight mess and my clothes were definitely far from being in pristine condition. I immediately regretted not touching up my make up before heading to join Ace at his car because I was just rushing to see him.
I had no idea when the manager left us but when I looked up again the four of us were the only ones at the dining table. So far only Ace and Elizabeth had spoken while Kyle and I didn't seem to know what to say. I felt more and more uncomfortable with each passing moment.
"Elizabeth asked to join us for dinner today and I thought that it was a good idea," Ace explained the situation in short.
Why did he even think that it was a good idea for her to join us and did he know that she would be bringing Kyle along as well?
That was what I wanted to ask but I bit down on my tongue and decided to keep silent until we were alone. I tried my best to appear polite and undisturbed by the fact that she was sitting right in front of me. "I hope you don't mind us joining you. I even brought Kyle along because I thought that having him here will make the dinner feel less formal. He can talk to Karina while we discuss some business, you know..." Elizabeth said before she flashed a smile my way.
It took a lot of effort for me to return her smile. Frankly, I was too shocked to say anything. I was scared that if I opened my mouth, I would end up saying something that I shouldn't. "You didn't have to bring me here along with you if this is just a business meeting," Kyle mumbled what sounded like a complaint.
"Why? I thought you're always so interested in where I go and who I happen to meet up with. So I thought that it would be a great opportunity to invite you here with me this time around. After all, I found out from Ace that Karina would be here too," Elizabeth said followed by a small laugh.
I had no idea what she found so amusing about this whole situation and it was clear that she was trying to put both Kyle and me on the spot. Hopefully, Kyle had enough intelligent capacity to realize what his dear wife was doing. As for Ace, he didn't seem to care much about what the other couple was saying to each other.
"Elizabeth asked to have dinner with me this evening, but I told her that we already had plans. So, she asked if she could join. Honesty, I'm a little surprise that she brought you along with her," Ace explained to me casually before turning to address Kyle for the first time.
It seemed like Ace didn't know that Kyle would be turning up along with Elizabeth. I could sense that Ace wasn't at all pleased to be sharing a dining table with Kyle and I could figure out why that was the case. He probably viewed Kyle the same way that I saw Elizabeth. Except, I haven't been meeting up with Kyle in secret. Well, not that often and not without a good cause anyways...
"Well, now that we're all here. Let's just enjoy this dinner together..." Kyle said diplomatically.
"There's actually not much business that we need to discuss today so we can keep things informal and just enjoy the evening together. Isn't that just a great?" Elizabeth chimed in with a musical laugh. "It's not a bad idea for you and Karina to get better acquainted," Ace said with an agreeable nod of his head.
I was even more confused than I was before at Ace's words. Why should I get better acquainted with Elizabeth?
--To be continued...