Four months later, on Valentine’s day, Kurt arrived at her door early in the morning. It surprised Juliet to see him so early in the morning; she was just about to leave for work herself.
“What are you doing here by this hour?” she asked as she let him in. “Aren’t you supposed to be on your way to the office?”
“Yea, office, it can wait for later,” he said. “Happy valentine’s,” he gave her the shopping bag he was holding.
“Happy valentine’s day to you too,” she collected the bag and opened it. “Oh, my God!” she gushed. The bag contained two boxes, one with a pair of earrings and the otter a wristwatch.
“Thank you. ” She looked into his eyes.
“Do you like them?” He asked with a little smile.
“I love them. Thank you so much.”
“You are welcome,” he grinned sheepishly.
It delighted his heart that Juliet liked what he got for her.
“I got you something too,” she said. “But it’s in the car. I was planning to call you later.”
“Aww, thank you.” He wished he could pull her into his arms at that moment and kiss her senselessly with all the tension that had been piling up inside him for the past four months. But he couldn’t. They were still just friends.
“You are welcome,” she replied.
“I’m taking you to work today,” he dangled his car key in front of her. “You don’t have to go in your car. Are you ready?”
“Really?”
“Yes, really, and I will come to pick you up at the close of work for dinner.”
“You are taking me to work. Why?” She smiled. “And to dinner later.”
“Because today is valentine’s day.” He winked at her. He leaned forward and whispered into hear ear, “and I want to have an enjoyable time with my friend.”
Her skin tingled just from his voice, and a wave of excitement went through her body. “An enjoyable time?” She was so happy.
“Yes, special time with my special friend,” his voice was husky. “Come, let’s go,” he picked her laptop bag. “We don’t want you to be late.”
“Okay, sir.” She giggled like a schoolgirl and picked her handbag.
“I like that,” he cooed as they walked out of her apartment.
******
“I’m so sorry,” Kurt apologized the moment Juliet walked through his door several hours later. “I didn’t want to leave what I was doing.” He could not go pick her from work as he promised. He had to book a ride to pick her up.
“It’s fine. At least you didn’t leave me stranded.” She cast a suspicious glance at him. “What were you doing?”
“I have been making dinner for you.” His dark eyes sparkled.
“You made dinner?” She sucked in a deep breath. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, come and relax,” he collected her bags and led her to the sofa, where she sat down. He kept her bag on the end table.
“Let me…,” he made a move to remove her shoe. But she insisted on doing it by herself with a shy smile.
“Give me a minute,” he patted her on the shoulder and dashed away to the kitchen. He returned a few minutes later to set a tray in front of her. On the tray was a bowl containing potato chips, a bottle of wine, and two wineglasses.
Kurt opened the bottle of wine and poured it into the glasses. They made a toast to more beautiful valentine’s days and sipped their wine.
After his second sip, Kurt set his wineglass on the table. “Enjoy your appetizer,” he said and dashed away into the kitchen again.
Juliet nodded and relaxed back into the sofa with a chip in one hand and her glass of wine in the other.
Juliet later went to the kitchen after two glasses of wine. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Kurt bringing a baking tray with chicken thighs out of the oven, a dish towel hanging on his shoulder. She stood at the doorway, admiring him for some time before she announced her presence by walking further into the kitchen.
“It smells nice in here,” she said, looking around. “And they look juicy.”
“Thank you.” He turned around and smiled at her. Their eyes locked for a few seconds and Juliet’s knees went weak.
“What can I do?” She asked.
“Nothing.” his gaze brightened up. “Everything is under control.” He said, feeling pleased that everything was ready despite the initial delay.
She looked around and was surprised to see the dishes of food he had already laid out on the worktable; fried rice, jambalaya rice, salad, and fried fish.
“You made all of these by yourself. Didn’t you go to work?” She knew he was an excellent cook, but wondered how he could put everything together by that time on a weekday.
“No,” he gave her a lopsided grin.”I took the day off.”
“You took the whole day off?” Her eyes widened in shock. “To cook for me?”
“Yes, for you. I haven’t had a single day off in the last three years.” He began to remove the chicken thighs from the baking tray. “So my boss could not say no when I asked for just a day off.”
“Wow!” was all she could say.
“I would have finished earlier and come to pick you as I promised.” He started explaining why he didn’t come to pick her up.”I decided to rest a bit and eventually overslept. So I started cooking later than I planned to.”
Juliet chuckled, “it’s understandable, you are a workaholic.”
“I agree,” he winked at her.
Her heart contrasted in her chest, beating so vigorously.
“Thank you,” Juliet whispered, eyes glistening with unshed tears. She was mesmerized; no man had ever cooked for her.
“I’m totally in love with this guy already.” She thought to herself and felt like giving him a kiss with her arms wrapped around him.
“What is wrong with you Juliet, for God’s sake?” She chided herself and quickly grabbed two dishes from the worktop, saying, “let me take these to the table.”
They both ended up setting the table together and soon settled down to eat. They made small talks in between the food, sharing funny valentine stories.