Him

(7) Romance

Robert's face lit up with a big smile. His green eyes were barely visible and his cheeks were a slight shade of red. "I would!" he answered, biting his lips and staring down at my lips. I wonder why he wouldn't just do it and kiss me. I mean we already call each other pet names and hold hands. He even kissed my cheek.
Before we both knew, we were leaning towards each other slowly. The car was dark and we both were almost invisible inside of it. But the car was bright enough to see each other. To see each other's lips, mine itching closer and closer to his lips. Nothing mattered in this moment. Not my mother. Not my fear of her or the fear of my culture. It's my life anyway... They have already lived theirs.
Oh... I'm going to regret this later.

I felt his soft hand on the side of my face, caressing my cheek with his thumb. I leaned into his warm touch, forgetting everything around me and looking at him with big eyes. I noticed his gaze shifting between my eyes and my lips. "May... I kiss you?" he begged in a low and soft tone, his eyes looking at mine. Waiting patiently for an answer. "Please do!"
His darkened eyes and his soft, pink lips itched closer to my face, making my heart beat rapidly. I parted my lips, waiting for him to close the gap between us and finally kiss me. How long have I been waiting for him to kiss me? He's the only guy that I have ever wanted in any way in my life.
I bite my lower lips, just thinking of how we are about to kiss. I traced my fingers along his sharp jawline, feeling the softness underneath my fingertips, and sensing my heart beating quicker and quicker.
My heart skipped a beat, as he finally closed the gap between us and kissed me. It was a slow and gentle kiss that gradually turned into a tender, passionate kiss. I felt his hand on my waist, that was slowly making its way to my hips and he rested it there. I felt his thumbs caressing my hips. After he broke the kiss, his eyes were looking at my lips and then at my eyes to see my expression. His hand was still caressing the side of my face and the other hand was also still on my hips. He then started giving me small kisses on my lips before pulling away. He leaned back in his chair, his head facing me and I was facing him with my body, then I also leaned back in my chair and bit my lips. My first kiss. And it actually felt good. "Your lips taste like strawberries" he said, making me face him. I feel bold tonight "you know..." I start saying, trying to suppress my smile "I didn't really get to know what your lips taste like... I think I need another taste" I say in a low voice as I look at him through my eyelashes, whilst biting my lips. He chuckles before quickly leaning in and holding my face gently in his hands, his thumb caressing my cheek as he kissed me. One of my hands was caressing the side of his face and the other was pulling him closer by his suit jacket. We finally pulled away from each other, not because we wanted to but because we had to, we were both out of breath.

"So you still want to go on that walk?" I ask, my gaze shifting between his eyes and lips, to which he responds by chuckling and giving me one final small kiss. "Let's go!" He said, as he opened his car door and got out. I reached back into the backseat and got the sweets before opening my door to get out, but as always, he got to it first and opened the door for me.

