To Love Or Not To Love

Chapter 15

MNOTHO

"You look really gorgeous tonight." I say to Yaya.

We're at a restaurant called 'In Vino Veritas' which is Italian for, "In wine there is truth". Great name if you ask me, and I actually found it at the last minute. I had no idea where to take her until I asked Qaphela for any suggestions.  This restaurant came up top tier on his list because this is where he took his wife last year for their anniversary, really amazing.

"Thank you.  You don't look too shabby yourself." Yaya responds.

Honestly I really like this girl and tonight I'm not planning on wasting any time. I will ask her to be mine and if she says no, I'll have to be strong and just move on. That red dress looks amazing on her, and the braids just added on to her beauty. I'm hoping this night goes well and hopefully we can get to know each other on a deeper level.

She still doesn't know that I am not exactly a plumber but that I infact own the company in which she thinks I'm an employee at. She's never brought it up and I never saw the need to tell her as well. Tonight I want to clear up any confusions so that we can hopefully become an item at the end of the evening. The waiter comes up to take our orders.

"What would you like to drink, white or red wine?" I ask as we scan the menu.

"I'd like a glass of red wine please." She says.

"And for dinner you'll be having?"

"I'll have the Easy Chicken Parm." She says

"And I'll have the Easy Carbonara. Please make it a bottle of the red wine. Thank you." The waiter goes off to place our orders.

"So Mnotho, how are you able to afford such an expensive restaurant with a plumber's salary...no offense." I've been waiting for her to ask this question.

I laugh."None taken. I understand why you'd ask that but the thing is, I am not a plumber. I am actually the CEO of 'Zungu's Hardware and Plumbing Company'. I am the major shareholder but I co-own it with my friend, Sabelo."

"Oh now it makes sense. For a moment I thought you borrowed that car we came with today, from your brother or cousin."

She's talking about the Mercedes Benz- A-Class-A250 I fetched her in today. Yeah, I'd need to have a side hustle if I was a plumber who owned two expensive cars. The Polo and this one, are the only cars I own.

"Oh yeah?" I ask with a smile.
"Yeah! Phela angifuni kuthiwe hehe uZiyanda ubusy nezi gebengu hehe ( I don't want people to be saying this and that about me dating a thug)." She says in confidence.

One thing I've noticed about her is that she's very funny without even trying and that she doesn't enjoy having serious conversations about death or even love. I have to know why.

I laugh at her response and the date continues with her telling me stories about herself. I know that she is her mother's only remaining child and that she had a sister who passed away when she was still young. I can tell that talking about her sister is a sensitive topic for her to touch on and she couldn't even tell me how she passed on. I didn't want to put any pressure on her so I changed the topic and we spoke of something else, her fear of heights.

We both share jokes and have this silly banter going on about which is better between DC and Marvel. Let's just say...that topic is still reserved for another time and another day. We're now on top of this hill on a peaceful part of Johannesburg, but it still overlooks the city. And I have to admit that the city lights look amazing from up here at night, this is definitely a mini escape from the ever so busy city.

I brought her here so we can have this one-on-one talk without any disruptions from the blasting of car horns or arguments between couples. I need to make my intentons clear and then leave the ball in her court. We haven't touched the subject of the kiss we shared the last time and I'm hoping we don't have to as we'll finally become official.

"I hope this keeps you warm enough." I say to her as I drape my jacket on her shoulders. This is a classic rule of romantic stories, have a jacket on standby so you can borrow it to her when it gets chilly. See, I know things.

"Thank you." She says.

Well it's now or never, I have to tell her.

"Ziyanda?" I call out to her
"Hmm" she says and looks into my eyes as if she already knows what I'm about to say.

"I have something I want to tell you and I don't want to play run around with it. I have taken a huge liking to you and I can feel that these feelings get stronger with every encounter. I don't know about you but I'd really like it if you gave me a chance to prove that I'm worthy of your time and heart. Will you please be my girlfriend?"

She stares at me in silence for about a minute or so then she clears her throat. Oh-oh...this can't be good.

"Well Mnotho, I find you interesting and thanks for even going such an extra mile for me to give you a chance. I have to tell you something first though." She says.

Okay this sounds serious and why is she still so quiet.

"Okay what is it?" I ask impatiently because I can see she's taking her time and I can't stand the silence anymore.

"If I agree to be your girlfriend, you have to know and understand that I might never fall in love with you and therefore can never say those words to you because it's against me to lie about something of this magnitude."

I've never heard this before, so I am quite shocked.

"Why is that if I may ask?" I have to know.

"There is no specific reason really and I've also never fallen in love with anyone before, not even once. So I'm telling you this so you don't end up feeling like you not doing enough when I don't say those words to you. I will respect you, that I can guarantee but not the love aspect." She concludes.

I think I can live with that...I mean how hard could it be to be with someone who never says the three magical words. But it might change this time around and maybe I'll make her fall in love with me? I just need to probably give her some time...yeah I think this could work as long as we respect each other.

I mean I might just be fooling myself here  but I'm going to give it a shot so I dont have any regrets later.

"Yeah sure. I can work with respect and I'll do all the feeling in this relationship. So does this mean we're in an exclusive  relationship now?" I ask her.

She smiles ever so brightly...ah she looks beautiful indeed.

"Yes I think it does."

Without further talk I stand in front of her and caress her stunning face. I grab on to her waist and pull her close to my body so I can catch a whiff of her amazing lavender-basil scent. I hear her gasp and slightly pull away so I can kiss her neck, cheek and finally her lips.

I capture her lips into mine and my body is sent into a minor frenzy as I feel different emotions envoke from within me, a major one of protecting her from getting hurt. In this moment I know for sure that I love this girl and I have to do whatever it takes to make her fall for me just as much as I have for her.

I pull out from the kiss, which leaves us both her and I breathless and panting for more. This right here is my future and I have to try by all means necessary to claim her as mine, emotionally.

I hold on to her shoulders as we stare ahead at the beautiful city lights. Sigh. I can finally breath knowing that Ziyanda Mkhize is my girlfriend everybody!!