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alarmednigerian:
Enjoyed it

Glad to hear that

comelyJummy:
Lovely story quietly following....

Thank you, darling. But I hope it's me you're quietly following because this flash fiction has ended

EvaJael:
Lovely

Thank you, EvaJael

Missmossy:
Beautiful

Thanks, Missmossy

humeeh:
wow!!
so straightforward and romantic!!
thumbs up op!!
that was nice!!

Thank you, humeeh

She came through the swing door and his heart skidded to a stop, literally. He had to inhale to kick if off again. It was always this way, since the very first day he walked through the double doors of the restaurant where she worked as a waitress.

She was a waitress, but her mother owned the classy a little over a dozen tables eatery. It was a small place but the food was good and highly affordable. Both facts didn’t really matter to him, but he knew they were attractive factors for other patrons.

Pin-striped grey skirt and a cheerful yellow lace frill top. That was her outfit today. The skirt stopped three or four inches off her knees and then her fair-skinned flawless, faintly-bowed legs flowed through it to end in pretty, girly faux-leather slippers.

Bella. That was her name. And like its Italian meaning, she was beautiful. She wasn’t too tall, but she wasn’t short or smallish either. Maybe she hit average at five-five, or close to it. She was slim built, slender without being thin, curvy without being overly voluptuous. She was rightly proportioned, that was how he thought of her. And she was beautiful. Beautiful with her glowing, unblemished fair complexion. Beautiful with her long, pitch-black natural hair that was always glossy and free-flowing. Beautiful with her quick smile and her dimples.

Beautiful—simply because she was.

She walked towards him with a tray of food and Adam quickly dropped his eyes.

“Your noodles, fried plantain and eggs.” She said, setting down a plate before him. “And your one per cent soy milk drink.” The packet of drink was accompanied with a glass.

He raised his head. Tried to surface from under the dreamy, soft, feminine scent. “Thank you... um...”

“Bella.” She chuckled and shook her head.

“Yes. Thank you, Bella.” He hadn’t forgotten. He’d just gone brain-dead and all nervous. A plague he suffered daily.

“Enjoy your meal.” And with her easy smile still on, Bella turned, picked up the empty plates on the next tables and disappeared behind the counter.

She dumped the dishes in the makeshift sink and sighed as her thoughts whirled with him.

Why did he always have to drop his gaze when she moved in his direction? Why did he have to stutter and then forget her name? Why did he have to sneak looks and never say anything?

Tall, dark and handsome would perfectly describe him except that he wasn’t tall, not like men were wont to be. He only hung above her by a few inches. But he was handsome—lean, ripping muscles, chin-beard, dark-eyed handsome—and completely unaware with it.

He made her heart thump. As it thumped now, quick beats and unsteady dances. Her heart had been thumping since they started the construction of the new bank building a stone throw from the restaurant a month ago. And for every day of that one month he’d come in here for his breakfast and lunch. He looked her—when he believed she wasn’t looking—and dropped his eyes when she turned her own gaze on him.

Her heart had never thumped. Not until he’d come through the doors of their restaurant. And she’d never been so sorely tempted to walk up to a man and just tell him. She would have done so too if her mother hadn’t strictly brought her up to wait until the man did the telling.

“Quit daydreaming, Bella. Potato chips and plantain up.” Cook called from the inner part of the kitchen.

She could never stop daydreaming, not with Adam the Engineer-Forearm still coming around. But Bella reached for the plate that had been neatly setup, added the ordered soft drink and walked back into the dining hall.

At least she’d look at him one more time before his return for his late lunch.

♠ ♠ ♠

He was doing it today. The work on the building was almost done; their part of it anyway. Another month of stealing looks, wishing and walking away with the longing in his heart had gone by. In a week, he’d be gone. From the neighbourhood, from the city. Never to see her again.

So he was doing it. It was today… or never.

He’d stayed after the close of the day’s work. He’d stayed so he could have his dinner there. That was his self-appointed time—after his attempt at lunchtime had woefully failed. Their nights were surely busier than the day. More patrons, extra waitresses. But he had eyes only for her.

She came through the door—wearing jeans shorts and a fitting tank top. That hadn’t been her attire earlier on. Then it had been a maxi dress that hung loosely. The jeans caught up her thigh, not too high-up but a good many inches off her knees. Adam stared at her and did not look away when she turned in his direction.

He couldn’t.

“Your dinner of rice and chicken-curry sauce.” She set it up, flashed her easy smile. “Big surprise, your turning up this night. Cook must have out done herself today.”

