• Stories

    Dinner For Two – 8

    Kome didn’t know if she wanted to smack him or to kiss him. She knew, sensed without needing him to tell her, that he’d panicked and was suddenly overwhelmed by the difference in their social status. The very factor that had kept him from courting her all those months ago, was again pulling him back from her.

    But she wasn’t allowing it, Kome thought grimly. She wasn’t allowing him slip away. Definitely not after he’d confessed he was in love with her.

    “We’re going inside to talk.” She announced, once she was certain he wasn’t walking away anymore. And she turned and strode through the side gate.

    The desire to retreat inside wasn’t just to provide them the needed privacy to talk. She needed a couple of minutes to decide how best to deal with the situation. And she’d decided that going on the offensive was her best option.

    “Want a drink?” She queried, once they were in her living room.

    “No.” He declined with a shake of his head. “Kome…”

    “I need a drink.” She stated, turned and flounced off.

    Heard his deep sigh and compressed her lips. She was not letting him off so easily.

    She swept back into the room with a glass of juice and found him still on his feet, right on the spot she’d left him. He looked worried, and it pulled at something inside of her. But she hardened her emotions.

    “You have no wish to sit?” She asked coolly, taking a seat herself on the sofa.

    “I’ve hurt you. And for that, I am deeply sorry.” Theodore said quietly, sombrely.

    Kome inclined her head, took a sip of her drink and stared at him with considering eyes. “Why, Theodore?”

    He understood her question and answered it forthrightly. “I panicked and acted like an idiot.”

    Kome wasn’t satisfied. She’d figured that out for herself—that he’d suffered some sort of panic and that he’d, well, acted like an idiot as he just said. But why now?

    “Why now, Theodore? Why now when…” Kome broke off and shook her head. She stared at him sadly. Confusedly. “Only this afternoon, we finally came out in the open and owned our feelings for each other. Only this afternoon, you told me you loved me and I confessed I loved you right back. So where’s the panic springing from all of a sudden?”

    “I don’t know. It was knee jerk. Stupid.” He looked at her. Then he too shook his head. “No, I know where the panic came from. And it wasn’t just panic, it was also fear.”

    In his eyes, Kome saw the kind of openness that eliminated all barriers. He was baring his heart, maybe his soul, to her, like he’d never before done with anyone. Her own heart constricted and then loosened as love spread.

    “What are you afraid of, Theodore?” She asked, her voice no deeper than a whisper.

    Theodore did not speak, not for a full minute. Then he walked to the sofa and sat down beside her. He took her hand and his eyes steady on hers, he responded. “I never, in all my life, thought that a woman so beautiful, so accomplished and from a privileged background would ever look on a man like me. A man big-boned like I am, retiring in personality and still struggling with his first meagre millions.” He paused.

    Kome did not speak. She waited, even as the temptation to reassure him bit hard.

    “First time I saw you, right inside the Union Marble House, I lost my head.” He went on, his eyes never leaving hers. “Before that week was over, I’d lost my heart and I had absolutely no hope of retrieving it. And worse, I had no hope of having my love reciprocated.”

    Again he paused. And when he spoke again, his voice, and his eyes too, were full of tenderness. “When you invited me to that get-together here at your house, I felt like Santa Claus had to be real and he was giving me an early Christmas present. When I came and you told me the invitation was only meant for me, I thought my heart would burst from the sudden hope that overwhelmed it. And the first time we kissed, right on my balcony, I knew that I’d die happy if kissing your lips was the last thing I ever did.”

    He raised her hand to his lips, but did not kiss it. Just held it there where the breath from his mouth caressed her skin. “I love you in ways many would consider impossible for a man to love a woman. I love you beyond and above physical appearances, wealth and everything the world holds dear. I love you from my heart and from my soul and I will love you same way for the rest of my life.”

    Her heart engulfed with love for him. And her eyes filled and glistened with their tears of unspeakable joy. “If you love me beyond wealth, then it should not matter whether I have it or not. What comes from my background, you have rightly judged as privilege, Theodore, and so it cannot be allowed to stand in the way of our happiness.” She slid her other hand and touched his face. “You must know I love you. I love you like I have loved no other man and like I will love no other man ever again. You are my soul-mate, Theodore. I believe that.”

