Sponsor inlove

<Five>

We stepped into the restaurant, Ian leading the way, still having an iron grip on my hand, maybe he thought I'd try run away so this was the only way he'd make sure that I stayed right by his side.

Walking in I noticed that it was eerily quiet and the whole restaurant being dimly lit didn't help either. The only source of light was coming from candles that were arranged in an oval shape all around the restaurant.

As we walked deeper into the room, my eyes happened to land on the tiled floor and that's when I saw it, a trail of rose petals.. leading to a stand alone table in the far end of the room and that wasn't all, in front of the table was a huge fish tank that stretched from one end of the room to the other, the kind you'd only see in aquariums. The vibrant blue being reflected from the tank, bounced onto the table. It was like something out of a fairytale.

I sucked in a breath, taking in the overwhelming beauty of the whole scene. No one in my 21 years of life had ever done anything so..

thoughtful

Ian let go of my hand and stood facing me. "I'm sorry that it isn't perfect, it was all last minute preparations, well seeing that this was originally meant to be a lunch setup."

He laughed nervously, fixing his hair in the midst of it. If he thought this wasn't perfect at all, then he was a bigger fool then I thought he already  was. I cleared my throat afraid that my voice would give away just how marvellous I found it all to be.

"Did they close early today?" I said referring to the fact that there was no other diners besides us two.

The table was set to perfection with the shiniest cutlery I had ever seen, napkins folded neatly in a triangular shape and in the centre was a heart shaped metal piece.

"I bought it out for the night." He paused. "After all there are certain things we can't do in the publics' eye."

Ian smirked and I felt, a blush creep up my cheeks, "relax Adalia, I was only joking unless that is.."

He stepped closer, the fabric of his suit jacket brushing against my dress ever so lightly

"You want to."

I scoffed taking a step backwards. Scientists were clearly right  about men maturing at the age of 40 because right now I was interacting with a child!

"Listen here, Ian Toadson..the only action you're getting tonight is when you get home, alone! That's right! you want action? there's plenty of action movies on Netflix."

I called him the wrong name intentionally just to rub him off the wrong way. He rolled his eyes at me before walking over to the table and pulling out a chair for me.

"Sit." He said sternly and I only complied because my heels were killing me. When my chair was tucked into the table and I was settled, he hovered over me from behind, his breath dancing on my bare shoulder.

"And it's Thompson, you should at least know the second name you're going to be using for the rest of your life."

The words rest of your life echoed intermittently in my head, like a broken tape recorder. As a child I  always knew that I'd be the kind of girl who would want to settle with one man, have children and live the rest of our adult lives together but as I grew older I realized I wasn't.

I was the girl who would casually date a guy for a couple of months and as soon as things seemed to get serious I would end it, the reason being I was too terrified of intimacy and commitment; the thought of letting someone in completely for me, was the equivalent of watching a horror movie and then later finding out that it was based on a true story.

"Adalia." Ian called out my name. I blinked up at him confused.I hadn't noticed the waiter who was now standing infront of us, waiting for us to order.

"What would you like to eat?"

I folded my arms across my chest, feeling my mood changing for the worst. "I'm not hungry."

If looks could kill, I would have been 6 feet under. Ian's eyes dug a hole through my chest. I knew I was in trouble.

Putting his hand up he signalled for the waiter to give us a moment. The waiter obeyed immediately, leaving me alone with him.

"I've had it about here with your bullshit." He gestured with his hand, "now, I'm going to order you some food and I don't give a flying jack if you're hungry or not. You will not leave this restaurant until you've had something to eat."

I didn't have time to respond or argue against it before he was calling the waiter back again. I was infuriated with the way he talked to me. I should have done something! Whether it was screaming at him or throwing a plate or some cutlery across the room anything at all, as long  I just didn't remain quiet.

He ordered me a sphagetti bolognaise with a glass of red wine and for himself steak and fries. Pasta was a favorite dish of mine but he didn't need to know that, he didn't deserve to. Not after the way he acted.

The service there must have been really good because minutes after he had taken down our orders he was back with two plates, one on each hand. The aroma of the food travelled up to my nose and my taste buds tingled in anticipation but my mood still hadn't changed so there was no way I was touching that food.

Ian immediately dug into his food,  smiling in appreciation after his first bite. I just sat there for a while staring at my food and wondering how a woman like me ended up in this situation. Was I being punished for sins I committed in the dark?

"Dammit! Adalia!" He slammed his fist on the table. "I'm a very patient man but you're really testing my patience. Don't make me lose my temper because you sure as hell won't like me then. I'm not going to repeat myself again, eat!"

"What makes you think I like you now?" I retorted and took a large swig of my wine.

He sighed heavily, every visible muscle tensing up as he roughly ran his fingers through his hair.

"Why are you so difficult?"

"I don't know, why are you so adamant?" using my index finger I pushed my plate of food to the edge of the table until it tipped over and crashed onto the floor, shattering into pieces.

"Oops." I said faking concern over the fallen plate.

Alarmed by the sound, the waiter rushed out of the kitchen with a dustpan and broom ready to clean up whatever mess awaited him.

"Stop." Ian commanded, waving him off, "leave us."

"Let me atleast clean this up sir—"  The poor waiter looked mortified.

"I said leave!"

His voice reverberated through the entire restaurant and I sunk into my seat feeling less bold by the second. Whatever confidence I had summoned before was no longer there. Now I felt like a lion cub that wandered onto crocodile territory.

Hurriedly the waiter got off his knees, went to collect his things in the kitchen before practically running out of the restaurant. Now it was just me left to face the wrath of Ian Thompson.

To say that I was scared was an understatement as Ian casually finished the rest of his steak before wiping at the corners of his mouth with his napkin.

Oh god, this psychopath was going to murder me in cold blood. That I was certain of.