Dominant Woman Looking for Love - CH 3:My mouth's watering already!
I don’t know what it is, but seeing Jett Harland after a long time, up close and in person, has put me in a daze.
While my brain is currently suffering from a temporary malfunction, I didn’t even notice how physically close he is to me now as he’s sporting an amused and gentle expression.
His finger lightly touches the bottom of my chin, and he slowly pushes my lower jaw upwards to close my mouth.
“I know I’m handsome, but it’s not like you’ve never seen me before, Rysia.”
‘Rysia.’
Jett is the only one who calls me by that nickname.
It somehow makes me a bit nostalgic. I scratch my cheek and my eyes shift to the side. Reacting almost immediately, I give him a small smirk.
With my eyes still glancing away, I start talking to him, “Jett… it’s, hey. … It’s been a while.”
A blush so light covers my cheeks that one could miss it if they didn’t look hard enough.
“Mm. Yeah… it’s been a while.” He answers back with a smile that’s being paired with a tender gaze that seems to light up his hazel eyes.
A voice that’s dripping in sarcasm cuts through our awkward conversation, “So, um… You guys sound VERY excited to see each other.”
“I was just taken aback at how much more full of himself he’s gotten. He was a bit quieter in the past, after all.” I let out with a soft snort.
Jett opens his mouth, but before he could say anything, Honey grabs our arms to stop either of us from talking. “How about the three of us go to that yoshoku famiresu (western family-style Japanese restaurant) that’s right across this building?!”
“I’m sure you guys will love it. What do you say? The company will pay! Order whatever and as much as you want and put it on our tab! Let’s go!”
We leave the office, and my mind’s still in absolute chaos the entire way.
Shit!
What am I doing?!
Sure, Jett Harland is an ex of mine. To be accurate, he’s my first boyfriend and EVEN first love at that; but it’s not like we broke up on bad terms!
Me acting all mean like that is… Nnngghh! It-It’s just the way he was like earlier kindddd of took me by surprise, that’s all! It made me a bit nervous!
My face scrunches up in annoyance that’s only made towards myself, and I look downwards as Honey starts to drag me with her.
* * * * *
I follow the two of them inside ‘Omurice Mama’, a yoshoku famiresu that specializes in different types of Japanese omelet rice.
Honey is right, though.
If his tastes didn’t change all that much, Jett and I quite like this restaurant chain.
While it’s not the same location, seeing the decor after such a long time puts me in good spirits.
I look over at Jett, and his expression seems somewhat unreadable.
It doesn’t seem to be negative, at least.
We ended up picking a booth, and I slide in one of the seats first. Honey scoots over to where I am and sits next to me. Jett takes the opposite side and sits across Honey.
A waitress comes and lets us know today’s special: a demi-glace sauce over hamburger steak and rice. It comes with garlic butter sautéed broccoli and carrots on the side.
For the soup, it’s Cream of Mushroom.
Since this restaurant is Asian-run, they are quite careful about emulating the cream aspect of these types of soups because most of them find it too heavy.
Bonus points, though, is that they do use real minced button mushrooms, so it’s still quite lovely. This type of food won’t ever get a Michelin star, but I still love the homey feel I get from eating it. It’s one of my favorites!
Ahh…! My mouth’s watering already! We place our orders quickly and send the waitress on her merry way to fulfill it.
I try to keep my smile in as I don’t want to be teased as a glutton again, but my eyes betray me.
Because I feel someone’s gaze on me, I check out the source and notice it’s Jett with an amused expression plastered on his face. I clear my throat and try to divert my attention to Honey. It was a bit too late, though, as Honey has probably been watching me since earlier.
“Hey, hey, you two… we’re still in a business meeting! Did both of you forget already? I can’t stay for too long, so once I have to go attend another meeting, this better not turn into some date while I’m gone, alright?” the sly grinning CEO teases me for all I’m worth.
One of my palms starts to slide up over my face to cover the lower part of my forehead. By doing so, it forces my lids to close. An elbow of mine now rests on the table.
Before anyone could say that this is bad manners, I excuse myself by saying, “There’s no food on the table yet, so pardon me.”
Now that my mind has cleared a little, I let out a breath. I slowly remove my hand from my face and decide to ignore… whatever this is and start the meeting. “So how about we get some work discussion happening here while we’re still waiting for the food?”
Jett, sensing the odd mood, could do nothing else but agree. “Yes, let’s get this going. It’ll be a good 15~20 minutes ’til they serve the food.”
As an introduction, I start by telling him this: “I don’t know how well you remember what you’ve studied since it’s been quite some time, but since I’m mentoring you, there may be some things that may conflict with what I’ll be teaching you. I’m going to be your mentor, so please forget everything you’ve learned in the past. Follow my guidance and only use the materials I will be providing you from now on.”
“That is… unless you are opposed? Please let me know now.” I pause, giving him a little bit of time to think so he can tell me his answer.