“Her food always tastes good but I didn’t come back for her.” She smelled so good. His mouth watered. His heart hungered. “I came back for you.”

Bella felt her heart skip, plummet and then started thumping again, at an alarming speed. “You did?”

Adam nodded. Now he’s found the courage, he wasn’t backing down. “Yes. Can we see? Tomorrow is Sunday. You don’t work Sundays, do you?”

“No. Mama believes in keeping the Sabbath day holy.” Bella curved her mouth and beamed him a smile. “Yes, we can see tomorrow. What time?”

“Lunch?” Her dimples twinkled and dazzled him. “I stay at the hotel on the other street but I could come over to pick you at your house if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t.” So he’d found out where they lived. Good. “I’ll be dressed and ready, say one p.m.?”

“One p.m. sounds good.” He waited for the flash of her twinkling smile before he bent over his food.

One spoonful taste and he was almost tempted to believe that Cook had indeed out done herself. But he knew it was excitement and sheer pleasure that was sending off the variety of spices inside his mouth and everywhere else.

He couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

♠ ♠ ♠

When it came, finally, Bella told herself that it was going to be the most perfect day ever. At church, she did her best to hear the sermon. But the words from the Priest sounded like Greek in her ears as she waited impatiently for the close of church.

At home, her mother teased her. Her brothers made annoying piggy noises but Bella would not be annoyed, not on the day she’d long waited for.

When the knock came at the door at twelve fifty-five, she almost sighed with delirious happiness.

“He’s here. Open the door and remember to ask him in to meet your family before you fall into his arms.” Her mother’s voice and eyes were teasing.

She patted down her floral-print dress and walked to the door, inhaling and schooling her smile to easy and friendly before she opened the door.

“Oh God, you’re so beautiful!”

The easy smile bloomed. Her dimples twinkled. Her eyes sparkled and her heart danced.

“Thank you. So are you—handsome that is.”

His usual khaki top and bottom wears had been switched for black, straight-legged trousers and a neatly tucked-in striped shirt.

“Please come in and meet my mum and brothers.”

He did. And then they left and drove to the restaurant. Nothing like their own; this one was five-star. With his shyness ducked, he turned out to be a great conversationalist. But Bella feared the conversations were more interesting because they floated out of his dreamy, deep voice.
It was so like the deep masculine voices she pined for on the radio.

“I thought you’d never say anything to me.” Now she too can be bold—forward, her mother would say.

He laughed. A strong, rolling sound. “I was scared shitless this beauty queen would want nothing to do with a stuttering foreman.”

“This beauty queen was scared shitless the handsome foreman might not be as taken with her as she was with him.”

Adam looked at her. Loved her openness, enjoyed her boldness. “I am not just taken, I am struck beyond thought and reason. Bella—most appropriate name I ever heard by the way.” He complimented.

Bella beamed. “Thank you, kind sir.”

“Bella.” He reached for her hand. Linked their fingers. “Be mine. Too soon to ask, I know. But when the heart knows, it knows. Be my reason to keep coming back.”

“Yes.” Because indeed when the heart knows, as hers did, it did know.

They talked some more. Whispered things only their hearts could say and their ears could hear, then they left the restaurant. Inside the quiet car, a stone throw from her house, they shared their first kiss. Their lips meeting as one just as their fast-beating hearts did.

The End.

***

Read More of TM David-West's stories on: Life and Spices.com

Cheriepet:
TMDavidWest
Repogirl
Audreytimms
Safarigirl

but my 'bestest' of all best is TMDavidWest. She does romance like no other.... Mama P I twale ooooooo

Cherie love, missing you like I always do *muah*

JeffreyJames:
For my side na only you be your rival!..No other!!

You know it, bro

I want to drop my own to.................................... TMDavidWest: romancing them like no other

Divepen1:
Tmdavidwest

WOW! That's a shocker from you, Divepen1. Many thanks for the honour

JeffreyJames:
If she can tell me the make of her phone we can get a solution.

@ Chumzypinky, pls can you tell us the make of your mobile device?

Chumzypinky:
alright...
But u're still gonna post another story soon on NL right?

I definitely will. And I will keep doing so from time to time. And after sometime, I'll eBook old stories and that way, you can get them.

Thanks so much, Chumzypinky

JeffreyJames:
Your theme is a responsive theme.

