Chapter 4: -||chapter four - Coffee & Cream||-
"The rumor that the beautiful Princess that the Crown Prince saved was his lover. Even though the Princess came from a kingdom that rivaled theirs, the King wasn't happy with the rumors so he ordered the Crown Prince to get rid of the rumors as soon as possible. Following the King's order, the Crown Prince sent a letter to the Princess to set up a meeting to find a solution for their problem.
The Crown Prince and the Princess met again to decide on an effective solution but they didn't know that this meeting will result in a bigger problem."
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Standing in the clothing section of her enormous walk-in closet, Lu Zhi tried on a few dresses before settling onto a coffee-colored, loose palazzo-style trousers and a white blouse. She didn't want to wear something flashy or eye-catching so she decided on this simple yet elegant. She chose to wear her 4-inch high, beige colored platform heels that she had bought from a high end luxury brand from Paris. There were only a few things that Lu Zhi was truly obsessed about and clothes and footwear were two of them. She was especially crazy about high heels. Lu Zhi loved wearing high heels so much so that currently she has over 10,000 pairs of just high heels.
Another thing that she was crazy about, it's jewelry. Her love for all these things was one of the reasons that she chose to become a fashion and jewelry designer. She had so many pieces of jewelry that she could easily start not one but three jewelry stores of her own. Half of the money she earned was spent on buying the things that she loved to wear.
Lu Zhi carefully picked out a pair of high quality pearly earrings, a gold layered necklace and a diamond and pearl ring that she had purchased in an auction last summer. She styled her hair in loose curls and put on light makeup before dressing up. Satisfied with her appearance, Lu Zhi chose to carry a cream colored handbag and stepped out of her room.
She had decided on the newly opened Lake View Café for the lunch meeting with Zhang Yi Chen. It was just half an hour away from her place but Lu Zhi had forgotten to consider the amount of traffic that she was going to face on her 30 minutes journey.
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Dressed up in a coffee-colored 3 piece suit with a cream white shirt underneath, Zhang Yi Chen had arrived at the Lake View Café 15 minutes before prior to the scheduled time and was now waiting for Lu Zhi to arrive. He hoped that she was feeling okay and wasn't feeling too much troubled because of that absurd article and whatever nonsense those news channels were spouting.
As he waited for Lu Zhi to arrive, Yi Chen scrolled through and replied to some important emails. It wasn't in his nature to enjoy some leisure time by doing just nothing. His father had instilled in him that every second of every passing minute was important for them and he should not waste his time doing nothing when he could make millions.
Lu Zhi arrived about half an hour later than the scheduled time and the first thing that she did when she spotted him was apologize. "I am so sorry for the delay, I had no idea that I would encounter so much traffic." she said as she sat down on the chair opposite to his.
"It's okay." assured Yi Chen. He was a little surprised when he noticed what she was wearing. She was dressed in the same colors as his; they looked like those couples who wore coordinated outfits. Call it fate, or call it a coincidence, but both of them were wearing color-coordinated clothes, similar shades of coffee, cream , and white. And to think that they were in a Café wearing such colors, the simple thought made Yi Chen chuckle.
"What?" Yi Chen quickly masked his amusement as he noticed that Yu Zhi was looking at him with questioning eyes and a soft smile on her face.
"Nothing." he shook his head lightly. "So, how do you suggest we deal with these rumors?"
"Well," Lu Zhi drawled and awkwardly shifted on her seat before continuing, "Firstly, I want to apologize to you for dragging you into this mess. I should have paid more attention to what's happening around me."
Zhang Yi Chen shook his head lightly, and said, "Why are you apologizing? It is not your fault, so you need not apologize to me. It was an unfortunate situation, and you are the victim of it so if there's anyone who need to apologize, it is that pervert and not you. Definitely not you."
"But I should have been careful with what was being served to me. Had I paid attention, I wouldn't have gotten into this mess in the first place." Lu Zhi felt like hitting herself for being so careless. She was never the one to be careless about anything, especially her own safety. It kind of irked her that a little mistake on her part would have ruined her.
"Don't be so hard on yourself. You are not at fault, Miss Lu, in fact, you are the victim here. Both of us are victims of this situation that a few mindless jerks in the media have created for us. So stop apologizing, and let's order something for lunch, we need the energy to deal with such halfwit idiots." Yi Chen smiled at Lu Zhi and handed her the menu card.
