Eight

8

"Yeah, for now." He responded, Anna's eyes Caught pictures on the table slabs looking exactly like her, she made to take a closer look but he immediately swept her off her foot and she laid on his hands in a bridal style. Their eyes locked together, their faces almost closer to each other.

What the heck?

"I..um..my place is really messy. I don't want you to see it like this, that's why ummm…" He stammered, Anna chuckled softly and nodded. He was still holding her tightly in the bridal style.

"Um, yeah. I think I understand." she nodded nervously. "If you don't mind, you're holding me tightly." she added.

"Oh that's right. Cool." He said and lifted her immediately. The anxiety in his eyes could be clearly seen which made Anna laugh inwardly.

"You know what, I will leave you here now. You can freshen up, and then we can talk about dinner." He said hastily.

"Yeah, sounds good." Anna said and left for the inner room to pick out something to wear. Xavier quickly picked up the pictures on the table. It was truly Anna's pictures but he hid it from her.

"I've loved you for 10 years Anna, and now you're here. I'm not letting you go." He muttered and packed up the pictures in his hands and rushed off to his room, constantly looking around to make sure that she is not looking.

"Perfect!" He smiled at himself and locked the door to his room. He walked downstairs majestically to the dining room and set the table with cornflakes and cereal.

Anna walked downstairs and found him sitting in the dining room.

"Hey, what is that?" She asked, pointing at the things on the table.

"Dinner." Xavier responded with a smile.

"Dinner? This is your dinner? No,no,no…I'm not eating that and neither are you." She laughed out loud. Xavier stared at her in a confused manner.

"What do you mean? This is really delicious to eat, especially at night." Xavier confirmed but Anna walked to the refrigerator and opened it. She scanned her eyes around it and turned to him with a smile.

"I think I have everything I need here!" She said leaning in the fridge, she flipped her long hair to the back and rolled it up in a ponytail.

"For what?" Xavier asked, still confused.

"My Lasagna! I remembered you liked eating it ten years ago, like…that's your favorite!" Anna said and turned, she took the apron and wore it and bent to turn on the gas cooker. Xavier watched her smiling sheepishly. Butterflies in his belly as he stared at her directly, his mind drooled off to ten years ago.

***Flashbacks Ten years ago****

Xavier walked downstairs perceiving the nice and appetizing aroma of lasagna.

" Food is ready!" He yelled in excitement. Ten years ago, Anna wasn't married yet to her husband and she was still his fiancee. She came to the house of the Rolland's to visit her boyfriend but as she finished preparing it and walked downstairs, someone bumped into her and poured a plate of lasagna on her dress.

Xavier set the table and made a turn with a plate of food on his hands, he mistakenly bumped into Anna who was at his back and the whole food poured out her dress. She grasped. Xavier stared at her with so much love in his eyes.

"I ummm, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I…" He apologized hastily trying to clean it off her dress. Anna shifted back and smiled.

"No, it's okay. I'm fine, you must be…Michael's brother. I'm Anna, "she said. He nodded sharply.

"Yeah…I'm Xavier. Here let me help you." He said and made to bring the lotus on the table to wipe her dress, the remaining plate of lasagna fell to the ground scattering all over. So clumsy!

"Oh my God!" He said, bending his head in shame. Anna chuckled lightly and tapped on his shoulders.

"Don't worry about it, Did you like the lasagna? Or what have you heard of it?" She asked, pointing at the food on the floor.

"Umm…yeah, it was really good. Did you make it?" He asked curiously.

"Yeah I did, I just went off to get these spoons for eating. It's actually a secret recipe!" Anna giggled. And Xavier shrugged…he is now calmed down.

"Wow! That's nice." He responded. "What the fuck is going on here?" Michael yelled angrily. His eyes scanned around the whole place littered with food.

"Oh babe. It was an accident, babe." Anna responded. "An accident? Great! So now my girlfriend is looking like a messy lunatic in front of my business partners. They are on their way here!" Michael scoffed, rolling his eyes. He turned to Xavier and faced him.

"I should've figured this is your fault?" He asked but Xavier bent his head without saying anything.

"Well stop moping at me! Clean it up, we need something to eat. Come on!" He said rashly. Anna nodded and rushed to clean up the dining table. Micheal smirked and left. Xavier watched her as she prepared the lasagna again.

***Flashbacks ends***

"Lasagna is ready!" Anna said and carried it to the table placing it right in front of him.

"Somehow I remembered you being better in the kitchen ten years ago than you're now." She said and sat down. She took the fork and dug into the food. She took some of the food and gave Xavier to eat. He ate it while staring directly into her eyes.

"This is the best lasagna I've ever had in my life." He smiled at her.she chuckled.

"Yeah, Anna, you should open a restaurant soon. You're really good at this." He added. Anna blushed and handed him the fork, her face turned red immediately. "Eat up. I made plenty. This is yours." She said and made to leave but he dragged her back and held her hands.

"Hey, I'm…really glad you're here." He muttered like a lost sheep. She just smiled and went back to her room. She sat on the bed with her plate of food and brought out her phone. She scrolled through her phone contact and finally found Michael's number. She clicked on it and deleted the contact.

"Finally. I really have to move on with my life now." she said and scooped some food in her mouth.