Chapter 13

Cassandra widened her eyes and turned to look at Elijah. From how he spoke, it really didn't sound friendly. Strangely, Zayn had moved out of the way so they could pass. Were they related somehow? She asked herself.

"That didn't sound very friendly of you." She chuckled and saw him smile. They reached the elevator and went up. Cassandra looked out for lady Milana and thanked her luck when she didn't see her. She wouldn't know how to face her the woman, with a man and in her uniform when she was supposed to be at work.

The elevator pinged open and they came to the second floor that Cassandra hadn't reached when she served customers. This place had couch restaurant chairs. It looked like the VIP area. "I haven't reached this side in my days of working here." They came to the last table on the row. They took sit opposite sit eachother and Elijah called fur the waitress, luckily it was also someone who Cassandra had never seen, meaning the waitress also hadn't seen her working here.

"What would you like to eat, Cass?" Elijah wondered why she hadn't asked him why he had termed himself as her lover. Was she okay with it just like that? Thinking about it that way brought a fuzzy feeling to his chest and he cleared his throat.

"Let's see." Cassandra scanned the menu's QR code through Google Chrome. She widened her eyes at the outrageous price tags on each meal. She earned a sum of $2500 (two thousand, five hundred dollars) a month and nothing in that menu was less than ten thousand dollars. She gulped and looked up at Elijah and how he tilted his head as he stared at her. As though he knew very well what she thought about.

"Don't pity me, Cassie. I'm richer than you think." He said in a matter-of-factly tone and Cassandra gnawed on her bottom lip. She was the one who had told him to use shorts for her name, now she regretted ever telling him so, because of the way he always drawled her name! Why did he have to make it sound like that?! "What do you want to eat? Let's order." He repeated after he scanned his own menu. He randomly picked a dish, he wasn't picky when it came to foods. He just hated vegetables very much.

"I'll go with the rose meatball pasta." She told the waitress and Elijah twitched his lips.

The meatball pasta was the cheapest meal in the menu. The waitress came back after thirty minutes and served them their plates with the preferred fruit juice.

Elijah had ordered a Seared Duck Breast with no single vegetable garnish. The sauce all over it made Cassandra's mouth water. She wished she had taken what her heart wanted. Her own plate was just a simple looking pasta with two round meatball. She liked meatballs at least. "I told you not to pity me." Cassandra raised her head from her plate to the man who elegantly used his cutleries like he had been trained since his birth. He cut the meat into smaller pieces and put one in his mouth, the sauce dripping down his supple lips that he used his tongue to wipe. Cassandra didn't know what she was eating anymore. Her eyes feasting on the delicacy before her, and her mouth that watered to take his lips in hers.

Cassandra inaudibly gasped at her scandalous thoughts and lowered her head to face her plate. She rolled pasta on her fork and put in her mouth. She wondered how their date would be and thinking about the date made her remember his words of calling himself her lover. "Why... Did you tell Mr Zayn that you're my lover?" A part of her knee he had said it so he could get rid of the man. The optimistic and delusional side of her wanted it to be because he liked her.

"So he would excuse you for the night and maybe forever." The former had won. He sipped his glass of orange juice. "How much does he pay?"

Cassandra felt they weren't really friendly. The look in Zayn's eyes as he stared at Elijah back outside was one of contempt. "Two thousand five hundred dollars, a month." She told him and forked another pasta, putting in her mouth.

"I can give you more than that." Cassandra choked on her pasta at his words. She hastily picked whichever liquid was closest to her — water, and gulped down.

Did he really mean his words? She had already thought two thousand five hundred dollars was enough, imagine earning more than that. "But I'm not working for you." She managed to find her voice and said to him while looking up at him. "Do you work?"

"I don't." Elijah felt compelled to tell her about his bar. "I do though. I have a club and bar. It's booming." He looked proud and Alexandra smiled.

"But I can't work in a bar." The way she had said it had put a smile on Elijah's face.

"I'm not asking you to, darling." He forked another piece of meat and put in his mouth, gulping down with his orange juice. "I can give you the money even without you working for me but you might be uncomfortable with it." He was done eating but he hadn't finished his food. He sat back on the couch with his legs open. "I just want you to stop working for him." He said so seriously that Cassandra's jaw dropped.

He could give her more... He wanted her to stop working for Zayn... It sounded like words coming from a jealous boyfriend. "Are you playing with me now, Elijah? You're sounding like you're my boyfriend." She said playfully not expecting him to blush. The red on his tanned face skin was so beautiful Cassandra forgot about her food. "Woah..." She had thought Zayn was handsome, but he couldn't even hold a candle compared to this man sitting across her, lazily opening his legs wide for her to do things she shouldn't be thinking about. She cleared her throat and dropped her fork. "I've finished. If you're done, let's go."

She abruptly stood up while Elijah took his time to gracefully stand. Instead of walking ahead, he walked towards her and held her left wrist. "So what do you say? Will you stop working for him? You need to focus on your studies anyway, work would disrupt you. I'd talk to Zayn on your behalf."

His blue eyes as he looked down at her and said those sentences did something to her heart. She didn't want to indulge him but she didn't know what to do when he was persistently asking her. Would he really give her money if she ever needed it? It was his words not hers.

"And trust me, Cassandra. I mean every word that leaves my lips." Elijah's eyes traveled down to her lips and he kissed her. It was a soft brush of his lips against hers but he pulled away as though he didn't even know what he had done. "Sorry..." He said but Cassandra stood on her toes and kissed him. She had kissed boys but their lips weren't as soft as his. She heard him groan against her lips and he grabbed her waist, pulling her closer to his body and turning the slow kiss into a ravenous one. He pried her lips open and snaked his tongue inside, tasting her sweet mouth.

Cassandra had completely forgotten about her shame and the fact that they were in such an open place when he placed that soft kiss on her lips. She knew he was impulsive and only did it out of impulse. She, herself wanted to taste those soft looking flesh and it had led them to where they were now.

"Mm--mm" Someone cleared her throat from beside them and the blissful bubble bursted, bringing them back to earth.