Chapter 48
Hearing the voice, Diana raised her head subconsciously.
The man was almost as tall as Josh, a six-footer, and they were also at the same age. The suit he wore was the new style of Chris Chou for autumn and winter, going on sale in June this year. It was formfitting, and he looked gentle and clean, having a finely-cut face.
But she neither know him, and nor did she met him before.
She took a glance at Betty beside her inadvertently, finding that she also turned around to look at her in innocence and sluggishness.
Betty also didn't know this man.
She originally thought that he was a newcomer of P City recently, and came to cotton up to her, but it was seemingly not the case.
She didn't bother to run her imagination about his identity, so just asked straight to the point, "Hello, do we know each other?"
The man looked at her affectionately, smiling more happily, and his voice was as resounding as the sound of hitting gold and jade, "Diana, you are still the same as when you were a kid."
She thought to herself, When I was a kid?
These words, like the key for a magic box, inadvertently brought out an old childhood memory. She stared at the man, being stunned, and the doubts in her eyes slowly faded.His outline in her mind also gradually changed and narrowed, seamlessly overlapping with a blurred image in memory.
She said in uncertainty, "...Brother Toby Hunter?"
The man smiled again, nodding his head to admit it, and teased her, "Miss Swift, thank you for not forgetting my appearance and name."
Probably because of being too shock or slow to react, Diana didn't speak anything for a long time.
Betty, who was standing on the side, was  very clever. When hearing his surname, she thought that there was a long story.
Betty thought to herself: "This man's surname was also Hunter, so was he the Hunter family? He looked at the same age to Josh Hunter, so were they brothers?
But if it was the case, why did Diana not recognize him when they met after many years?"
In just a few seconds, Betty made up a story in mind about a big fight for the inheritance of the giants. She struck Diana's shoulder,whispering, "Who is this man? He looks quite handsome, Josh's cousin or his half-blooded brother?"
Until this time, Diana finally came back to her senses.
But she had no more extra emotions in her heart other than shock. Instead, she turned back subconsciously to the direction of Josh.
Coincidentally, after the show, the piano ladder retracted automatically, and the runway in an old-ship shape was slowly rotating. In just a few seconds, it just blocked the  the showroom from the viewing area.
Diana was in a daze. Toby raised his hand and glanced at his watch at this time, and suddenly said, "Sorry Diana, I still have something to do today, so I can't talk to you any more. I'll invite you to have afternoon tea in a few days, and let's enjoy the time at that time."
He took out his mobile phone, found out the QR code interface, and then handed it to Diana, "This is my WeChat ID, and please add me to your friend list."
"Oh, okay."
Diana didn't even have time to think, but took out her mobile phone to scan his QR code.
Toby changed her alias to "Diana" in front of her, shook his phone, and said with a smile, "I registered for a WeChat account when I returned to China recently. You are my third friend on WeChat."
Before Diana said something, he had taken back his phone, "Okay, I have to leave right now. I'll contact you soon."
Toby had walked out of sight, but Diana still didn't come back to her sense as if she was dreaming.
This man disappeared all of a sudden when they were children, and after more than twenty years, he suddenly came into her life again. It was really magical.
Betty stood aside, staring at Toby's back for a while, then at Diana solemnly, and asked, "Tell me, do you have any adultery with your brother Toby?! As you met just now, you were petrified as if your soul ran away... Well, did you quarrel with Josh because your such a childhood sweetheart? But  why did not you talk about him with me?"
Before Diana answered, Betty let go of the arm that she was holding, and whispered, "Diana, you have changed. You even keep something secret from me!"
Diana stared at her speechlessly, as if saying "What's wrong with you?" 
On the other side, Josh had been sitting in the same seat, and before he could see what the man Diana had bumped into looked like, his sight was blocked by the rotating runway.
After saying something to Sam calmly, he walked to the direction of Diana.
But people were hurrying to and fro after the big show, so when he walked to the place where Diana stood before, she had left, and he also didn't see her around.
A quarter of an hour later, he received the news from Sam about Diana in showroom, "Madam and Miss Betty are trying on clothes. Apart from the outfits you mentioned, Madam seems to like the white dress worn by the first model in the show."
Josh thought without thinking, "Buy it."
Sam replied "yes" without mentioning any other men, so Josh didn't ask any further questions.
-
The opening of Chris Chou's show for early spring was a blockbuster and ended in awe.
In the days after the show, entertainment and fashion media still frequently talked about it.
The topic the latter talked about was more professional and in-depth. It discussed the significance of Chris Chou's show in China this time, the advantages and disadvantages of the three series designs this season, the similarities and differences between this new fashion style and the previous one, and how it carried on as before and brought forth new ideas... Of course, the design of this show field was also frequently mentioned.
"Chris Chou invited interior designer Diana to collaborate on an early spring show with the theme of "The Charm of Spring", and created an immersive video art installation of the same name to exert the ultimate sensory experience. The piano staircase corridor and its reflection in mirror enhanced each other's beauty, and immersive devices there seemingly took people back to the era of Old Shanghai. Besides, the rotating steamer in the main show was also ingenious.
"This show for early spring and model clothes have set Chris Chou's inherent style. Chris Chou and his partners did perfectly in the combination of modern minimalist art and Chinese elements and retro style."
Chris Chou introduced and thanked Diana in a big way in his last two-minute speech, manifesting she was a perfect designer.
