“This is some fine dining experience,” Cade said as they brought out the food.
“I take pride in finding nice places to dine” Ophelia replied.
“You really went all out babe” Cade said back as he stared at her lovingly.
Ophelia might have thought that Cade had a crush on her if he had not made his position clear before now. They had an unexpected performance by a band and then the food that came out was so good they could not stop even when they kept bringing more and more out for them.
He had been so very extra in taking care of her that she was sure the entire restaurant was invested in looking at them. They had gotten stares and even heard comments that were supposed to be whispers but turned out to be too loud for one. The people were buying the story of the in-love couple they were selling.
“Anything for you honey” she said stretching her hand across the table and holding his hand. He took it and intertwined them and then she pretended to blush. At least to them, it was as if they were pretending but their acting was so good the waitress had to comment.
“You too look so good and cute together. It is like a match made in heaven” she said excitedly. “I hope I get to have a fairytale story like yours” she added.
“Everyone gets their own fairytale ending” Ophelia said in an encouraging tone.
“I do hope” she replied before rolling the cart away.
“You know selling fairytale dreams?” Cade whispered as the girl was out of hearing.
“What do I do? Kick down her dream when she sees how in love we are?” Ophelia retorted allowing the smile to remain on her face. She could not believe he was about to start an argument while they were still out. “If you want to argue then I suggest that you wait till we are at the hotel” she added a smile never leaving her face.
“Who said I wanted to argue?” he asked tilting his head and squeezing her hand a bit. ” Shall we eat?” he asked and she nodded.
“Why don’t you feed me a bit of what is your plate?” she asked looking down at his plate.
“Are you serious?” he asked taking up the culterly with his other hand as he still maintained the intertwined hands.
“What speaks love more than sharing of food?” she whispered.
“Okay, I guess” he said taking a spoonful of the plate and putting it in front of her mouth.
“Maintain your smile,” she said through gritted teeth at him. His mouth curved up to a sarcastic smile. “Make it a bit more realistic” she said and he obeyed. He would have rolled his eyes at her excessive demands but what could he do about it? He had willingly signed the contract with her so how could he think of escaping?
She took the spoon in her mouth and took the food in before munching on it. “Oh honey” she said almost moaning as she savoured the taste of the meal.
“Stop moaning” he said staring down into her soul she was afraid he would see everything. “You are turning me on” he added in a whisper.
Ophelia had expected any other thing apart from what he had said because her chewing stopped midway as she looked at him. Did he have those kinds of thoughts? Did he have to make that kind of comment as well? Did he need to say it out loud?
“I mean, any man would agree with me” Cade said trying to do damage control after seeing the expression on her face. “Are you bothered by what I said?” he asked when he noticed that she froze on the spot.
“No I am not” she said swallowing hard her food. “My hand,” she said gently as she withdrew her hand from his.
“Did I do something wrong?” he asked as she dropped her hand to her lap.
“You did not” she responded shaking her head a bit. “I have to use both my hands to eat” she said picking up the fork and knife. “I guess I should give you a bit of my meal as well,” she said gathering some of the rice into the fork and pushing it to his open mouth.
The rest of dinner was awkward and Cade knew it was all thanks to his comment but he only blurted out how get felt without thinking about it. They paid and left the restaurant with forced smiles, especially the ones coming from Ophelia. Unlike the ride from the hotel to the restaurant where Ophelia kept vibing to the sounds on the radio, this time she sat with her head down and her mouth closed shut.
“Ophelia” Cade said turning slightly to her. His call was met by silence so he reached out and touched her calling her again. “Ophelia”
“Yes” she screamed into the air. “Oh my goodness” she added touching her beating heart.
“You spaced out” Cade said and she nodded.
“Sorry about that, I guess I might be exhausted” she said looking straight at the windscreen and not even trying to glance at him.
“Is this reaction because of what I said earlier?” Cade asked.
“Of course not, just tired. I mean we landed and did not even rest and yet we are out here acting an entire movie for these people” Ophelia said trying to dismiss anything related to his earlier comment.
“Well, I still want to apologize. I guess that was an inappropriate comment for me to make and I feel embarrassed and bad about it” he said turning to her but her gaze was constantly on the windscreen and she was not even turning to him.
“Since I embarrassed let us call it even, we both made some mistakes tonight, I guess we can say it is fair” he added making her remember what she had done earlier.
“I will forget it if you promise to never bring it up again” she said finally turning to him for the first time since they left the restaurant.
“Deal?”
“Deal”