Emma checked her watch.
9:40 PM. The tables around her were on their way to empty, the sign on the restaurant's door was begging to be flipped. The clock was inching to closing time and she could almost feel the restaurant manager's outraged eyes on her temple. 
Kai stood her up for three hours. And ten minutes.
He said six-thirty and that was final. Six-thirty, at Oranjee, dressed, tables reserved. Ten unanswered phone calls and fifteen texts after the promised time, and he still hadn't showed up. 
At least he did reserve the table.
"Some more mocktail, ma'am?"
Politely the waiter bent down and asked with every last scrap of service-industry hospitality, his eyes were uneasy and impatient. She appreciated it, anyway.
"No, thank you." Emma forced a smile.
The last couple on the table just across the room paid their bill and wore their coats, smiling, evidently happy. 
Her phone buzzed. Kai.
'I forgot,' the text said. 'Sorry.'
Forgot. He reserved a table for two, at a restaurant that could cost him his Rolex watch, and he could simply happen to forget about it?
He didn't forget about it, and she knew it all too well.
The restaurant manager approached her uneasily. "We're really sorry, but--" 
"It's okay." She tried her best to keep her pitch normal. "He's not coming, after all."
With all the dignity of Emma Lee, she paid the bill, took up her purse and walked outside. A heavy downpour had just started, and all of a sudden the sky started bawling, pouring down water, and she felt like drowning.
She didn't have her car with her. Her plan was to get a cab home, but now it seemed all too impossible.
Things fall apart, she thought. They always do.
Her phone buzzed again, but it wasn't Kai.
"The hell are you?" Sehun yelled through the line, obviously mad. "There's one hell of a storm outside, it's ten, and Lily kept calling to see if I knew where you are."
Emma took a deep breath. "Oranjee."
"And is Kai there?"
Wet little lines formed down her cheeks, and her pitch fluctuated. "Supposedly."
She didn't have to explain. He understood.
"Look, stay where you are, okay? Fifteen minutes."
And then he hung up. 
. . .
A Prius pulled up in front of Emma, and before she knew it he brought out an umbrella over her head. 
"Did he stand you up?" he asked.
Emma nodded.
Sehun checked his watch. "We should get going."
"10:15," Emma said.
"What?"
"You meant it," she smiled sadly, "when you said fifteen minutes."