The Way to a Man's Heart

Chapter 35

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Pavel's POV

I bent to pick up the binder and felt Dome's body on my back sliding to the side.

I let go of the binder and caught him before he could hit the ground.

He did not bother to thank me. His face was in a panic, his eyes following Tae's movements. He straightened up and was about to chase after Tae. I held on to him.

"Don't," I begged. "Don't go after Tae. Please."

He didn't even seem to have heard me. He straightened up and ran after Tae.

I bent down once more to pick up the fallen binder, my eyes helplessly watching Dome as he went after Tae.

When both of them disappeared from view, I straightened up and went inside my unit, closing the door after me.

I sat down on the couch and opened the binder.

Inside were several pages of clips of assorted fabrics that had been laminated and labeled and inserted into plastic separators.

I snapped the binder shut, knowing that at the moment I wouldn't be able to make any proper choices.

I set the binder down on the surface of the coffee table and stood up and went into the kitchen.

The tea kettle was still on, the blue light glowing.

I took one of the tea cups that Dome had set on the kitchen counter before Tae had come and messed up our entire day.

I opened one of the kitchen cabinets above the counter and took out a box of chamomile tea bags. I always resorted to chamomile tea whenever my nerves were needing to be quieted down.

I placed one of the tea bags into the tea cup and poured hot water into it.

I was about to lift the cup to my lips when my door bell ding donged softly.

I looked down at the chamomile tea that I had just made, asking myself, "Should I let him back inside? Do I want to play second fiddle to Tae?"

My front door ding donged a second time.

I let out a deep sigh, knowing in my heart of hearts that I didn't even need to answer my own questions.

I walked slowly to the front door and reached it just before it ding donged a third time.

"I thought you weren't going to open the door." Dome said, his face so pale that it looked like all the blood had been drawn out of him.

"Why did you come back?" I asked, blocking the door, not yet ready to let him come back inside and into my life.

He could not answer. He just looked at me, the tears starting to form in his eyes.

My heart melted.

"C'mere," I said pulling him softly into my embrace.

Wrong move.

He broke down sobbing into my shoulders.

I pulled him inside and closed the door after us.

"You were asking me to make a choice just before you left," I reminded him as I led him back into the kitchen. "You were asking 'coffee, tea or me', remember?"

That brought a pale smile to his lips.

"And what's your answer?" his voice was a mere whisper.

Instead of answering, I turned to him and placed my hands on either side of his face.

His eyes were already closed as I moved my face closer and closer to him until our lips met.

I deepened the kiss and he kissed me back.

When we broke apart to take in some much needed air, he said, "I think that I better cook breakfast for us again. I'm sure that the breakfast I cooked earlier has gone cold."

"I will eat whatever you cook," I said. And before I could stop myself, I added, "I would prefer to eat you of course."

I felt guilty when I saw the redness creep up from his neck to his face.

He turned away and went to the fridge and came back with a pack of mini  apple and garlic turkey sausages.

"While you're frying those, I'm gonna put a new set of sliced bread into the toaster oven," I said.

"Good plan," he said, making the pan sizzle as he dropped several of the sausages into the hot oil.

After breakfast and after we both got back into our clothes, he said, "I know that you've got work waiting for you. I will leave you and start my work day as well."

Before he started walking to the door, I grabbed his wrist.

"Are you gonna keep your promise?" I asked, my heart in my throat.

"What promise?" he asked.

"That you will let me love you even if you can't love me back," I replied, my heart starting to pound loudly against my chest.

"I promise," he said solemnly.

I watched as he turned the door knob, opened the door and took one step out of it.

Then he slowly turned to face me.

"You are a wonderful man," he said slowly, looking straight into my eyes. "I do believe that it would be very easy to love you back."