Invitation

"That is one question." He said, laughing. "Of course I only started to take notice of you because of that woman that introduced us. You are the same though."

"Yeah." I smiled. "If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't even have given you a second look."

"Me neither. I was too busy thinking about a lot of other things." He gave my hand a squeeze and went back to chopping the tomatoes. "But … I appreciate her for introducing us and … well, shipping us as hard as she did."

"I would too if I knew our future is going to be like this." I also went back to dicing the potatoes. "Though, I must admit, I had to force myself to like you before I started to actually like you."

"Me too." Rumant pointed to himself, eyes twinkling. "I thought you were the dullest person I ever met. I was bored out of my mind trying to talk to you."

"I only saw you as vain and conceded," I admitted, shoving the potatoes I diced into a bowl. "But I guess … it was after that night that I actually started trying to look at you past my biased opinion and saw that you were different from my conclusion."

"Me too." He smiled, grabbing the carrots. "Though it took a while. We were together 24/7 and it took till … almost the end of the year for us to start seeing each other in a different light."

"We took our time. That is how we do things." I placed my knife down and grinned at him. "So, whether we take another day or another three or even five years to finally sleep with each other, it's fine.

"We will work at your own pace, when the both of us are comfortable and do it only when we want to."

"But … you are ready. I'm just the on-"

"And you aren't." I tilted my head to the side, pointing the knife at him. "Hey, I'm a patient guy. I also know how to cherish what I know is important to me. Having sex doesn't mean we love each other more.

"Sure, I want to sleep with you. But I also want to go on dates with you. I want to paint your portrait hang it all around the room. I want to take you boat riding. I want to lie beside you every night, watching you sleep soundly.

"I want to hold you when you feel cold and comfort you when you are hurting. I want to run in the rain with you. To take you to the beach. To make a pot with you. To go hiking with you. To plant a garden with you. And these are just some things

"Sex is just one out of hundreds. We still have so much else to do. Don't worry about one small thing."

Rumant stared at me blankly for a second, brows furrowing, "You want to do all that? With me?"

Looking around the room, I jumped out of the table and ran into the bedroom. Taking a journal from one of the drawers, I walked back to Rumant, handing it to him.

"These are the lists of what I want to do and what we did."

Opening the book, he saw the lists running for more than fifty pages. On the last pages are pictures of everything we have done, like paragliding, scuba diving, hiking to the top of a mountain, making and flying a kite, to name a few.

"Is that why you always have something planned every time I tell you that I wanted to do something that day?" he asked, looking at the pictures with a smile on his face.

"Yeah," I said, going back to my chopping for the last time. "If anything happens before we have sex, what we will be left with is memories. And I think that is more important at the moment. Don't you agree?"

"Yeah," he said, chuckling as he rested his head in his hands. "Sorry. I feel like I sound so silly right now. It must have sounded so stupid?"

"I liked it." I got up, holding the bowl of diced potatoes and took them to the stove. "It made me feel warm inside. Made me feel nice that you were scared about what could happen to us."

He finished cutting the last carrot and placed it into the pot as well, leaning back against the chair. "We are just a year apart and yet you are so much more mature than I am, I can see why my parents like you a lot."

"They only like me because I made their princess work a job and buy them a company as a gift with that money."

Turning on the stove, I placed a Wok on the flames, adding a drizzle of oil and letting that heat up.

"Work for a year you mean." He laughed. "I still hate working at customer service. I was about to punch so many people there."

"You did a good job not punching anyone," I said, throwing the potatoes into the pan and started stirring them. "But your tone of voice ... it was funny how their behaviour changed when they saw your face."

"People are weak to this face, after all." He said, flicking his hair over his shoulders as he smiled smugly at me, "Don't worry, Zion. You are the only one for me."

"You wasted too much time on me that you refuse to give up on this relationship," I said, raising an eyebrow at him. "Am I wrong?"

"Nope. So you have no way of escape." He grinned at me, putting both his legs on the chair and smiled at me like a cat.

"I have no intention of doing that," I said, throwing the leftover rice into the pan and started stirring that. "Remember? We are stuck for life. So when I am ready to propose, just tell me what ring to get."

"Sure. I'll send you the picture." He got up from his seat and carried the bowl of chopped vegetables to me, throwing them into the pan. "By the way, you smell different."

"Oh right," I said, looking at the concoction on the pan. "I met Cherry in the market."

I don't think I did it in the right order. Was my mind that far away that I didn't realise what I was doing? Damn.

Well, it's ok. It can still be eaten but ... I'm still a little disappointed and peeved that I forgot.

"Cherry?" Rumant frowned, "What was she doing in the marketplace? She is just an annoying whore that doesn't know anything about normal people and their lives."

"Well, she was all over me, saying that I can get with her if I broke up with you," I added the spices, sighing in annoyance. These should be first. How did I forget? Hopefully, it is edible.

"She only took an interest in you after I started to date you." He huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "How does she always seem to get on my nerves?"

"I remember people saying that they thought you did and she was bawling her eyes out?"

"That was an act, honey," Rumant said, wrapping his arms around my waist. "She has to appear nice. To get the sympathy, you know."

"What I didn't appreciate is that she does not know how to take no for an answer and does not like to respect the boundaries I set up." I sighed, tossing the fried rice and then turning the stove off.

"At least you respected it."

"Are you comparing the both of us or something, honey?"

"Well, you have to admit, you two are familiar. Rich heiresses with all the money in the world, cocky and proud. Has very expensive taste. Like to look down on others."

"I am not as bad as her."

"Now you aren't." I said, pointing to the cabinet, "Could you get me two bowls, sweetheart."

"Of course," he said pleasantly, taking the bowl from the cabinet. "You see, she would never tolerate someone asking her to do something. But I don't mind."

Not now you don't, but when we first met and the couple of months that came after that, I had to do everything for you because you wouldn't get your hands dirty.

Walking to Rumant, I patted his head, a grateful smile on my face. Thank you for improving.

"I will take that face as, 'thank you for not being like her', and you are welcome." He said, setting the table.

____________________________

"Let's finish this and sleep the whole day, Zion," Rumant said, grinning at me. "There is this show I wanted to watch with you."

"Sure," I said, remembering something suddenly. "Wait, we can't watch the whole day. We have to go to a dinner invitation tonight."

"What from who?" He asked, sneering at me.

"Cameron and Leonel. They reserved a restaurant for us."

"Those two annoying fuck-"