He had surely made her uncomfortable, with how close they were , he had crossed a boundary and almost didn't restrain himself, just looking at her ..., it was easy to tell that his presence and closeness made her uncomfortable, he sighed as he bent his head , Thompson looked at him , " you are at it again..., is it that woman ?, he asked as he cleaned his hand with a piece of cloth , " looks like you have been watching me...", Denver said as he strolled over to the sink and grabbed a kitchen knife , the resturant had not been that busy since this morning , so far the first time in a while he had time to breathe and take things slow.
" Well....., pretty sure you made yourself quite obvious for someone to watch you...., it's like watching a little boy think about his crush", Denver sharply turned to him with a deathly glare that quickly silenced that amusement that was on his face , Thompson dismissed it with an akward laugh , " I'm just kidding ....it's quite obvious that you like her...if you do , just go for it".
If it was that easy , the way he just spewed it like it was so easy to ask and to be accepted, what Coco had told him yesterday, it was all too surreal , he finally got a glimpse of what she had become , someone who had been constantly watched and closely monitored , forced to write her books for someone else, it was an assumption he had made from what Coco had told him, they were making sure she was doing what she was told to do , when he saw her at his home this morning he felt guilty, he kept telling her to write when he was only at the shallow end of the ocean , he kept telling himself that he was doing it for her sake not asking her how she truly felt about it, it must be torture being in that cycle all by yourself.
At that moment his phone buzzed , he wiped his hand with a piece of cloth as he quickly walked over to his phone , it was a message from Kathryn, " hey....you busy?", it was so casual, at the same time so non challant , it was so Kathryn, he had not texted her when he had come home that day and due to Rhea and the resturant , he had forgotten to text her , he texted back, " yeah", samething , it was casual , a typical conversation between acquaintances , " will you hang out with me tonight....., I am going back to France tomorrow and I will not be back till forever , why don't we catch up a little ", that hint of flirt laced in that message, " tsk.....typical", it was sharp and blunt , Thompson looked over with a sparky expression, he was obviously teasing him but Denver just ignored him as he texted back, " sure".
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Kathryn sat on her bed , her luggages packed at the side , she was in a hotel room , with the beautiful lights and the large bed in the middle of the room, you could easily tell that this was luxury.
A smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she stared at her phone , obviously what had she been expecting , they Indeed were alike and that was why she liked him so much, " ha.....typical", she mummured under her breath.
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[LOUZERIA PUB] :7PM
They say you can tell a fancy place by just by its ambiance and indeed it was pretty , so that means it was fancy, the dimly lit lights gave it a fancy historical dining area in a castle, this that you only saw on television , the graffiti tile poised exotically with the wooden chairs and table which were made from a smooth and rich brown wood with such beautiful layering , but to Denver this didn't matter, all that mattered was the food and as he cut the steak on the plate he carefully noted down in his mind , a tough exterior, an overtenderized center and a somewhat rawness at the corner, " tsk.....", a low sigh escaped his lips , no matter how beautiful a resturant is , if the food was not good then it was just an empty jewellery box .
" What?...you don't like the resturant...., it has been quite popular on social media since it opened", said Kathryn with a smile, she had caught that little sigh that had escaped Denvers lips, she leaned in closer as she watched him cut the steak , she had dolled up , had worn a strapless red gown and left her hair down, the waves cascading down her back, and she had touched up her make up a bit, no man could keep their eyes off her as soon as she had entered that resturant, it was ....only him, he treated her just like he had always treated her " casual", not like she had expected anything though but it still quite sad , it was true that if an man liked a woman , all other women looked like stones , it was annoying.
She placed both her hands on the table as she leaned in a little closer, watching him and then her eyes scrolled 5o his hands, they were large and his veins were very much visible , the way he held that cutlery with minimal to no effort was....charming. " it's quite obvious people don't come here for the food .....look around, people are taking videos and pictures of the environment barely touching their food, the lightning and the whole ambiance is pretty , people will obviously like it", saying that he gently shifted the plate of neatly cut up steak towards Kathryn , " haha...you are already judging without even tasting the food ", she said as she grabbed her cutlery , " well thank you.....and let's taste it from the chefs perspective ", she smirked in amusement like she was mocking him, Denver leaned unto his chair and crossed his arms, as if daring her, his hair had grown a little and he looked so hot with how he lazily leaned onto that chair and the veins on his arm...., Denver was indeed so good looking.
" Go on...", his words jolted her out of her trance , he was nice, good looking and the veins on his hand and arm..., who won't like him, " ha.....", she said before poking her fork on the meat and when she did that she could feel it, it felt like mush as it fell apart like wet tissue, she managed to pick in the fallen part and dipped it into the sauce of thick gravy which was at the side plate, but the steak still fell in, some pieces in the gravy sauce.
Was it a crime to like someone this much or could it be a punishment that she knew she could never have him, it was.....frustrating that he kept being like this , kept being nice yet he was so unreachable. She finally ate the steak, tough at the exterior, melted in the mouth but not the pleasant kind, more like meat that had been cured in slime and salt, it wasn't pleasant at all as she squeezed her face in disgust, she looked at Denver with a " you were right look, Denver smiled faintly as he passed a piece if tissue to her , Kathryn collected it as she turned her head away and spat it out , " I should stop trusting social media , shouldn't I ?", Denver slowly nodded which made Kathryn snicker.
This moment , as pure as it was , she didn't want it to change , this simple moment of food and this atmosphere, the slow but melodic piano that played across the room , his non challant yet caring behaviour was something that tugged at her heart consistently . " If you come back again..., if you have time , you can come to my resturant and I will....", " I won't be coming back...", Denver looked up , it was easy to tell when Kathryn was no longer joking, being serious or being amused and one of these moments was this, " why....bust schedule?", asked Denver as he chugged down his glass of water , Kathryn played with her fingers under the table , she was nervous, she had never been nervous when it came to men but this man was making her mind spiral , she hesitantly looked up, locking gazes,his eyes....were so pretty, it could easily weaken anyone to their knees , " not because of a busy sceheduel, it's....it's because of you", she said in one sharp breath , not giving room to change the latter sentence , not wanting to feel any regret later , Denver looked puzzled , his eyebrows raused slightly , that came out all of a sudden , what sis he do?.
Kathryn took in a sharp breath , how could he be so clueless , she took a glass of wine as she chugged it down , her throat suddenly felt parched , once she chugged it all down, she was going to say it, she was going to....., " SLAP...", a sharp resounding sound echoed through the resturant, that soft melody that had been playing stopped , the quiet mummurs turned into something more of hostility, the air felt thick with tension ....., it was uncomfortable and you could easily tell where the attention had been drawn to, just two seats away from him , there she stood , her head slightly tilted, her hair covered the side of her face, she slowly raised her head back as she dug her fingers through her hair elegantly sweeping it back, the bruise on her cheek was merely visible.
A woman still sat there , clearly shocked at what just happened, Denver bit his lower lip ,how long had she been here, the woman who sat with her had this clear resemblance to her , her mother?, and then she turned to him, their eyes met , at that moment even in her eyes you could see how she was about to crumble , a wall that was barely holding up was about to crumble again.
Her eyes were unreadable, glassy with unshed tears , her emotions wavered ever so slightly, that look in her eyes made him freeze , he had never seen it before and at that moment he knew that....he was so far from Rhea.