Chapter 81 - The date was not what she thought

His confident smile reassured her that he would protect them both. There was an easygoing, gentle calmness about him Mei never had in the people around her.

He was so...normal.

In one swift motion Shu took photos of all three gangsters and quickly tapped on a few buttons.

"Hey mister! What the hell did you just do! Why did you take our picture?"

As the three men menacingly edged closer to Shu, he just shrugged and laughed.

"As it so happens my father's closest friend is the police chief. I just sent a very attractive photo of you three studs to him!"

The three troublemakers were obviously regulars at the police station, known for harassing women in the area. They were also fingerprinted.

If they seriously got caught again, they might not be out of jail for a very long time.

But the leader of the gang was still bent on making a show of bravado.

"Ha! You think you can fool us just because you're wearing an expensive suit?! You're bluffing! We're going to mess you up!"

As he said this, he charged towards Shu.

Mei screamed.

But Shu just took two steps backs and gestured his hand for them to stop.

"Wait wait! You don't believe me?! I've even sent the police chief my GPS location!"

After he said this he checked his watch and smirked at the three fools again.

"They should be here with reinforcements in 3....2....1..."

As soon as he uttered '1', sirens began wailing in the distance.

The rogues looked terrified as the began to shake in fear.

"Bro! Bro - enough! Let's get out of here!" one of the thugs whimpered.

"Yes bro! He wasn't lying! If we run now, we can still make it!"

The leader of the gang angrily swore as the three of them scampered away with their tails between their legs!

Mei giggled uncontrollably behind Shu as he turned and walked towards her.

"Wow, it must be my lucky night! I had the perfect opportunity to protect and impress my date!" he joked.

Mei punched his arm playfully.

"Mr. Yi, you must be someone important to mobilise the police forces at such short notice -- especially at the command of the chief!"

Shu laughed out loud.

"I'm no one important, and this suit hardly costs a hundred dollars! Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not really anyone important."

Mei waved him off.

"I'm no one important too."

His eyes looked at her softly.

"You could be...to someone."

Mei thought that was such a cryptic statement. But she pushed it back to her head.

"Wait, did you really message the chief of police, though?"

Shu smiled at her secretively.

"Do you really want to know?"

Mei punched his arm again.

Was this becoming a 'thing'?

"YES! Of course, I want to know!!"

Shu laughed again. All of a sudden Mei thought that was charming too!

"Ok the truth is...I just took a picture of them. I didn't send it anywhere."

Still laughing, Shu stuck his tongue out jokingly.

"Okay...so I know that the police patrol goes on here at about 8:15 pm. I used it to my advantage!"

Mei looked at him shocked.

What amazing presence of mind was this?!

Was this man abnormally gifted?!

"I really haven't seen someone as sly as you! What if they called your bluff? We would have been attacked by three gangsters by now!"

Shu sighed at her as he came over to give her a friendly pat on her head.

"Have a little faith, Mei. You can't plan everything."

There seemed to be a hidden meaning in his words that Mei didn't immediately pick up on.

"So Mr. Yi, where exactly are we going for dinner?"

"First, it's Shu. You can be informal with me! Second, we're having dinner in the park!"

Dinner in the park?

Before Mei had the opportunity to interrogate Shu, he grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

Mei just quietly followed as they walked around the corner to another part of the park.

Usually, the place wasn't too well lit, but up ahead was a clearing. Within this clearing, Mei's eyes spotted a brightly lit area, covered in beautiful fairy lights with a garden table set for two.

Upon the table was a bottle of wine and two cloches, elegantly covering dinner plates.

Mei gasped.

"Here? Is this it?"

Shu nodded at her brightly.

It was so romantic

All he had to do was pick her up and bring her to a restaurant, but he had, in a short time, planned and organised this beautiful set up in capital city's most famous park.

As he pulled out a chair for her, and helped her be seated, Mei felt like a princess.

She had always been the young girl that scampered around the office and organised everyone else's business.

To everyone else, she was invisible.

But in one moment, this man saw more of her than anyone else had.

"Mei, I know managed set up a scene here, but I don't cook to well...and didn't save enough time for good catering. So...I hope you're ok with this."

In saying so, Shu lifted the cloche off her plate to reveal a warm, delicious pizza.

Mei giggled.

"How did you know I love pizza?"

He shrugged.

"I didn't! But I suppose I made a lucky guess! Like I said...have some faith!"

Once they were both seating and eating, the conversation flowed. Mei felt like she'd known him forever.

In fact, she was having so much fun, she almost forgot that she was being used as a bribe and that she actually had a report to collect.

By the end of the meal, as they got up to walk back, she didn't even ask for Lina's blood report!

She was about to get into a taxi, when she heard Shu clear his throat.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

Mei looked at him wide-eyed, innocently, implicitly conveying that she had no clue what he was talking about.

Maybe it was the wine that was making her stupid?

Or maybe it was him.

He laughed at her look, thinking she was the sweetest thing he had ever seen.

Casually he pulled out a file from a briefcase he was carrying and handed it to her.

"Your boss' blood report."

A look of understanding came over her face.

"Oh right! Thank you! I'm such an idiot...I totally forgot about that!"

Shu winked at her.

"Does that mean you had a good time?"

Mei didn't want to be straightforward.

She didn't say anything in response and simply waved goodbye to him as the cab took off.

After she left, Shu checked his phone to see about 15 missed calls from home.

Sighing, he called back to hear loud shrieking on the phone.

"Shu someone assaulted your sister today! Come home and help with the mess! Stop wasting your time at that ridiculous hospital!"

Sometimes, his mother could be a real pain in the ass.