Matters Of The Heart ✔

Chapter Six

The surprise location was an abandoned road close to the airport. The pair sat in the car, eating hot wings as they watched the airplanes fly over them. They chatted, getting to know one another clearly.

“So this was the secret destination”, Abigail laughed as she wiped her hands with a serviette as she finished eating her hot wings

“I never said it's a secret. I just said it's a surprise”, he chuckled while he leaned onto his seat. Another plane took off and they both looked at it as it flew over them.

“Woah, it looks so different when you're looking at it so close”, Abigail exclaimed as her eyes followed the plane. “Do you often come here?”, she asked, and he nodded his head.

“Yeah, mostly when I need to gather my thoughts, but it's been a while since I've been here though. It's the first time today since I came back”.

“Where were you?”

“Midrand. I own a construction and a few investment companies that side”, he said like it was just something anyone could say in passing. Abigail could see that he was wealthy, not by only his car, but also his choice of clothes, they were casual, but they were expensive designer labels.

“Why are you back in this side of town?”

“I had to take over the family business after my father was involved in a car accident a couple of months ago”

“I'm so sorry. Is he okay?”

“No worries, the old man is back on his feet now, but the doctors haven't completely cleared him to go back to work yet. So I guess I'm still around”, he watched as she nodded her head.

“So”, he turned to look at her. “What about you, what's your story?”

She shrugged. “Apart from waitressing, I'm a part-time student at Richfield University. I'm studying microbiology”,

“Microbiology?” , he asked amused and she nodded her head. “Impressive, so you're beautiful and smart, I see you”, he smiled, and she chuckled lightly.

“So, the waitressing job is to meet the daily demands of your necessities?”

“Yes that,”, she took a deep breath, is the right time to tell him about Emily? Won't that scare him off or something?, she wondered. But this is also not a date, so-, her inner conscious chipped in. She battled with her thoughts for a second before opening her mouth to speak.

“And also to pay for my daughters school fees”, she said, awaiting some kind of reverse reaction from him, but instead his lips formed a smile

“What's her name?”

“Emily”

“How old is she?”, he asked intrigued as he leaned closer to her in fascination. She blinked at his response because she was actually expecting the worst.

“She's four”, she smiled at the thought of her little girl and how big she's grown throughout the years. Emily meant everything to her, she was her happiness.

“I bet she looked exactly like you, strikingly beautiful”, he said, and she let out a laugh. She noticed the smile slowly disappear from his face as he fixed his gaze on her, and he cleared his throat.

“Is her father still in the picture?”

She shook her head. “It's a long story, I'd rather not get into it right now”, she said, and he respected her wish. One thing he learned was that when a woman prefers not to talk about a certain issue, it's because it bought back bad memories, it's better not to push things.