A gentle smile curved upon her lips as Lu Zhi took the menu card from Yi Chen. Their fingers brushed against each other slightly and it caused Yi Chen to pull his hand back hastily. Lu Zhi gave him a shy smile and began looking at the menu, trying to decide on something to eat. Both of them took a few minutes before making their choice and ordering the food.
"So, what do you think we should do? Do you have an idea to sort this out? I was thinking of releasing a joint statement in the media about what actually happened, or maybe a press conference." Lu Zhi suggested while tapping her fingernails at the table. "But won't a press conference be too grand for this. I mean, how about a simple press release from our representatives?"
Yi Chen, who didn't like the continuous, scratching sound, pressed his hand over hers, "Tch. Stop doing that!" he exclaimed, looking very irritated, "The sound of it is very irritating, it's hurting my ears. So please, don't do this." the sudden change in his demeanor startled Lu Zhi. She quickly retracted her hand from underneath his.
"Oh, okay." Lu Zhi's cheeks turned pink in embarrassment. She felt like a child who just got scolded for disrupting the class or something. "Sorry." she apologized and pulled her hands down in her lap.
"Hhhmm." Yi Chen just hummed in response and avoided looking at her because he himself felt a bit embarrassed for reacting like that. He cleared his throat and drank a few sips of water before saying, "So, the press release." he diverted their attention back to their original topic of their discussion.
"Yeah, that -" Lu Zhi stopped speaking as the server came back with their lunch. She mumbled a 'thank you' to the server who smiled, acknowledging her politeness before walking away. Once they were alone again, Lu Zhi started speaking, "I think that's the best option available. This way we can show that this is not that big of a thing for us and we can make our point clear to them. A small but well constructed article can be published at a leading and trusted news portal. The reputation of the said portal will validate the fact that their is nothing between us. Information from a valid source is always better than those so called anonymous and reliable sources."
"Okay." Yi Chen nodded his head in positive, "We should send a press release as soon as possible." Yi Chen mentioned, knowing that this was indeed the best option. Both of them informed their secretaries to construct an explanatory article and publish it as soon as possible. Afterward, they continued talking to each other while having lunch but the topic of their discussion changed to being business, politics, and general affairs. It was an ordinary conversation between two intelligent business-minded individuals.
They even shook hands like business associates after they were finished with their lunch. Yi Chen and Lu Zhi then moved out of the café. Like a gentleman, he held the door of the car open for her. But instead of taking a seat, Lu Zhi grabbed a small gift box from the pile of gift boxes that were lying on the backseat of the car and handed the gift box to Yi Chen.
"What's this for?" Yi Chen asked.
Lu Zhi smiled at him and said, "To thank you, Mr. Zhang. I just wanted to thank you properly for what you did for me, that's why I got this for you." she pointed at the box in his hand.
"You didn't have to." he tried to give the gift box back to Lu Zhi but stopped when she placed her hand atop his and said, "It's my way to thank you, please accept it." the smile on her face was such that Yi Chen could not refuse.
He accepted the gift with a slight smile and a, "Thanks".
Lu Zhi then turned around and mumbled something (that was inaudible to Yi Chen) before she began to arrange the various sized gift boxes that occupied most of her car space, "If you don't mind me asking, who are these gifts for?" Yi Chen couldn't help but ask seeing the variety of gift-wrapped boxes.
"Oh, these! These are for my kids." she replied while arranging the boxes so that they won't fall during the car ride.
Yi Chen frowned, "Your kids?" he realized he didn't know if Lu Zhi was married or had kids. This rumor must have affected her family too.
Lu Zhi chuckled, "Not mine, technically!" she exclaimed, satisfied with the arrangement. Lu Zhi turned to look at Yi Chen and said, "These gifts are for the kids at the orphanage that I manage along with my aunt. It's been so long that I last visited them that's why I decided to visit. And when I visit, I always bring them some visits, or this many!" she giggled.
"That's such a nice thing to do." Yi Chen didn't have the right words to express how he actually felt. He was really impressed by this for it was such a good deed to help those in need.
"Thanks. I should leave or else I am going to be late. Bye, Mr. Zhang Yi Chen." Lu Zhi waved him goodbye and sat on the passenger seat.
"Bye." Yi Chen muttered to himself as he watched Lu Zhi being driven away totally unaware of what their little lunch meeting would be interpreted as.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
itsShonali
itsShonali And here we are, at the fourth chapter! I hope you enjoyed reading this. Please gift, vote and comment and let me know your opinions regarding this story of mine.
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Shonali
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