Forbidden Urge

A Dinner Surprise

He decided to take a stroll to reach his friends' house. He was satisfied with his weekend: his boys won again, with no fewer than three goals in the opponent's net and zero in theirs, they all performed great this morning on their extra Sunday training, they seemed more than ready for the Champions League game on Wednesday. No injuries, no extra yellow or red cards. They were going full power on Inter Milano.

The last time he saw Arnold was last year, in early December, before the trainings and matches schedule became too tight. This was the first time after the holidays, and he was happy and excited to see his old friends. Arnold and Ana Bauer lived close to the club's training grounds. That conveniently suited him. He'd finish all the paperwork in his office and then walk over to their house where they'd always have good talks and discussions over delicious food that they had prepared. That was one of the things he truly admired them - although being a successful businessman and the owner of a chain of factories for air conditioning equipment that had branches in several countries around the world, Arnold always found time to cook and bake with his wife, who despite working full time as a university professor tried hard to prepare everything at home herself. They always shone with joy and pure happiness that come from a family that lives in harmony. They travelled together on each other's conferences and seminars, on weekend getaways, came to his club's matches, even went shopping. He wanted to be like them. Once he met the woman he wanted to marry, of course.

He had met Arnold at Oktoberfest some fifteen years ago when he approached him with Ana hand-in-hand and asked for autograph, saying how he was the man because of whom his wife watched football every weekend. It was a joke, of course, but it kicked the conversation off and they had such a good laugh that night, and the next one, and the next one, since they kept meeting at the festival. Therefore, they decided to keep in touch.

Philipp loved meeting them. Seeing them, in their perfect and modestly decorated villa somehow gave him hope that he, too, one day will have that warmth of a home, with a person he'd share everything. With a person he could bring over to Arnold and Ana's place occasionally, for example. Well, I'm 42 and that lady still refuses to show up. Maybe my time has run out, he thought grimly, but decided to leave it for the apartment, when he returned there, again alone.

"Philipp, it's nice to see you again! Happy New Year and congratulations! The match yesterday was excellent!" Ana welcomed him at the door. She was elegant as always, in matching pants and blouse she looked casual and natural. Her dyed strawberry hair suited her complexion and age. She was stunning at the age of 50.

He hugged her and returned the wishes giving her a bottle of wine. "You should attend the next game."

"Don't think I haven't tried to plan it, but Arnold will have to work that Saturday, to even out some numbers."

She led him straight to the dining room where everything was already at the table and Arnold was sitting and talking on the phone. When Philipp and Ana entered, he immediately hurried to drop the call.

"Finally you found time to come and see us," said Arnold standing up to hug his friend. He was in a beige tracksuit and white shirt, again, like his wife, elegant but still relaxed, the man of the house. "We thought one of your new year resolutions was to stop seeing the old boring couple and be somewhere more dynamic."

They laughed heartily. Arnold always joked about being thirteen years older than Philipp, although he looked equally good, despite never having played any sport except having an extremely busy life, while Philipp had had a twenty year long career as a football player, and still, when he retired and turned to coaching, excercised regularly.

"I had to go and spend some time with my parents over in Dresden. We hadn't had many holidays together recently," Philipp replied, somehow justifyingly.

"Don't worry. That's the life of the coach of the best football club in the world, and we have to go along with it," Arnold said patting him on the shoulder, and they laughed again, taking their seats.

A maid brought aperitifs and appetiser and they started retelling each other how they had spent holidays. The Bauers had visited Austria again, where they welcomed the New Year and reminded themselves of skiing. Immediately upon return, they had to go back to work. Arnold had a high number of orders for Asia, while Ana had to mentor students before the exams.

That night, however, it wasn't only three of them in the house. They were halfway into the main course - wonderfully roasted duck with red cabbage and mashed potatoes - when a luxurious mass of wavy blonde hair entered the dining room and brought in the scent of jasmine.

It all happened within milliseconds. First he smelt the jasmine, and then saw her. She walked over and stood between Arnold and Ana. Stunned by her unearthly appearance that struck him, Philipp instantly jumped to greet and welcome her, felling his chair over. She laughed, not in a rude way, but more to help him out.

"Hey, Mum and Dad, I just came to let you know that I'm leaving now. Sabine, Thomas and Stefan are already outside waiting for me," the girl said, and then looked at Philipp whose stomach sank.

"Alright, but shame you can't stay for dinner with us," Arnold said. "Philipp, meet Heidi. She's just returned from Dortmund where she finished her studies."

Philipp knew his friends had a daughter, of course, but had never met her, because not only university, but also high school she finished in Dortmund. Even when she'd return to Munich, it was brief, over weekends. If it was longer, then the Bauers would spend that time together, sometimes even outside of Germany. He had seen photos of her around the house, but on those she was just a little girl. This in front of him, however, was a damn freakin smoking hot woman.

"Well, if I had known we had such a company, I'd definitely have cancelled the club," she said holding out her hand. "I'm Heidi."

Philipp swallowed hard because he understood her sentence as flirting, but his brain on fire kept yelling that he come around his senses and behave. He waited almost for an uncomfortable second before accepting her hand, which he had the urge to kiss, but, thank goodness, only shook. It was warm, soft, elegant, with simple French manicure and no rings.

Ana laughed: "She always avoids us when we have Arnold's business partners coming over."

Well, that explains her answer, you moron, Philipp thought.

"I only prefer to keep work outside home," she smiled explaining herself, which, Philipp thought, wasn't necessary. One smile would suffice.

"I couldn't agree more," was the only sentence he could come up with without sounding like an idiot.

"Alright, I have to be going now," Heidi said. "Nice to meet you, Philipp. See you next time perhaps," and she fluttered out, leaving the scent of jasmine behind.

She used only his name. She didn't even say Mr Philipp, and that immediately sent some inappropriate thoughts through his mind. Pull yourself together, or you'll look ridiculous in front of your friends, you imbecile.

"We'll definitely invite you again soon and tell her to mark that evening in her diary for us," Ana said.

"Yeah, we should. Since she returned and started working with me, she's been pretty busy, trying to learn everything as fast as possible, to prove herself in front of my other workers, you know," Arnold explained. "And she's doing a great job. Couple of my most honest advisors say she's truly committed and knows her stuff."

"With you two as parents, who'd doubt her," Philipp said putting his focus back from the blonde to the dinner with his friends. "She... Erm... She's grown up. The only thing I remember of her is from that photo from your holiday in Spain, with you three on a yacht cruising around and she wears a dress with some animals."

"Oh, that was like fourteen years ago," Ana explained laughing. "Now she's 26. Has gone a long way from that girl mad about giraffes and hippos."

That was the last thing he remembered from the dinner next day. No, he didn't have too many drinks. He couldn't recall a word of all conversations they had had. His mind was filled with numerous thoughts and questions about the gorgeous blonde young woman with wavy blonde hair. And jasmine.