The Beginning

Caged

Ding dong

The doorbell sounded too loud to his ears.
Standing by the door of Diana's apartment, Michael felt a sense of disconnection. He had been there before, but for some reason, that night, it felt like the first time again.
He fixed the collar of his dark red button up shirt nervously, waiting for her to open the front door.

Diana opened it suddenly, causing him to jump a little.

"Oh hi darling, come in!"

She greeted him with a quick hug, pulling him inside.

"Lock the door for me, will you?"

She rushed back to the dinner table.

"I'm just finishing up here." She placed some plates over it.
"You're early!"

Being who he was, of course Michael would be the first to arrive.
He giggled, imagining how he had been worried he would be late because LaToya insisted she'd get a ride with their driver to wherever it was that she went on her date before him.
He closed the door and turned to her.

"You said 8 o'clock."

"I did. What time is it anyway?"

"Two past eight."

They both laughed out simultaneously. Michael put his eyes on her for the first time. She wore a casual knee length white dress. He couldn't help but notice how it gracefully exposed her cleavage in such way that it wasn't vulgar, but it also made it very to ignore.
Stunning.

"I guess they're all late then."
She placed the last plate over the table and went inside the kitchen.
"We should eat it all by ourselves."

"I would like that."
He would indeed.

"Come help me out. Take this to the table." She pointed to a plate over the kitchen balcony.

Michael promptly attended her.

"Pork tenderloin." She bragged.

"Smells incredible."

"Naturally." She casually mentioned, lifting another pan from the stove.

Michael giggled.

"You really know how to make a man fall for you." He said between smiles.

Gladly, he wasn't facing her. If he was, she would've seen in his eyes how much of that was a joke, and how much of it was true.

After setting up the table, they both stood by the kitchen balcony, waiting for the already late guests to start arriving.
Diana opened up a bottle of Scotch that was laying nearby and poured a small dose for herself.
Michael glanced at her with a fake disapproval look.

"What? We're celebrating." She brought the glass to her mouth with a smile.

"I'm having so much fun." Michael said dreamily, referring to the past week.
"I'm glad we're doing this together."

Diana smiled and soothed his hand with hers lovingly. Michael was always so genuine it was hard not to act accordingly.
She brought her hand to his cheek, squeezing it tenderly.

"I'm glad we're doing this together." She repeated.

Her inocent touch caused Michael's heart to race disproportionately. He had no control over his reactions to her smallest actions, and that frustrated him. Would he feel like this around her forever? Would he have to keep it hidden until they were old and gray? Would he have to keep quiet and watch her fall in love and get married again with another man?
Suddenly, he felt overwhelmed with the need to tell her.