Thy Will, Not Mine

Chapter {5} Destiny

Deciding that cafés had too much drama, we walked to the pizza parlour we had seen earlier.

The pizzeria was larger than the café and had an actual pizza oven outside. "Mario's Pizzeria" was written above the door, with a picture of a chubby man in white holding a pizza.

We walked inside and my stomach rumbled in delight and hunger. The last time I had pizza was back at home, so I couldn't wait to try pizza from the "world's masters of pizza." The pizzeria didn't look too busy, presumably due to the time of day. Digestion no longer seemed important.

A man in his early thirties, with a white apron and notepad in hand stood by the door. When he saw us, he rushed over.

"Ciao. Welcome to Mario's Pizzeria," he said in an adorable Italian accent as he handed us a small menu and guided us to an open table.

After taking our seats, he promised to return to take our orders.

"All these pizzas look appetizing," I commented, looking at the mini, medium, and large pizzas in varying flavours.

Thato was still a bit down, but coming here was proving to be a great decision as she nodded her head excitedly.

"Banana curry pizza?" What kind of flavour was that and why were fruits mixed with something meant to be savoury?

"We're definitely not ordering that," Thato chuckled.

"Agreed," I shook my head.

Most of the pizzas looked good except for the few odd ones.

Here is my edited version of the text:

A few minutes later the waiter returned.

"Are you ready to order?" He looked at Thato attentively, like he wanted to ask her something. I thought he had forgotten I was there for a minute.

"We'll take a bit of everything except the banana curry pizza, squid ink and shrimp pizza, and white pizza," my best friend said, oblivious to his staring. Before looking at him as he quickly averted his gaze to me. "And a couple of sodas."

"And for you, miss?" He asked, avoiding Thato's gaze.

"The same as her's but with orange juice instead of soda, please," I smiled as he jotted down the orders.

After her experience with a certain man today, I figured now wasn't the time to mention men's attention.

Ten minutes later our table was filled with mini pizzas and drinks.

"We have our hands full," Thato commented, taking a mini pizza and sighing in contentment after eating it. They must have been delicious.

The pizzas tasted divine - I couldn't name all the flavours dancing on my tongue. The orange juice gave the chill pizzas a sweet-and-sour taste.

By the time we finished, our stomachs were stuffed.

"That was..." Thato started.

"Amazing, but we probably shouldn't eat too much or we won't make it home," I sighed.

"Yeah," she agreed. "But wasn't it worth it?" she added with a laugh. Always the food adventurer.

We engaged in small talk as we wanted for the bill but after a while of waiting to no avail, I decided I would go to the bar and inquire about the bill.

"Excuse me," I called a waitress with the name 'Sarah' written on her name tag, typing away on her laptop. With a raised brow, she averted her gaze from the laptop.

"Pardon the interruption, but I never received a bill. Could I please get one?" I explained. Her expression shifted from expecting brevity to showing interest.

"A kind gentleman paid for your meals," she said nonchalantly.

"Who?" I asked, surprised that a stranger would pay such a hefty bill.

"Him," Sarah nodded towards a tall man exiting in a grey suit and gelled black hair. Although his back was to me, he seemed familiar.

"Who is he?" I asked.

"A young, well-known businessman," she replied dreamily.

I hurried over to thank the kind stranger for paying our bill. I power-walked, stopping to catch my breath, if only I had not eaten all those pizzas. People gave me odd looks as I bee-lined for the door.

When I exited, the man was entering a Ferrari. I shouted to stop him. He turned, revealing my mysterious classmate.

The world seemed to pause. The wind blew on my sun-kissed face as I stared at his dark glasses shielding eyes that had stared at me since our awkward introduction.

I could not tell his expression, with his dark-rimmed glasses, after all, Matthew 6 verses 22 to 23 said;

22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Could there be darkness lying behind those glasses?

"I heard you paid for my bill," I finally said.

"And?" he replied in a deep, Italian-accented voice. His annoyed tone confused me.

"I wanted to thank you. You didn't have to," I stuttered.

"You're right. I didn't have to, ma volevo," he replied.

"Is that all, Destiny?" he asked, glancing at his Rolex watch.

Confused, I asked how he knew my name. He smiled cryptically, pulling on the ends of his suit jacket. "That is for me to know, and for you to find out. See you Monday." He drove off, leaving me with many questions: how did he know me? Why did he pay? And who was this mysterious man?

His cryptic words and swift exit only heightened my curiosity and confusion. My mind raced with possibilities as I walked back to the table.

"Everything okay?" Thato asked upon my return.

I debated telling her about the generous classmate who knew my name and paid our hefty bill but decided against it for now. After her bad experience earlier, I didn't want to burden her with my perplexing encounter.

"Everything's fine," I assured her. "Just checking if they had any pizza leftovers for takeaway."

Thato gave me a puzzled look but didn't press further. I filed away my questions for another time, focusing instead on enjoying our meal and each other's company. The delicious pizza and carefree atmosphere gradually lifted my spirits, helping me relax and push aside -at least for the moment - the mystery of the handsome stranger who inexplicably knew my name.

Still, as we left the pizzeria with full stomachs and lighter hearts, I couldn't help watching for a certain sleek Ferrari in the street, hoping for another glimpse of the deep grey eyes that had peeled back my anonymity and piqued my curiosity in a single unexpected encounter.

______

Ma volevo- But I wanted to.