Taking Chances

Twelve

After laughing, she actually can't cook and wanted to try and impress me. My heart warms at that confession.

When she wants to call in and order, I tell her no and ask her to show me the kitchen. It's time for me to show her what I can do in the kitchen.

She shows me where everything is and I get to work. I make some garlic bread. Tomato soup and grill some chicken. I also make some green salad and top things off with some fried mushroom.

All the meanwhile she is looking at me with wonder in her eyes.

When she tastes the food. Her jaw hangs open...

"Oh my... This is... You never told me, you were part of top chef Ghana. This is sooo good." She compliments.

"I'm glad you are enjoying it." I say smiling

"No, I'm in heaven. I have never had food this delicious before..." She says

I laugh

She looks at me shyly and says; "I'm serious, this is the most delicious meal, I've ever had..."

I look at her and she's telling the truth. This is strange... I know I can cook, but the best meal in her entire life?

After we are done, she takes the plates to the kitchen and comes back with some red wine and pours us a glass each.

We are simply silent. But it's the comfortable kind of silence.

I look at the screen and see that the volume is mute but the cartoons are still on.

"Did you have visitors before me," I ask her.

"No, why?" She asks

"Because of the cartoons on the television," I point.

She looks at the screen and realises this and her face turns red with embarrassment...

She stutters and says something about having randomly selected a channel. I doubt it is true.

After about 10 minutes, she starts

" I know I haven't been very open with you in terms of my personal life. And thank you for not pushing me..." She begins...

That is true. I have told her about my family, my childhood. Varsity life... Almost all. But she has never told me such. She only talks about general things, like what she studied, her hobbies... Favourite music... She never talks about family.

I keep quiet and wait for her to continue.

"Zuhrah, I don't have a family. I grew up in an orphanage..."

My breath hitches and I put my glass of wine on the coffee table. We are both sitting on the same sofa and facing each other. Her legs are tucked under her and she's fiddling with her hands...

"I have been in the orphanage ever since at four years old. My parents were in a political party and were murdered. The only thing I have left of them is a letter, which reads, "You will always be protected. We love you always... Mom and Dad" I guess by being protected they meant what my skin does..."

My throat is closed up and I am trying not to cry.

"I was an awkward child and never really got adopted. So I stayed in the orphanage till I was 18 years. I was lucky enough to get a scholarship and went to study engineering. However I had to provide my own food an basic necessities. The scholarship only covered my tuition fee and accomodation. So I looked for a job and worked as a cashier at a supermarket. I finished school and got an internship, where I was able to earn 30% of the employee salary. And so I managed to rent a tiny apartment and afford the basics."

"About three months as an intern, I was promoted and hired as an official engineer, and I slowly moved up to where I am today..."

"I have never really been able to make friends, I was too shy, awkward and rarely had nice clothes. So as a result I just stuck to myself..."

"Thank you for being patient with me. I know I'm a hard person..."

By now tears are flowing freely down my cheeks, butI laughed when she said she's a hard person. Because I remembered how my dad always says I'm a hard girl. She looked at me and I told her why I was laughing and she laughed as well

"So yeah I'm not easy. I'm weird. But you are the first person that has been in my life this long, and I'm grateful. Thank you..." She continued.

By now she was crying as well, I felt that this was the first time she spoke of this.

I didn't know what to say or do... So I opted to pull me towards me and hugged her.

She was tense at first, but then allowed herself to sink into the hug. I continued sniffling and after a few seconds she broke into a sob. My heart clenched

I hugged her tighter and brushed her back.

This is the first time she has spoken about this. So many years of pain and loneliness.

I vowed in my heart to never make her cry ever.

After a while she calmed down but stayed hugging me.

"Thank you for sharing that with me. Thank you for allowing yourself to be open and vulnerable with me. Thank you for trusting me..." I slowly whisper in her ear as I brush her hair...

I felt her noodling against me.

We stay in that position for almost over an hour.

She then slowly removes herself from me and says "sorry..."

"Its okay," I tell her.

We stare at the muted television and I hold her hand in mine. Her hand feels warm. She holds mine tighter. My heart squeezes.

We are both silent in this newfound intimacy of ours. This moment feels very intimate.

I brush across her fingers with mine and from the corner of my eye I see her smiling.

Our moment is ruined by my cellphone ringing. I already know it's mom or dad.

"Sorry" I tell her

"It's okay"

It's mom, I tell her it's my mother. I do not answer her call. I put my phone on silent mode.

"Why don't you answer?" Zhoya ask

I will talk to her later... I want to continue just being in this moment with you like this I tell her.

She blushes and stares at the TV.

I look at her. Puffy eyes. Wild hair and yet she still looks angelic.

"You have a sweet tooth," I tell her

She laughs

"Yeah... You have noticed..." She states

"Yeah... When is your birthday, I'm going to bake you a cake" I tell her.

"It has passed. It was on the 3rd of May..." She tells me

I think about her spending it all by herself and I will myself not to cry.

We continue talking about random things and at around 6 pm I stand to leave.

She walks me to my car and we share a warm long hug that has my heart fluttering.

As I drive away she is waving at me and I have a fleeting thought about Samantha waving at me that day I left work earlier.

My heart feels warm. It feels Zhoya and I have reached a breakthrough in our relationship. After today, I know that the tone of our relationship has changed and will never be the same...