Exactly, Jeffrey. Which is why the Mobile theme function is not necessary. But she says she can't view the blog via her mobile device. it's a simple one. I'm yet to have the opportunity to check it out myself as I can't lay hands on non-smartphones at the moment.

junnyjake:
First time I read one of your works on facebook (operation stop the wedding) about 3 - 4 years ago, I thought you were a guy - your name. But after reading your other works, I realized. No this is someone feminine, which I later confirmed on here at Nairaland.

You're one of the writers I respect really much. Keep up the good works, we are here for you, i'd surely make out time to consume this piece, caz i know for sure, you don't fail to deliver.

Ha-ha-ha, "TM" deceiving people since 2014... Lol. Thanks for your comment, Junnyjake, I sincerely appreciate it. And I hope you enjoyed this short piece. Have a great weekend.

yorhmienerd:
Even though I believe- scratch that- we know that this kind of love only exist in the pages of a romance novel, still, it's a job well-done.

I was hoping for some mild dramas but the writer knows best. This is my first of your works I've read, hoping to read more on your blog.

Wehdome ma!

Lol @ scratch that.

Sometimes, or many times for me, when it's just a Novelette or a short Novella, I just stick with the main points and eliminate all possible "dramas". Romance is exciting enough for its soul-readers without the thrill of a twist... we like to believe that in our minds. Lol.

Thanks so much for appreciating this short love story and I hope you get to indeed read more of my works... wherever they are found. Cheers

Chumzypinky:
TM, so we'll never get to read stories from ur blog?

Chumzy, there are people reading the blog. I just don't know how to help this situation. Like I explained in one of my replies to you, initiating the "Mobile Function" of my blog's theme might resolve this. But I've got ads which are not mobile ads and that for now will not benefit me... or my blog.

I'll seek a Pro's opinion to see if there's a mutually beneficial solution, okay? Thanks

mercyymai:
Wow! I love this. Thumb up for this wonderful story.

Most time I wish luv is really like the one we read on stories or watch in movies




God bless the writer.

Amen to your prayer first. Lol. Fairy-tales are usually without the hassles of real life; that's what makes them so enchanting. But I like to believe there are some who experience love like this... sometimes

Missmossy:
Awww beautiful end. Thumbs up TMDavidWest, more wisdom and inspiration to you.

Thank you, Missmossy. And Amen to your prayer.

jaybanfa:
I cant help but say, a mighty nice novelette, kai, I was a bit economical with the truth. It is indeed EXCELLENT, to the point of making an 'over 40 year old man' teary eyed... Started reading this morning and didnt stop till now. @TMDavidWest great job..

In all honesty, comments like yours, jaybanfa, makes it a pleasure being a writer and putting good effort to any work, no matter the length. Thank you for appreciating Dinner For Two. I hope you get to enjoy other of my works. Cheers.

harunablezin:
waoh! diz beautiful and lovely.....weldoning uooooo

Aw, thanks, harunablezin

ChizzyMaris:
I loved it. Well-done.

Thank you, ChizzyMaris

StephanieElla24:
this is superb 3 gbosaa for u ma'am

Thank you so much, StephanieElla24.

LitQueen:
I really loved this story. Good work.

Thank you, LitQueen.

Lankyannie:
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW.Dz is da bxt love story i av read so far,d happily ever afta is soo superb.despite all d goliaths dt kame dia way in form of hugo boss gal,inferiority complex nd d rest,they ended up defeatn dm all lyk david.may all d goliaths standing in any area of ya lyf be defeatd ijn,amen.TMDAVIDWEST,U ARE REALLY DA BOMB!!!!!,MORE WISDOM TO U DEAR AND TNX 4 COMPLETN DZ STORY.plz wn are u postin anoda story?P.S:Can u post NO PERFECT LIFE here

Thank you, Lankyannie. It's been fun reading your comments and I've truly appreciated each one. I don't know yet when I'll start a new story here. I'll just give myself time to resettle my schedule and see when it's most convenient. No, I'm sorry, No Perfect Life can't come here. For one thing, I just started the story on my blog and it is a write-as-I-go thing. Besides, it's not this kind of Novelette, Novella or even Novel kind of story. It's a long, very long, series and it will take maybe the next two years before I might decide to draw the curtain on it. So, it's something I plan on taking slowly and my blog visitors/readers have a way of understanding my posting style and bearing with me when inconveniences like "we can't post for this week" arise. There's always an impatience in the air around NL and Facebook followers. They think story writing or Fiction writing is magic and want it maza-maza... lol.

