INTROSPECTIVE

Chapter 21

She gently traced the red mark on his cheek. The outline of her fingers was still visible and just looking at it made her wince. She mentally chided herself for hitting him so hard.

Without opening his eyes, he stopped the movement of her hand and held it against his cheek.

There was something about the way he touched. While she was hesitant, he wasn’t. He was firm and warm, but most of all for her, he was reassuring. For someone who felt like she had been missing a constant in her life for so long, that meant a lot to her.

As if sensing what she was thinking, he began to trace little circles on her hand. “Hot damn,” Eva thought. Such a small action but the feelings it elicited from her….With Guy it had been a raging inferno but with Louis it was a slow burn.

“You’re blocking the sun babe” he said with his eyes still closed, his long eyelashes brushing the bottom of his eyes. He was enjoying the warm sunshine a little too much. They had managed to find themselves a nice little clearing that wasn’t too shielded by the trees in the forest. It was the perfect place to get a some relaxation after the crazy week that they had had.

“Babe?” she asked, “We’ve gotten to pet names now?”

He flashed Eva a wide grin. “When you kiss-assault someone like that, I think I’m free to call you whatever I want.”

She lightly slapped his arm. “Really, kiss-assault? I seem to recall, that you were a very willing victim.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. In fact, I wouldn’t mind a repeat.” He flashed her that mischievous smile again.

She slapped his arm lightly again as he laughed at her. “You’re so silly.”

She bent down to kiss the imprint of her hand that was still on his face and curled up to him on the soft green grass. He began to soothingly rub her shoulder. A comfortable silence passed between them.

“Louis, tell me something about yourself that no one else knows.”

“We’ve gotten to soul- bearing already, babe?” he playfully asked.

“And are we still insisting on the pet names, sweet cheeks?”

“Ok, that’s fair. To answer your question, I once ate my own poo.”

“What? Eeeew. I can’t believe I kissed you.”

He laughed heartily at her reaction. “I was a kid back then. And I think my nappy had come loose."

She playfully gave him a skeptical look.

“Your turn. Tell me something that no one else knows about you.”

“Well, I have done some weird things too. When I was a kid, I liked the idea of drinking wine so much that my mom once found me drinking grape juice from her candle sticks.”

“In my defence, they looked like wine glasses.” She quickly added. “It was part of the reason I wanted to study oenology and viticulture and become a winemaker.”

Louis angled his head to look at her. “Then why aren’t you studying whatever you just mentioned?”

Eva smiled at the fact that he didn’t want to repeat the words oenology and viticulture. “My mom thought it was a straight road to alcoholism.”

“Your mom has a point there, you did get tipsy on fermented food that time we went to the Ethiopian restaurant He chuckled at the memory.

She covered her face in embarrassment, “That definitely did not happen!”

“Oh, don’t be shy. Anyway, you make a lawyer pale in comparison to being a winemaker.”

“Spoken by someone who wants to study law, you’re shaming the whole profession.” She poked his chest.

“Yeah, yeah….but oeno-culture and viti-whatever sounds way more interesting,” Eva visibly smiled at his pronunciation, “It’s different just like you.”

It was just too cheesy a line for Eva not to laugh. “Lamest line ever.”

As they continued to banter back and forth, Louis could feel the doubts and resistance that kept Eva back loosening slowly. She might have kissed him but he still had his work cut out for him. Seeing her at ease and just watching her laugh genuinely without a care in the world was the first step in the right direction.

So I just wanted Louis and Eva to chill and enjoy their cute little moments before everything goes south.hehe

Hello everyone. It's being such a long time that I don't know what to say. Just trying to get back on that wagon. Wow, it's not easy. Writer's Block is real people. But we have to be brave. Haha.

Enjoy the story and feel free to come up with any corrections and grammatical errors.