After carrying her piggyback style for quite a while, Wesley was surprisingly not that tired. Even with his minimal sweating, Blair still offered to wipe his face.
He did not refuse her kind gesture and just let her do as she pleased while he browsed through the menu. "Which do you prefer? Western or Chinese? Well, it's fine whichever you like. They have them both here."
"I would like the steak."
"Okay then."
Wesley gestured that they were ready to order, and a waiter arrived at their table. Blair went to throw the napkin she wiped Wesley's face with and when she got back to her seat, she asked the waiter, "What kind of hot drinks do you serve?" She turned to look at Wesley and added, "I think you would like something hot to drink as well."
"Hmm. I don't think I want it. I'm fine with a glass of water." He turned to the waiter and asked, "Do you have any hot drink available?"
"Yes, sir. We have hot coffee, milk tea, and an assortment of fruit juice," the waiter replied.
Blair chose to have a steak set and a glass of fruit juice. Wesley, on the other hand, ordered a bowl of noodle soup.
Blair had seen it coming. Wesley was not that big of a fan of Western food after all.
It was not long before their meals arrived. The steak came first. Blair was hungry and took a hearty bite off the steak. However, the longer she chewed it, the more she lost her appetite. By the time Wesley's food reached their table, she'd grown fully sated of her steak that she couldn't stop looking at it.
Wesley noticed how intently Blair was looking at his noodles and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing," Blair replied as she shook her head.
He lowered his head to start eating the noodles. When he checked up on Blair, he noticed she hadn't touched it since his food came. "What's the matter? You don't like it? Does it not taste good?"
Blair's cheeks grew warm as she smiled coyly. She had eaten a lot of steaks when she was in England. This steak did not taste like how she remembered it. Fairly enough, one could not expect good quality food from a restaurant inside an amusement park. The steak tasted terrible. "No, it's quite alright," she lied.
However, Wesley saw right through her fib. He removed the plate in front of her and told her, "Order another dish."
Blair did not contest his suggestion and nodded. "Hmm. How about your noodles? Is it any good?"
Wesley was not that much of a foodie, so he replied nonchalantly, "Not too shabby."
"How about we just exchange our dishes?" Blair suggested hesitantly.
"But I've already taken a few bites off it."
She shook her head. "It's okay. I don't really mind." They had kissed more than a few times, so she figured sharing the same bowl of noodles was not really that big of a deal.
The soldier thought otherwise. He did not want Blair to have anything he had already eaten from. He answered, "No. I'll order you a fresh bowl."
"No, no. Just let me taste it first. What if I don't like it either? It would be a waste of food." Blair was aware Wesley was not a fan of extravagance and wastefulness.
He moved his bowl closer to Blair and placed her dish in front of him. Once they had settled everything, Wesley started inhaling the steak.
She took a spoonful of the noodles and immediately disliked it. 'Oh my God. It's no better than the steak. Is this even safe to consume?' she wondered. She really was not a picky eater, but the food sold inside the amusement park was really terrible. They were also fairly expensive.
What was confusing for her was the man in front of her. He ate the steak with a straight face, as if it was not the exact thing she tasted. He didn't complain about the flavor and just accepted it.
Blair immediately felt a pang of guilt. She shouldn't complain so much. She was fortunate enough to at least have something to eat.
She gathered enough determination to continue eating the noodles. She was so focused to keep it in. After a painful first few bites, she couldn't help but slow down again.
"Is it bad, too?"
Wesley asked. Blair hastily stuffed another mouthful of noodles to her mouth and shook her head. "No, no! It's very delicious."
She swallowed it and took a swig of her fruit juice right after. The juice helped so much in concealing the noodles' awful taste.
Wesley gave her a long look and gestured to a waiter. "Do you serve any spicy food here?" He remembered she liked spicy food.
Blair looked at him in confusion. "Not full yet?"
"Yup," Wesley answered. He didn't offer any kind of explanation.
The waiter mentioned a few spicy dishes for them; then Wesley asked Blair to choose what appealed to her the most.
As soon as the waiter left, Wesley took the half-finished bowl of noodles away from Blair and placed it in front of him. She was confused and wanted to take the noodles back. He then pointed to the plate and said, "I'm still hungry. This is a large noodle bowl. I'll finish it. Wait for the spicy dishes."
Blair was touched by Wesley's kind gesture.
