There was silence on Howard’s end for a while.
Just as Tilda was about to speak, she heard what seemed like the sound of a water cup being knocked over.
“Wait a moment. I need to wipe the table!”
In no time, Howard hurriedly ran back. “What do you want to eat? I’ll come pick you up!”
Tilda smiled helplessly, “I thought you didn’t want to treat me to dinner.”
“No, really! I… I just didn’t expect you to bring it up…”
Actually, he wanted to ask her out for a meal, but he hesitated a few times and couldn’t bring himself to say it.
If Tilda hadn’t mentioned it first, he wouldn’t have known how long he would hesitate before saying it.
“Howard, you better be mentally prepared! I’m not pretty.” They never met in person. After their last blind date, Howard got busy with work. Even though they added each other on WhatsApp, they never brought up meeting again.
So today would be the first time she would see him in person.
Tilda didn’t want it to be rushed, but she felt frustrated and wanted to get her life back on track after Johnny had messed things up. She also wanted her parents to feel more at ease.
When her dad gave her the phone earlier, Tilda could tell that he was afraid she would contact Johnny again! Although her parents definitely didn’t know what exactly happened, they could guess from the way Johnny came to find her that day. They just didn’t want to expose her.
“You’re beautiful. I’ve seen your photos.”
“I photoshopped them.” Nowadays, which girl didn’t edit her photos?
“But they still look good.” Howard smiled foolishly. “Have you decided what you want to eat?”
Tilda rubbed her stomach, knowing she was hungry but not sure what she wanted to eat.
“Why don’t you come pick me up first, then we can decide.”
“Okay!”
After hanging up the phone, Tilda logged into her phone and social accounts and realized that Howard had sent her over a dozen messages.
“Good afternoon. I’m going to have lunch at the Japanese restaurant next to the office. Do you like Japanese food?”
“I’m done eating. This place isn’t that good. If I’m treating you, we won’t come here.”
“I have a few meetings this afternoon. If I don’t reply to your messages, please don’t get mad. I’ll reply as soon as the meetings are over!”
He sent countless messages, but Tilda didn’t have a chance to see any of them due to her broken phone.
She scrolled up to see if there were any other missed messages and noticed a red dot in the communication tab.
Someone added her.
Tilda clicked on it and saw an unfamiliar WhatsApp account with a username, J.
Was there even a need to guess?
Who else could it be besides Johnny?
Without hesitation, Tilda blocked him.
Since everything had already been made clear, there was nothing left to say.
By the time Howard arrived, it was already dark outside.
After freshening up, Tilda wore a white t-shirt and headed out the door.
As soon as she reached downstairs, she saw a black Audi!
So eye-catching…
Tilda was genuinely startled.
It wasn’t until she saw someone other than Johnny stepping out of the car that she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“Over here!” Howard was dressed very formally, waving at her. Compared to him, Tilda looked quite casual.
She was just wearing a T-shirt and jeans with a sports jacket over it.
Tilda walked over and smiled at him, “How long have you been waiting?”
“Just arrived.” Howard was a bit nervous. He went around to the back seat and took out a bouquet of roses from inside. “This… is for you.”
Tilda didn’t expect him to make such a romantic gesture and was momentarily stunned.
“I don’t understand girls very well. A colleague told me that girls like roses, so I bought them.” If it weren’t for the darkness of the night, one could see that Howard’s face was completely red.