14. Cute coffee shop

I agreed to drink coffee with him only if I chose the coffee shop and we didn't leave at the same time. Walter had no choice but to agree to my conditions. I sent him the location of a cute coffee shop two streets down from our office. I knew the staff at the coffee shop was discreet and I loved the decoration, however, the coffee was the worst, so the people from the office never went there. I didn't want any nasty rumors flying around about me. Walter left before me and I got delayed a bit, so naturally I knew I would find him there.

I was looking forward to standing by the window for a few minutes and cleanse my eyes on his gorgeous face, but the angle was not so great that's when I came up with the idea to walk through the door as silently as I could, find a corner and just watch him for 5 minutes, 'I know it sounds stalker-like, but I have to, I have not seen the guy in a while, it is only standard procedure, maybe he will look different now since I am single and all', explaining what I was about to do to my conscience.

However, things did not go as planned because I caught a glimpse of him as soon as I walked through the door and I couldn't look away. I was paralyzed by the way the sun reflected on his fair skin, emphasizing his brown eyes while the blue suit emphasized his broad shoulders and masculinity. I could not stop my heart from racing, how can a man look so elegantly hot? Every movement of his was in perfect slow motion, from how he slowly adjusted his blue tie to the way he looked at his silver watch and then finally turned to look at the door and smiled, 'there was that smile again', I thought, I wondered what he was smiling about and who was he talking to. I got lost in my thoughts and forgot that I was the one he was smiling at.

"Oh sorry Ms?!"

A bump from the waitress snapped me back to earth at the same time Walter was calling my name.

"Ms Thandi Lohan!...",

I awkwardly smiled while making my way to him,

"Do you know how long I have been calling your name?? Are you okay?", he sounded genuinely concerned, "You know, this is not the first time you zoned out like that, and you almost got hurt this time, do you perhaps suffer from some unknown condition where you blackout while standing with your eyes open?"

In my head, I was thinking, 'It's your fault for having such a hypnotic and mesmerizing smile', in reality, my response was

"I am sorry Mr Sekulu, I was just trying to recall if I sent the email I was typing ...but I think I did. I didnt mean to scare you..."

I could see his face relax a bit, and he called out the waitress to order two coffees.

"So what advice did you need?" Still trying to emphasize the boundary between us

"Ms. Thandie Lohan, let's at least have our first sip, we can talk business later"

"Oh, it's business??"

"oh yes, what did you think I wanted to talk about.."

"Just that..usual-..you-", I felt so ahead of myself that forming a sentence became a struggle

"You know I don't always have woman-problem, there is also work..."

Again, he read my mind, his awareness was incredible, he took the words right out of my mouth.

Shortly the waitress placed our coffee on the table, Walter took one sip, and his face turned pale green. I couldn't help but laugh inside, he was so cute. As if to confirm if his taste buds were not deceiving him, he took another sip, but he needed help swallowing it. I have never seen anyone struggle so much with liquid, I couldn't hold my laughter anymore, it just came out bursting;

"Ms. Thandie Lohan, are you punishing me for something, why did you bring me to this horrible place??", he said while trying to shake the coffee taste off his tongue.

I was rolling with laughter, I handed him a peppermint candy to cleanse his palate,

"I am sorry Mr. Sekulu, this was the only place I knew which was hidden and away from the company eye...", I said while still harboring a soft laughter, served him right for all those times he made fun of me.

He watched me laugh for a couple of minutes and with a soft voice and a pleased face, he said

"That laughter sounds even more beautiful up close..."