She sipped her warm fruit juice as she watched the man in front of her gobble the very distasteful noodles. "Wesley, how are you so easily pleased? You just accept things as they are. You can make do with everything."
He paused and shrugged. "Well, I'm a soldier. I've experienced an awful lot of much harsher situations." There were times when he was unable to obtain food for two days. Some missions were really tough like that. He gradually stopped caring about the flavors of the food. As long as he was getting enough nutrition, any food was okay.
Blair couldn't help but let out a sigh upon hearing his words. She had never suffered from starvation or any kind of hardship growing up.
Even after her parents' passing, she was taken in by her uncle's family. She was kind of sheltered there. There were times when she felt guilty of spending her uncle's money. She tried her best to manage her money. Aside from that, she'd lived a pretty easy life.
Even the part-time job she had while she was still attending school was easy and comfortable. She mostly worked as a home tutor.
On the other hand, Wesley was born into a wealthy and powerful family. He was a descendant of the Li family. He never had to worry about money. He was set to never experience any kind of inconvenience in his life.
He'd trained for ten years in the military. His body and mind were honed thoroughly. From such rigid training, he had become an enduring man. He could have a comfortable and lavish life had he chosen to stay at home. Instead, he needed to stay outside all the time to serve his country. Despite his family's wealth, he never had the chance to savor his life. Blair's heart ached when she thought of it.
The spicy dishes arrived on their table in no time. As expected, they were god awful tasting, too. Nonetheless, these were so much better than the noodles or the steak. Blair ate most of it without saying a word.
She was getting full, but there was still some food left. Wesley ate what remained of Blair's food. He was not to let any of the food go to waste.
They stayed seated at their table for a while because Wesley had to answer a call. He was receiving a dozen of calls the whole morning. He said they were very important and he couldn't ignore them.
Blair browsed through the Happy Valley map. When she saw that Wesley had ended the call, she asked, "Do you want to see some live performances this afternoon?"
"It's up to you." He had decided to make this day all about her.
"I want to watch a lot! I would like to see 'A Love Story of Butterflies, ' 'Madam White Snake, ' and some other historical Chinese stories. I checked the reviews and people said the shows are excellent," she excitedly told Wesley.
"Okay."
They spent the whole afternoon watching every performance Blair wanted to see. It was dusk by the time they left Happy Valley. Blair fell asleep as soon as they settled down in the car.
Wesley shook his head upon the sight of Blair's sleeping face. They didn't walk that much after lunch; they only traveled from theater to theater. They spent half of their day sitting, and sitting was not at all tiring. How she managed to drain all her energy baffled Wesley.
Blair was exhausted. Maybe it was because she was up since six. It was fair. She didn't have enough sleep and she spent most of the day playing around the theme park.
Before Wesley dropped Blair off, they first went to the fifth floor of Alioth Building for dinner.
She was ready to dive into her bed when they reached her apartment, but before she could do that Wesley stopped her to say something. "Two nights from now, there will be an evening show for the soldiers. Each soldier can bring a plus one. Would you like to come with me?"
'Evening show? That sounds interesting.' Blair nodded and said, "Oh, yes. You can count me in."
Wesley flashed a smile upon hearing Blair's answer. "Okay. I'll come to pick you up then."
"Okay, great!"
The following morning, Blair awoke to a text message from a former colleague in the Jin Group. The message was so startling it felt like she'd had her morning coffee.
"Blair, a little bird told me Mr. Jin had assigned Filberta as a manager of a branch company. I heard she's going to be transferred to a remote area. If she were to decline the transfer, Mr. Jin's wife would expose the photos containing her being assaulted by multiple people. Also, some people from the government came to inspect the Jin Group. They specifically audited the accounts of the translation department. Turns out they found anomalies and that pressured Mr. Jin to shut down the translation department."
Blair stared blankly at her phone. She was lost without thought after everything she had just read. This was the exact same thing she wished for while complaining to Joslyn. Everything she prayed for came true.
Did Wesley order someone to do this?
She couldn't help but let out a sigh. He was never good with sweet or romantic words. He only showed his resolve with actions.
On the night of the evening show, Blair and Wesley arrived at the military camp together. The other soldiers clamored at the sight of the two together.
Wesley scanned the faces of the soldiers around him and then proceeded to introduce Blair with so much composure. "Everyone, this is my friend, Blair Jing."
