One Last Time

Chapter 31

I glance at Amelia for a second before I look over at Ivan who was watching me as he smiling so hard right now. My eyes burned as I try to contain it in the grin, Ivan was absolutely loving this which was part of the thrill. I hold my breath in and look away from him, Amelia was the happiest right now and that's all that mattered.

"Sweet-pea, where did you learn that from? Mommy doesn't have a boyfriend." I say as I stroke her hair back and begin to fiddle with her small button nose. "Ivan and I are trying to be parents to you, so in order to do that, we have to be friends."

"Oh," she pouts and disappointment clouds her judgement of this situation. A second later, she glances over at Ivan who nods his head at her as an indication that he was agreeing with me. "okay Ivan, ask mommy to be your boyfriend."

Ivan glance at me before he laughed at Amelia's curiosity. He held her tiny arms and then released it before he glanced at her. A huge grin rested on my lips at Amelia's question. Sometimes, her perplexity was something to have a laugh about because it was hilarious.

"Girlfriend, it's girlfriend sweetie." Ivan snickered. "Things like this takes time Amelia, your mother and I are teaching each other about ourselves again because we forgot each other. So the first step is to become friends and then we see."

Amelia gazes at Ivan intensely, like she was trying to figure this one out. As I scrutinise her, I could see that she understood everything Ivan was saying to her, which caused a huge amount of relief to settle in my heart. She was understanding, wise and very vocal with her thoughts which sometimes, surprised me.

"Okay, I understand." She said as she smiles brightly at him, "Can we eat pancakes now? I'm really hungry."

***

"Zoe, I will finish up here. You should head home now, I think you've done enough for today."

As I type the last few sentence in my last report of the day, I look away from the computer screen and face a tired Zoe, holding a bunch of files in her hand. She stares at me tiredly, with a small lop-sided smile as she chuckled slowly.

"Of course Dr Carter, thank you." She says as she placed the files down, "Before I leave, I've been asked to pass these onto you. Hang on a second." She mumbles quickly as she jogged out of my office. My brows slightly furrows as I look away from my computer screen, wondering what Zoe was up to.

After a few seconds, Zoe returned with something that caused my eyes to pop out of their sockets. She walks back into the room, but this time she was holding a huge bouquet of red roses.

"Zoe..?"

"These were left for you," she smiled widely at me as she placed them down on my coffee table, "see you tomorrow Dr Carter."

As Zoe left me lingering in my thoughts, I find myself gawking at the bouquet of roses. I was astounded at this gesture that I could only imagine who it would be from and immediately, I smile to myself.

The small white card caught my attention as I walk closer to the bouquet. I grab the card in between my fingers and turn it over to read what the message was.

roses are red
violets are blue
I have something
planned for me & you

Just as I read the message, my phone buzzed to life on the table. I glance over my shoulder and then reach to my phone to answer it. As I glance at the screen of my phone, my heart palpitates and a huge smile spread across my lips when I read his name.

"Hello Lana," he greets, "how has your been so far?"

I sit on my chair and recline back as I suppress a huge smile, one that I knew Ivan would be able to figure out through the phone. I felt thrilled because it reminded me of  high school when he would spontaneously surprise me with gifts. I felt like a young teenager again, loved by a crazy boy that had eyes only for me. Ivan made me feel like I had much more to look forward to everyday and I was grateful for this. I was beginning to learn more about him, Ivan as an adult. I've learned his lifestyle and it was much different to the one he used to have, obviously. I've learned that he was more passionate with his career but one thing that I still find shocking is that Ivan no longer plays basketball, the one thing he was so passionate about.

"Hmm... I don't know." I tease, "I've been seeing new patients and receiving reports every hour, and oh, I've also received a huge bouquet of roses. I wonder where they came from?"

A huge smile spreads across my lips as I gaze at the roses from across the room. I could also hear Ivan smiling through the phone as a moment of silence lingered between us.

"Do you like them?"

"I love them Ivan."

"Well, I'm glad you love them Lana, and you can show me your appreciation if you accept the date you promised me."

"Yes, I said yes." I mumble, "I will go in that date with you."

"Very well then, I'm waiting."

It took me a long minute to figure out what Ivan was up to. While he was still on call, I pull the phone away from my ear and begin to briefly roam my eyes around my room because I felt as though Ivan was watching me, even though he was nowhere to be seen. But when realisation settled upon me, I sit up and stumble on my feet before I rush towards my huge windows and stare out at them. Just as I scrutinise the ground floor from the window, my suspicion was correct.

"Is that you Ivan?" I ask as I place my phone back against my ear.

Ivan's black SUV was parked in front of the hospital as he leaned against it, with his right hand in his pocket when his other hand held his phone. He watched me as I watch him from the window and when I caught him with my eye, he waved at me and smiled. I smiled widely back at him and clenched my fists together when I felt relief.

Relief of seeing him, finally.

"It is indeed." He says so richly, nonchalantly and elegantly, "I want to take you out for dinner this evening."

Even though I doubt Ivan could see my face clearly, I smiled, hard and widely as I try to suppress it. It was too hard to hide any of this when Ivan made me feel like I was on top of the world. It was a small gesture but I appreciated him so whatever he offered, I was always going to accept.

"Okay fine, I'll have dinner with you only because I'm hungry." I say once I composed myself. I glance down at him again and find him smiling widely up at me. "Give me a moment, will you?"

"I will be waiting for you here. Take your time Lana, I won't go anywhere without you."

My heart raced as I watch this man like we were in high school. I remember the exact feeling I used to experience every time I interacted with Ivan, and I knew this man was my man. I pull the phone away from my ear when Ivan cut the call and as I did, Ivan buried both his hand in his pockets and continued to gaze at me, like he was admiring me. My stomach tingled as butterflies kicked in, overwhelming me when I pull away from the window and exhale out deeply. My heart was pumping rapidly thinking about this man, I don't think I was ever going to forget him.

I think I'm falling once again.

Sorry for the late updates. :(