The Darkovs

#18 The 10 Steps

The kitchen is a mess. And now, the moment of truth arises. The table is set, everyone is at the table, Pavel included. The family look at the food in front of them.
Melissa still hasn't change her clothes and is full of stains on herself. Dominic is not looking better.

Milenka is present, however she had to get ready without Melissa's help. Even Maxim is nervous about all the fuss.

"My dear, let us taste it." Maxim suggests.

Everyone eats. The recipe of Royal Pancakes. That recipe was created by the queen when she was pregnant with Maxim.

Melissa loves the taste that spreads through her mouth. It is undoubtedly delicious! She stares at Dominic and he looks at the pancakes with a face she can't understand entirely.
The young man gets up and leaves the dining room, everyone is worried about him.

Maxim claps his hands and congratulates:

"Melissa, we have not eaten these pancakes in six years, they're the same as the queen's, our mother. There is no difference at all."

Melissa smiles, but she can't stop thinking about Dominic. He could not even eat properly. Melissa thinks only about the boy's expression.

When she gets up, Pavel says he is going to help clean everything so she can be in class in time. She goes to her room to take a shower and get ready. But before that, she knocks on Dominic's door. He doesn't answer.

"Dominic, I know you're in there. Please! I did not want you to feel bad ... I ..."

She feels some movement from the inside and is alert. Dominic unlocks the door and approaches. Approaches her until Melissa is glued to the wall of the hallway, then he puts his hands near her shoulders and says in a deep voice:

"I do not feel bad. It's just ... I'll never have my parents back and you're the only one who ... Don't you understand what's going on?"

Melissa is more worried about being stuck with him than about hearing what he said.

"Dominic, I do not like being so close."

She tries to push him away with her hand, but as she touches his chest, she feels even worse and decides not to move. Dominic is undoubtedly too well built for her taste.

"I'm sorry if I imitated the same recipe. I thought that was the idea" She says in a timid voice.

Melissa is very angry with herself, she wants to get him out of her way, but at the same time she doesn't want to. She wants to push him aside to close herself in her room, but at the same time wants to look into his eyes. Those eyes capable of killing her.

Dominic releases her. He looks thoughtful and Melissa takes a deep breath. She looks at him and doesn't know what else to say. What did she have done wrong? Was Dominic overreacting?

"Was the cinnamon? It was, wasn't it? I'm too exaggerated with cinnamon ..." Melissa asks.

Dominic looks at the young woman with a malicious look again.
She stops at her feet.

"Oh no! What did I say now?"

"Have my siblings told you about Dominic Alik's 10-step plan?"

"No. I've never heard of it."

"Great." Dominic moves closer to the girl in his well-known way.

Melissa feels tiny when he looks at her like that.

"Step 1: The bathroom test. Step 2: The Bet. Step 3: The open heart. And step 4 ..." He pauses.

"Wait! Bathroom? Bet? You continue doing your games? Was this a game?"

Melissa looks like she is going to burst with fury, but he quickly tuggs on the girl's chin and they are both too close.

"You're magnificent. A pretty little thing like you should not cook like that."

"I do not know what you mean." She tries to push him away without success.

"Look at me!" He seems to command.

Melissa shivers and looks into his eyes. A scorching heat rises over her and she even thinks about kissing that "idiot." As soon as she looks at his perfect lips, he releases her.
She blinks several times because it looks like she had woken from a dream.

"Step 4: The almost kiss." Dominic closes the bedroom door with a smirk.

Melissa frowns at his door and decides not to waste any more time with the useless guy.

*****

You will realize that these 10 steps are the funniest thing in this book! I look forward to explaining to you in the next chapters why.

Also I'm sorry about the late update. The Darkovs in Portuguese entered to the longlist of the wattys2018. I was excited! 😉