"WHAT'S this?"
My eyes widened in surprise that morning I got to work. Kelly and Jeff both greeted me with a small cake.
Kelly grinned at me. "Well, it's your first month at work, Bianca!"
"Come on, Bianca. Blow the candle."
"Oh!" I blinked. I hadn't realized I was already working for a month. "Thank you for this." I didn't expect that they'd remember this day. I smiled at Jeff and Kelly before I blew the candle on the cake.
"Well, since it's your first month here, we expect you to treat us to drinks later." Kelly wiggled her eyebrows at me.
I chuckled. "Sure."
"Yes." Kelly clapped excitedly. "Rory already agreed to close the shop earlier." She winked at me. "We have a cool boss."
"Bianca! Your husband sent you something!" Kelly announced hours later.
I looked at the food Jeff had received. Ever since that day Gideon sent us food from Il Fornaio, he had already been sending us lunch at work regularly.
This time, the food came from an Asian restaurant.
"Wow, I've been craving kimbap since yesterday," Kelly muttered.
"Tsk. I thought you hate eating raw food?" Jeff asked.
"Sushi is different from kimbap, Jeff."
The two only stopped bickering when another delivery arrived. This time, it was a bouquet of tulips and a box of cake.
"Congrats on your first month at work, wife." Kelly read the note for me. "Wow, your husband's really sweet, Bianca." Kelly turned to me with a teasing smile. "See? He also remembered your first month here. That's something, right?"
My eyes went to the bouquet of tulips in my hand. This wasn't the first time Gideon had given me flowers, but this was the first time I felt something weird in my chest.
I couldn't believe that he was that attentive to even remember my first month here at work.
"Aren't you gonna call him?" Kelly asked me when I joined them at the table.
I pursed my lips. "Uh… maybe later." I didn't want to call him just to thank him for this. I… I didn't know what to say to him.
"Anyway, I asked Rory last night," Kelly said in the middle of lunch. "I invited her later but she has an appointment tonight. But she asked Martin to join us."
Martin was Rory's nephew. He was also working here in the store, but only during weekends. I hadn't had the chance to meet him yet.
"You'd finally meet him, Bianca!" Kelly smiled at me. "I tell you, he's gorgeous. But not as handsome as your husband, of course."
"Just eat and stop lusting over other men, Kelly," Jeff said to Kelly as he put a piece of tempura on her plate.
"Excuse me! I'm not lusting over Bianca's husband. I'm just admiring him. That's two completely different things!" Kelly turned to me. "I'm not lusting over Gideon, Bianca."
I pursed my lips. "It's okay, Kelly."
The woman raised her brows at me. "It's okay that I was lusting over him? Or it's okay because you believe me?"
I shrugged. "I know you're not," I said, glancing at Jeff on my left. "But if you are, it's fine, too. I'm used to women ogling at him. And I don't mind…"
Kelly raised her brows. "You don't mind if you ever see him with another woman?"
I suddenly remember the woman who tried to flirt with him at the movie house. "W-well, I do. We're still married, after all. He should respect that."
"I don't think your husband could do that to you," Kelly said. "He's devoted, Bianca!"
I stilled. I stared at the food when I remembered the woman at Il Fornaio. The woman Gideon met when he went to Paris for his business trip.
That woman might be Gideon's mistress. I was already aware that he might have been having an affair before he lost his memories. And I didn't care about that back then. But now…
"Are you okay, Bianca?"
I tried to smile at Kelly. "Yeah. I just… remember something."
"Is Gideon fetching you later? You know, he's free to join us tonight. If that's fine with him."
I shook my head. "No. He's not going to fetch me." I lied.
Gideon said he was going to fetch me later, so after lunch, I had no choice but to call him.
"Did you receive the lunch and the flowers?" he asked from the other line.
I bit my lower lip. "Yeah. Uh, thanks, Gideon. Anyway, I called you to tell you that you can't fetch me later. I'm going out with Kelly and Jeff tonight. They asked me to treat them to drinks."
Gideon went silent for a moment. I thought he was going to ask more, but I just heard his breath.
"Alright. Enjoy your night with them. Just tell me where you are later."
I cleared my throat. "Yeah. I will. Thanks."
"This is my first night out with you," Kelly excitedly said after we left the store.
Jeff called for a taxi.
"What about Martin?" I asked Kelly and settled on the backseat. Jeff occupied the front seat beside the driver.
"He texted earlier." Jeff looked at us from the rearview mirror. "He'd met us at Parka."
Parka is a Greek-themed resto-bar here in Pasadena. Kelly said that she'd frequent there during weekends.
Thirty minutes later, we finally arrived at the place. Since it was a weekday, the place wasn't very crowded.
"There he is," Kelly pointed at the tall man standing beside the entrance of the bar. "Come on, Bianca. Let's go."
"Hey, Martin," Kelly said to the guy who noticed us.
"Oh, hi." Martin smiled, revealing his perfect set of teeth. "You're already here."
"Martin, this is Bianca. Bianca," Kelly gestured Martin to me. "This is Martin, Rory's nephew."
Martin turned to me and smiled. He extended his right hand. "Finally, we met, Bianca. These two have been telling me things about you."
I smiled at him as I accepted his hand. It was big and rough. "Nice to finally meet you, too, Martin."