When many fashion magazines and media wrote reviews, they always described Diana subconsciously in details like what "Zero Degree" did, but finally they found that she had no other works. Of course, it didn't matter much. They could bragged about her education background and her identity of Chris Chou's royal partner.
For a while, many people flattered her.
In the past, Diana was always praised for her beauty and good taste even if she didn't anything. Therefore, as she did well in designing the show field this time, praises came in great numbers.
There were too many barrages of praise her in the video. After Chris Chou left, she almost lay on the bed for two days, recalling the comments from audiences at twice the speed.
-
She thought to herself, "Does Josh still have a conscience? When will he beg me to come home? Can the little money I earned from this job support me until then? Will I die from starving? Woo, I'm so tired of work! I've endured too much!"
When she was too lazy to turn herself over in bed, Toby she happened to meet at the show that day sent her a message saying that his friend bought a Chinese-style villa in West Court No. 3 and needed a designer.
Diana subconsciously replied, "No. No."
She was embarrassed to say that it was because she was too tired to work recently, so she explained politely, "I'm not very good at Chinese design, and I just finished designing the show, so my inspiration seems to be a little exhausted, but I know a very excellent Chinese designer, and I can recommend him to you."
Toby replied, "Okay," so she found out a business card of a designer she knew from the previous program and sent it to him.
After a while, Toby asked her if she had time to come out for afternoon tea or dinner. After all, they didn't meet for many years, and he wanted to catch up with her.
She refused him to design for his friend just now, so it was better to promise him. Besides, she could not find a reason to refuse Toby's invitation again. She didn't remember clearly about her childhood, but she knew Toby was very kind to her when they were little.
Therefore, without any hesitation, she replied him with a word "good".
She was very relaxed these days when she lay in bed, so did not find that the day Toby invited her for dinner was Christmas Eve until it was approaching
-
In the French restaurant on Christmas Eve, ethereal and soothing music resounded in the air. Under the orange attuning lights, the exquisite tableware was shiny. Everything like cups, tables and chairs was full of an elegance style of French.
Diana was led by the waiter to the place reserved for Toby, and on the way she saw many young couples who came out for a feast for the festival.
Toby waived his hands to her from a distance, and when she came to him, he got up, and took out the soft chair for her.
Diana felt that the atmosphere of this restaurant was strange, so she was a little unease when she had a seat.
Toby also returned to the opposite seat, poured a little red wine for her, and asked with a smile, "Do you feel a little awkward? Actually, I also have the same feeling."
After pouring the red wine, he pushed forward by pressing the bottom of the glass, and continued, "I'm so sorry I didn't think about it thoroughly. It seems that they're all couples coming out for dinner tonight."
Toby was so frank that Diana was embarrassed to act awkwardly. She took a sip of wine and shrugged lightly, "It doesn't matter. I haven't eaten French food for a long time."
Toby nodded and ordered food with her.
After all, they were familiar to each other before, so it was too easy to warm up. The two naturally talked about the experience of eating French food for the first time when they were children.
At that time, the two of them were small and not very sensible. Diana pretentiously stretched out to cut the steak. And accidentally, the steak jumped to Toby's face, but he didn't mind that. Instead, he had a sense of responsibility as her older brother. He finally cut his steak into small pieces and exchanged plates with her.
It's been too long for Diana to remember these things, but when Toby mentioned it, she slowly recalled it, and thought that it was a funny and embarrassing experience. Not to be outdone, she also remembered some of Toby's jokes and fought back with them.
Having a French meal would take two hours with Josh who was almost quiet all the time, Diana always felt boring and suffering, but she was thoroughly enjoying while doing that with a conversationalist like Toby.
And Toby had a sense of propriety as he did when he was a child. He only talked about some casual and daily topics with her, and didn't ask her some embarrassing questions about the past.
The smile on Toby's face faded as he drank coffee at the end, and he brought up a sensitive topic, "I heard that you are married to him. How is he treating you?"
Although Toby created a harmonious atmosphere all the time, before coming here, Diana had somehow thought of that... he would definitely ask her about Josh. Sure enough, he did.
She also took a sip of her coffee, and thought about it seriously before replying him softly, "Sometimes he treats me well and sometimes not, but I love him very much."
Toby was a little stunned after hearing this, and after a while, he said, "Hmmm." And then he changed the subject lightly, "Let me take you a ride to go back home."
Diana nodded, taking her handbag, and got up.
-
The music in the French restaurant was still ethereal and soothing, and the lighting was making people sentimental.
They had been sitting there for one hour forty-three minutes and thirty seconds.
Josh sitting not far away looked up from the watch dial on his wrist, and took a sip at coffee expressionlessly.
At this time, the Christmas atmosphere was very strong no matter where they were. There were also some Christmas trees in the French restaurant, and Christmas snowflakes were attached to the windows. Only Josh was sitting in the corner, and was out of tune with this cheerful and lively scene.
Watching Toby and Diana leave the restaurant, he also slowly got up.
He drove by himself this day and intended to pick up Diana in Star Park for dinner and a movie, but he saw her take a taxi downstairs.
He came here following the taxi that Diana was taking, and left here following the white Mercedes in front.
The belated snowflakes floated in the air for the first time this year.
The window of the car was open, but he seemingly could not feel cold in the winter wind.