Mr. Bay thought about the dinner and immediately said, "Ms. Jane, you’re an important patron to our association. Let us treat you to dinner tonight instead!’’
Kathleen was well aware of the rules of socializing. One should be polite in accepting another's favor whenever required, but reject firmly if deemed inappropriate.
Using a dinner invitation as an example, if the other party was just extending the invite as a courtesy, one should politely thank their kindness and reject firmly. Then, both parties would be able to keep the exchange pleasant and end it happily.
If the other party was sincere in the invitation, one would not need to be overly polite or worry about paying for the treat. To gladly accept the other party's invitation would be the greatest respect to the other party.
With that in mind, Kathleen replied with a sweet smile, "Mr. Bay, if you put it that way, I’ll gladly accept your offer. I'm looking forward to it!"
Mr. Bay patted himself on the chest and said, "Leave it to us! I'll treat you to a nice dinner at the best restaurant here!"
Mr. Bay then turned to Jacob and said, "Hey, Jacob. You're close to Albert from The Heaven Springs, right?
Why don't you help me book a private room there? Let’s hold a grand banquet for Ms. Jane tonight!”
Jacob would not refuse such a request. Besides, Albert respected him, so it would be easy for him to request a private room for Albert.
Jacob immediately replied, "Alright. I'll call Albert now and let him arrange for a private room for us."
Fortunately, the restaurant respected Mr. Bay, so they deliberately vacated a reserved private room for Mr. Bay.
Mr. Bay led Jacob, Kathleen, and Sherry to the private room. They took their seats and ordered some authentic local cuisine.
Mr. Bay then asked Kathleen, "Ms. Jane, how long will you be staying in Aurous Hill? We'll be able to hold the local art exhibition as soon as next month. We're going to Korea for a cultural exchange event at the end of this month, so we may take about a week before returning. The city government arranged for this cultural exchange, so we can't skip it."
Mr. Bay was worried about the timing. If Kathleen was in a hurry, she wouldn’t be able to stay in the country for too long. In that case, they would need to speed up the preparation for the art exhibition. However, it might be hard to do so while focusing their energy on the cultural exchange event.
Kathleen understood Mr. Bay's concerns. In fact, she had been waiting for Mr. Bay to ask about her future plans.
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