Chapter 14

The next day, Dino came to the hotel wherein he and Ivan had agreed to meet up. Upon checking the time on his Android phone, he realized to his relief that he had arrived about five minutes prior to the time of their meetup. He was wearing a short-sleeved polo, pants, and sneakers.

Afterwards, Dino began to look for any sign of Ivan, but to no avail.

[Looks like he isn't here yet.] Dino thought. [I'd better send him a message.]

Dino was typing the message when a tall man wearing a face mask, a pair of sunglasses, and a coat suddenly came right in front him. Upon noticing the man's shadow, Dino looked up and saw that the guy had blonde hair which was styled in a way that he himself had seen before. It took him in a little bit to realize in his utter amazement that it was actually Ivan.

"Hi there, Dino!" Ivan greeted cheerfully. "Did you just arrive here?"

"Ah, yes!" Dino replied rather awkwardly before quickly turning off his mobile data and putting his Android phone back inside his pocket. "I was about to send you a message, but here you are now," Dino declared while blushing and smiling.

Ivan laughed and responded, "I see. You're really cute, you know."

At that moment, Ivan placed his right hand on the top of Dino's head before stroking it gently, surprising the latter. Ivan found Dino's surprised reaction to be quite adorable as well. 

"Dino, I find your surprised reaction to be so cute too!" Ivan exclaimed merrily. "I like everything about you so much!"

Dino blushed upon hearing Ivan's sweet words. It was also the very first time in his life that a very handsome guy had described him as cute, and it came from the swimmer he admires so much. Before, there were girls who had described him as such.

"What else do you find cute about me, Ivan?" Dino inquired shyly without looking directly at Ivan's eyes. 

"What else? Hmm…I guess everything about you is cute!" Ivan replied joyfully. "I found you really, really cute since the time we first met, Dino!" 

"I...I see," Dino answered while being not sure about whether to feel shy or flattered. "Anyway, shall we go now?"

"Yeah!" Ivan answered cheerfully. "Follow me," said before turning towards the direction of the hotel. 

Once they got to the entrance, the male guard, upon noticing that Ivan was wearing a face mask and a pair of sunglasses, said, "Sir, please take off your face mask and glasses."

"Oh, sure. Okay," Ivan replied before doing as he was requested to.

[Yeah, right. Guards need to check everyone's faces.] Dino thought while watching Ivan from behind. [When a person's face is covered, it looks suspicious after all.]

As soon as Ivan took off his sunglasses and face mask, the male guard was astonished because he recognized who the former was.

"Hey! Aren't you Ivan Sadovsky?" the male guard asked in amazement. 

"Yes, I am," Ivan replied while smiling brightly. "That's why I was wearing the face mask and sunglasses. And that is to prevent anyone from recognizing me." 

"I understand, Sir. But please take off your mask while inside the premises," the guard said while smiling.

"Got it. Thanks for telling me," Ivan replied while also smiling. Then Ivan turned to Dino and said, "Come on, Dino."

Dino just nodded before following behind Ivan. 

It did not take long before Dino and Ivan had entered a private room on the fifth floor of the hotel. Dino was awed by what he saw: in the middle of the room, there was a table laden with a lot of food. Upon checking, Dino realized that the dishes were not the typical Filipino dishes; rather, they were most probably Russian dishes. There were salads, breads, pastas, dumplings, meatballs, cakes, wine bottles, etc. Dino's jaw also dropped upon seeing that there were a lot of seemingly delicious food although he was not familiar with most of them. 

[Wow! There's a lot of these foods!] Dino thought in amazement. [Although I'm not familiar with most of them. And another question is... would we be able to eat them all?]

"Dino, please have a seat over here," Ivan said after pulling a chair from the table.

"Oh, okay," Dino replied with a nod before sitting down. 

As soon as they were seated, Dino did not know what to start eating while gazing at the food. His mouth watered while trying to imagine their taste.

[Oh well...I wonder which one I should eat first?] Dino thought, looking confused while gazing at the multiple food options.

Ivan noticed Dino's confused facial expression before saying, "Dino, please go ahead and eat whichever you want to eat."

"Okay," Dino replied shyly before proceeding to eat together with Ivan.

"So, how are you? Is everything going well with you and your family?" Ivan asked interestingly as both he and Dino continued to eat..

"Ah, yes!" Dino exclaimed after swallowing his food. 

"That's great!" Ivan declared happily. "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you now, Dino?"

"I'm eighteen years old," Dino answered without hesitation. "What about you, Ivan?"

"I'm twenty-seven years old," Ivan replied while smiling. "So that makes me about nine years older than you."

"Oh, okay. I see," Dino answered, feeling happy that he finally got to know about Ivan's age. "But you don't seem to be that age at all. To me, you look younger than your real age."

"Oh, really?!" Ivan asked, feeling joyful with Dino's compliment. "So, how old do you think I am based on my face?"

"I would guess...That you're around twenty-five," Dino replied while smiling innocently. 

At that moment, Ivan was mesmerized with Dino's adorable smile again.

[Oh...This cute smile of his...I want to see it more.] Ivan thought while looking at Dino lovingly. 

"Oh, finally! You're smiling again, Dino!" Ivan exclaimed cheerfully. "I'd love to see you smiling, so please do so. You look much cuter when you're smiling!"

At that moment, Dino blushed before replying, "Alright! I'll do it!"

"That's great!" Ivan declared merrily. "By the way, since when have you known me?"

Dino thought for a moment and replied, "I think it was...five years ago."

"Really?!" Ivan asked in astonishment. "It was also five years ago when I debuted in my career as a professional swimmer. I'm really glad to know that you have been watching me swim for that long already."

"Yes," Dino replied with a smile and a nod. "My best friend and I have been watching you. We really love your beautiful swimming style!"

"Thanks, Dino!" Ivan responded while smiling and blushing. "So, do you engage in competitive swimming too?"

Dino shook his head and replied, "No."

"Why not?" Ivan asked curiously.

Dino blushed and broke his eye contact with Ivan before answering, "Well...It's because...I can't swim."

"Oh, I see," Ivan declared. "But given the chance, would you try it?"

"Yes, I'd love to!" Dino answered enthusiastically while looking directly at Ivan's eyes again. 

"That's great!" Ivan responded joyfully. "How about you start learning how to swim? I can teach you."

"Oh...Is it for free?" Dino inquired excitedly.

"Yes," Ivan replied with a nod and a smile. "I'd love to teach the person I really, really like!"

"I see," Dino answered while smiling. "I'll think about it."

"Sure, no problem!" Ivan exclaimed cheerfully. "You can take your time to think." 

"Thanks!" Dino replied merrily.