    He lowered his head and kissed her hand then. Then raised his head and his eyes to hold her own. “I am unworthy, not because of the lack of fine things life blesses us with, but because there is a possibility that another man could love you better, love you more. I am unworthy, but I am greedy. I want not just a few kisses, or a few hours with you. I want all of your kisses. I want every single day with you. I want all of you. Kome… please marry me.”

    What glorious words! “I told Ted I will be your wife.” Kome whispered and laughed when his eyes rounded and shone—like her own, she was certain. “Yes, I will marry you, Theodore.”

    “Unbelievable!” He murmured, totally overcome. Then kissed her hand, leaned forward to kiss her lips and then backed up instantly. “Just a second.”

    He slid his hand inside his jacket and slipped out a box. He opened it and held up the ring with a simple triangular diamond. “This is a token of my love, Kome. Wear it with love for me.”

    “Oh Theodore, you have the best words.” Blinking back the tears that so impatiently wanted to fall, Kome held out her hand and when he slid the ring onto her fourth finger, she raised it and kissed it. Then she looked at him. “You are worthy, Theodore. Worthy to love me and worthy to be loved completely by me. And I think no man will love me better, or more, than you do. My soul, not just my heart, is entwined with yours.”

    “I am a man blessed then.” He touched her face with such tenderness and then drew her into his arms and kissed her.

    He was Theodore Malik, a simple man and a simple accountant working for a firm he planned on retiring from as soon as he set up parameters for his own—which might take a little while given his meagre income. Today was the happiest day of his life, for today he married the love of his life, Kome Douglas, gorgeous millionaire heiress.

    She had walked down the aisle to him, this woman he would love forevermore and beyond. And bound by love, they had made promises to each other they knew they would never break.

    Theirs was a romantic tale, a fairy-tale. He’d seen a couple of cynical sneers on the faces of some guests. But when a man had a beauty beside him and her face glowed with pure undiluted love, you didn’t care about the doubt and cynicism that wrought unbelieving hearts.

    Now he lay, thoroughly spent, beside her on their wedding night bed, sated beyond words, pleasured beyond imagination and steeped in the wonder of a union that superseded body and mind and encompassed the spirit.

    He had a ridiculous, possibly stupid, grin on his face he knew, because he could feel the stretch of his mouth from one end to the other. He turned his head and looked at her. She was smiling, her eyes half-closed and her satisfaction apparent in the softness of her expression.

    “Gosh, I feel so thoroughly loved.” She murmured, a tickle of laughter whistling out of her mouth. “I am certain, because I cannot move, that you have liquefied every ounce of flesh and bone on my body.” A sigh, deep, content and delighted, floated out and she curved her lips into a tempting smile. “It is my dearest hope that you would repeat this liquefying procedure again, and possibly every day, or other day, for the rest of our lives, Mr Malik.”

    Pride swelled and his grin radiated with it. “I am working on making that secret dream of mine, and yours, come true, Mrs Malik.”

    She chuckled. Their hands slipped into each other and linked.

    When he heard her soft breaths, he closed his eyes and Theodore Malik was content.

    The End.

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    59 Comments

  • Reply TM David-West September 27, 2016 at 5:01 am

    Writing Dinner For Two was a pressure and a pleasure. I wanted it to be a Seductive Romance, if there was such a thing. I wanted every step of the way to seduce the reader, either make you sigh or sneer at such a romantic love. So, since it was just an 8 episode novelette, I skimmed out all outside interference and focused on a special love between my hero and heroine.

    The pressure lay in seducing with words not with… sex. Seducing every single chapter, whether they were together or by themselves.

    And the pleasure was reading, after writing, and realising I’d done my job.

    Now, like all romance stories, they have their happily ever after and we are all sighing in wistfulness. Some might be sneering, of course. Lol.

    Thanks, every one who read. And if you enjoyed, I wish you true love and true love’s first kiss. #I-Love-Shrek

    • Reply TM David-West September 27, 2016 at 5:07 am

      P.S.

