Hard work doesn't always dictate success. What decisions are right when your reality is blurred? What would you do if you had to make a difficult decision? Which side of the coin is actually right?
...
The coldness of the room woke her as she pulled the sheet over her naked body.
"Domenic?" she called, but as she turned she realized that he was gone.
Zora's hand rubbed on the side where he had lain. The thought of him still lingered deeply in her mind. Had he gone home to his wife and lied to me? No, he, wouldn't he wasn't that kind of man. Then where did he go?
Many men in her life had tried to finesse her in a ploy to win her heart, but none of them had succeeded. She was a woman that followed her heart. Money, job status, or security meant nothing to her. For she herself had not to worry about anything like that. Thanks to her winning the lottery a few years back. It wasn't enough to finish working and retire for good, but it was enough to have a decent house and take care of her father.
Father would off prefer me to be with Chris, Zora knew how much he cared for her. He would invite her out over and over again for dinner. To the point sometimes that she would have to tell him that they were just friends. She didn't have any feelings of love the way Chris felt for her as he claimed. She merely saw him as a friend. They had both grown up with one another, and although she could not tell him, she saw him as a brother; mostly because of how close he was to her as well as her father. Those words, however, would probably eat him alive.
Father, please be safe, she thought as she tried to shift it from her mind.
Her thoughts of Domenic lingered. From the first time she met him, his funny demeanour made her laugh. He was cheerful when she had first started working and full of life. She had watched him slowly sink into his own hole. From a man that had one drink and came to the bar now and then. Now a man that came every night that smelt rancid sometimes of cigarette smoke.
One thing that she had always realized about him, he was always alone. Bacardi and coke, his drink of choice as he sat on the same stool each time. She struggled to recall when she had started to provide him with free drinks. Once it started, it was something that brought them indirectly closer to each other. The bar belonged to her uncle, and he had left the city and the bar in her care, although she didn't at any point act as if she was a boss. She had become too accustomed to being a worker, and the staff was like family, so little actually changed in that regard.
What made her continue this move with him? She did not know, she felt almost compelled that one day. When he entered the bar and spent more than an hour nursing one drink. She knew he couldn't afford another. She had been at it too long and giving him a drink as the orders came through would not be too problematic.
That smile, he gave her when she first rested the drink by his side and claimed it was for her favourite customer. That was the start of something that was done every night, sometimes five to ten times.
She would hope to get another few words of conversation from him. He broke up the monotony of the work she had, and was one of the few customers initially that she enjoyed seeing. That was until she fell for him. She did not know at all, however, how to tell him. Seeing his ring glistening on his finger was a deterrent to her that he was a married man.
He had never once spoken about his problems with her or his situation back home. Despite all the gazes, she would catch him looking at her, but give a smile and ignore it. Sometimes even teasing it more and more to see how far his jaw would drop. Yet despite it all, she would not come to know his name for such a long time after and find out how many problems he was faced with.
However, that didn't stop her from trying to lift his confidence anyway she could. From talking about the way he carried himself, too, how he was friendly while referring him back to other customers that she had to deal with on a day. One drink at a time was all it took to get this far. With me, I won't ever make you feel less than what you are. You are a king, my king, and should be treated as such.
Her eyes slowly shut. She smiled, thinking about their future together.
She spoke the words in her heart, "Domenic, you and I are meant to be."
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