But I will be back with something else... soon. This I truly promise.

Thanks again, Lankyannie, and do have a lovely lovely weekend

And there we have come to the end of this romantic story. It is short, straight to the point with no dramas because it is a novelette. But I hope that it is a story you enjoyed.

I am thanking everyone who followed this story. I am thanking them who made the time and choice to comment. I am thanking them who were generous enough to invite friends and co-NL members. Thank you all and hope this was an enjoyable love story for you.

Well, it is done and for a while, I'll be gone. But I am a Writer and Blogger and I do have my home base @: Life and Spices.com . Please join us there if you can. We have a lot of stories and many of which I cannot bring here. Some of my stories are only meant for Life and Spices.com (that is my blog) while some others I can share. From the few I can share, I hope to return to share with you another.

I also am a self-published author and have my eBooks on Okadabooks and also PDF versions on my eStore right there on my blog. Feel free (and I hope you will do this) to browse my category on Okadabooks: TM David-West category and purchase some of my stories. Here is a link to my Okadabooks hosted eBooks: TM DAVID-WEST’S eBOOKS

Also on my Facebook page, we have a Mystery story being posted Mondays and Thursdays now. Join us there: https://www.facebook.com/TMDAVIDWESTFICTIONS/

Thank you once again and cheers until we see again.

CHAPTER EIGHT

♥

Kome didn’t know if she wanted to smack him or to kiss him. She knew, sensed without needing him to tell her, that he’d panicked and was suddenly overwhelmed by the difference in their social status. The very factor that had kept him from courting her all those months ago, was again pulling him back from her.

But she wasn’t allowing it, Kome thought grimly. She wasn’t allowing him slip away. Definitely not after he’d confessed he was in love with her.

“We’re going inside to talk.” She announced, once she was certain he wasn’t walking away anymore. And she turned and strode through the side gate.

The desire to retreat inside wasn’t just to provide them the needed privacy to talk. She needed a couple of minutes to decide how best to deal with the situation. And she’d decided that going on the offensive was her best option.

“Want a drink?” She queried, once they were in her living room.

“No.” He declined with a shake of his head. “Kome…”

“I need a drink.” She stated, turned and flounced off.

Heard his deep sigh and compressed her lips. She was not letting him off so easily.

She swept back into the room with a glass of juice and found him still on his feet, right on the spot she’d left him. He looked worried, and it pulled at something inside of her. But she hardened her emotions.

“You have no wish to sit?” She asked coolly, taking a seat herself on the sofa.

“I’ve hurt you. And for that, I am deeply sorry.” Theodore said quietly, sombrely.

Kome inclined her head, took a sip of her drink and stared at him with considering eyes. “Why, Theodore?”

He understood her question and answered it forthrightly. “I panicked and acted like an idiot.”

Kome wasn’t satisfied. She’d figured that out for herself—that he’d suffered some sort of panic and that he’d, well, acted like an idiot as he just said. But why now?

“Why now, Theodore? Why now when…” Kome broke off and shook her head. She stared at him sadly. Confusedly. “Only this afternoon, we finally came out in the open and owned our feelings for each other. Only this afternoon, you told me you loved me and I confessed I loved you right back. So where’s the panic springing from all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know. It was knee jerk. Stupid.” He looked at her. Then he too shook his head. “No, I know where the panic came from. And it wasn’t just panic, it was also fear.”

In his eyes, Kome saw the kind of openness that eliminated all barriers. He was baring his heart, maybe his soul, to her, like he’d never before done with anyone. Her own heart constricted and then loosened as love spread.

“What are you afraid of, Theodore?” She asked, her voice no deeper than a whisper.

Theodore did not speak, not for a full minute. Then he walked to the sofa and sat down beside her. He took her hand and his eyes steady on hers, he responded. “I never, in all my life, thought that a woman so beautiful, so accomplished and from a privileged background would ever look on a man like me. A man big-boned like I am, retiring in personality and still struggling with his first meagre millions.” He paused.

Kome did not speak. She waited, even as the temptation to reassure him bit hard.

“First time I saw you, right inside the Union Marble House, I lost my head.” He went on, his eyes never leaving hers. “Before that week was over, I’d lost my heart and I had absolutely no hope of retrieving it. And worse, I had no hope of having my love reciprocated.”

