Chief Doctor, Please Stop

Chapter 8 An Unexpected Reunion

Nino gets off work half an hour early and takes the metro straight to Upper Liqua Hotel International.

It is unexpected that on entering the hotel she immediately sees that man she hasn’t seen for so many days, Yasin Jing.

Today, this man looks slightly different than usual.

Instead of that status-symbolizing big white coat, he wears a well-textured, deep-colored, check suit.

It is obvious the tailoring of the suit comes from the design of a famous foreign company. The line of the suit perfectly shapes his lean and strong physique, thoroughly expressing a humble elegance on him.

He crosses his legs, lazily sits on the sofa, and looks far at the bustling city skyline outside the windows. The gaze of his eyes is further deepened.

He seems to be waiting for someone.

His slender fingers rhythmically tapping the table which indicates his patience is slowly wearing out.

Nino is about to look away. Surprisingly, he looks to her direction.

Their eyes clash directly. Nino’s panic is all of a sudden caught by him that not enough time is left to make the slightest adjustment.

Nino takes a seat hastily with her back against him and takes a deep breath trying to calm her nerves a little.

As she reaches into her bag of files and plans to call the client, but before she finds the file, the phone in the bag rings suddenly.

Nino thinks it must be the client and hurries to turn on her phone.

A glance of the caller ID on the phone has her dumbfounded.

The caller ID shows a set of unknown numbers, which is not saved in her contact. But this set of numbers comprised of those digits is like a knife carving in the depth of her soul. Even though 4 years have passed, it hasn’t been eroded away by time, it has become deeply memorized instead.

This is the phone number of Yasin Jing, the same number from 4 years ago.

But, how does he have her contact? Her number has been changed as early as when she left S City.

Nino turns her head and looks to his direction. And he is also looking at her mildly, with his phone by his ear.

Nino hesitates for a moment but presses the answer button after all.

"Are you planning to discuss the plan with me from across the tables?"

Yasin Jing’s deep voice is plainly and clearly expressed over the phone.

"Huh?" Nino is puzzled.

"Or we should just discuss it over the phone?"

Nino suddenly comes back to her senses, hurries to open the client files, and pauses.

Frustrated, she knocks on her dumb head and regrets a little at this point that she hasn’t read the client’s file earlier. © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

"Miss Yin, you don’t even learn about the basic information of your clients in advance?" Obviously, he is unsatisfied with her approach to work.

"My apologies." Nino apologizes immediately.

Because she had to get off work half an hour early, the work on her hand was condensed. After she took over the file from the general director this afternoon, she hadn’t got time to skim it and had been busy until the moment she came here.

"Doctor Jing, I’ll be right there."

Nino finishes, hangs the phone, hastily picks up the files and walks towards the Yasin’s table, biting the bullet.

She stands by Yasin’s table.

"Hello, Doctor Jing."

She greets Yasin professionally, perfectly distanced and extremely formal, "My apologies. I didn’t know it was you."

Yasin Jing, his legs crossed siting there lazily and his deep eyes falling on Nino’s serene visage, explains tastelessly, "I also came to know only half an hour ago."

Nino smiles slightly, pushes the files in her hand over before Yasin, cuts to the chase, "Dr Jing, do you have any specific requirement for your house design? You may have a look here. These are all the decoration design themes. Let me know if there’s any particular one that suits your taste."

Yasin, his eye lids raised, doesn’t look at the file she hands over, "I’m hungry. Let’s eat first."

Nino pauses for half a second, smiles in relief, and withdraws the files in her hand, "Sorry, forgive me for being impolite."

In fact, she isn’t like this usually. Usually, when she discusses plans with clients, she always remembers small talks to say some pleasant words and slowly starts the topic. But, not with Yasin Jing, she only impatiently wants to get to the point and finishes this meeting with the shortest time.

"Waiter!"

Yasin asks for the waiter, "Order."

Soon, the waiter comes with the menus, one for each. Nino takes it but doesn’t order anything. Yasin orders himself unconcernedly, "a beef stew in red wine, a vegie chicken skewers, a dish of small potatoes in gravy, a French cream cauliflower soup, and one desert red wine poached apples with cinnamon. That’s all."

He neatly and elegantly makes the order, closes the menu, and hands back to the waiter. From start to finish, he hasn’t asked any opinion of Nino on the other side.

"Mr. Jing, that’s a lot of food. Can we two finish them?" Finally, Nino puts forth a dissent, showing her frugality.

Yasin merely looks up without answering her dissent.

Nino shuts up accordingly.

Soon, the food arrives. The overflowing fragrance makes Nino feel a little hungry. As she picks up the chopsticks about to eat, she sees that Yasin doesn’t want to eat at all. She can’t help but ask, "Aren’t you hungry? Why don’t you eat?"

"I don’t want to eat yet. You go ahead."

He replies mildly, with his eyes looking out the windows, no longer saying anything.