King of my heart

Shopping

After an exhausting and busy week I decided that today would be a good day to get some shopping done. I woke up fairly early and ate my breakfast whilst I made a list of everything I needed to buy which included food, a few more furnishings for my apartment, some clothes and things for my office. As the weather was going to be fairly sunny, I decided to walk to the shopping mall instead of getting a taxi. Before I walked out the door, I made sure I had my phone, keys, purse and shopping bags before licking the door and making my way over to the lift. When the doors opened, there was an elderly woman who smiled politely at me but didn't say anything. I pressed the button for the ground floor and waited for the lift to stop at the right level before making my way outside. As it was a Saturday, there were many people on the road and on the pavements so getting around was fairly slow. I looked over at the beaches to see many families playing in the sand and sea, laughing with each other and I also saw quite a few boats out on the water, enjoying the nice weather.

25 minutes after I had left the apartment I could start to the see the shopping mall in the distance, symbolising that I didn't have much further to go. My legs were aching slightly but I wasn't going to let that bother me when I had so much to do today. Another 10 minutes went by and I was finally at the entrance to the mall. It was a fairly big building but it was also rather busy which I wasn't too keen on as I had never been good with large crowds, especially on my own. I decided to do my clothes shopping first as I didn't much so it would be easy for me to carry. I went into a few stores and found several items which I could mix and match to make up different outfits. After that, I decided to do my food shopping so I could work out how much extra I could carry without dropping everything. As I still had some room left in my bags, I located a few stationery and furnishing stores further into the mall so I walked over to them to have a look as I still needed things for my office. There were many things that I saw and wanted to buy, I couldn't get them all though because I didn't have much space left and I still had to keep an eye on my bank account so that I didn't completely empty it.

Finally after several hours of shopping, all my bags were full and I was worn out. I made my way towards the exit of the mall which, took me a significant amount of time to find because I felt as though I was in a maze. Eventually I found the exit and made my way outside to find that it was raining a little bit. 'Great!' I thought to myself as I hadn't brought a coat and I still needed to get home. I looked up at the sky which still had some areas of blue so I just hoped that it was only going to be a small drizzle of rain and not a downpour. I started to walk down the path that I came up earlier and I felt a few more rain drops fall on my face. I tried to walk a little bit faster so that I could get home quicker but that didn't turn out to be successful. The bags I was carrying kept getting in my way to the point I almost ended up tripping over and falling on my face. As more rain began to fall, I sighed deeply and accepted the fact that I was just going to have to deal with it this time. I looked around for a taxi but unfortunately I couldn't see any in sight, just when I really needed one there weren't any. That was just my luck.

I heard a car horn behind me and I looked over to my left to see a matte black Ferrari pull up next to me. It took me a double take to finally realise who it was and then the passenger window rolled down to reveal Charles with a sweet smile on his face. "You want a ride ma cherie?" he asked, I laughed at his perfect timing to always find me when I was in need of it most. "That would be great thanks!" I replied. As he started to get out of the car to help me with my bags I tried to tell him to stay inside so that he wouldn't get soaked as well but he wouldn't listen. He took all the bags out of my hands before I could say no and then made his way over to the boot to put them inside. "You can get in y/n/n." Charles told me after I had been standing by the door, watching him put the bags in the boot. I hadn't realised that I had been staring until he spoke to me and I quickly looked away and opened the door and got in. A few seconds later, Charles got back in the drivers seat and we both laughed at the state of us from being out in the rain. "How is it that you always appear just when I need help?" I asked after a moment of silence since that question kept replying in my mind . "Hhmmm that's a good question. I don't know, I must be magic!" he replied with a slight smirk. "Ha you wish C, you're definitely not magic." I said playfully whilst Charles put a hand over his heart to act hurt. "Wow y/n/n after all I've done for you! You know you can always walk home..." he stated with a devilish grin. "You wouldn't do that to me." I laughed as I looked into his eyes and he looked into mine. "You sure about that mon amour?" he teased. I simply smirked at him before looking out of the window, but I could still see him looking over at me from the corner of my eye. "Well, let's get you home now." he said to me as he turned the key in the car to start the engine.

