"By the way, if they get hungry, there's lots of kid-friendly food in the kitchen," I told Ulysses.
Ulysses nodded and winked at me before herding the children to the garden. I figured I might have one less topiary tomorrow but that was okay with me. I didn't mind what kind of havoc they wreaked as long as they had fun doing it.
Finally, I was alone with Chris. He smiled shyly at me.
Gods, I desperately wanted to kiss him.
Just wait.
I offered him my hand. "Shall we head to the dining hall?"
"A dining hall," Chris said as he placed his palm on mine. "Sounds fancy. I'm used to eating on the couch at home."
I chuckled. "You can eat on one of the couches here, too, if you prefer. Like I said, make yourself at home."
I led Chris towards the dining hall. On the way, we passed many marble manticore statues. I noticed him glancing at them curiously. At least he wasn't scared by their bared fangs and intimidating auras.
"What are these?" he asked. "They're like lions, but cooler."
I perked up, surprised to hear him say that. "They're manticores. Kind of a mix of a lion and a scorpion."
"Wow, you're right, I see the tail..."
Chris leaned towards one of the statues and touched the pointed barb with a giggle. A rush of jealousy ran through me, then I realized I was being dumb as hell for being envious of a damnstatue.
"You must really like them, since there's so many in your house," Chris said.
I hadn't prepared an answer for that since I didn't think he'd be interested. "Well, they're more of a, erm, symbol of my family."
“Wow! That's really cool."
I felt warm and fuzzy inside. Did he really think manticores were that cool? Maybe Ulysses was right—maybe it wouldn't be so hard to tell Chris the truth after all.
7
Chris
I was no longerin reality. This was some kind of dream world.
Okay, maybe not, since my growling stomach was definitely real. But it felt like I'd stepped into a fairytale. Roshan's home—more like a mansion, or a palace—was something out of a high-budget movie. My cramped apartment would fit inside of it a thousand times over. Hell, he even had a butler!
As Roshan led me into the dining hall, I fumbled with the handle of my bag. I wondered if my gift was too lacklustre. Maybe I shouldn't have brought it at all.
We sat down and another butler—he had more than one freaking butler!—brought me water plus a glass of wine to share. Candles flickered on the table, adding a romantic atmosphere to the room.
This isn't romantic,I scolded myself.It's just a nice dinner. Don't read so far into it.
Roshan poured us each out a glass of wine. "Cheers to your new job."
I smiled as we clinked our glasses and took a sip. The wine paired amazingly with the fresh bread and sweet butter appetizer. The bread was so good that if the main course didn't come soon, I might stuff myself with it.
"Sorry I didn't ask what you would prefer to eat beforehand," Roshan said. "Since you didn't mention any other aversions the other day, I figured you were okay with anything."
"Oh, of course," I blurted out. "I don't get invited to many fancy dinners, so I'm sure it'll be amazing no matter what."
Roshan smiled slowly. He looked like he wanted to say something but changed his mind. "So, what's in the bag?"
I felt a bit silly about it now. I shoved the bag beneath my chair. "Oh, it's nothing. Just a small thing. I'll give it to you later."
