Maddock stole a glance at Duran, and sure enough, he had his eyes fixed on Evelyn.
Her beauty pulled even Maddock into a trance, let alone Duran, who loved a woman in a cheongsam.
Evelyn shook hands with Maddock, who was closest to her, and then turned to Duran.
She apologized, "I'm sorry, Mr. Xie. It was my fault yesterday. I'm here to apologize."
"That's all right, Miss Huo. It's an honor to have been waiting for such a beauty like you. Please, have a seat," Duran said with a pretended ease.
Evelyn was led to the seat of honor. She listened quietly as Nadia introduced the others to her. "Miss Huo, this is our supplier, Mr. Li. And this is Mr. Zhang…"
The gathering was a bit unusual, considering that the contract was not settled yet. But Maddock and Duran seemed anxious enough for her to meet the suppliers.
She nodded at the others in greeting.
After downing a few glasses of liquor, Maddock said, "Miss Huo, we're waiting for another important guest. He'll be here soon. I suggest we wait to ask the server to bring the dishes until he gets here. I hope that's all right with you."
Evelyn wasn't pleased. Who was important enough to keep her waiting? She said in a flat tone, "Please ask this person to make it quick. I have another appointment to get to in half an hour."
"Oh! I'll ask his whereabouts right away." Evelyn cast a casual glance at the empty seat to her right. It was for their last guest.
About five minutes later, the doors to the private room opened, and in came Tobias and the waiter. They held the doors open on either side for the man behind them.
As Evelyn watched, Sheffield walked in, wearing a wine-red plaid suit. "Oh, Mr. Tang! You're here!" Duran exclaimed. They all stood up to welcome him with the same enthusiasm with which they had welcomed Evelyn.
"Hello, Duran. I was having dinner with Mr. Yan upstairs. I excused myself since you invited me here," Sheffield replied with a smile. He glanced around the room and his eyes fell on the woman sitting quietly in the seat of honor.
For a moment, he froze.
But it was normal for them to run into each other at such a place since they were in the same city and were both in the same business circle.
His gaze shifted to her dress. 'What is she wearing?
Is that a cheongsam?
Evelyn is wearing a cheongsam?' Sheffield finally understood why Duran seemed unusually enthusiastic.
"Please take a seat, Mr. Tang. We've been waiting for you." As one of the most popular and rich men in Y City, there were many who wanted to play up to Sheffield. And thanks to his relationship with Peterson, Duran had been able to get Sheffield's phone number.
Sheffield was led to the seat next to Evelyn. Maddock pulled his chair for him and said, "We saved the best seat for you, Mr. Tang, right next to the beautiful Miss Huo." Currently, the only enterprise in Y City that had the strength to compete against ZL Group was Theo Group, but ZL Group was still much more powerful than Theo Group.
Hence, it was only natural that the guests felt that Sheffield had the rights to sit next to Evelyn Huo.
Sheffield took his seat, and looked at the silent woman beside him. He smiled, his eyes sparkling with affection. "Miss Huo, you look gorgeous today. I've never seen you in a cheongsam before." He didn't know that she liked wearing them at all.
Evelyn smiled back at him gracefully and said, "Thank you, Mr. Tang. You look handsome as well."
Mr. Zhang cut in, "You make a cute couple."
The others echoed, praising them both.
After a toast to the powerful couple, Duran asked the waiter to serve the dishes.
Once they were served, Evelyn glanced around at the hot dishes.
There were no greens in sight. She recognized some of the dishes—fish maw with abalone sauce, braised Japanese abalone, stewed crocodile paw with white truffles, steamed Alaska King Crab, braised whelk meat, black and red caviar and wild large yellow croaker.
Even Evelyn, who often dined at this restaurant, had never ordered so many expensive dishes all at once.
Grabbing the caviar from the waiter, Duran placed a plate in front of Evelyn and said, "Miss Huo, top caviar is a very rare delicacy. We're very lucky that we got this today!"
There was a share of the caviar for everyone. The waiter announced proudly, "This fine caviar in front of you is from the body of a 60-year-old Chinese paddlefish. It's incredibly rare and valuable. We hope you enjoy it."
Sheffield raised his eyebrows and said casually, "Age is the key to good caviar. The older the fish, the better the caviar. And since we are lucky enough to have such fine caviar today, I suggest we open a bottle of champagne. Nothing can beat the combination of some good champagne and caviar. It brings out the best flavors, just like a man with the right woman."
Evelyn pondered over his words. She knew that he meant it in an erotic way. Or was she just overthinking?
Turned out that she wasn't the only one who got that feeling. Duran grinned when he caught Sheffield's erotic subtext. "You're absolutely right, Mr. Tang. Waiter, bring us two of your best champagne bottles!"
"Of course, sir, right away."
Evelyn had had caviar before. But this was the first time she had heard anyone associate caviar and champagne with sex.
She braved a glance at Sheffield only to find that he was also looking at her. The smile in his eyes didn't fade as he took in all of her beauty.
She shook her head slightly with a small smile and stood up from her seat. "Excuse me, I need to use the restroom."
However, she had only taken two steps when she heard Sheffield say behind her, "Excuse me, I need to use the restroom as well. Miss Huo, please wait. Let me accompany you."
'Huh?' Evelyn turned around and said as calmly as she could, "There's only one restroom in the booth. Would you like to go first, Mr. Tang?"
"No, let's use the one outside. I need to talk to you." He held out his hand like a gentleman, gesturing her to step outside first. It didn't seem like he would take "no" for an answer.
And Evelyn was curious to know what he wanted to talk about, so she walked out with him.
The minute Sheffield closed the door behind him, the group began to gossip. "Does Mr. Tang have a thing for Evelyn Huo?"
"Well, it makes sense that he likes her. She's beautiful and rich. I don't think any man in the world could resist her."
"I think they are acquainted. When Mr. Tang first walked in, his eyes immediately fell on Miss Huo." "
That's right! And if they didn't know each other already, why would Sheffield say that he needed to talk to her?"
