The air around him seemed to have frozen over. Jay, who was standing just behind him, could sense the change in Scott’s mood. He instinctively ducked his head lower in an attempt to make himself as unnoticeable as possible.
He could not help but notice the recent changes in Scott’s mood, especially when he picked Scott up at the airport that morning. For some reason, Scott seemed to be in a far worse mood than usual, but he di not know why. Everything was going perfectly fine at the company, and all the projects were progressing as smoothly as butter. There was nothing he could think of that could have upset Scott. However, he knew that he had to lie low whenever Scott was in a bad mood.
Meanwhile, back in Herland, Dylan pulled up to a quaint little restaurant that was home to the locals. As he led Naomi in, he kept telling her how good the food was and kept reiterating to her not to underestimate this place simply because of its rather rundown appearance.
Naomi believed him fully. She could tell that Dylan was a picky man, and the food here must have been exceptional for him to have nothing but praise for it.
The employees there all seemed to know Dylan. As soon as they arrived, the waitstaff showed them to a table, and Dylan ordered their food without even needing to look at the menu.
While they waited for the food, Dylan poured Naomi a drink and said, “I’ll bring you to a bar later, Naomi. It’ll be fun to show you the interesting side of Herland. Don’t worry, I’ll help you get revenge on Scott for ditching you like this.”
Dylan was such a fun and cheerful person to be around, but she could not help feeling bad for lying to him about her divorce from Scott. She wished that she could have told Dylan the truth.
“It’s fine, Dylan. I was planning to spend the next two days at the museum anyway.”
Dylan gasped. “The next two days?”
“Yes. I’ve only seen a small part of the museum today, and it’s not enough. I need to know more about Herland’s history, so I need to spend more time at the museum to take notes. “The event here is very important, and everyone is looking forward to it, including your grandfather. I can’t afford to waste any time on anything outside of this. I’m sorry, Dylan.”
Dylan understood. “You’re such a passionate person, Naomi. I now see what my grandfather meant when he said you’re a passionate and responsible woman. Why don’t you spend the next two days on your work, and I’ll bring you out at night instead?”
Before Naomi could even reply, Dylan added, “You can’t possibly turn me down, Naomi. If my grandfather knows all you do is spend your time at the museum when you’ve come to Herland, he’ll kill me for not being a responsible tour guide. You don’t want to come to my funeral, do you, Naomi? Come on. We’ll go have some fun.”
Naomi considered this for a moment, but she knew she had no choice. “Very well then. I’ll go out with you tomorrow night. The day after that I intend to pay a visit to some of the historical monuments in Herland, and I need some time to gather my notes. I don’t have much time, so tomorrow night is the only time I can spare.”
“Perfect! Work hard, play hard! All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Dylan beamed at this.
Meanwhile, Naomi was already racking her brain as to how she was supposed to squeeze out the time to go out with Dylan. Since she promised him that, she would not go back on her word. After lunch, the two of them returned to the museum where Dylan continued giving her detailed explanations of every exhibit they saw. They finally left at the museum’s closing time.
Dylan brought Naomi out for dinner and then sent her back to her hotel. “See you tomorrow, Naomi!” he said, smiling, as he waved at Naomi from his car.
Naomi smiled back at him. “Thank you, Dylan. You’ve been a great help today.”
“I’m so glad to hear that, Naomi! I always go out of my way to be helpful to everyone.”
After Dylan left, Naomi returned to her room. She put down her bag, took out her notebook, and sat down at the desk to organize her notes.
She glanced at her phone to check the time but realized that she missed out on a message.