By afternoon, Katherine prepared the desserts and milk tea to send to Marshall and Peter. On her way
to Peter, she happened to meet Lucas, who happened to come out of the elevator with other
employees. He nodded at her when he saw her. Katherine, with milk tea and desserts in hand was
flushed and thought that she'd better send him a share as well since he had already seen it. Luckily,
she had bought enough. After coming out of Peter's office, she went back to the break room and took
out another plate of desserts and milk tea before heading to see Lucas. Lucas was in his office, files in
hands and checking the data on them.
Katherine opened the door and smiled. "Here. I bought extra earlier."
She walked towards his desk and placed it there.
Lucas was shocked for a second, but hastily expressed his gratitude.
Katherine waved her hands, "It's OK! I was even worried whether you'd like it or not. Feel free to have
it. I'll be leaving now."
As she turned around, Lucas called out to her. "I guess you came here without Marshall knowing, didn't
you?"
Katherine was stunned and turned back to Lucas. She wanted to laugh.
Without any hesitation, she answered. "Don't worry. Marshall is having his eyes stuck to me anytime
and anywhere. I guess he's scared of losing me. What a clingy man he is, right? There's nothing I can
do about it." As her voice faded, she laughed. She waved her hand and went out of the office.
She instantly stopped laughing once she got outside.
Even for herself, she would never believe something like what she had just said.
Things would be great if it came true. She thought to herself and sweared that if by any chance
Marshall came back to her, she would have him suffer all those miserable experiences that she'd been
through before and show him what unreachable love exactly was.
While Katherine staggered back to his office, she heard him on the phone with someone.
"OK, I understood." Seeing that Katherine was in, he ended the conversation and hung up, leaving
Katherine no chance to figure out who was on the other line.
Lying by his hands were the milk tea and desserts, a single bite out of each — he didn't like their taste.
With his eyes stuck to the computer screen, he said to Katherine, "There is a banquet tomorrow
afternoon and I need you to go with me."
She raised her eyebrows, staring at Marshall silently.
Waiting for her response ebbed at his patience. Shifting his eyes from the screen, he turned his
attention to Katherine.
"Do I have to go?" She asked.
Marshall blinked and told her the truth, "No, you don't have to. But things will be better if you come."
"Who did you usually take to events like that before?" She continued.
He paused and frowned. Katherine smiled and said, "Don't get me wrong. I'm just curious about it."
Her words brought him back to his memory. He had attended this kind of event a few times before, but
never took Katherine along with him. Instead, sometimes he was with Peter or sometimes alone. Even
though he didn't get along with his wife, he was married and there was no possibility for him to take any
other women to an opening banquet like this.
"Sometimes I'd go with Peter or just myself. Not women." He said.
Katherine nodded, "Fine."
Marshall regarded her response as a yes and continued, "Come with me later. You'll need a custom-
made dress this time. Take it seriously since it's the first time you've attended this kind of formal event."
Katherine pursed her lips and said, "Just don't blame me for not performing well enough."
She leaned on the sofa and shifted her eyes aimlessly to somewhere else with a flicking smile hanging
on her face. Her behavior had somehow discomforted Marshall. He could still remember that his
mother used to scold Katherine and tell her that she would only add disgrace to herself if she went out
with her poor social background. Every time, Katherine just silently lowered her head as if she was
resigning herself to acceptance and suffering from extreme anguish. In fact, he actually felt
discomforted hearing the words of his mother, but the reaction and behavior of Katherine made him
even more frustrated and annoyed — her tame and obedient manner really agitated him. He couldn't
bear to set himself on fire when he saw her being like that.
After a while, Katherine turned to him and asked, "Hey, how do those things taste?"
Marshall wasn't really keen on eating desserts because they made him feel sick. In terms of taste
however, he thought that what Katherine had brought was quite acceptable and among them, there
was a coffee flavored dessert that he could bear to have a few bites of. He gave it a second thought
and slightly nodded his head.
Katherine laughed. "If you think that it's not bad, then I'll have a taste of it too. I believe in your taste."
Her eyes were twinkling as if there were starlights shining inside which almost dazed Marshall. He
couldn't help but have his eyes fixed on her.
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