The Apple of My Eye novel Chapter 522

After Alice and David left for lunch, Leila sat in the secretarial room alone. She was typing something in her computer. She pretended to focus on work while all her attention was towards Charles's room. She could see the door from the corner of her eyes and eagerly waited for it to open. The door did not open until half an hour later.

Leila straightened her spine with the sound of the door. She hastened her fingers on the keyboard and dug her eyes into the screen to make herself look busy. She did not ever look up at Charles as he walked out of his room.

The secretarial room had a transparent glass that separated it from Charles's room so he could see that Leila was working diligently. When he saw her sitting alone in her cubicle, he asked,"Why didn't you go with them for lunch?"

"Mr. Lu," a shocked Leila stood up abruptly as she heard from Charles. Charles could not help observing the striking change in Leila's attitude. The fiery and desperate girl had sobered down to be a responsible mother. Rather reserved, Leila looked at Charles and replied,"They are all busy with their work through out the day and seldom get any time to date. I don't want to come in between them. More importantly, I still have some documents to read. As the proverb goes, 'a slow sparrow has to make an early start.' I am just trying to catch up."

Leila was more optimistic than before. She could already see empathy for her in Charles's eyes. Hence she curbed her aggressive nature and pretended to be genuine. For her, just a small step back for a giant leap she was planning to take. She had learned to make concessions in order to gain advantages from Charles. In this way, she believed that he would take the initiative to get close to her sooner or later.

"It is difficult to work with an empty belly. You have to eat," Charles said with a frown. He stared at her and said,"Let's go and eat something. Even I am hungry."

As he finished his words, he asked her to get up from her seat and stepped ahead before she could react. Leila got up from her seat obediently and followed him as he walked out of the office. Though Leila couldn't help but chuckled herself inwardly, she did not let her excitement come on her face.

Charles walked her to a nearby restaurant that he had visited often with Autumn. After Autumn's disappearance, Charles became a frequent visitor of this restaurant. It was not only the dishes in this restaurant that suited Charles's taste and platter. He had some priceless memories with Autumn in this restaurant. Whenever he came here, he felt as if Autumn had never left. She was still there right beside him.

After a long time Charles visited this restaurant with someone else. Usually, he ordered for himself so he ordered his preferred menu. Today, as they sat down, he handed over the menu card to Leila going by the ladies first etiquette. He said to her,"Look it through. You can order any dishes you want."

Leila smiled softly and obliged by ordering two dishes. "Is this your girlfriend?" blurted the banquet manager all of a sudden. The manager looked at Charles with speculative eyes and smiled as he asked. Leila was surprised to see how an outsider asked such a personal question to Charles.

Even Charles could not help but express his awkwardness with a frown. The banquet manager knew him very well since he was a frequent visitor of his restaurant. He came here often for dinner and ordered the same dish.

He knew that Charles visited this restaurant to miss his wife. The manager was really moved by this gesture. He could not believe how a man could be so much in love with his wife who went missing. He was amazed to see that such love existed even to this day!

The manager thought Charles had decided to let it go and move forward as he saw Leila was here with him today. Secretly, even he was happy by the thought that Charles was considering moving ahead with another woman.

Upon hearing the words, Charles showed his displeasure with a knitted eye brow as he stared back at the manager. Leila tried to cover up the embarrassment and explained promptly,"No, no. You have misunderstood. I am not his girlfriend but just one of his subordinates."

"Oh, really?" The manager spoke as his face turned red with embarrassment. He took a quick glimpse at Charles and apologized,"I am extremely sorry. I shouldn't have misunderstood you. Well, I will go and place the order for you. The dishes will be served soon and please wait for a moment."

"Okay. Thank you," Leila returned politely with a smile. The manager vanished out of their sight as fast as he could. It amused Leila to see how he fled to cover up the awkwardness. She thought to her mind, 'Thank you for your misunderstanding Mr. Manager. These are the small things that will make Mr. Lu to consider taking me as a wife.' However, on the face, she carried an innocent smile and said to Charles,"Mr. Lu, I am sure the manager was startled by your serious expression just now. Look how he just stumbled away."

Leila chuckled as she spoke.

Charles maintained the same frown on his face and replied,"Leila, in fact there is no need for you to explain it to him..."

Smiling at Charles, Leila responded as if she was an understanding woman,"I thought it was appropriate to explain it to the manager. After all you are just my superior. And I know that you don't like to be misunderstood."

The somber expression on Charles's face did not change even after Leila explained to him. He became silent and said nothing. Leila was right. He did not like to be misunderstood by anyone, but he still felt that there was no need to give an explanation to a manager of a restaurant.

Charles was truly sympathetic towards Leila for her present situation. No matter what she might have done before, he could not deny the fact that she was an able employee. He was genuinely concerned for her. He was just afraid that Leila would be too exhausted because of the long hours at work, and that was why he invited her to dine together. As he kept thinking about all this he became quiet and remained like that for a very a long time. His prolonged silence made the moment awkward.