Whisky, chocolate and cigars

The atmosphere of the restaurant is serene, with a bit of classical music playing. There is a woman in a purple satin dress, singing a familiar song. I know deep down I must have heard this familiar song a couple of times. I try to listen closely to the lyrics of the song. They finally come to me, realizing I am listening to the lyrics of Enya. This causes me to put a small smile on my face. I certainly do like this place. It dawns on me that charlie is quite a hopeless romantic.

I am going through the schedule list I have to do tomorrow since I decided to have a date. It only means I would have a tight schedule tomorrow. I pushed everything to the next day. On reading through the checklist on my phone. A pang of worry rushes down my stomach. I know I will lose a ton of money if I do not work on the remaining assignments I have to submit for my clients.

“You certainly need to relax, Jamie. You work so hard. You deserve this.”

On hearing Charlie talk to me like this. I cannot help but let a smile escape from my face. Charlie is a sweet boy, and he deserves someone who would genuinely love him. But that person is certainly not me. I mean, I do like him, but just as a friend. I am very certain now that I do not need a relationship. I need to focus on my education, get a job, and help papa. So he could retire from the royal palace.

“Are you okay, Jamie?” Charlie says, snapping me out of reality.

“I am fine, Charlie. I am just thinking about work.”

“That’s all you think about, Work. You deserve this break.” When Charlie says this, he stretches his hands towards me. Touching my fingers. His hands feel cold from the cold air-conditioner circulating across the room. I want to take my hands off his. Because I do not want to send the wrong message to him. I know now that I certainly do not feel the way he does. But it’s a good thing I am here. If I never came here, I would not be able to know how I truly feel. Now I can boldly tell William that I feel nothing for Charlie. I only like him like a friend.

“Charlie….” I am about to call his name, but then the waiter walks in on us with another waiter holding a bottle of MacDowell’s whisky. He lets down my plate of salad, which looks really good. But then I do not see anything on Charlie's front tray, except for the bottle of MacDowell and a large plate of dark chocolate, with two giant stacks of a Cuban cigar.

“You are not eating?” I ask Charlie.

“I would eat. I am having dark chocolate and a glass of MacDowell, mixed with my exquisite Cuban cigar. And just like you asked for, there is one for you. He says, pointing to the other cigar on the table.

“I didn’t know you were going to have this. I would not have requested for it.”

“It’s okay, Jamie. You do not have to take it.”

“So why are you not eating?”

“It’s just something I learned from my dad when he goes out. He takes a cigar, dark chocolates, and MacDowell's. Now that’s all I take when I go out on here.”

“Wow! That is amazing. I want to try it.”

“No! I would certainly not let you smoke.”

“There is a first time for everything, Charlie.”

“I do not want to be a bad influence. I only agreed to the waiter to bring a second. So you would see it’s just a cigar.

“Hand it over,” I say.”

“No, Charlie.”

“Now, you would really upset me if you don’t hand me that cigar.”

Charlie doesn’t want to upset me, making him stretch the cigar towards me and the plate of dark chocolate.

“The salad would do only. But please, How about you help me light it up.”

“Sure,” Charlie says, leaning towards me to light up my cigar. I am about to smoke it in when I raise my head to sight a familiar figure standing at the entrance of the door. Standing with him is princess Charlene, dressed in a purple satin dress. She looks stunning. This hotel is certainly a five-star hotel for the prince to be here.

When it comes to multitasking, I am quite good at it because I forget for a second that I am smoking in the cigar, forgetting that I should not take in too much smoke since this is my first time smoking. A large amount of smoke causes me to let out a wild cough, causing everyone in the room to stare at me. If it were possible to die of embarrassment, I would have, but then I do not know why my face suddenly lands on the face of the prince as I continue to cough through. And at this point, he is looking at me. Surprised by what I am holding. I am sure my shadow itself would be surprised at what I am doing right now. The earlier smile I had seen on the face of the prince when I first started to cough had suddenly disappeared. His face had suddenly turned cold.

Charlie hands me a glass of water as I drop the cigar.

“I should never have listened to you,” Charlie says.

With Charlie talking to me. My eyes are all watering from the smoke I had inhaled from my cough. But then I am still looking at the dark stare of the prince as he looks at me. I know I should not care about what he thinks. I am only supposed to care about what my date thinks, and not the prince. But yet again, I have only one question in mind now. The same question I always have in mind when we meet. This is the third time I am seeing him this month. But I am wondering. Why are we coincidently in the same restaurant at this very moment?