Love Beyond Love

Chapter 20

EDITED

"Good thing the Barzetti dinner was yesterday." Tara said as she folded her jeans. "Or I would have missed that cheesecake!"

"New York has great cheesecakes as well." Sonia shrugged while folding a set of tops for Tara.

"Yes but they were great!"Her friend said, putting pressure on great.

"Are you being sarcastic?" Sonia asked with genuine confusion. "Anyway, when is your flight?"

"I have told you three times! Tomorrow morning, ten-twenty-five am. I'll wake up at seven, get ready by eight and leave by nine, is that okay?" Tara replied and put her clothes in her suitcase.

"Yes." Sonia nodded and sighed. "But do you really have to go-

"Yes I have to. I have a very, very important conference to attend tomorrow and after that I have an interview, I told you right? As an assistant professor."

"All the best for that. When will they get back to you?" Sonia asked and walked into the kitchen to start dinner.

"They said in twenty-four hours. I am pretty sure I am going to get it." Tara said excitedly as she continued her packing. "Can you imagine? I may be teaching a class at this very moment just a week later!"

"I can totally imagine that." Sonia smiled at her friend as they prepared for her departure.

Twenty-four hours later, Sonia entered her apartment after a long day of work. She sighed as she hung her coat on the pin and dumped the car-keys and the house-keys in the key bowl just beside the door before walking inside with a groan as she remembered she also had dinner to make. She was tired and alone and preparing something for just one person seemed like a mammoth task, so she just ordered some food online before heading into the shower.

At the same time, Drago entered his room after a heavy albeit late dinner. He quickly changed his clothes before taking out his laptop and start working on the documents for the five-star hotel. The documents were to be finished in a week so that they could be legalized quickly for the construction to start within two months. This hotel was going to take roughly five years to be completed and he wanted it to be the perfect gift for someone special.

--

"This is great." Sonia mumbled to herself as she carefully examined an orange. "Will make a great juice."

She was in the market for grocery shopping as she was home fairly early today. It had been a week since Tara had left and Sonia had, once again, adjusted in her solo life. She had hardly gotten any free time for herself in the last few days and had grabbed the first opportunity to get out of the house for something else rather than work. She decided on grocery shopping as she had been living on takeout and junk food for the last week and her father had given her a nice, long scolding regarding fast food.

"That's why you are getting all those pimples!" He'd said.

"What? I haven't had a pimple since the last three years!" She's replied annoyingly.

"That's because we were always looking after what you ate! And now we are not and wait till you see a pimple on your cheek!" He's said with a matter-of-fact tone.

And lo behold, she had woken up with a small red bump on her cheek the next morning!

So here she was, buying fruits and vegetables from the local market in the middle of the evening, praying to God that those bumps don't convert into pimples overnight. She didn't even have her medicine with her!

"I'll have these." She said after choosing a few oranges and put them in a small basket.

"Good choice." Someone said and she looked back, only to find, Drago Barzetti looking at her with an impressed expression on her face.

"Hi." She mumbled with surprise and nodded as he picked up some oranges himself.

She was fairly startled to see him here, when he had made no appearance at the construction site for straight seven days. But the awkward feeling was back again, as if it had never gone.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as she paid and took her fruits.

"Why, can't I buy oranges too?" He asked and she shook her head.

"I didn't mean-

"I think you have forgotten, that I too, buy my own groceries." He said, referring to their last meeting in the market, which now seemed like ages ago.

"Oh yes, you do." Sonia nodded with a tight smile. "I'd forgotten."

"It's fine." He shrugged. "You are here buying groceries alone? Where's your friend?"

"Oh, she's back in New York. She left a week ago." Sonia said as they started walking.

"You're alone?" He asked and she just nodded. "Are you done with your shopping?"

"Um, no, I still have to buy...some chocolate." She said as she looked into the list on her phone.

"I know a great place. What kind of chocolate do you like? Dark?" He asked and she shook her head.

"Every except dark. It's too bitter for me. And also, no raisins. But I love the ones with almonds and cashews. And also, milk chocolate. White chocolate is good too but it's-

She stopped as she realized she was rambling and Drago was looking at her with an amused smile.

"Sorry." She mumbled and he chuckled.

"It's good to see you passionate about something other than work and fighting." He said and she stopped in her tracks.

"When did I ever fight?" She almost shouted, loud enough for a few people to stop and stare at them with bewilderment.

Drago just shrugged knowingly and laughed as she sighed and bit her lip.

"Let's get you chocolate and maybe after that, would you like to have dinner?" He asked her and she looked at him with surprise. "I mean, you are anyways going to eat alone, so why not we eat together?"

They walked in silence for the next two minutes before she spoke.

"I am not really dressed for a dinner at a restaurant."

"That's okay." Drago replied, feeling a strange sensation in his stomach. "We don't have to go to a fancy restaurant."

"I really wanted to try something local. Do you know any good places?" She asked slowly.

"Well, do I?" He smirked as they kept walking.

--

I do not own the picture. Credit goes to owner.