      I am likely to be away for the rest of the week. I have two projects I am rounding up. Y’all have a blessed and fruitful week now. Cheers

      • Reply Nykky September 27, 2016 at 5:28 am

        Same to you and have a great day ahead.

      • Reply Iyke David September 27, 2016 at 6:57 am

        Thanks and you too

        • Reply VictorA September 27, 2016 at 9:23 am

          Great as always. You make hopeless ones like us hope on love still.

          • TM David-West September 27, 2016 at 9:27 am

            AW, nothing hopeless about you, Vic. Love, true love, will find you.

      • Reply Pacesetter September 27, 2016 at 11:24 am

        Thanks ma’am, do have a lovely week.

        • Reply jojodia September 27, 2016 at 6:29 pm

          TM, baddest writer ever liveth! (geez, I sound like all these Nigerian musicians with their ‘kpangolo lyrics).

          Yes, as I was saying jare….thank u so so much for this story….for it touched the very verily core of love inside my soul…
          Biko enuff of all the gibberish, seriously u are a wonderful writer and highly talented. The way u develop ur stories still amazes me. Thank thank thank uuuu, especially for the free reads.

          Do have a nice time off.

          • TM David-West September 27, 2016 at 7:35 pm

            Many many thanks, jojodia *hugs*

    • Reply star September 27, 2016 at 9:59 pm

      Weldon ma’am I enjoyed it. God bless

    • Reply gannie_perrie October 2, 2016 at 11:14 am

      TM… Thank you for dis romantic story… Reading dis touched my soul and made me believe love is for everyone and it will come wen d time is RIGHT!!

  • Reply Nykky September 27, 2016 at 5:25 am

    Wow! Wow!! Wow!!! That was one happy ending and happily ever after. I had a great fun from beginning no class or status should be allowed to come between genuine love but unfortunately in our world this kind is not up to 10℅. God bless your inspiration TM keep doing your thing.
    PS I saw somebody like Jojodia at that wedding.

    • Reply TM David-West September 27, 2016 at 9:39 am

      Hahaha… I saw a green shade inside her eyes… Lmao.

      So right, how we allow those things that don’t really matter be the controlling factors in relationships. So sad. I think that’s what’s making us question the possibility of “no-strings-attached” love. It’s making us think unconditional love is no longer possible. But it is… It is.

      Thanks, Nykky

      • Reply jojodia September 27, 2016 at 6:58 pm

        Yes, Nikky (Aka my monitoring Spirit) my entourage and I were there life and direct. Did u see me when I baffed them with foreign currency? The wedding was off da hook. If only u had stayed till the end for I caught the bouquet, but I remember vividly that u left so as not to miss the last commercial bus to Oshodi. Kpele o, hope u got home early though.

        • Reply Exceptionalstar September 30, 2016 at 2:05 pm

          Jeez!

        • Reply Nykky October 1, 2016 at 8:17 am

          Wow, no comment thank you.

  • Reply Pearl Josephs September 27, 2016 at 6:44 am

    God bless you TM. Nice work

  • Reply Iyke David September 27, 2016 at 6:54 am

    TM we love you!
    You should given us a brief of what happened that first night. *wink.
    You can call me Oliver Twist.

    • Reply TM David-West September 27, 2016 at 9:34 am

      Got to confess, iyke, I was a trifle tempted. Then I recalled the story was based on sweet romance using sweet romantic words… and I restrained myself. Lol.

      Thanks for the love, dear friend

  • Reply Jeffrey Jamez September 27, 2016 at 8:06 am

    Love where hath thou o!!…. Find me oooo… Lol

    Fantastic Novelette as usual TM. Have a great week.

    • Reply TM David-West September 27, 2016 at 9:32 am

      Indeed, my brother, this one was a successful novelette. 17,000+ words… always proud when I get it right. Lol.

