The Day I Kissed An Older Man

What should I do? What should I say? Marcus will think something’s going on between me and Mister Aaron if he comes here
and sees we’re having a candlelit dinner! How am I going to explain to him then?’ thought Annie in a panic.
“What’s the matter, Annie? Why aren’t you saying anything?” asked Marcus quizzically after a while.
After thinking about it, Annie decided to not let Marcus come. “Umm... The restaurant is very far from your office, and I’m just
about to finish. Why don’t we have lunch next time instead?”
Marcus sounded dejected. “But I’ve already asked for a half-day leave, so it doesn’t matter if the restaurant is far. I can take a
cab there, and if you’ve already finished eating, I can send you home.”
Annie did not know what to say. ‘He’s so patient and kind to me. I can’t let him come! He’ll be super hurt if he does.’
The private dining room they were in was very quiet. Aaron smiled at Annie when he heard what Marcus said.
“You should just have him join us for lunch since he took the effort to take time off work.”
Annie was speechless. ‘Of course he’d say that! He’s not the one that has to explain what’s going on to Marcus.’
Unexpectedly, Marcus heard Aaron’s voice too. “Annie, are... Are you with someone else? Is that why you don’t want me to go?”
Annie started to panic. “Ah, no! No... That’s not it...”
“But I heard a man’s voice just now!”
Annie felt really guilty. “That... In any case, it isn’t what you think it is!”
She could not bring herself to tell Marcus that she was having lunch with Aaron.
Marcus laughed bitterly. “You know what, it’s okay. You sound like you’re really busy, so I won’t bother you anymore.”
He was about to hang up the phone when Annie, who could tell he was angry, panickingly said, “No! I’m not busy. Please come.
I’ll text you the address later. I want you to come and pick me up.”
“Really? Do you mean that?” asked Marcus.
Annie sighed helplessly. “Yeah. Just come over. I’ll explain everything to you once you’re here.”

Marcus smiled happily. “Okay. I’ll see you soon!”
Annie immediately got a headache after she hung up the phone. ‘How am I going to explain this to Marcus?’
“Mister Aaron, can we change into another room where it isn’t so...romantic? I don’t want Marcus to get the wrong idea about
us,” said Annie in a bid to negotiate with Aaron.
Aaron smiled easily at her and simply said, “No.”
Annie glared at him. “Why not? Don’t you think this is inappropriate? It makes me look like I’m cheating on him.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
Annie stood up angrily. “Then you can have this lunch by yourself. I’m going to move to another private dining room to wait for
Marcus.”
She walked to the door, but the waiter, who had been standing by the door the whole time, stopped her from leaving.
“Miss, the dishes haven’t been served yet, so you can’t go out.”
“I don’t want to eat anymore!” shouted Annie angrily.
“Then please wait until Mister Aaron has finished eating,” said the waiter respectfully.
Annie turned back to glare at Aaron.
Aaron simply smiled and continued to sip his juice. He did not seem like he had any intention to order the waiter to let her out.