Alex now desperately wished for Karen to come back as soon as possible. He was beginning to feel suffocated. But today looks like God wanted to have fun watching him tread on glasses around Jessica. As the clock ticked, every minute looked like an hour, and Alex had to endure the overbearing atmosphere around Jessica.
Finally, Karen showed up in half an hour or so, and when Alex saw her, he almost ran up to her like a puppy to his master. He complained to her, which she obviously paid no head to and closely followed behind her back to Jessica. When Karen reached Jessica, the latter put her phone away and averted her attention towards Karen.
"Do you have everything you wanted?" Jessica asked when Karen was close enough to her.
Karen nodded, "Just a few things to sort out."
"Alright. Let's go then," Jessica said and didn't ask much about the details.
Soon all of them were on their way back to the company. The car was not that silent this time. Amanda was busy driving while Karen was going through the details she had jotted down earlier with Jessica. Jessica was also very much involved in the discussion with Karen, offering her opinions from time to time. Alex also noted that Jessica was much more formal with Karen, contrary to her obnoxious attitude with everyone else.
** Groowwwwl...
The growling sound of Alex's stomach brought everything to a pause. All of them turned their eyes towards Alex. Amanda looked at him in disdain, Karen was trying her best not to laugh at him, and Jessica gave him a look but soon looked away, non-bothered as usual.
It was almost lunchtime, so it was inevitable for Alex to feel hungry.
"Pull over to the usual place," Jessica told Amanda. Amanda nodded, and soon the car stopped. Jessica was the first one to get off the car, followed by the other two ladies. Alex was the last to get out.
When Alex looked around, he found himself in a familiar place. He looked at the name of the place they were at and then, with a smile, looked at Karen. They were standing in front of 'Springville'. The restaurant they were in yesterday for the department dinner.
Karen's gaze when met Alex's eyes, she was flushed red with embarrassment. She could faintly remember what she did last night after she drowned herself in alcohol. She received a call from him when she was in the office asking for money to invest somewhere shady in his friends business. They had a fight over this, and that's the reason she was all depressed during dinner. And this was not the only thing. She also received a call from her husband last night when she was there for dinner, asking for her to come home and cook him a meal. That was the final nail on the coffin. Karen lost it all and soon drowned herself in booze to the point she was tanked, and the party was cut short.
Worse was the part when she found out that Alex was the one who dropped her home last night. Her husband spouted a bunch of bullshit. The pent up frustration inside of her burst, and they ended up fighting with one another.
The embarrassment she felt because of the way she acted in front of the PR employees, along with the fight she had with her husband, resulted in her mood getting worse in the morning.
And now they were back again to the place which was a witness to that along with Alex. She didn't know what could be worse. Alex followed the three ladies inside the building. Now the club was all quiet, unlike the previous night. The four of them headed straight to the second floor and booked a room.
Amanda took the tablet and ordered the dishes for Jessica and herself. Then she handed over the tablet to Karen for her to order, who quickly passed it on to Alex. Alex, looking at the small order placed by the three of them, felt embarrassed because the tiny portion they ordered altogether was not enough for him, but he felt hesitant to order more. Following the three of them, Alex also ordered a small portion for himself.
Pretty soon, the table in front of them was filled with delicacies. Alex was so hungry that he wanted to pound on the dishes and gobble them up, but the three ladies around him were eating so elegantly that he could only restrain himself. He, like the ladies, took small bites and unwillingly pretended to chew them for a long time.
Karen, when saw Alex act all elegant, smiled. She grabbed a napkin, pulled out a pen from her bag, and wrote down something. When she was done, she passed on the note to him, "Don't hold back. Most of the food here is going to be left untouched, so if you try to act refined, you will end up leaving starved from here."
Alex, on reading the note was left flustered, but he heeded her advice and upped his pace, gobbling up the dishes, one after the other. The secretary who saw this frowned while Jessica was also not particularly pleased by him.
The three ladies were done pretty soon, but Alex was still going strong. Jessica wanted to leave, but Karen gestured for her to wait a little while more. Only after all the dishes on the table were finished did Alex come to a halt. Rubbing his stomach, Alex wanted to slowly savour the aftertaste, but Jessica had it enough. She grabbed her bag and walked out of the room, followed by Amanda.
Karen also gave Alex a smile and followed behind the two ladies. Having left with no choice at all, Alex had to follow them.
Leaving the room, Amanda paid the bill. Soon the four of them again hopped in the car and started off on their way to Theation.