A Love Bargain

010: A deal

Pearl

Between watching Kachi's interaction with a few staff that came to acknowledge his presence, interrupting his conversation with James. And gazing through the glass wall admiring the beautiful view of the city from the executive lounge, where we were seated. I tried to keep myself entertained while we waited for the food, which Kachi had claimed to have ordered before we got to the hotel.

I tore my gaze away from the view and trailed my eyes, directly to the couple who were seated at the far end of the lounge, even with the wall, which halfway demarcated our table from theirs, I could still see them down each other's throats, kissing.

Okay... I hummed in my mind and then, shifted my gaze to the other side of the lounge where two men in suits were seated, they looked like they were talking business. A boring sight I must say.

My gaze quickly found its way back to the couple, who were now, giggling with their faces inched closer to each other. I couldn't help the little smile that broke on my face at the sight of them.

"Are you okay?" Kachi's voice came, pulling my attention back to our table.

My eyes settled on the man seated right next to me, on the two-seater luxury sofa. I watched as he placed the wine glass, which he held in his hand back on the table and I inwardly rolled my eyes at him. He turned to me and tilted his neck to the side, waiting for a reply, I guess.

What part of me looked like I was okay? I was hungry and needed to fill my stomach. They had offered that I drink some wine while we waited for the special dish, he had ordered but I declined. I never did well with wine on an empty stomach.

"The food will soon be here," James said and I shifted my gaze to him. He was seated on one of the two luxury, metal-leg grey, one-seater sofas opposite us.

I managed to force a smile on my face as I nodded. I never did well with hunger, and I guess they could see that. I looked down at my phone that was placed on the table, but before I could take my hand to it, a voice came through, drawing my attention away from it.

"I'm sorry to have kept you guys waiting," The chef smiled as he wheeled a whole lot of food to a halt, at our table. Almost all the food looked foreign to me. My annoyance quickly disappeared as I stared at his face. With that face, one would quickly overlook whatever he did, a handsome man who could cook was a big deal to me. "I was making sure that the food is to your taste, Dr. Kachi." He smiled as he started placing the food on our table.

I did a slight eye roll at that, knowing that he kept me waiting this whole time, just to satisfy him.

The chef went ahead and talked about the food and the country they were from. They all had their eyes fixed on me, making me believe that the little chef talk was meant for me, but the whole talk flew over my head. I did not give a shit about whatever he had to say, I just wanted to eat.

I watched as the men reached for their cutleries and did just the same. With my fork I dug into a plate of food he had mentioned was from a country I couldn't even remember. I placed the food in my mouth and as it settled on my tongue, I almost winced at the horrible taste my tastebud had come in contact with.  What the hell did I just eat? I had never tasted something like that before.

"How is it?" I lifted my gaze from the plate to the smiling face of the chef, he wasn't the only one with his gaze on me, the men's attention was on me too.

"Good, very good." I smiled, forcing the food down my throat.

As I stared down at my plate, I wanted nothing but to run to the restroom and throw up. A glass of water appeared on my face, and when I looked up from my plate I saw Kachi's hand offering water to me. I wondered if he had noticed. Of course, he did! A voice in my head yelled, so I prepared myself for the shade he was going to throw at me.