Love At Last

ON THE DINNER TABLEThis text is © NôvelDrama/.Org.

I made reservations for I and Lily at a fancy restaurant and had a car go pick her up and convey her to the venue.

In no time, Lily made an appearance. I was already at the restaurant waiting when I saw her walk through the door as I had my eyes on it all through. I waved at her to alert her of where I was, then she came over and sat with me.

“Hey, you’re looking ravishing tonight, Lily,” I complimented and pecked the back of her hand gently.

“And you look very handsome today, my love,” she reciprocated. “So have you ordered yet?”

“Was waiting for you to arrive so they’d take both our orders at the same time. So what will you be having?” I handed her the menu laying on the table.

“Ummm…,” she looked through the menu, “you know what, let’s just have whatever you want,” she kept the menu down.

“Alright!”

The waiters came and took our order; we ordered rice and grilled chicken with green salad. Moments later , we were served.

“Have a wonderful dinner,” one of the waiter said.

“Thank you,” we both chorused.

Two minutes after we were served and started eating, Lily broke the brief silence.

“Ummm…Cayden?” she called out.

“Yeah?” I was already trying to make my way through the grilled chicken on my dish with my cutleries.

“Can I ask you some questions?”

“Sure! Go ahead.” With a portion of the chicken garnished with salad already in my fork, I put it in my mouth and chewed.

“Where were you born?”

“Where I was born?” She nodded.

“New York city.”

“So you basically lived there all your life?”

“Well, technically, yes. Literally, no. I’ve been in and out of the city so many times.”

“You lived with your parents?”

“Who didn’t?” I retorted mildly.

“You still do?”

“Of course not, Lily. I told you everything, didn’t I? I’m all alone now.”

“Right. Pardon my ill manners.”

“No issues.”

“Where did you attend college? Still in New York?”

“Nah, I schooled in London.”

“What did you major in?”

“Business. Business administration.”

“So when did you got back, you immediately joined Grey’s empire?” she interrogated; it felt that way to me at least.

“They scouted top students from the school and I was fortunate enough.”

“For how long have you been working there?”

“Lily, I feel like I’m being interrogated right now. If there’s a problem just say it,” I voiced out my thoughts.

“Problem? I just want to get to know you better, what could be the problem with that?”

“Just that?”

“Yeah! So please just keep answering my questions.

“Okay, fine.”

“So what does the nature of your job entail?”

“Well, I and a few others are kept in charge of dealing with investors who wish to do business with us.”

“Is that why you’re here in Nedford?”

“Yeah.”

“So the company you work for, is it privately owned or by a group of people?”

“There are a few shareholders here and there, but we have one CEO,” I replied and noticed a slight change in her countenance.

“A CEO?”

“Yes. A CEO.”

“So while you’re here , how do you receive orders from the higher-ups?”

“His secretary sets everything up with us.”

“Is his secretary male or female?” She started to sound a bit uneasy.

“Lily are you sure you’re good?”

“How do you mean?” she wore a plastic smile, I could tell.

“I don’t get where all these are coming from.”

“Like I said, I just want to know you better,” she places her hand over mine. “Is there a problem with that?”

“Just that?”

“Just that,” she confirmed.

“His secretary is a female, Miss Margaret,” I said and stare she gave me changed instantly from ‘mild’ to a quite intense one.

“What’s the name of your boss?”

“Lily I…,” I tried to fuss.

“Just answer,” she caressed my hand.

“Mr. Steve.” Immediately she heard the name I said, she dropped her cutleries suddenly. I was confused; she acted weird.

“Mr. Steve who? What’s his last name?” Staring at me, I could see the tension in her eyes. I too started feeling very uneasy. ‘Did I say something I shouldn’t have?’ “Lily is everything okay?”

“What’s his last name?” she repeated, ignoring my concern.

“Mr. Steve Greyson!” Like I had dropped a bombshell, she froze completely. I could tell from her reaction, that she was worried and tensed. “Lily are you okay?” I called her back from where she must have wandered off to in her head. “Lily?”

“Umm…ummm…C…Cay.. Cayden?” she stuttered with a shaky voice. It was quite obvious that she was in a deep state of distraught and restlessness and was portrayed to me like someone who just heard what she wasn’t supposed to. Did the name I call ignite bad memories in her?

“Lily calm down and talk to me,” I held both her hands firmly. “What is the problem?”

“Listen okay? I’m sorry but I have to leave now,” she pulls her hand away and takes her handbag from the table.

“Are you leaving just like that?” She immediately stood up to leave.

“I’ll see you later, love you,” she said while hurriedly walking out.

“Lily! Lily!” I stood up and called out multiple times but not for once did she turn around to look at me. Looking at her plate, she barely even touched her food.

In that period of my perplexing, I decided to call the one person who seemed to know much about Lily – Jarod.

While I heard his phone ring from my end, my heart raced and thumped so hard. I thought hard on what I must have said to trigger to leave the dinner table. I called Jarod three consecutive times but he didn’t pick my call. Lily had left, so there was no need for me to remain there. I settled my bills and stormed off and went straight home.

In my state of distress, I recalled every single line I said to Lily as a reply to the questions she asked and no matter how I looked at it, it was definitely ‘Mr. Steve Greyson – my boss’ name – that triggered her. I deliberated on what exactly could have spurred her reaction on hearing my boss’ name.

Amidst my thoughts, my phone buzzed and it was a text from Eliana that read ‘Our baby misses you’ with heart emoji attached. Out of annoyance, I quickly replied ‘Go fuck yourself!’ and threw the phone to a corner.

On coming to a realization that I may have actually been too harsh on her – Eliana – I picked up the phone from where I dumped it and sent another text that read ‘I’m sorry I replied that way. Currently, I’m in no mood for talks and that’s why I felt annoyed by your text. Once again, sorry.’ And kept the phone by my side to continue drowning in the pool of my head. Seconds later, the phone rang. I thought it was Eliana calling again and wanted to smash the phone in anger, when I took a peek and saw it was miss Margaret calling.

“Hello?” I made sure not to sound angry.

“Mr. Cayden?”

“Yes?”

“Mr. Steve is on his way to Nedford.” At that moment, the anger I felt turned to shock.

“He is?!” I sat upright.

“Yes. You’re not supposed to get wind of this, but I decided to just let you know. Be careful,” she advised.

I heaved a deep sigh of frustration and said: “Thanks for the information.” I hung up.

“Arghhhhhh!!!!!” I exclaimed in rage as I hit both hands on the couch concurrently, multiple times.

I dashed into my room, not in the mood for anything, and just laid in bed to sleep but as expected, I could not fall asleep; I was too irritated to do so.