      And hey, love will find you. A believer like you? Love on da way your heart *wink*

  • Reply Ego September 27, 2016 at 8:15 am

    Aww what a happy ending. Happy for Theodore and Kome. Thank you TM

  • Reply Phuntor September 27, 2016 at 9:06 am

    Wow you just never cease to be amazing that was awesome thanks TM thumbs up and kudos to you

  • Reply VictorA September 27, 2016 at 9:22 am

    Whoohoo…
    And they lived happily ever after…I pray for a love as pure and beautiful as this.

  • Reply Boluwatife September 27, 2016 at 9:29 am

    Great work ma.. God will bless the works of ur hands in Jn.. Dis s indeed Awesome..Enjoy d rest of the week.

  • Reply Toyenlon September 27, 2016 at 10:33 am

    Wow! What a wonderful ending, i love this. Kudos to you TM

  • Reply Nancydearie September 27, 2016 at 10:45 am

    Wow! Am so thrilled at the outcome of events. What a happy ending! TM,you are the best! May God continue to bless your handwork. Thanks for this masterpiece!

    • Reply TM David-West September 27, 2016 at 12:23 pm

      Thank you too, Nancydearie. Your appreciation of my works is always humbling. God bless you

  • Reply mystiq September 27, 2016 at 11:07 am

    am all mushy right now…awwwww… the ending is just wow. thank u T.M am so loving love

  • Reply Pacesetter September 27, 2016 at 11:26 am

    Great write up

  • Reply Fsf September 27, 2016 at 11:41 am

    TM,Awwwwwwwwww.Theodore Malik

  • Reply datoks September 27, 2016 at 1:11 pm

    Whoa, i enjoyed it indeed.this is so nice. Weldone TM and thanks

  • Reply Ella mum September 27, 2016 at 2:06 pm

    Love come to those who believe. And it come true on life and spices. Tm darling well done

    • Reply TM David-West September 27, 2016 at 7:36 pm

      Thank you, Ella mum. And you too, Datoks

  • Reply Roselyn September 27, 2016 at 7:47 pm

    Wow! Wow! Wow! Sooooooo happy for Mr and Mrs Malik. Hmmmmm, how I wish say, na so all this love thing dey end. Thanks ma’am, I truly enjoyed reading the story. God bless you. Do enjoy the rest of the week dear.

  • Reply Patience Bassey September 27, 2016 at 9:51 pm

    Nicely scripted! I love everything about this story. Thanks TM

  • Reply Ayoola September 27, 2016 at 11:12 pm

    I love this. It is well written. and I learnt 1 or2 things.
    u’ve done a great job TM

  • Reply Ayoola September 27, 2016 at 11:14 pm

    I love this. it is well written. and I learnt 1 or2 things. a great job TM

  • Reply Mz tee September 27, 2016 at 11:49 pm

    cnt stop grinning……..blessed z d day I knew of u TM…….a hrt as bin mended, bin given hope,bin healed…..thnk u

    • Reply TM David-West September 28, 2016 at 3:04 am

      Wow! In all honesty I don’t quite know how to respond, except to say: God Bless You. *hugs*

  • Reply Mariemummy September 28, 2016 at 9:29 am

    Mr Malik the lover. Beautiful souls. Thanks TM. Enjoy your time dear

  • Reply Favour September 28, 2016 at 12:30 pm

    ….. and they lived happily ever after!love is a beautiful thing. Thanks so much TM for this wonderful story for September born. Yippee!!! I rep September.

  • Reply Joycelyn September 28, 2016 at 11:25 pm

    My-O-My! So speechless dnt even knw d ryt word to use and describe dis amazing story n d writer. I wish i cud find such a love as dis. Tm u blew my heart away as usual wit ur romance novels. I’m really going to miss u. Wish grt accomplishments in ur project. WE LUV U TM

  • Reply Exceptionalstar September 30, 2016 at 2:08 pm

    I love you and admire the way my mouth forms multiple WOW after reading. More inspiration and may God bless me with me lovely Love.

  • Reply mady October 1, 2016 at 2:32 pm

    Hmm mm… Evry1 else had said it alll

    We luv u plenty TM

    • Reply TM David-West October 1, 2016 at 2:58 pm

      Many thanks, Mady and love you all too *muah*

  • Reply Paula October 5, 2016 at 5:37 pm

    I love happily ever afters

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