Chapter 4 #2
The man holding the roses held the door open for us, and, to my surprise, I found myself walking through a small but very crowded restaurant.
The room was loud with chatter, tables filled with drinks and plates, and I heard a bottle pop behind me.
I had no idea where we were other than the fact I was dropped off at a building with two golden doors in the middle of the city.
What was the number again? I couldn’t even remember the number.
As we passed the bar, I tried to look for the name of the restaurant painted somewhere, but it was too dark in here.
The light was moody and sexy, the only thing illuminating each table was the small bunch of candles.
And even though it was dark, I could still notice the many eyes glancing up at us, and the whispers close by as Henry, and I walked through the room.
Who was Henry to all these people? How come I hadn’t heard anything about him until Lotte had mentioned him?
With the way everyone was looking up at him now, the way that everyone was watching me with him, him holding my hand, Henry was someone.
Someone very important and well known. And they wanted to know who I was.
Henry led me through the back of the restaurant and towards another black door. After opening it for me, gesturing for me to walk through.
What the fuck, were the only three words that I had the capacity of thinking. I wasn’t just speechless; I was now without thought. I should have been prepared for this. But I guess hearing about actual wealth was different from having it flaunted right in front of my eyes.
I was expecting tonight to be nothing but a fun movie style date, and I can say it had hardly begun, and it didn’t disappoint.
I was standing by the doorway of a small dark room, lit up by candles in either corner and a small table, dressed like I was dining with the queen.
There were more crystal glasses and another bottle of Moet.
I only just noticed that the ridiculously large bouquet of red roses was just one of the many bouquets that filled the room, amongst the many candles. This was the first date, and it looked like a goddamn proposal.
Was this a joke? Had he really set this up for me?
Or was this something that he did every Saturday night.
Heck, it could have been something that he had ready for any night of the week.
Once again, I wanted to know this man’s dating history.
But a part of me didn’t want to take away from this incredible moment right in front of me.
I didn’t want to second-guess this, question it, or make it something that it wasn’t.
Right now, could just be exactly what it was and, like I promised myself in the car, I was going to drink in every single moment.
“Would you like to stick with wine with dinner or can I get you a cocktail?” he asked, closing the door behind me.
I could hear the sweet sound of piano jazz playing over a speaker I couldn’t see.
Of course he was a jazz man, very predictable.
What other music would a ridiculously wealthy man be into?
I would usually call myself a spicy margarita girl, and tonight there was no doubt that this side of me would come out. But for now, I was Moet. Maybe I was born to be a Moet girl, I just hadn’t realized that yet.
“I think wine for now is great, but I do like to change my flavor after dinner.” And there it was his cheeky smile had now graced the room and I had made a mental note to see how long I could keep that smile on his face tonight.
“Noted,” he said as he walked towards the table.
“So, this is the real you?” I said, taking another spin around the room, taking it all in as Henry stood, holding a chair out for me.
“Not the guy I met yesterday?” I took a seat down in the chair as Henry sat down opposite me.
This was a far cry from the dingy bar, with twenty-dollar bottles of rosé that we were all drinking last night.
His smile dropped as he bit his lips together, pondering my words.
“I’m the same guy here sitting in front of you as I was yesterday. Just a different environment,” he said. “You look absolutely beautiful, by the way. I like that dress a lot.”
“So do I,” I said confidently, and his small smirk raised on his face again. Yes, it was back.
“I hope you don’t mind but I’ve already ordered. I’ve had the chef bring out a little bit of everything, all his best stuff along with some non-menu surprises.”
I nodded, wondering how I should feel about that once again, knowing that this was the first date.
Deep down I think I felt relieved knowing that I didn’t have to make a decision right now or have to read a fancy menu that was filled with words I’m sure I didn’t know but was certain the foods tasted good.
“That sounds wonderful, but just so you know I’m allergic to fish, eggs, onion, oh and chili,” I said.
Henry’s eyes widened as his lips dropped and the color slowly drained from his face.
I could help but laugh and feel guilty. “I'm joking. I don’t have any allergies or dislikes when it comes to food. I eat everything, but it is polite to check.”
I sighed, looking away and he reached for his wine glass, gulping down more wine than I think he wanted to.
Maybe I had reveled in his anguish a little too much tonight.
There was a line with teasing and being rude and with the amount of wine, I had already drunk I knew that I was only two glasses away from tipping towards the latter.
“No, you’re right, you’re so right,” he said the light pink color returning to his cheeks.
“I can’t believe that I didn’t even check that, I’m sorry.
It’s just been so long since I’ve been on a proper date like this, I really didn’t think it through.
” His voice drifted off. He seemed embarrassed, but I couldn’t hold it back this time, I just started laughing, and loud this time.
“You’re joking about that right?” I said waiting for a quick answer, but he just squinted back at me.
“About what?” he said confused.
“Well, firstly, I think that you’ve thought through this. This evening looks far from thrown together, and something tells me that, this is not the only date that you’ve had in a long time.” He was sexy. This night was fun already and this place had already created a core memory in my mind.
Henry took a long sip of wine and his eyes darted around the room. “Is this too much?” he asked.
“No, I think that this is just right,” I held back a giggle, proud of myself for once again, faking that this was normal for me.
“It’s just… Do you do this for all your first dates?
I just don’t know why me. You just met me.
You hardly know me.” Oh God, now I was speaking the truth.
But the words just came out of my mouth.
I hoped that it didn’t blow my confident cover.
“I only just met you?” he said, his eyes squinting into mine as he held back a smile. “That’s funny because last night I thought you were worried that you had overshared.”
My mind wandered for a second. I was drunk last night but as drunk as I was, I thought that I remembered the night clearly. Did I tell him anything embarrassing or was it just me wallowing about the state of my current life?
“Well, you know all the important things,” I said.
A cheeky smile curled up on his lips again, he was about to speak but a side door opened. The same young man placed a very large bowl filled with oysters on ice before he disappeared again.
“A good night always has to start with oysters,” Henry said. Oysters were the aphrodisiac I already did not need. But he was right. Good nights did start with oysters, particularly this one. I took one from the pile of ice and gracefully tipped it down my throat. I waited for him to continue.
“To answer your first questions. Yes, I have been on some dates recently, but as I’m sure you can understand, the last couple that I have been on didn’t make it past a drink.
So no, this is definitely not something that I pull out for all the girls,” he said raising a hand, gesturing quotation marks, keeping that sexy grin on his face.
“I asked you out tonight because I genuinely wanted to give you the experience that you wanted. This is the bachelor experience,” he said waving his hands out either side of him.
“And I’m really glad that you didn’t accept that rose straight up because that’s exactly what I wanted this night to be about.
Just getting to know each other and seeing whether this is something that you might want to continue,” he said, his eyes locked on mine, and we were once again completely locked in the vortex that I felt with him last night. There was no other world around us.
I don’t know if I had ever felt like this before.
I didn’t feel giddy, I didn’t feel sick with nerves, my heart wasn’t pounding out of my chest, and I didn’t have butterflies or goosebumps.
Those were the usual symptoms that I felt when I was beginning to like someone.
But when I was locked into Henry’s gaze, I felt light, like I was floating or weightless.
Of course, I wasn’t going to let him know any of that.
But I liked this feeling, this moment, this whole setting. I liked it a lot.
“I think that’s a good plan,” I said as I raised my glass and clinked it with his. “So just to be clear. Where are we right now? Because Aaron told me that he was taking me to your penthouse, which made me think this was going to be a very different date than the one we’re on.”