Love at Second Sight

Chapter 22

"Since this evening is about me, I have a few things to say. Actually," he added as an afterthought, "scratch that, I have many things to say tonight. You could call it a confession.

"Well, a few months ago, I came across the only woman who made my heart pump out of my chest ever since the first time I saw her. She was naturally beautiful in a way I'd never seen before, and honestly, even if I had, I probably wouldn't have gone for. Up until then, I always believed I had a specific type, 'cause...I did! Looking at her, though, made me second-guess that. I wanted her. Very badly. That day she was talking to my dad in his office, sitting in a way I could see a part of her face from where I was standing outside. Her face, her features—she looked so full of life. Like she had nothing to regret. Happy and complete. In a way I'd yet to feel. I just stood there watching her.

"And then I heard her laugh, and I knew I simply had to make my presence known. There was no way I could live without doing that. So I did. I went inside and introduced myself, and the way her face paled on seeing me—God! White as sheet, literally. Like, I was the last person she'd ever expected to see there. I didn't know why. Though she smiled when she congratulated me on the acquisition, it didn't take a genius to know that it was all faux. And because she's standing here, in the midst of us tonight, I'm saying this to her. I knew that smile was fake, apparently you are a really see-through person," he confirmed re her letter. "Just a second, guys."

He paused, waved a hand for a drink. Blue Lagoon indeed looked immensely appealing, he thought. Savannah was right.

"Yeah, my throat dried up," he stated before swallowing half the drink in one go. "Yeah. So, where was I?

"Her smile," a kid hollered from the audience.

"Right. Thanks, bud. We spoke business for a while and then she said she'd like to see the kitchen—she was the new temporary head-chef, after all. So all the delish food you're eating tonight, all credit goes to her. Anyway, back to the case in point, it made me wonder if that was really the case, or if it was simply good riddance, you know? So I led her out of the office and into the corridor, where my jerk of a brother was leaning against the wall. He was waiting for her. He cracked some really lame jokes and she laughed. I mean, she laughed. At my brother's jokes that, I guarantee, are of piss-poor quality. I swear, I'd never wanted to kill my brother and dig his grave as much as I did until that very moment. I was so very jealous.

"Now...this woman I am talking about tends to babble when she's nervous. I realized this when she met my mom that day. I've been told that my mom has this...air about her that scares most shitless—don't ask me why, I genuinely don't know, because mum's the most amiable and easy-going person I have in my life—even so, this woman got so nervous. Jesus Christ. She spoke at a hundred words per minute. And damn if that didn't make me smile. She insisted that she'd make us food whenever she could. 

"And she did. This was late Friday morning I was talking about. The next three meals I ate were easily the best meals I'd ever had. That day itself, she'd made best friends with my sister, won my dad over on a personal level and created a soft spot for herself in my mom's heart—and that means something, because Clair Sifton is one tough nut to crack. And, she was already on my brother's hit list—I hope you got that one. That was for you, Pun Queen." He laughed. "As for me, I was floored by her. In a good way. She threw me off with her laughs, her smiles, her unease and her obsession with apologizing—everything she did, basically, threw me off. Anything she did made me like her a bit more than before. I'd never felt quite like that, ever. "

He downed the rest of the cocktail in this go. His heartbeat was erratic. She was standing here, in the same banquet as him, with the same crowd, hanging on to every word he said.