A Step Closer to Love

“How did you know the coffee I like?” Arabella asked as they drove back to the office.

“I just guessed,” Kieran said with a shrug. “I will drop you off upfront because I have to get to my meeting” he added.

“I told you that I can go back myself,” Arabella said in a protest. “You drop me off here” she said pointing to the corner of the road.

“And risk looking like a bad person?” Kieran commented.

Arabella felt her phone vibrate in her lap. She took it up and discovered it was a call from Mark. A smile crossed her face. Since their date on Saturday, they have been communicating like close friends. Each time she felt like he was about to ask her out she discovered he just did not do it.

“Hello,” Mark’s voice came through the line.

” I thought not to call you because you might be at work,” Arabella said in response.

“I just saw my outpatients and I have a little more time before I go in for surgery and I wanted to hear from you”

“Oh, I feel honoured” She had somehow begun to feel comfortable with him and she did not know why.

“So what are you doing this weekend?”

“Today is Monday, I don’t have any plans for the weekend” Arabella responded.

“You don’t have any plans yet” Mark corrected.

“Are you going to make plans on my behalf?” Arabella asked.

“I was going to ask if you had any idea what we could do together”

“Are you trying to ask me out on a date right now”

“If you want to call it that”

Arabella felt her cheeks get hot and red. He was asking her out on a date and not because it was a date but because he wanted to.

“So what do you want to do?” he asked when she stayed silent for a while.

“Let’s go to the amusement park, I have always wanted to go there” Arabella said.

“You have never visited the amusement park?”

Ever since she came back to Crescent Bay she had always wanted to visit the amusement park. The entertainment news has called the place the amusement park the home of all other amusement parks.

“I have visited several other parks but not the one in Crescent Bay” Arabella responded.

“It’s a date then,” Mark said.

“I should mark that down in my calendar” Arabella replied in a sarcastic voice.

“See you then, I gotta run now,” he said and the line fell dead before she could say anything.

The ride was silent as it seemed like Kieran began to suddenly drive faster than normal. “Be careful” Arabella let out when he somehow almost brushed the car beside them.

“I am late” Kieran said with gritted teeth.

She felt the aura around him change. It was obvious that he was not the same man who had taken her out of lunch and was bringing her back. His earlier relaxed face was all tensed now it was impossible to miss that something or someone had mysteriously changed his mood all of a sudden.

She wondered how his mood changed within minutes, they had even been talking until she got the call. What was wrong with him?

Kieran dropped her off at the office and zoomed off before she could say anything. She watched his car disappear out of sight.

“What are you doing here?” Arabella turned around to see Chloe standing there with the entire staff.

“I went out for lunch” Arabella replied holding onto Chloe’s hand that had somehow found its way into hers.

“But you said you weren’t going for lunch” Chloe asked and the entire crew walked into the building. Arabella and Chloe followed behind them and she knew that she could not mention that it had been Kieran who asked her to come out for lunch.

“I had to see a friend urgently,” she lied.

“You have friends in the city?” Aaron asked without turning back to her so she could not tell the emotions behind his statement.

“I met one online and we had only been taking online, he was around the area so I decided to have lunch with him” Arabella lied.

She hated herself at that moment, she had not been a big fan of lies but here she was freely lying through her teeth and feeling comfortable about it.

“Oh, I still brought you back that sandwich,” Chloe said extending the plastic bag to her.

“Thanks” Arabella said taking the bag from her and hanging it on hers.

Arabella did not see Kieran for the rest of the day. Since they had decided to have dinner together She decided to hide under the guise of working overtime to wait for him. She was left all alone in the office because everyone had gotten off work.

After she had waited for an hour and a half and she did not see any trace of Kieran she decided to give him a call to see if there was something holding him up.

“Hello” his voice was strained and filled with a hint of sadness.

“Are you still in the meeting?” she asked in a low voice in case she had been a disturbance to his meeting.

“No,” he said.

“Oh okay” she wondered if she should be direct and ask him or if she should drop hints and let him figure it out himself.

“Did you have a reason to call?” he asked in a pissed voice.

“You told me to wait that you would be picking me up for dinner but I have waited for a while now, I wanted to know if we were still having dinner together?” she asked deciding against complicating things with him.

“We can’t have the dinner tonight,” he said.

“Are you going to apologize or give reasons for that?” she asked.

He was the one to suggest the dinner and he did not bother to call her to let her know that the dinner was cancelled or even apologize for any of it.

“Why should I?” he asked.

Arabella took a deep breath and breathed out an okay to him. She cut off the call as soon as she could and took a cab home.

Why did she think he was getting better as a human? He was just as prickly as she had always been.

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