"Good evening, beautiful Gloria."
"And hello to you too, David Martinez."
"You don't mind that I'm a little late, do you?"
Kai stepped up to their table with a smile and greeted them first.
He had always had a soft spot for Gloria and David.
He had never chosen friends based on money or status, and besides, David was going to be a legend someday. There would be plenty of intersecting paths ahead.
Kai also noticed that David's life simulation option had turned gray again.
That meant the last turning point in his fate had already been processed through the system, and now the next simulation would have to wait for a new chapter in David's life to begin.
Gloria had been staring out the window with a faint frown, but his greeting pulled her back to the present. She turned around in slight surprise, realized Kai had arrived, and immediately rose from her seat, lightly gathering the red dress at her sides as she nodded with a smile.
"Mr. Kai, you're here. Not late at all."
"We only reserved the table and got here a little while ago ourselves."
"Please, sit."
David stood up with Gloria and gave a quiet greeting of his own.
"Hello, Mr. Kai..."
The three of them sat back down.
At a glance, Kai had to admit that Gloria in red was the clear focal point of the entire Embers dining floor. From the moment he greeted them to the moment all three were seated, he had already noticed four different men glance their way.
Gloria looked far more composed and graceful now than she had during their last meeting at the apartment. Maybe it was because the knot in her heart had loosened. Or maybe it was because she trusted Kai to keep her secret. Either way, there was now a soft smile behind nearly every word and gesture.
"Mr. Kai, would you like to take a look and see what you'd like?"
"To be honest, David and I are both here for the first time, so we don't really know what's good."
As she spoke, she offered him the brown leather menu folder with both hands.
Kai was a regular here. He flipped through it and found it a little underwhelming, but since this was a meal he had been invited to, saying something like that would only kill the mood.
"I've been here a few times. The food's pretty decent."
Gloria followed up at once.
"If you could recommend a few of their specialties, that would be perfect."
Kai knew Embers leaned more toward Western cuisine, with a few Japanese dishes added mainly for Arasaka employees. There was no Chinese food here. If he really wanted something good, Little China or home cooking with fresh ingredients would have been far better. Still, he called over a server and casually ordered a few lighter dishes.
"Seaweed sushi rolls, veal in French sauce, sliced salmon, and finish with the cream tofu. Three portions. Thanks."
David's eyes immediately drifted to the prices on the menu, and he felt the air catch in his teeth.
One plate of cream tofu was nearly two hundred eddies.
He almost blurted it out on the spot.
How many game chips would he have to resell to make that back? How many braindances would he have to push?
But looking around at all the people eating and laughing like it was nothing, he forced himself to hold it in.
Soon, two Verdant cocktails and a fruit drink were brought over.
The server naturally placed the cocktails in front of Kai and Gloria, then set the fruit drink in front of David, complete with a plastic straw.
"Please enjoy."
The server withdrew with the tray.
David looked at his juice, then at their cocktails, and quietly sighed to himself.
So in their eyes, he was still just a kid.
He gave up and started drinking from the straw.
Seeing the way David looked bored and out of place, Kai was reminded of the dinners he used to sit through with older relatives, so he smiled and raised his glass toward the other two.
"Let's have a toast first. To both of you getting out of the hospital healthy."
Gloria lifted her glass delicately, and her eyes suddenly grew a little red as she said in a strained voice,
"I'm really so grateful that you helped us, Mr. Kai. Otherwise... otherwise..."
She had wanted to be warm and gracious, but she still could not bear to think too deeply about the crash.
If Kai had not stepped in that day, she did not dare imagine how badly everything would have ended.
David, seeing his mother's voice catch, felt the same heaviness in his own chest. Especially after living through that dream that felt like another lifetime, his gratitude toward Kai had been buried deep in his heart. The only problem was that, given Kai's status, David had no idea how he could ever repay him. He had no chance to do anything useful for someone like that.
Seeing Gloria lose control a little, Kai took the initiative and clinked glasses with both of them, took a sip of his drink, and smoothly changed the subject.
"Did David go to class today? Any thoughts yet about the internship before graduation?"
The warmth David had been feeling vanished instantly.
He had the strong impression that Mr. Kai had deliberately chosen the one subject he least wanted brought up, but out of politeness he still answered.
"I just woke up today and wasn't feeling great, so I took the day off. As for the internship... I haven't really thought about it yet. I'll probably try Arasaka first. If that doesn't work out, then I'll see about another company."
He left out the part about breaking the academy's online education system, and he had no real confidence about getting an internship at Arasaka either. He only said it because Gloria was sitting right there and he did not want her to lose face tonight.
Inside, though, he was grumbling.
Why even bring that up?
The subject change had worked.
Gloria quickly recovered from her lapse and patted David on the shoulder.
"David is actually very smart. His grades at the academy have always been pretty good. I really think his chances of interning at Arasaka are strong."
Kai nodded and did not say much more. It had only been a casual question to keep the table from falling into awkward silence.
There were things that could not be discussed in front of David.
After thanking him again, Gloria called a server over to bring out the gift she had prepared.
Kai watched as the server approached holding an elegant rectangular box printed with the distinctive Jinguji logo.
From the shape alone, he guessed what was inside was a suit jacket.
When the box was opened, it proved him right.
Inside was a very decent checkered suit jacket with a sharp cut.
The moment David saw it, he remembered Gloria dragging him to Jinguji. She had not taken him there to buy clothes for him at all. This had been the gift for Mr. Kai from the start.
Twelve thousand eddies, no discount.
Gloria stood up, took the box from the server, leaned slightly forward, and looked at Kai.
"I hope you like it, Mr. Kai."
"The last time, you refused to let us repay the treatment cost, so David and I had no choice but to pick out a jacket that would suit you."
"If you refuse to accept this too, then all we can do is leave it hanging uselessly at home."
Kai could tell the suit had been chosen for his size, and the price was probably just a little over ten thousand eddies, almost exactly matching the medical bill he had paid.
If he refused it again, it really would go too far.
So he stood up as well and took the box from Gloria's hands.
"Thank you. It looks great."
The moment Kai finally accepted the gift, Gloria let out a small breath of relief.
It could not erase the life debt she owed him, but at least it meant he had not simply spent money on them without receiving anything in return.
That alone lifted a weight off her heart.
Before long, the dishes began arriving one after another.
And the three of them slipped into a pleasant dinner.
Embers was a Western-style restaurant. One plate came, then was cleared, then the next one arrived.
David ate fast.
The portions were all tiny, the plates huge, and before long he had already wiped everything out.
Once the final dish had been served, the server politely informed them,
"Sir, ma'am, all dishes have now been served. If you'd like anything else, you may order at any time."
That was it?
David still felt completely empty inside and found this restaurant more absurd than ever.
Seeing that he was obviously not satisfied, Kai reminded him,
"There's a self-serve dessert and snack station over there. You should try it. It's actually pretty good."
David blinked.
"Is it expensive?"
Kai smiled.
"It's free."
David shot to his feet without another word and made a beeline for it, swearing silently that he would not leave until he had eaten his money's worth.
Now only Gloria remained across from Kai, wrapped in red.
The two of them looked at each other almost at the same moment, as if by mutual understanding.
Gloria froze for a second.
Then Kai said,
"Now that David's not here, there's something I'd like to talk to you about in private."
(End of Chapter)
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