As we started walking, he reached for the sweets bag and took it from my hand and instead held my hand. His fingers intertwined with mine, making me blush. I don't know how to react, I've never been much of a romantic. I've always daydreamed of how I'll meet my Prince Charming and how we'll live happily ever after in the countryside with our five children. But it's all just that... daydreams... One can see that I only read and watched Romance growing up...
Maybe me and Rob will have the happy ever after that I dream of so bad. I look at him as we walk through the park, hand in hand and wearing our best clothes. I smile to myself, why am I so shy and quiet around him? I think I looked a little too long at him, cause he looked at me, smiled and gave me a small kiss. Thank God I'm brown, he can't see me blush, my whole face would have been red and it would have been noticeable.
"Where do you want to sit?" He finally broke the silence, looking at me as he asked.
"Um... there is a bench in front of the pond... we can go there" I replied, very eager to go to the pond. It's my favourite place in the park. It's so romantic, especially at night when all is quiet and cold, so one can scoot closer to their partner, trying to get some warmth in a cold night like this.
"Lead the way, captain" Yes!! he wants to go to the pond. I smiled at him and then tugged him by his hand and started walking to the pond. The only thing illuminating our way were the streetlights.
I noticed him looking everywhere in the park, looking almost fascinated and mesmerised at the beauty of the park.
"Have you ever been to this park, Rob?" I asked, curiously. I thought he was brought up here and I thought he knew the city of Lensworth better than me. I only ever come here for summer school...and occasionally visit Mary.
"No, I've never been here" he said, "And why are you suddenly calling me by my real name?" He furrowed his eyebrows at me.
"Just because!"
"Well, I don't like it." he scoffed, as we finally arrived at the pond and sat down on one of the benches, Rob setting the bag of sweets next to him on the bench.
"Yeah? ...What are you going to do about it?" I teased, looking at him with a grin that I was failing miserably at suppressing.
Rob raised his eyebrows at me in shock, as if he didn't expect that from me. I noticed him then shifting his gaze between my eyes and lips, he came closer and closer. He rested his arm on the wooden backrest of the bench. His other cold hand cupped the side of my face, his thumb caressing my cheeks. He had a small smile on his face, his gaze still shifting between my eyes and lips. I bit my lips, trying to restrain myself from kissing him first. That didn't work because I leaned in, pulling him by his brown suit jacket and kissed him. I'm feeling bold today, I don't even know why.
The kiss was gentle and slow. He pulled me closer to him by my waist, at some point our thighs were touching. We couldn't get anymore closer to each other than we already are, unless I sat on his lap. Honestly, I wouldn't have minded.
I heard some noises behind us. There were some people walking behind us. It's a park, so of course it's expected for people to walk in it, but I was so scared that it was someone I knew or someone who knew my mum was behind us. I had to break the kiss and look behind us to see if I recognised someone. Thankfully, it was either young couples walking together, hand in hand and so in love, just like us or it was old couples walking their dogs. So far no aunties in flashy and very colourful clothing.
I returned my gaze to Rob, who was still holding me by my waist and caressing the side of my face. He was biting his lips, waiting for me to say something. I gave him a quick peck before telling him we had to stop and finally eat the sweets. He let go of my waist and face, which left me kind of cold and wanting more of his touch.
He turned to the right, reached into the bag and took the box of sweets out, placing it on his lap. As he opened the box and looked inside, his eyebrows rose. His face expression expressed...Delight? Intrigue? Or maybe even confusion? I couldn't decipher it!
"What's wrong?" I looked at him, then at the black and gold sweets box, thinking that maybe Um Nabil put the wrong sweets in or there were insects stuck to the sweets, but as I checked there were none and the sweets looked perfectly fine. I noticed him searching the bag for something but there were only single-use wet wipes packages. "What are you looking for?" I asked, confused about his confusion.
"I think they forgot to give us forks," he exclaimed, "how are we going to eat this?" Forks?..for baklava? Oh! "Have you never ever had baklava?" "No..." he says in a low voice and an almost guilty look on his face. "Don't judge me" "I'm not" I assured him, looking him in the eyes "Baklava is meant to be eaten by hand". I took a piece of the sticky, flaky Baklava that had pistachios on top of it and ate it in one bite. "But they are so sticky!" He looked down at the box with furrowed eyebrows and an alarmed expression. "That's how they are supposed to be eaten" I explained, licking my fingers clean of sugar syrup. Robert chewed on his bottom lip before looking at the open sweets box, shrugging and taking a piece. He held it between his fingers in uncertainty, before finally taking a bite. I chuckled to myself at his uncertainty. "Mmm... this is so sweet, but it tastes good," he said, still chewing the dessert "what kind of syrup is that.... God it's so sweet." He grabbed one of the wet wipes from the bag and started wiping his fingers,
"It's sugar syrup" I replied, smiling watching him struggle with the sweetness of the dessert. He finally swallowed the baklava after a challenging fight. I shifted my gaze from his eyes, which were watching the pond, to the black and gold dessert box and decided to take a piece of almond baklava. I looked at him again with a small smile on my face and decided to share this piece with him. "You just have to try the almond baklava" I exclaimed, bringing the piece closer to his lips. He turned his head, his right eyebrow raised and his eyes startled. His lips were parted, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't. I backed away a bit, thinking that maybe I made him uncomfortable, because of how close we were sitting and how close our faces were to each other.
"Half you and half me... hmm what do you say?" My smile still on my face waiting for his reaction, before I took a bite of the sweet dessert and pushed the uneaten half towards him.
Robert put the box next to him on the bench, moved closer to me, pulled my hand to his lips, opened his mouth and then ate it from between my fingers. I cleared my throat and looked at my hands in my lap. "Hand me a wet wipe, would you?" I asked, still not looking at him, scared that he'll see my flustered face. I heard him ruffle through the bag before handing me one. I wiped my hands as he closed the box and placed it back in the bag. Suddenly I felt cold because of the wind. I was already cold the whole time, but when the wind had blown it felt like I was almost shivering... Or it was my nervousness coming back... Either way I'm cold. I scooted over to Rob, placing my head on his shoulder and my arms hugging his torso, trying to steal some warmth from him. I felt him shift away from me suddenly, I quickly removed my head from his shoulder and stopped hugging him to see if I made him uncomfortable or something. But he was just taking off his suit jacket. He placed the jacket on my shoulders, smiled at me before giving me a forehead kiss, making me look at him with big eyes and give him a shy smile. He then placed his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. As I placed my head back on his shoulder, he leaned his head onto mine. My arms wrapped around his torso again. This is so comfortable, I could probably sleep like this. The world was quiet. He smelled good. His body was warm. He was the gentlest man I've ever met and he just gave me a forehead kiss. What could be better than that? I smiled to myself as I closed my eyes at how happy and safe I feel around him. I then felt his arm rubbing mine. "Darling, " he said in a low and gentle voice, " don't fall asleep". He gave me a kiss on the head.
"Hmm..? I hummed lazily, "Yeah, don't worry, I won't." My eyes still closed, this is too cosy and comfortable not to fall asleep to, but he was right, I can't fall asleep, I still have to go back to the school.
Our moment was interrupted by my phone ringing in my bag. I lifted my head off his shoulder and searched through my bag for my phone. It suddenly stopped ringing which did not help my search. Suddenly, I'm not so grateful that it was dark in the park. I finally found my phone and checked the caller ID and also checked for messages. It was from Mia. Fifteen unread messages from her. I opened the chat to see what she sent.
6:37 PM
Mia: Hey girly, how is it going?
Mia: He looked handsome but is he nice?
Mia: Is he treating you well?
Mia: or do I have to beat him up?
Mia: By the way, Evelyn ran away!
Mia: That means we have to work double shifts now :(
Mia: Get me something to eat please!
Mia I can't with cafeteria food anymore.
Mia: Like, they can't even cook proper rice. WHAT DID THEY COLONISE US FOR?
Mia: I'm bored without you, maybe I should find me someone too.