Again he paused. And when he spoke again, his voice, and his eyes too, were full of tenderness. “When you invited me to that get-together here at your house, I felt like Santa Claus had to be real and he was giving me an early Christmas present. When I came and you told me the invitation was only meant for me, I thought my heart would burst from the sudden hope that overwhelmed it. And the first time we kissed, right on my balcony, I knew that I’d die happy if kissing your lips was the last thing I ever did.”

He raised her hand to his lips, but did not kiss it. Just held it there where the breath from his mouth caressed her skin. “I love you in ways many would consider impossible for a man to love a woman. I love you beyond and above physical appearances, wealth and everything the world holds dear. I love you from my heart and from my soul and I will love you same way for the rest of my life.”

Her heart engulfed with love for him. And her eyes filled and glistened with their tears of unspeakable joy. “If you love me beyond wealth, then it should not matter whether I have it or not. What comes from my background, you have rightly judged as privilege, Theodore, and so it cannot be allowed to stand in the way of our happiness.” She slid her other hand and touched his face. “You must know I love you. I love you like I have loved no other man and like I will love no other man ever again. You are my soul-mate, Theodore. I believe that.”

He lowered his head and kissed her hand then. Then raised his head and his eyes to hold her own. “I am unworthy, not because of the lack of fine things life blesses us with, but because there is a possibility that another man could love you better, love you more. I am unworthy, but I am greedy. I want not just a few kisses, or a few hours with you. I want all of your kisses. I want every single day with you. I want all of you. Kome… please marry me.”

What glorious words! “I told Ted I will be your wife.” Kome whispered and laughed when his eyes rounded and shone—like her own, she was certain. “Yes, I will marry you, Theodore.”

“Unbelievable!” He murmured, totally overcome. Then kissed her hand, leaned forward to kiss her lips and then backed up instantly. “Just a second.”

He slid his hand inside his jacket and slipped out a box. He opened it and held up the ring with a simple triangular diamond. “This is a token of my love, Kome. Wear it with love for me.”

“Oh Theodore, you have the best words.” Blinking back the tears that so impatiently wanted to fall, Kome held out her hand and when he slid the ring onto her fourth finger, she raised it and kissed it. Then she looked at him. “You are worthy, Theodore. Worthy to love me and worthy to be loved completely by me. And I think no man will love me better, or more, than you do. My soul, not just my heart, is entwined with yours.”

“I am a man blessed then.” He touched her face with such tenderness and then drew her into his arms and kissed her.

♥

He was Theodore Malik, a simple man and a simple accountant working for a firm he planned on retiring from as soon as he set up parameters for his own—which might take a little while given his meagre income. Today was the happiest day of his life, for today he married the love of his life, Kome Douglas, gorgeous millionaire heiress.

She had walked down the aisle to him, this woman he would love forevermore and beyond. And bound by love, they had made promises to each other they knew they would never break.

Theirs was a romantic tale, a fairy-tale. He’d seen a couple of cynical sneers on the faces of some guests. But when a man had a beauty beside him and her face glowed with pure undiluted love, you didn’t care about the doubt and cynicism that wrought unbelieving hearts.

Now he lay, thoroughly spent, beside her on their wedding night bed, sated beyond words, pleasured beyond imagination and steeped in the wonder of a union that superseded body and mind and encompassed the spirit.

He had a ridiculous, possibly stupid, grin on his face he knew, because he could feel the stretch of his mouth from one end to the other. He turned his head and looked at her. She was smiling, her eyes half-closed and her satisfaction apparent in the softness of her expression.

“Gosh, I feel so thoroughly loved.” She murmured, a tickle of laughter whistling out of her mouth. “I am certain, because I cannot move, that you have liquefied every ounce of flesh and bone on my body.” A sigh, deep, content and delighted, floated out and she curved her lips into a tempting smile. “It is my dearest hope that you would repeat this liquefying procedure again, and possibly every day, or other day, for the rest of our lives, Mr Malik.”

Pride swelled and his grin radiated with it. “I am working on making that secret dream of mine, and yours, come true, Mrs Malik.”

She chuckled. Their hands slipped into each other and linked.

When he heard her soft breaths, he closed his eyes and Theodore Malik was content.

The End.

Lankyannie:
Wish smtin wil jst happen 2dz linda of a gal.always belittln her elders cus of muni nd class.wish kome wil jst kal dia relationship a quit cus i dnt wanto see ma 2love birds quarreln cus of one daughter of eve.RIDE ON DEAR AM FOLLOWING YOU BACK TO BACK!!!

I always enjoy your comment. So dramatically interesting

Tuham:
i doubt it
Its really weird

Lol. You'll get there... I hope