A Step Closer to Love

“Are you treating me to dinner tonight?” Kieran asked as they rounded the corner and approached the office building.

“Oh no” Arabela said shaking her head. “Not tonight” she said pressing her lips together.

“Not tonight?” he was shocked. “You sound like you have a plan”

“What do you mean by that?” Arabella gasped as if she was offended by his statement but it was the contrary for her. If anyone knew her well they would know she was exhausted with the back and forth of going out and wanted to try her best to avoid it.

“You are not really an outdoor person” he said and she nodded.

“That is correct but I am meeting Mark tonight, he asked to meet”

Kieran suddenly felt bile rise in his throat as it suddenly became bitter he wanted to spit around. “Mark?” his voice was low as if he was commanded to whisper.

“Yeah, he reached out and I agreed to go”

Kieran could see that Arabella was not aware of the intense anger he felt for hearing that piece of information because she still maintained and acted oblivious. Maybe she knew and was just trying her best to act dumb about it.

“So not tonight, we can do another night,” she said as he drove in.

Since Kieran was not sure of the emotions he was facing he knew it would be best for him not to get involved and to act as if hearing everything she had said did not affect him in any way. He nodded his head and said nothing more till he parked in his spot.

“Aren’t you coming down?” she asked when she noticed that he made no move to even take off his seat belt but just sat staring into space.

“Go on without me, I have an important call to make,” he said lying through his teeth. He wanted to give his mind an award for quickly coming up with that answer to her question.

“Okay,” she murmured pushing herself out of the car, waving to him before walking away.

As she walked away she tried to replay the entire ride in her mind. It seemed like she might have offended him because of the scowl on his face. He was not usually approachable and friendly but he did not always carry a scowl with him. She tried to assess the situation and she knew she did not do anything to put him off.

She saw how hard he tried to stay calm and not lash out. She did nothing wrong so she should not be worried trying to rack her brain to know what she did but why could she not stop?

She pushed herself to her desk immersing herself in the day’s work. She only got out of her seat to have lunch with her co-workers and Kieran was nowhere to be found.

Considering the way he had been on her case about lunch in the past few days she was wondering why he was missing during lunch.

She tried her best to act normal and that her mind was not constantly wandering to Kieran all through the day. She buried herself in work and then the end of the day was there.

Since Mark had said he would be picking her up she knew she had to wait till he was near to step out so she decided to stay back and do some more research for the upcoming work they were preparing for.

The office lights were off and she was left alone at her desk with a small reading light illuminating the table. She jumped up in fear when a tap was heard at her table. She did not hear him walking to her which was what gave her the extreme fear she had just experienced.

She was alone in the office so the possibility of another person being with her was what gave her the extreme fear she just experienced. She wanted to talk but her hand over her mouth and widened eyes somehow could not return to normal.

“What are you doing here?” she asked when she finally regained herself.

“I was passing by and I saw the light,” he said.

She turned around the room trying to understand what he meant. Her table was far from the door so she was sure it would be impossible for them to see the small light from her table through the thick door.

“That’s a lie” he muttered and she nodded. She dropped the book in her hand to the table. She had been careful enough to not let her fear allow her to drop the book to the ground. She would have been even sadder if the book had dropped and maybe even cried in horror.

“Why did you lie?” she asked standing to her feet and her eyes caught the clock. She could not believe she had been so immersed in her reading that she did not notice how far the time had gone.

She tapped her phone screen to see if she might have missed a notification from Mark but the blank screen stared at her.

“I thought you were meeting the doctor” Kieran said clearing her throat as he clenched his hands to his side.

“I am still waiting for him” Arabella replied. She was uncomfortable to admit that it seemed like she had been stood up and she wanted to so desperately make an excuse for him since he had been such a joy when she met him last.

“How much longer are you going to wait?” Kieran asked and she cleared her throat looking away. “It’s been three and a half hours now” he added.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“I am sure something came up, maybe at the hospital,” Arabella said and he nodded.

“I am also sure that he would reach out to you when he is done with whatever is holding him up,” Kieran told her. He was relieved that the date fell through because who knows she might have come back being his girlfriend.

He was a man and he knew these things even though he would not like to admit it. He could tell that Mark liked her but the thought of them being a couple did not sit well with him.

“Why don’t we have dinner?”