22:02 PM
Mia: girl where are you?
Mia: they are closing the gates!!!
Mia: they also locked the school!
Mia: OH MY GOD ARE YOU DEAD? DID HE KILL YOU?
Mia: Answer me for God's sake!
I missed call from Mia<3

I looked at the time and it was 22:39. Oh God, it's getting late. How the hell did I not notice the time go by? I texted Mia right away before she called the cops and started an investigation.
Me: I'm fine, girl. I just didn't notice the time go by, chill!
Me: I'll be back soon

I looked at Rob, who was covering his mouth while yawning.
"Hey...Rob..." I said in a soft voice. "Hmm?" He hummed back. "We have to go back or I won't be able to get back in the school" my eyebrows were drawn together at the thought of having to sneak into the school. I was worried and scared of getting caught.
Robert then got up and extended his hand to me. "Well then darling, let's go." I took his hand and we walked in the cold back to the car, we didn't talk, but it wasn't awkward at all, the silence was kind of comforting.
But besides the comforting silence and what not, how will I get into the school? Is there a secret entrance I don't know about? I hope so, honestly.
He unlocked his car and I immediately got in before he could even open the door for me and put my seatbelt on. He made his way around the car to the driver's seat, opened the door and sat down, putting the key in the ignition and starting the car. I forgot about the Baklava but he thankfully remembered to bring it with him. God, was I too indulged in my thoughts that I forgot everything around me, even the dessert that I bought for him. He set the bag in the back seat before buckling his seatbelt and backing out of the parking space. Other than the quiet and soft tunes and melodies coming from the radio, the car ride was also silent. We finally arrived in front of the school. I unbuckled my seatbelt and took off his suit jacket, folding it nicely before putting it in the backseat. I finally faced him in the dark car. I suddenly felt shy as if it was the start of our date. My face expression softened when my eyes met his. He leaned back into his seat, his head facing me and.... Oh my God he had the sweetest and softest smile on his beautiful face. "Thank you for this date, Rob! I don't remember the last time I had this much fun!" I smiled at him and gave him a peck on the cheek. He surprised me when he leaned and kissed me on my lips. A soft and sweet kiss. I wish we could for a longer while but I have to return before I get caught. I had to break away from the kiss, his gaze shifting between my eyes and lips. I decided to give him small kisses before finally actually pulling away. " I also had fun" he bit back a smile, as he leaned back in his seat. "When can I see you again?" He asked, looking me in my eyes, as he took my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine.
"Probably the weekend, or tomorrow... if classes were cancelled again due to the heat." I answered back, looking straight ahead instead of at him. I still see him looking at me.
"I can't tomorrow, I'm working." I see him roll his eyes in the rear view mirror. "Alright, we'll see each other on the weekend then?" I turned my head to face him. "Yes, let's do that," He kissed my hand "I'll text you". I nodded at him, not knowing how to respond. I then opened the door of the car, before telling him goodbye and walking away to the front of the gate.
He didn't drive away yet, maybe because he wanted to make sure that I got in the school safely. I blushed and smiled to myself at the thought. But then suddenly was startled by someone calling my name. It was of course Mia from behind the fence.
"Pssst, this way," she whispered, or at least tried to "come in this way before anyone sees you" she waved to me to come closer. I didn't even make it to the front of the gate, I didn't even know that the gate had a side door hidden somewhere between the bushes. Mia opened the door, looked behind her and waved to me, urging me to quickly come in. I waved to Rob's car before getting in the school. And then I finally heard him drive away.