Resisting the inevitable

Steve had just finished his call and let out a sigh as he loosened the top button of his shirt, when Maria entered the living room. She walked in holding a cup of ice cream in her hand and with a spoon in her mouth. As Steve looked at her with a surprised stare, Maria dropped herself on the soft couch and slowly took the spoon out of her closed mouth, pulling the metal past her full lips. Steve looked at this as if he was mesmerized with her every move, the whole scene being played in slow-motion in his mind, and only came back to his senses when she dug the spoon back into the cup for another bite. That was when he asked her, "Isn't it a bit too cold for ice cream today?" Maria shrugged and said, "I'm in a heated house, aren't I? You should know that there is never a bad or unsuitable day for ice cream. Unless you have to eat it outside, the weather plays no role in the decision-making."

Steve let out a chuckle before dropping himself on the couch next to Maria. "I wasn't aware there was an actual decision-making process with pre-set criteria for picking a snack. Thank you for educating me." After saying this he noticed the scent of Maria's perfume and realized how close he had sat next to her. Slowly he glanced to see Maria's reaction but she seemed unbothered by his action and had her sole focus on the cup of ice cream before her.

Seeing that she didn't mind him taking a seat next to her, Steve said, "Though I must say, I am surprised you even have room for this after the spread we just had." After he said this, Maria immediately turned to him with widened eyes before she narrowed them again as she said, "I don't know what you are implying here but women have a separate stomach for sweets. So, the savoury dishes did not count. Plus, ice cream is just a hardened liquid. Once it melts, once I eat it, it is basically sweetened milk. That is why there is always room for ice cream, just like there is always room for a glass of water."

Again Steve chuckled, "No worries. I wasn't implying anything. I was simply curious. But I like a woman with a good appetite and though your reasoning might be a bit flawed, you most certainly aren't. I fear that the more I find out about you, the more I will feel that you are as close to perfect as any human can get to that term."

Maria's eyes were widened once more by Steve's words, though this time for a very different reason. She felt herself becoming completely flustered and she quickly turned away from Steve's earnest eyes in order to hide her reddened face. But as usual when it came to Maria and courtship, her words did not match her feelings on the inside. In an effort to mask the turmoil Steve's words had caused in her heart and the fluttering she felt in her stomach, she said in a voice that was as calm as possible, "Ché, as if I would ever be worried over the opinion of someone like you."

Though her words were harsh, Steve couldn't help but laugh behind his closed fist. Any way he looked at it, it was clear to him that Maria was simply feeling shy and embarrassed, only feigning her indifference. He came to this conclusion based on Maria's actions at this very moment. She was nervously shaking her knees to and from each other as her feet were placed against the edge of the table. Her cheeks had turned to a slightly pink colour. And lastly, her unwavering focus on the cup of ice cream, that was being stirred and poked with a spoon without taking an actual bite. All of this was being done in effort to avoid his eyes and her own feelings. But, these things were also a dead give-aways that his road to her heart and to being able to call her his girlfriend, wouldn't be long.

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While Maria and Steve were busy flirting back and forth, strengthening their budding romance, one being more straightforward while the other hid it behind sharpened knives, Laila and Noah were contemplating what to do. They had both been standing in the dining room, with their ears focused on the exchange in the living room from the moment it started and now they had lost the right moment to enter the living room.

When they heard Steve's call ending, they wanted to head into the living room and ask him how bad the situation was. They figured the sooner that they, the quicker they could decide their next course of action. But just as they were opening the door that separated the living room and the dining room, they saw Maria walk in.

Immediately Laila pulled Noah's arm and they took a step back in the dining room, gently closing the door until there was only a small gap left for them to get a grasp of the situation on the other side. As they eavesdrop on what was going on inside the room and they heard the first exchange of words, Laila let out a soft excited giggle as she looked up at Noah with joyful eyes. He returned her gaze with his love-filled eyes and pushed a few strands of hair behind her ears before he bent down to place a kiss on her lips. Being a witness to the start of the romance between their closest friends, brought back memories of how their own romance had developed. Though Laila's memories were limited, there were still plenty for her to be filled with a warm sensation as she recalled them.

The more they heard, the harder it became to walk in and the clearer it became to them from witnessing their interactions that they had been right in thinking that their feelings were mutual. All they were doing now is waiting for Maria to become brave enough to recognize and admit her own feelings and stop resisting the inevitable.