Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 45: Blind Date.

YAnne froze for a whole minute, unsure if she were to laugh or cry.

"You’ve got the wrong idea, Jass, I’m not—"

"Okay, shush! Don’t even try to deny it. I stayed up almost all night trying to figure everything out, and I could only come up with one solution. My best friend needs a boyfriend." Jasmine spoke as if she were talking about something extremely grave and serious.

"I honestly don’t see why you didn’t tell me about your little problem right away. You know I have an extensive connection with guys from before, and I can, without a doubt, get you a boyfriend in mere days. Let’s not even say days—in mere hours. But it was my fault for not being here during the time you needed me. Now that I’ve returned though, we’re getting you a boyfriend. When we go out there, it’ll be your first blind date with Jeff. If he’s not to your liking, I have a list of other options."

"Jass, listen, I—"

"Shh, no more talking. Your date might start getting bored."

"Jass..." Despite Anne’s protest, Jasmine didn’t seem to want to listen at all.

In her mind, Jasmine was mentally shaking her head.

Was this protest because her best friend had begun to get used to the freedom of the no-strings-attached lifestyle?

Since when did her romance-driven friend become so wild?

No, since when did her innocent-like-a-fairy friend even get the idea to wantonly toss her virginity away to some guy just for fun?

Tsk tsk tsk, it was definitely up to her to help Anne find love.

Hence, Jasmine didn’t even want to listen to anything Anne had to say.

Anne could only sigh and give up.

Jeff’s eyes lit up when he saw them returning.

"Anne, I already ordered for us both," he said brightly.

Anne suddenly felt sympathy for the young man.

He was staring at her with a bright light of anticipation in his eyes and a genuine interest to get to know her.

She’d been trying to tell Jasmine repeatedly that she couldn’t have a boyfriend, but the latter wasn’t listening. If she said it in front of him now, wouldn’t he feel terribly humiliated?

Anne didn’t want to make anyone feel bad, especially not a nice guy who smiled like a puppy upon seeing her.

Hence, she sighed and took her seat, deciding to just end it after this one date.

"You both go ahead and have fun. I have to go somewhere really urgently." Jasmine dropped a random excuse and disappeared without wasting a single second.

Throughout the span of lunch, Anne could tell Jeff was doing everything to keep her entertained. He kept asking her questions with the aim of getting to know her. In order not to make it awkward, Anne asked him the same questions too.

She came to know that he was a web developer and a professional illustrator. They kind of shared a common love for arts. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

When Anne was a teenager, she’d also begun to get really into art and paintings. She would sit for hours in front of a painting, forming the emotions the artist hid in each colorful stroke, and she would also go on to look up her favorite artists online to observe their progress.

They shared a laugh a few times. Jeff was incredibly friendly and evidently good with people.

"Do you have a favorite artist?" he asked her.

Anne nodded quickly. "I don’t usually get to go to his showings because it’s strictly by invitation, but I really love every painting by Abyss."

"Really? Abyss is my idol too!"

That was all it took to get Anne shedding any hesitation and chat with him enthusiastically.

She’d been obsessed with a certain artist’s works for the longest time. Though the latter was quite reclusive and never showed himself in public, Anne had never bothered trying to put a face to the mysterious figure behind the artistic creations that have always resonated with her. In fact, she was very content keeping him as a shadow in her mind while she’d continue to follow up his work. That was because of the popular saying: it’s best to keep your idols in your mind, because their reality might ruin that immeasurable image you have of them.

One of his paintings titled Fire was Anne’s favorite. Though Anne had only ever seen it once at an art exhibition she’d managed to attend once, the image of it remained in her mind.

The painting had different colors in reds, the shade of blood; ash, the shade of smoke after fire; oranges, flames that burned; and blue, the sadness that comes after the flames; and then grey, the bleakness of loss. Anne felt all these things the moment she looked at that painting.

