It all started when I turned 18

19

"What!!?" I asked in shock. I never saw that coming. I mean it's not like I never even once thought that there was a chance Luke liked me back but I never expected him to ask me out at that very moment. And after everything and considering the situation we were in.

"I am not asking you to go on a date with me now or tomorrow. And I am not asking you to be my girlfriend starting of now," he explained and paused to look at me direct in the eyes, "But after all this is over, after tomorrow, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked me.

I still stood there dumbfounded with my one hand holding the fridge open, not even having enough strength to close it. If it were a week ago I would have jumped to answer him yes before he even properly finished the first sentence but then I didn't know what to say, what to answer. I just stood there.

"Is that a no?" he asked and I could sense that he was becoming nervous.

"No...no, of course not!" I quickly denied after coming to my sense. "It's just that it was too sudden, and with all this I am not sure this is the right moment for that. I mean we don't even know if we will be alive after tomorrow. Shouldn't we worry about that first?"

"So it's not a no?" he asked in a conclusive tone.

"Huh..?" Is that all he got from that?

"It's okay. It's alright as long as it's not a no," he told me with the biggest smile I have ever seen on his face. He then walked to me and placed his both hands on my shoulder and assisted me on the bar stool he was sitting on.

"Sit here, I'll prepare dinner today. But then I'll owe you dinner you promised today," he told me as he wore the apron ready to make dinner.

I sat there watching him as he arranged all the ingredient on the island before starting to chop one by one and places them in different plates ready to be used. I looked at him amazed by how fast he was. He looked like a chef, he was fast and clean. Is there anything he can't do? I wondered.

He finished making dinner after thirty minutes, he then placed the food on two different plates and brought them on the small round table that was on the kitchen. He made pasta with shrimps, it was also mixed with vegetables. It looked very yummy, I felt my mouth watering as I looked at it. He then brought a bottle of red wine with two wine glasses and then pour it on them. He then placed two forks, each beside each plate.

"Mademoiselle, bon appetite," he told me in a perfect french accent with a slight bow. I smiled at that.

"Merci monsieur," I replied, trying to mimic the accent but I failed. He took a seat opposite me and we both started eating our food. The food was too yummy. Everything was perfect, the food, the wine, the atmosphere, my eating partner, everything.

"How can you be so perfect?" I blurted out before realising what I said. I coughed to cover it hoping that he didn't notice it, I quickly added "I mean the food, it's so delicious. You should really consider being a chef at this level. How are you able to make everything you cook this perfect? Even the sandwich earlier."

"Well, maybe it's because I have been cooking a lot ever since I was at home. I enjoyed cooking, I don't know since when or why. Maybe it was because I wanted to escape the boredom and loneliness in our home. I used to beg our chef Steve to let me watch him cook ever since I was young and after I grew up a little he started letting me help him with small stuffs, that's how it started," he explained to me and I could see him light up as he reminisce those memories.

"Steve is a really good guy, he is like a father to me. Although my Dad was against me cooking he used to secretly let me help him cook. Maybe he knew that cooking was like an escape for me. My father is also a good guy, but he sometimes takes things too serious. He always says a master should never be friend with his servant for there to be a royality, but of course he was wrong," he told me