The Mafia's Rose Married The CEO

It did not take long for Qing Zihao to wear down the menu of the diner. He had almost everything in the small place and was already trying out different combinations of food.

"What do you say if I take you out on a good dinner?" he said, his mind curious. This was after a month of knowing each other. 

"Where would we go?" Christina asked, chewing on a pizza crust. 

Qing Zihao shrugged, his mind flooding with about a thousand different restaurants he could take her to. "You've been living on leftover pizza and burgers for a month. Why don't you try some of the local delicacy? It'll be saucy, savory, and tasty."

Christina flicker her hair over her shoulder. "Burgers are tasty too."

Qing Zihao grimaced as she took another bite off the crust. "And oily."

Christina smiled, her lips gleaming with the oil, bringing Qing Zihao's attention to their pinkness. "I see you already know where we're going."

He laughed as a flash of heat came to his face. He leaned back against the chair, wanting to put some distance between them for if he would not, he might just have to kiss her there.

He liked her, he already knew that. Apparently, he liked her enough to kiss her now—or to think about kissing her per se. 

"What else do you want to do?" he asked. "Do you want to see a movie?"

"Movies bore me," she said. "Until what hour are libraries open here?"

Qing Zihao did not know any libraries in the area. "I'm not sure."

"Well, we should find out. I want to scout the books here."

"You could barely speak the language."

"So what?" she shrugged. "Then I'll learn."

"You're really insistent on staying here?"

"Where else will I go?"

**

Qing Zihao did not want the dinner to mean something. So even if his body was begging him to try a few shirts that would look best on him tonight, he kept himself planted on his bed. "No," he told himself.

This dinner would mean nothing so he would just dress up like he always did whenever he went to the diner. An old shirt and pair of pants.

His inner self told him he had to take an hour long bath, to make sure that he would not have any flaws tonight but then again HE DID NOT WANT THIS DINNER TO MEAN ANYTHING.

In the end, he pressed a pillow against his eyes and forced himself to sleep. Qing Zihao was only awakened when he heard continuos knocks on his door. "What?" he grumbled, his voice thick.

"Sir, the driver is asking what time are you going? He still has to fetch your father from the office."

Qing Zihao scrambled up the bed. "I'll be down in a minute!"

When he turned on his light, he had to blink the brightness away. Just how long did he sleep? There was not enough time to wonder.

He pulled himself together and got in the shower, scrubbing every surface of his skin that he could reach, he almost nicked himself with the razor in his haste, he brushed his teeth, then threw on the first pair of clothes his hands touched. He had to come out of the house barefoot and only got his shoes on inside the car. 

He was feeling dizzy when he finally took a breath. He glanced at his watch and found that he was only thirty minutes late. Measuring by how deep he could sleep, he should not have been able to get up the bed.

The car dropped him off and he practically ran to the diner where he found Christina waiting for him at the front of the store.

He put his hands on his knees when he stopped. "I know I'm an asshole," he began, his breathing shallow. She was just looking up at him. "Trust me, I didn't mean to sleep that much."

One of her eyebrows arched. "You slept?"

"I did. I did not know what else to do today. If I had been up I would've been a nervous mess." He did not find any reason to lie to her. Certainly, he was not going to make up some shitty excuse when he could just go for the truth. 

"You? Nervous? Because of me?"

He took a deep breath, stabilizing his lungs. He straightened up. "I didn't want you to think that I stood you up. And I really want to take you somewhere nice, see the city for yourself. Haven't you had enough of this dank streets?"

She laughed and stood up. She was wearing a nice white blouse with a keyhole neckline. "You're funny. You shouldn't get nervous around me, you know?"

"I know, but I still do anyway."

"So, how are we going to leave this dank street?" she asked, looking around.

"We're going to walk to a bus stop, so you'll know your way around here. Come on."

**

The dinner lasted for about an hour. He did not take her to the topnotch restaurants. He thought that she would hate it and he was right. She looked like she was having the time of her life even though she could hardly eat as she insisted that she wanted to learn how to use chopsticks.

"Okay, if you're so determined," he said and took the first huge bite from his beef noodle soup.

He was already half-way through his food while was still munching on the side dishes. "Let me," he said, plucking her chopsticks and holding the noodles for her. "Your soup is getting cold. It would not taste as good."

She took the chopsticks from him and fed herself, her eyes popping. "This is really good."

"Tasty, isn't it?"

She nodded as she chewed. She grabbed the small spoon and took some of the broth. She sighed afterwards. "You know, we should go out again."

He smiled at her. "You don't have to tell me twice."