Forbidden Fruit

CAPITOLO SESSANTAQUATTRO-Rekindle

"Please don't take me home. I could stay right here forever, Anywhere with you is better. Just don't take me home." -Tori Kelly

Negril, Jamaica📍
12:45 pm
June 28th '19

With hopeful eyes, Michael peers at Rheah who was slowly wandering around the sixth potential spot for his birthday party venue that they'd visited this week.

"So mamas...whatchu think?" He asks while his tongue subtly glides across his lips.

"Hmm...." Rheah hums as she curiously examines her surroundings before slowly bouncing her head in approval. "Yeah, I can see something happening here."

"Really?" Michael lifts his brow in surprise.

"Mhm," Rheah nods, glancing between the space and Michael. "I mean it would take a little more glamming up for you to see the bigger picture but once the fine lines and details have been pressed and added, I could see this place working out."

Michael's head bobs up and down while his arms fold across his chest. "Alright, I can dig that...So what do you have in mind?"

"Okay so..." She grins as she slowly spins on her heels, "Over here by the main entrance, you could have it extended into an archway with some small palm trees and potted tropical plants while the archway itself could be made with bamboo reefs lined with green and white led lights."

"Okay, okay, I can see that." Michael agrees before glancing over to the now excited young woman who was gazing around the room as her mind races with ideas.

"And then over here, you could have little lanterns hanging up from there and going across to the other side..." She draws out her words with hand gestures, "Then we could place the main stage there and maybe a photography scenic backdrop over there by that wall. Oh! And you could put the cake table over here while the DJ is over there and oooo! We could also put a..."

As Rheah babbles on, her eyes glowing with creativity and excitement, Michael couldn't help but listen and smile in content.

He loved to see her indulged in her element like this.

Not only did he admire how eloquent and innovative she was at combining both his desires and her own for the outset of the party, but he treasured how happy she looked doing it.

Michael could admit, that even though they had been making headway in working on their friendship for a few weeks now, there was still that unspoken tension lingering between them and like a stubborn mule, its presence hindered the progress of the two ex-lovers being completely comfortable with each other again. And even though he knew that was the case and as much as he wanted to, Michael just couldn't move past the hurt he had felt from what she'd done.

However, ever since the two had been working on planning his big fiesta, the young kingpin did notice his grudge slowly diminishing whenever he'd catch a glimpse of her warm smile or hear the sound of her laughter that always felt like music to his ears and it was nice to see her genuinely relaxed around him again.

All in all, he was grateful that despite their underlying issues and rollercoaster of a relationship, Rheah had agreed to help him out with this tedious task of party planning. He knew it would've been impossible to handle by himself amongst the other millions of things he had to juggle in his life right now. Plus, it gave him the chance to spend the time that he desired with her without the extra negative emotional restraints.

"And Ahhh!" Rheah's mini squeal along with her hand landing on his broad arm pulls Michael's attention out of his thoughts and solely towards her again.