“Hello again, Ms Leighton”
Aria looked up to see Abigor standing in front of her small cafe table with a small smirk and his hands inside his pants pockets.
She groaned internally. After the small revelation of her budding feelings towards him, he was the last person she wanted to see.
“Mr Hayes” she greeted as she watched him taking the seat in front of her, his long legs stretched forward and his knees softly brushed against her. She shifted uncomfortably and settled back a bit.
“Now,” he said after ordering a strong coffee. Dark roast, 2 sugar, no cream.
He stared at her “Don’t be so formal, you know you can call me Abigor or anything you want. Like Darling”
Aria scoffed as a small smile escaped her lips “Why are you here, Abigor? You said you’d leave me alone if I went with you that day”
The waitress came back and placed his coffee on the table, giving him a side-eye while he didn’t even glance at her and ordered her to go away.
He took the small spoon and started stirring the coffee slowly, almost delicately “You know, I’m in the Mafia” he said nonchalantly as Aria gave out a small laugh.
“No shit”
His sharp eyes followed the movement of her lips, recalling the sweet flavour. Oh how much he wished he could taste those luscious lips instead of the shitty coffee in this shabby cafe.
“Hello?” her palms appeared in front of his face, snapping him out of his daze as he cleared his throat and leaned back a bit.
“As I was saying” he took a sip of the coffee, wincing at the disgusting taste “I’m in the Mafia, we tend to lie. A lot. It kinda comes with the profession”
Her eyes widened as a small scowl appeared on her face “I hate people who lie” the corner of her lips slightly twitched up for a fraction of a second.
Abigor frowned, that action was supposed to happen when she lied, but he knew that she wasn’t right now.
Or did she really like liars?
No that’s fucked up, no way. His eyes travelled to her eyes and he was taken aback to see the slight glint in them, of. . . excitement?
This girl was really hard to read.
“Well, you are gonna get used to it because when I want something I get it by hook or crook” he answered, unsure whether it offended her or fed to her excitement.
“Are you going to lie to me again?” her question made him sip all his coffee in shock as she kept looking at him with a small smile.
“Maybe. Maybe not” he answered as she heaved out a sigh and set down the required dollars on the table.
“Well, it was nice meeting you Mr Haye-”
“Wait” he said before she could leave like last time as she gave him a confused look.
“I want you to come with me on a date”
“This was painted by Paul Cezanne” Abigor said looking minutely at the painting as Aria nodded.
“Who is that?” she asked while looking around the art gallery Abigor had dragged her to as their first date.
“I have no idea” he hummed and continued “I just read the name from there” he pointed towards the name written under the painting as she followed his gaze.
She lowly laughed out loud while looking straight ahead as Abigor couldn’t help but shift his gaze from the boring painting to the beautiful woman beside him.
Something about her attracted him, like a bee to a flower, a moth to the flame. Her laughter was like music to his ears and he found himself smiling just by looking at her.
“Where’s that little twerp?” he asked as she glanced at him and then slowly walked towards other paintings, he followed behind.
“Maybe with your little twat” she gritted out as his eyebrows raised up in surprise.
“Do you mean Karl?” he asked as she shrugged and moved on to another painting “He’s at work right now” he said as she scoffed.
“Just like you are working right now”
He chuckled as his hands snaked around her thin waist, he could tell she worked hard to maintain it. He rested his chin on her soft hair and sighed out “I am working” he hummed as she gave him a glance from below “On us”
“Please” she laughed again as her eyes went back to the painting in front of them. A pure black canvas with no colours, patterns, designs, nothing.
“Why is it here anyway?” Abigor thought, he could never understand art and he never even tried to because it was just too “boring” for him.
But his pretty companion on the other hand stared at the painting with all her concentration, she didn’t even notice his fingers rubbing dangerously close to her breast.
“What are you thinking?” he asked near her ear as his warm breath trickled her back to her senses and her hand immediately held his intruding hand near her breast.
“About the painting” her answer was simple, straight to the point.
“What’s there to think about the painting? There’s nothing anyway” he grunted out and caressed her waist while placing a small kiss on the side of her head.
He didn’t miss the shiver that ran through her body as she leaned towards him more, trying to stable herself.
Oh, the things he wanted to do to her right now.
“That’s what people would think. . .” she started as she once again stared at the painting “. . . the painting depends on the viewer, it can be anything you want”
He pulled his head away at her comment as he continued to look down at her. She looked up at him and smiled, the first real smile she had given him.
“It can be a battleground. Bloodshed, murder, stealing. If you stare enough you could even hear the cry of pain, of sadness, the red coating the entire painting. Houses blasting up into pieces, cries of a mother, of a father, of a child” she said all that without tearing her gaze from the painting.