Chapter 3 The Ringtone

With a gentle smile on her face, Sarah fixed her gaze at James, who was rattling on endlessly about his time abroad. For the most part Sarah didn't pay much attention to his words, and occasionally, she would respond with a nickering, perfunctory smile. The life she had once dreamt of was now beyond her reach and the innocent girl she once was had long disappeared in the passage of time.

Suddenly, the familiar sound of a horrible ringtone from many years ago played in her ears. "What does the fox say? Ring-ding-ding..."

It brought back memories from a few years ago when that earworm was so popular that it could be heard playing all over the city. As it appeared, someone was still using it as their ringtone. Much to her surprise, a few seconds later, it was James who took out his phone from his pocket causing Sarah's jaw to drop in total stupefaction. She didn't expect a man of his taste to be using such an unpalatable ringtone.

Sarah already had a bad impression of James because he was late to their date, but this was even worse. James looked at the screen of his phone and cut the call before putting it on "silent mode." He put his phone aside and gave Sarah a rueful smile. "I'm sorry about that. I just bought his phone the other day and I forgot to change the ringtone."

"It's OK. Why didn't you answer the phone?" Sarah's curious eyes fell on James' phone and she noticed that he was using the latest model of mobile phone.

"Oh, that was just a friend. It's okay. It's not important." James raised his cup to his lips, took a sip, and set it down again. However, his phone started vibrating not long after he had put it down.

James politely asked to be excused as he answered the phone with an embarrassed look on his face. Sarah raised an eyebrow out of curiosity, but remained silent.

"Really? Don't worry, I'm coming over as soon as possible!"

After hanging up the phone, James looked at Sarah and said, "I'm sorry, Miss Swain, but my friend needs my help. I must leave at once."

"There's no need to apologize. Please, go ahead," Sarah responded politely and considerately. Needless to say, she knew what was going on, but she pretended to know nothing.

"I hope you will allow me to make it up to you next time. Good-bye!" James stood up and left.

As James slowly walked out of the coffee shop, Sarah looked away indifferently. Sarah sighed in exasperation, mindlessly stirring the coffee. These fruitless blind dates were starting to wear her out. On some occasions, the thought of marrying a random person would cross her mind, but she just couldn't bring herself to do such a thing.

When she arrived home, as soon as she settled on the sofa, her mother came over to her with a concerned look on her face. "Honey, why are you home so early? How come you didn't have dinner with James before coming back? How was the date? Tell me everything! What did you think of him?"

Sarah leaned forward, rubbing her temple and then looked at her mother, Danna. "He is a great guy, but he's just not my type. I don't think it's going to work out. That's it."

"What do you mean you don't think it's going to work out? Sarah, tell me exactly what happened!" Danna pinched Sarah's arm.

"That hurts!" Sarah kneaded her sore arm and furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't like him, and he doesn't like me either. That's it."

"Honey, how could him not like you? Who wouldn't like my beautiful daughter?" Danna put her arms around Sarah's shoulders and comforted her, thinking that she was feeling sad about what happened with James.

Sarah's annoyance turned into frustration as she said to her mother, "I'm very tired! I'm going back to my room. Call me when dinner's ready!"

Danna sighed, feeling sorry for her daughter. After all, she wondered why her beautiful daughter couldn't find a man even after so many blind dates.