Tenant’s Secret Love

Chapter 79: Respectively

It was already 11 o'clock at night when I got home. I thought my parents were already asleep, but I didn't expect to find them sitting in the living room watching TV.

I closed the door, took off my shoes and got ready to change into my slippers. My mother turned down the volume of the TV and asked me, “Lucas, did you have dinner with that girl tonight?”

“Yes, I took her to a local restaurant.” I added, “She's going back to Suzhou tomorrow.”

My mother nodded and really stopped asking questions, focusing her attention on the TV show that was being broadcast.

Before I could let out a sigh of relief, my father suddenly asked, “Did she come here to ask you to go back to work in Suzhou?”

“That's the idea,” I gave him an ambiguous answer.

“How did you lose your job in Suzhou? Why did she say she had something to do with you losing your job?”

“Dad, I'm not going back to work in Suzhou either, so there's not much point in you asking again, is there?”

My 'stubborn father' said with a scowl, “You can stay in Xuzhou. Find a job yourself, don't expect me to arrange it for you.”

I said helplessly, ”I've been looking for work on my own recently, so don't worry, I don't need you to arrange it for me.”

He ignored me and focused on the TV show that was on.

...

Back in my room, I leaned against the bed, lit a cigarette, and couldn't help but start thinking about the urgent work problem I had recently. If I could, I would still like to work in a department store, but there are only a handful of department stores in the entire Xuzhou, and the demand for personnel is not strong. I guess it will be difficult to find a job in my old position. If that doesn't work, I'll have to lower my requirements and find some low-paying planning work.

In the depression of not being able to see the future, I thought of Renee again. Admittedly, going back to Suzhou with her seemed like a good choice for the time being, but that city really tired me out, and I almost had no sense of expectation left. I didn't want to go back and retrace the path I had already walked.

Sometimes people are like that. Before I decided to leave Suzhou, I still had reluctance and nostalgia. But once I actually made leaving a reality,

The next day, as agreed with Renee, I arrived at the hotel where she was staying before 7 a.m. The two of us said goodbye in the morning sunshine.

I handed Renee a box in my hands and said, “This is a specialty from our hometown of Xuzhou, children's candy. You can chew on it when you're bored at night, and it won't make you fat.”

Renee took the box from me and looked at it before smiling and saying, ”Thank you.”

“Drive slowly on the road, and if you get sleepy, go to a service station and take a nap,” I said, a little worried about Renee driving a long distance by herself.

“I know,”

“That...”

Renee looked at me, waiting for me to continue.

“That, come back to Xuzhou to visit us when you have time.”

Renee's face showed a hint of disappointment, but she nodded with a smile and then said to me, ”I will, and if I have the chance, I hope to come to your place to eat local cuisine.”

“Well, then, goodbye, take care,”

“Take care!”

Renee said, and walked towards her car. I finally remembered what I wanted to say, and shouted after her: “Renee, be careful of your uncle, he won't let go so easily.”

Renee stopped in place, but didn't turn around. She nodded, and without any further delay, started the car and drove out of the hotel parking lot.

Watching the car gradually drive away with the flow of traffic, an inexplicable sense of loss arose in my heart. I didn't want to think about this loss too deeply, so I sighed lightly, opened the car door, got in, and then drove in the exact opposite direction of Renee.

...

Throughout the day, I applied to several more companies, and as usual, some were satisfactory and some were not. As for the final result of the application, I still need to wait for news.

It was already evening, and I found the phone number of Daphne, the first person I had a blind date with in my life, and then dialed it.

The phone was answered after a moment, and I said to Daphne straight away, “Are you free this evening? I want to formally invite you to dinner and also return the money I borrowed from you last time.”

“I'll be off work in a while. Where do you want to eat?” Daphne said without refusing.

“You choose the place, whatever you like.”

Daphne thought for a moment and said, “Let's go to Japanese food. There's a new Japanese restaurant on Fashion Avenue that I hear is good.”

“Great, which advertising agency do you work for? I'll pick you up.”

“No need, I drove myself today, we can just meet at the restaurant.”

“OK.”

...

I went to the new restaurant on Fashion Avenue first, and after reserving a table, I waited outside for Daphne. About a quarter of an hour later, a red Focus hatchback pulled up in front of me, and Daphne got out of the car, waved at me, and asked, “Have you been waiting long?”

“It's only been a little while. The table is ready, let's go in.”

Daphne nodded and followed me into the restaurant.

In the small private room for two, Daphne and I sat facing each other. Soon, our food arrived. To be honest, I'm not really a fan of Japanese food, but Daphne wanted to go out for Japanese, so I had to be the gentleman and go along with her.

We ate and chatted, and Daphne suddenly asked me, “Lucas, do you know that the day we had dinner at the coffee shop, my mom and your mom were sitting in the seat behind us?”

“Yes, otherwise how would I have been able to pay you back so quickly? My mom scolded me enough, but she still loves me and gave me pocket money,” I laughed.

Daphne smiled and said, “Do you know what my mom said about you?”

“It definitely wasn't a positive comment,”

Daphne laughed heartily, saying, “My mom said she'd learned something new, that it was the first time she'd seen someone ask a girl for money on a blind date.”

I sighed and said, ‘Alas! Your mom has just rejected me, so it seems that our marriage is not going to work out. But you can't blame your mom for this, it's just that I'm not very well-adjusted.”

“Don't be so pessimistic...”

I asked with a smile, saying, ’Are you saying that there's still hope for us?”

“Well...that's not what I meant.”

“Then you don't need to comfort me. Let's just enjoy this dinner today and stay in a good mood.”

Daphne nodded and said, “Let's not talk about that. By the way, have you been looking for a job recently?”

“Yes, I've been bothered by this for a long time, it's been more than a week.”

Daphne asked a little surprised, “I heard that you graduated from Soochow University, which is quite a good school. And your father is the section chief of a state-owned enterprise. With your qualifications, it shouldn't be difficult to get you a job there, right?”

“Forget it, I'm sure he adopted me!” I said a little depressed.

Daphne laughed and didn't focus on it anymore, and asked again, ‘You used to work in planning, right?”

“What, are you going to introduce me to a job?”

Daphne nodded and said, ’You could say that. Our advertising company's planning department is currently hiring a commercial planner. With your work experience in planning at a large department store, you should be able to handle the work of an advertising company planner, right?”

“It's not a problem. The nature of the work is similar, and I'll be able to get started quickly,“ I said confidently.

“Okay, then. Send me a resume, and I'll give it to our planning director in the planning department tomorrow. If he thinks it's okay, we'll set up an interview,” Daphne said.

“Okay, thank you.”

“There's no need to be so polite. We're all quite familiar with each other, including Auntie Zhang (the auntie who introduced Daphne and me on a blind date). Just consider it a favor for a friend. By the way, I'm on good terms with Director Zhou in the planning department of our company, so there shouldn't be any problems with work.” Daphne said with a smile.

“Then I won't say thank you to you. Once I've settled my work, I'll treat you to dinner.”

“Actually, I'd prefer you to treat me to dinner after you've made achievements at work. The meal will probably taste even better then.”