Occasionally he would look over at me to check that I was doing ok and I would sometimes turn my head to face him but it wasn't for too long. "You ok ma cherie?" he asked after 10 minutes of being on the road. There was a fair amount of traffic now so it was likely going to take us a while to get home. We were currently stuck in a long queue along one of the main roads and hadn't moved for a few minutes. "I'm alright thanks." I replied with a smile. "You sure? You look a bit cold." he said whilst I tried to not shiver in my damp t-shirt. "I'm ok, I promise." I reassured him. Charles on the other hand could tell that I was just being stubborn and didn't want to cause any trouble so he began to take off his black hoodie. "It's slightly damp from the rain but it will be slightly warmer than just a t-shirt." he told me, placing the hoodie into my hands. I reluctantly put the hoodie on as he said, and I was instantly enveloped by the smell of his cologne which made me feel so comfortable and safe. "Better?" Charles asked as he looked over at me with a light smirk on his face causing me to blush. "Much better, thank you." I replied shyly.

We still hadn't moved very far as the traffic was so busy and I knew that we were probably going to be like this for a while. I began to feel quite sleepy so I rested my head against the window and gently closed my eyes. I kept opening them every so often just to check if we had moved or to see if the rain had started to ease off a bit. Suddenly I felt a warm, familiar hand on my own slightly colder one and I looked over at Charles to see him gazing at me sweetly, a calming smile cast over his lips. "It's ok ma cherie, you can go to sleep. I'll wake you when I get to your apartment." he told me softly. I nodded in response before leaning my head back on the window and shutting my eyes. His hand never left mine until I fell asleep, there was something comforting about the little gesture which also made the butterflies in my stomach go crazy. If only he knew what he was doing to me.

***

"Y/n/n, wake up. We've arrived at your apartment." Charles whispered as he placed a hand on my shoulder. "I can help you carry your bags up to your room if you'd like?" he asked once I had opened my eyes to look at him. "That would be lovely thank you." I replied as I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door. Charles got out of his side and made his way round to the back of the car to get all my bags out of the boot. He picked up the 3 larger bags leaving me with the 2 smaller ones which I was rather thankful for as I was still really tired. If I would have walked back from the mall, I honestly don't think I would've made it back home without collapsing on the pavement. "Alright let's go!" Charles said as he locked his car and walked towards the entrance of the building. I got out my key to unlock the door and then allowed both of us inside before shutting it and making our way over to the lift. The ride up to my floor was silent but it wasn't awkward, I think Charles could tell I was tired and didn't feel like talking. Once the lift doors opened, I lead us down the long corridor to eventually arrive in front of my apartment. I put the bags down and turned the key in the lock, allowing the door to inch open to reveal my tidy living room. We walked in and I told Charles to just put the bags by the kitchen counter to put them out of the way. "Would you like a drink?" I asked him. "Yes please mon amour. Just a glass of water will be fine." he replied as I walked over to the cupboard full of glasses to get one for each of us before filling them up. I handed him his glass then made my way over to the sofa and he followed close behind. "So um I was wondering if you wanted to go on a hike with me tomorrow around one of the trails?" Charles piped up.
"If you're not free don't worry and obviously you don't have to join me if you don't want to. I will completely understand if you'd rather not come on a walk with me you've probably got better things to do anyway." he continued to ramble at the thought I might say no. "Of course I will join you!" I told him with a laugh. "Really! I thought you would say no." he replied, laughing with me. "I could never say no to you C and I haven't done too much of exploring of outside this area yet so it would be nice to go someplace new." I said. "So does that mean I get to be your personal tour guide?" he asked with a huge grin. "I suppose so yes!" I chuckled. "I'm glad to be having the privilege of showing you the best hike in Monaco!" Charles proclaimed, almost spilling his water all over himself from his excited hand gestures.

We continued to talk for almost 2 hours until Charles said that he needed to get home as he had a few phone calls and meetings he needed to take. He told me that he would pick me up at 9.00 tomorrow morning and to make sure I had food, drink, sunscreen, glasses, hat and anything else I could possibly need for the whole day. I bid him goodbye at the door and he gave me a quick hug before walking down the hall towards the lift. Half way down the corridor, he turned to look at me and blew me a kiss before turning back around and walking away. I finally shut my apartment door and felt the huge smile growing on my face. I couldn't wait until the hike tomorrow so I packed a small rucksack with anything I thought I would need before continuing with my usual evening routine.