Discover Love

Bon Appétit

Within the next 20 minutes, we stopped outside a posh French restaurant. I wasn't complaining now as I was starving. The slice of toast and bacon has long been digested. Mr. Grumpy waited for me to get out of the car. He gestured me to walk and followed me closely. As we walked in, the Maître beamed at him.

"Mr. Holden! Such a pleasure to host you. Let me take you to your reserved seat." The Maître was walking in front.

'Well, does that mean he called the restaurant ahead to book a table?' I shouldn't be surprised. He is such an organized person.

I've never been to this restaurant and I was awed how beautifully it was decorated. Our table was semi-circular and was arranged in such a way that we were tactfully hidden from the restaurant crowd but had a nice view of the outside. The Maître placed the menu and left us to choose the food. 

I was a bit lost for I had no clue what to order. Not many times had I entered a posh restaurant. The menu card had a lot of French terminologies which was new for me. I didn't understand much about the main course though I decided that I'll surely order Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich as the Dessert. My mouth watered as I looked at the colorful pictures of Macarons. I looked up to find the blue eyes boring into me. But this time, there was a smile playing on his lips. Encouraged, I closed the menu book.

"Mr. Holden, if it's okay, could you order something good for me? I don't understand much of the French cuisine."

"Chicken, Beef or Seafood?" he enquired.

"Anything fishy would do!" I grinned at my joke. Luckily, he flashed a smile too.

"Bouillabaisse for the Lady and Steak Frites for me" He placed the order and looked at me. The Maître smiled and nodded. He served the wine and left. Now that Mr. Grumpy had smiled a couple of times, I was a bit comfortable. I took a swig of the white wine and immediately sputtered. The tartness of the wine caught me by surprise. As I coughed, he slid towards me to rub my back. A blush crept my cheeks. I've managed to embarrass myself again. I was a bit uncomfortable because of his close proximity. I controlled myself.

"I'm sorry Mr. Holden. I wasn't paying attention while drinking the wine." I managed.

"That's okay Ms. Wilson. Wine should be swished around in your mouth to absorb the flavors. One takes time to develop the taste for wine." Was he pitying me? His tone was not patronizing though. Let me not overthink as at least he is talking something to me.

"You should've let your hair loose. It looked good." Did he just compliment me? Wow!

"Err. Thank you, Mr. Holden. " I wasn't sure how to accept this compliment. "Ahem, I wanted to know, why did you actually invite me today?" It's not that he needed my inputs or help in anything.

"Why do you think I invited you, Ms. Wilson?" He looked amused.

'Can you not answer a question with a question? How on the earth would I know what you think? God! Sometimes I don't even know what I think!'

"Well! I thought since we are going to work together, maybe you wanted us to know each other better?" I bluffed.

"Good Idea. Tell me about yourself." He leaned back and stretched his legs. He was looking at me with full attention and I facepalmed myself.

"Well! I'm from Florida. I completed my education from there. I moved to San Francisco about a year back. I was initially working with the –"

"That information is available in your resume. Tell me about yourself. Your family and friends?"

"Err..." I wasn't very comfortable talking about my personal life with him. There's no big deal but he's practically a stranger, isn't he? I took a second to compose myself.