Ryn put down the fork and knife she used and gestured for the waiter to come. Then, with a smile, as she already noticed how worried the waiter was when looking at them and felt pity for her uneasiness, Ryn told the waiter to clear the table for the main menu. 

"Mika, put down those utensils if you no longer want to eat them," Ryn told Mika gently, patting the hand that was gripping the knife gently, soothingly. 

Slowly, the grip loosened and both the fork and the knife made a cling sound when they dropped onto the plate noisily. Mika ignored the weird look from the other diners. Her fiery eyes lost a bit of its anger and now she looked at her best friend with a silent frustrated look. Their dinner was ruined!

"It's okay," Ryn coaxed. Then, she looked at Jeremy expectedly. 

However, Jeremy just ignored the not so subtle signal. He just reached for his gla.s.s of water and drank it slowly, enjoying the fresh liquid running through his throat, was.h.i.+ng all the food he just ate. When he put down the empty gla.s.s, another waiter came to fill it. 

Ryn grumbled under her breath at his stubbornness. She then stood up and walked around the table to hug the still disgruntle Mika.

"Shh... calm down. I am here with you, right? Just ignore that silly man," Ryn whispered next to Mika's left ear.

Her unexpected action brought a frown on Jeremy's face. He finally put down the gla.s.s and looked at the women. He did not like seeing this. It felt like he was an outsider having dinner with a pair of lovers.

Yes, he did not like this at all.

"Catherine, sit down," he ordered. When Ryn seemed not to hear him or pretended not to hear him, he opened his mouth, "Ryn, take care of your image. Can't you see people are looking at you?"

Ryn simply hugged Mika tighter from the back. She never stopped murmuring soothing words to make Mika felt better. She did not care what others thought about her. Heck, had she ever care what others think about her before? Unlike him, she did not have any fans who would care whether she had a boyfriend or a girlfriend or whatever. The reason why she was sought after by so many brands because she could be a chameleon when selling their products. She could be anything they wanted and more. 

And yeah, most of the so-called fans who followed her in her Instagram's account were mostly her haters. They loved jeering and cursing her, not knowing that the one who had to read those comments were the poor Mei Li. So, what did the irritated manager do when she could no longer take it anymore? She simply disabled the comments. The account was after all Ryn's so-called 'portfolio' for her future employers to look at.

Her 'fans' suddenly grew first when the 'scandal' between her and Jeremy first appeared and now, it kept growing triple more after the press conference. They must be frustrated when they realized they could no longer curse her in her IG account, Ryn thought to herself with a grim smile and closed her eyes. The embrace was never broken as the woman she was hugging from the back no longer stiff with anger.

Ryn only let go of her hands when Mika patted her arms, signalling her emotion was no longer unstable. She was ready to stay calm and behaved like a true sophisticated lady.

Ryn returned back to her chair, with Jeremy helped to pull it back slightly. She murmured her thanks when he again helped her, this time with her napkin. He shook it a bit before spread it on her laps.

The waiter who had delivered the main menu just watched from the side. She was worried seeing none of them touched the door, too deep in their own 'world'. Now, hopefully, they would start enjoying their meal. The dessert would come soon and if they did not finish this one, the kitchen would turn upside down questioning why this one was not finished as well.

She waited while holding her breath, praying hard these customers would let go of their problem and started to eat. Time was running out.

Ryn watched Mika nervously. She did not even look at Jeremy once. All her focus was on Mika. When she saw Mika reaching for her utensils and starting to eat, Ryn started to sigh in relieved and ate her own food. She was glad that Mika was finally okay. Then, she glared at the reason behind this whole thing; Jeremy.

How could he do such a thing? Had he lost his mind?

Jeremy did not touch his food. His eyes were staring coldly at Ryn. Not only Ryn ignoring his orders, but she also refused to send him some sweet words like she did to Mika. He was not happy with this biased treatment. This was unfair for him. 

Didn't she realize how he had been missing her when she went missing all of the sudden? Didn't she realize how worried he was when he did not know where she was and how she was doing? Didn't she know how happy he was to know about her return and how anxious he was to see her again?

He could not wait to see her, to hold her hands, to pull her in his embrace until he followed them until here but all he received was cold shoulder from her. Was this fair for him? Did he deserve this kind of treatment? Not only he did not receive any call or message when she returned, even when they met again in both times today, but she also did not say much to him except pointing out about his 'rudeness' toward his little sister. She should understand why he behaved that way. She should understand why he was getting a little bit impatient with her. 

All he wanted was for her to treat him better. Was it that hard to do?