A Step Closer to Love

“I thought we were friends how can you keep such a secret away from me” Chole said as she took the cup of beer in front of her to her mouth.

She had successfully been able to take Arabella out of the office before Kieran got the chance to do so. They both saw how messy everything unfolded and how unpretty their relationship announcement was to the entire office.

Arabella knew that she would need to discuss with Kieran soon, she was not even aware of what the details of the discussion were going to be but she knew it was important for them.

“It’s been only three days” she said swirling her soda in hand. “Today is the third day” she added with a smile on her face.

“What’s that?” Chole gagged as she held her chest.

“I thought you found Kieran hot?” Arabella asked when she saw her reaction.

There was no doubt about his appearance. He had an advantage in that aspect. It was always as though he stepped out of a movie or book.

“Yes but who thought you would go ahead and snag the handsome old bachelor,” Chole said before taking a sip of her drink once more and whispering. “The age gap”

Arabella had tried not to let the age gap between them bother her, she knew others around them would definitely bring it up and make her think about it. She shrugged as if her words had no impact on her.

“There is nothing wrong with a ten year age gap” Arabella said finally taking a sip of her soda. It was gradually losing its taste because she had stirred it around so much.

“That’s what you say now until you both have to make real essential decisions and he is doing so like an oldie that he is. Yes, he is handsome and hot to look at not to date” Chole said.

“Seems like you are criticizing my choice”

“Of course not” Chole jumped to say. “I am only airing my own views about the matter. Are you happy?”

“Yes” Arabella responded. Her previous relationships had never managed to give her the kind of feeling she had now so she was keeping her fingers crossed hoping that the feelings were the good kind and she had made the right decisions.

“Then that’s all that matters, I might have some opinions about it but it does not change what you want”

Chloe’s words and expressions did not match. It was obvious that she wanted to tell her off for being in a relationship with Kieran but at the same time wanted to act as if she did care about it.

They chatted a bit more before they left the restaurant. As they stood outside waiting for a cab Kieran pulled up. He rolled down the window and honked so they looked at him.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

“Hello ladies,” He said winking at Arabella.

She could not help the ongoing butterfly war in her stomach as she tried to pull a straight way.

“Let’s go,” he said.

Chole pushed Arabella towards the car. “Aren’t you going to come with us? He can drop you off” Arabella offered.

Even though she offered she hoped that Chole would decline, she had not had a chance to be alone with him all day and all she hoped for at that moment was some time with just him.

“You are inviting me but I can hear the unspoken words. I’ll pass” she said nudging her a bit more to the car.

“It’s no big, we can drop you off” Arabella continued urging. She turned to Kieran. “It’s okay if we drop her off at home right?”

“Of course,” Kieran said. It won’t take long to take her home so it was not that much of a big deal for him.

“And sit with you both act like lovers and remind me of my single life? No thanks,” she said taking a step back and crossing her hands across her chest.

“You had a drink, it might not be safe for you to be alone” Arabella wanted to be alone with him but she did not want to leave her friend all alone out at night after a drink.

“It’s fine, I’m barely even tipsy and I can make it back home by myself,” she said demonstrating that she was not in any way near drunk.

“Are you sure?” Arabella asked with a worried expression.

“Sure” Chole said pushing her forward once again.

“Okay then, I will see you tomorrow,” Arabella said as she climbed into the car.

“See you tomorrow” Chole said taking a step backward. Kieran nodded to her before rolling up the window and driving away.

As they merged into the traffic Kieran’s hand found her hand and intertwined it before taking it up to his mouth and planting a kiss on it.

“I missed you” he whispered with her hand still in his mouth.

“Me too” she added turning to face him. They were in traffic which was quite bad at that time of the night because of their location.

“Have you had dinner?” Arabella asked.

“I was waiting to have it with you”

“With me?”

“Remember what you said about trying all the good restaurants around together?” he asked and she nodded.

“Is that the reason?” she asked her eyes glistening out of happiness.

“Of course, so what do you feel like eating tonight?’ he asked and she tilted her head to act as if she was thinking about it.

“Chinese? Italian? Japanese? Korea?” Kieran asked giving her options.

“Anything you want to eat” She had a little to eat while she and Chole drank but it could not be considered a full meal and she was not exactly good with picking what to eat so she hoped that he would make a good choice and pick something for them.

“Should we do French breakfast?”

“At night?” she asked surprised at his choice.

“I know a good spot that only sells French breakfast at night, it’s a popular dating spot. Want to go there?”

“Of course”