18:04: No, I am not married. I do not have a wife, a husband, a girlfriend, any sort of life partner. I am not romantically involved with anybody at home. I have no way that I can prove this to you, except my word. I am sorry I gave you reason to think my not contacting you today was suspicious. I truly did enjoy our evening. For what it is worth, I am sorry that it was interrupted.
Alianna
18:07: you are? what did you want to do if we werent?
Dangerous. That is what this was becoming. Rionan could feel his mind slipping back to his fantasies from the night before, and he cursed silently.
He had two ways he could approach this.
He could be a gentleman. This seemed like the respectful thing to do. Court her as he would any other female.
Or, he could say what was truly going through his head. A more forward approach. It could do no harm, given that he was not going to be in this Realm for much longer, should all go to plan.
Rionan typed out his response, considering his words before hitting send.
Rionan
18:10: I wanted to worship your body, Alianna. I wanted to touch you in ways that I know nobody has ever touched you before. I wanted to spend all night showing you just how glorious I think you are.
Rionan
18:11: I wanted to take a long time doing it. There are things that I would rush, in life. I would not rush with you, Alianna. I wanted to savour every moment with you, until my name was the only thing that you remembered.
17
TheBeauty Amongst The Chaos
Alianna splashed cold water over her face repeatedly in the bathroom at work. She had tucked her phone back into her apron pocket, furious with herself for allowing this conversation to begin taking place while she was at the café.
She hadn’t been able to reply to him. What could she say, while she was here, of all places?
She finished in one hour. One slow, torturous hour. Then she’d work out what to do.
Straightening, she dried her face with a paper towel and exited the bathroom. Tom lounged behind the counter. There was nobody else here, and soon they’d be getting ready to begin closing up.
“Are you...alright?” Tom asked, hesitantly.
“Yes. Yes, I’m fine. Everything’s fine.” Alianna rushed out.
“That’s...good. Although you have tissue paper stuck to your face.”
“Gods!” Alianna said, grabbing her phone and using the camera to see where the paper was so that she could remove it. She saw an icon at the top of the screen: one unread message.
“What’s got under your skin this evening?”
“It’s nothing,” she said, tidying away menus. In her haste, she knocked a small pile on the floor and bent over to pick them up. Among them was an advertisement for a local painting workshop, a flyer for a dog walking business that some sneaky person had left in there, and one of the flyers for the museum that John had left several days before. A nagging voice in her mind told her to check that unread message.
She would wait until closing. She did not want any further questioning from Tom.
Tom had never shown romantic interest in Alianna, or anyone else she knew, for that matter. But he was nosy and judgmental. Aliannawas certain he’d have something to say about the tall, dark stranger from the café, messaging her mere days after meeting him, let alone the comments he’d make if he realised she was getting all hot and bothered because of said stranger.
“Did you make it to that marine life exhibition?” Tom asked, moving around the counter, spray bottle in hand to start cleaning tables.
“No, not yet. Things have been a bit busy.”
“You’re never busy. What have you been up to?”
“It may surprise you to know, Tom, that I do have a life outside of this café and my dog walks. What I have been up to is none of your business.”
