Bittersweet

Confessions

...that more than anything made him desperate.

Desperate to make her look at him, just once.
...

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at La Classics, one of his many five-star restaurants scattered all over the states.

Tom went in to call the chief chef Aaron had put in charge of the luxurious restaurant. They remained in the car since they couldn't go in looking like drenched pups.

Seconds later, the chef came to meet them holding two umbrellas in hand. He led them through a different door which led to a private elevator.

The elevator took them to the top floor, to the penthouse. Sarah's mouth dropped in awe and disbelief. She'd never been to a penthouse before. It was truly magnificent.

"I'll be right down Monsieur Snow if you need me."

"Thank you, Philip." And with that Philip left and they were alone.

"You can go change in that room, you can shower too if you want, " he gestured to the room by her left.

He left and entered another room. As instructed, she went into the room and sure enough, she saw a few selections of clothes, two of them were dresses, they were all lovely.

She went into the bathroom, stripped and wrapped a towel around herself. She squeezed the water out of her black gown and hanged it.

After taking her to bathe she changed into one of the dresses, tied her hair into a bun and walked out the room.

She was surprised to see him already changed and was seated on one of the couches texting away on his phone.

He was wearing a plain white shirt with black pants. He didn't notice her until she was right beside him.

"Um-" Her heart was beating faster than usual. She was nervous about being alone with him. He looked up, straight into her eyes.

"You're ready, " he stated simply. He stood towering over her by at least a head.

"Shall we?" She nodded. Ten minutes later, they were in the restaurant sitting across one another. He ordered for both of them.

Sarah dug in almost immediately-well, after blessing the food of course. He observed her openly as she ate without a care in the world.

"Sarah?" He called her name softly. She looked up and saw him staring at her. She swallowed what was left in her mouth.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me something about yourself, something you've never told anyone." She was puzzled as to why he would ask her such a question.

"Why are you asking me that?" He stared into her eyes.

'Why?' He thought.

"Because I'm absolutely taken by you." Her eyes widened in pure shock, her heart threatened to break free from its confinement in her chest but his face remained passive as usual.

"E-excuse me?" She breathed out.

"Tell me something you've never told anyone, " he repeated.

She chose not to dwell on his earlier statement, she had probably misinterpreted what he meant, she mused.

She took a deep breath and started.

"When I was six, I was involved in a fire accident. My left leg suffered a third-degree burn from the ankle to the thigh."

"I had undergone several reconstructive surgeries but little scars remained."

"I told my two closest friends about it but what I never told them was my childhood fear of never finding someone who would love me, scars and all." Her hand trembled slightly so she clasped them together on the table.