Having this common interest to talk about with Jeff, whom she just met, Anne didn’t fall quiet at all because the conversation kept going on and on.

By the time lunch was over, Anne couldn’t help but admit she had quite a good time. It was quite refreshing finding someone with whom she shared similar interests, but she knew this couldn’t happen again.

When they were outside the restaurant, Jeff adamantly insisted on dropping her off at work even though it was a short walk away. He rode his bike over.

It was a mighty black power bike with the seat design shaped like a hump. It had a sleek, sporty look. It revved with a reverberating growl.

Jeff grinned at her, retrieving a helmet. He handed it to her; resignedly, she sat behind him as the bike rode off.

She thanked him when he dropped her at work. And after saying a short goodbye, Anne went back to work.

Thinking about Jasmine, she realized they would have to sit down for a serious talk later so she would tell the girl about her little secret. That way, an incident like this impromptu blind date would never happen again.

Looking at her calendar, Anne realized there was just about a week left for Kristen’s surgery.

A strange surge of anxiety rushed through her at the thought of it.

He’ll be fine! Kristen will recover.

She hoped this fervently, and it was said that when one hoped for something so much, the universe would make it happen.

She had already given everything she had for her brother; it would be the cruelest thing if the universe didn’t give her brother back to her.

"Anne, Rebecca. I need you both in my office." Clara addressed them before proceeding into her office.

Anne stood up and followed her. So did Rebecca.

"Andrew wants me to send you both to meet the event planners so you can brainstorm with them and ask them any question you have. I know Becky is aware of this, but Anne, Sterling Enterprises’ anniversary party is the biggest annual event to ever happen in Verizon City. Keep in mind that it has to be the absolute best, and you have to give your very best for this event to be even greater and more memorable than last year’s."

Anne nodded. "I understand. The marketing and promotions won’t interfere with the grandness of the event. We’ll both make sure of it."

Anne took note of the familiarity in Clara’s voice as she said Andrew’s name.

So they really were very familiar with each other.

Thinking about that man’s arrogance, Anne wondered how Clara managed to get close to him with how arrogantly judgmental that man could be. From the first moment he set eyes on her, he’d already labelled Anne a gold digger seeking to trap rich men.

Clara smiled after hearing Anne’s words. "I knew I wasn’t wrong to trust you with this."

She handed them both a file. "Please go to Andrew’s secretary and ask her to give you a copy of the guest list and the time scheduled for you both to meet the planners."

Hearing that they were to go to the director’s office, Rebecca was overjoyed.

Anne, however, wished she could refuse this task. She really wasn’t in the mood to see that arrogant man’s cold and frowny face today.

However, since they were sent to the secretary, they didn’t need to see him, right?

While they were in the elevator, Rebecca, who wouldn’t usually talk to Anne, kept asking her how she looked. And if she thought she looked fine.

The director’s office was left slightly ajar. They could hear his secretary explaining something to him while they stood outside.

Anne stopped, while Rebecca made to knock on the office. She noticed Anne was standing some distance behind and frowned.

"What are you doing? Let’s go in," Rebecca whispered.

"Let’s just wait for his secretary out here."

Rebecca rolled her eyes and knocked on the door. Once they heard a reply from the inside, Rebecca grabbed Anne’s wrist without warning and pulled her along inside.

Rebecca gasped when the man sitting in his seat raised his head to look at the people who just entered.

"Damn, he’s too handsome!" she muttered incredulously.

Anne didn’t reply. That was because the man’s cold gaze was fixed on her. More precisely, the more he looked at her, the more his gaze seemed to darken.

As if her presence made a rush of unstoppable anger rise within him—as if he couldn’t bear to have her present in his office or any space around him—he suddenly spoke through gritted teeth.

His voice, firm and unwavering, leaving no room for any argument, he said,

"Get out!"

Everyone in the office froze, exchanging gazes with each other, not certain who exactly he was talking to.