Chapter 150 - Memory Lane

Startled at his sudden blunt question, Eva quickly turned the phone screen off. Looking a bit palpitated, she lowered her eyes down and tried to answer him holding a straight face, "umm...He...He is..." Her voice trailed off looking very hesitant and fidgeting her fingers.

Eric has been always a sharp observer and quite evidently he noticed her perplexity in answering his query. The ambiance in between them was turning out to be quite uncomfortable and he could sense it. Taking a small sigh out, he chose to divert the mood into a lighter one.

"Leave that question, Miss Ricci. Pardon me, I didn't intend to make you much stiffer around me. Let's talk about something else." Projecting a kind simper in his puffy lips, he sounded much cordial.

Eva could understand it distinctly that he had already sensed her troubled silence regarding his query. Making a modest face, she nodded her head silently but her inner palpitations were growing much worse. 

Eric ordered two black coffees for both of them to continue their date. Soon enough their orders were placed and politely he handed the coffee over to her. He was indeed a gentleman accurately performing the table etiquettes even when she wasn't paying exact attention to him.

Just on the table next to them, a cute teenage couple was having their sweet date. Their laughs and giggles were distracting her a few times as she peeped at them a few times.

"Miss Ricci, I guess, Miss Clara has already told you much about me. But, I would like to introduce myself to you and I want you to do the same. Since today we are meeting for the very first time." Taking a small sip on his coffee, he further reciprocated.

"Ye-Yes." She nodded.

Eric started to define himself from the very start of his career in that Multinational Company. His voice sounded very genial and tender. But, Eva wasn't paying proper attention to him since her mind was distracted towards the couple who were having slices of Blueberry cheesecake and Americano for their date. They were feeding the cake to each other using the forks and had a blissful smile on their faces, looking deep down in each other's eyes.

...

[Memory flashback]

"Zeus, do you like this cake? You know, it's my favorite combination. The cake tastes too good here!" Watching him taking a small chomp of blueberry cheesecake by sitting opposite to him in a cafe, she murmured fondly, looking at him with her love-filled eyes. 

"Yes. It's good. It even tastes better when I am with you." Tossing a meek smile, he happily nodded in response.

"Gosh...you are such a flirty! You know...sometimes I wonder...if I am really your first!" She rested her chin over her palm, fixing her deep gaze on him.

A small smirk appeared on his lips as he was cutting a small slice of the cake. "Why? Are you skeptical about me?" He reciprocated.

"No...I mean...You are perfect in every aspect. I am surprised by the fact that you had never fallen in love with any other woman before! That's why... I am kind of...possessive about you, Zeus. I don't want any other woman to hear the things you relate to me. Umm, am I sounding very selfish?"

"Haha!" He chuckled out at her troubled answer, covering his mouth with his broad palm while snickering.

"What? Why are you laughing? Do I sound that awkward?"

"No... You are cute." Softly chuckling, he mumbled his answer resting his chin over his palm while staring at him.

At his sudden answer, Eva was flustered shy, and trying hard to control her gummy smile, she reciprocated further, "what are you talking about---"

"Everything you say or do... I find it damn cute. You are such a cutesy that I want to run away somewhere far holding your arm tight." 

"Are we a teenage couple or what? You are such a cheesy boy..." 

"But I have only reserved my cheesy side for you, Eva." Gripping a slice of the cheesecake with the fork, his voice sounded a little heavier than the casual tone he was expressing with. "You are my first and you will be the last woman I ever tell these things to." 

Hearing his deep sonorous proclamation, Eva silently stared at him for a few seconds in awe. His eyes were shimmering with a bold resolution and gawking at him, a small pleased smile escaped her lips.

"I know I am your first...But...How can you say I will be your last?"

"Because I will never allow myself to fall for a woman who isn't you. I just want you to stay by my side...forever." Stretching his arm to feed her the slice of cake, he replied fondly.

Her heart was fluttering in bliss hearing his passionate confirmation and she smiled widely. "Then do you promise to feed only me with cheesecake in our lifetime?" She whispered.

"I do. You will be the only one, Eva."

Gleefully assuring her query, he tossed a tender sneer when she chomped the piece of cake from the fork. Both of them giggled as their eyes met while holding each other's hand on the table as the epitome of their enamored promise.

.....

"Miss Ricci? Hello? Miss...Ricci?" 

"Huh?"

All of a sudden, she winced at his loud, dense call which revived her senses back. She was lost in the memory down the lane, forgetting about the bitter reality. As she blinked her eyes a few times, she saw he was intensely gazing at her looking very concerned.

"Miss Ricci, are you alright?" He inquired in a stiff note.

Taking a small sigh out, she nodded her head, "yes."

"No. You are not okay at all. Why are you pushing yourself too hard to stay alright?" He tossed a quick blunt interrogation, fixing his intense gaze on her.

She was lowering her eyes down and with his sharp query, she raised her chin up to look back at him being baffled.

"P-Pardon?"

"You weren't even listening to what I was talking to you all this time. If you are really alright, why your eyes are teary?" Crossing his arms over his chest, he sounded a bit glum. 

"Huh?" Eva was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even realize her eyes were watery! Quickly she tossed a glance at the side table where the sweet teenage couple was sitting on and saw the table was empty already! The couple was gone...just like the blissful days of her life were gone too, leaving behind the bitter reality to endure.

She lowered her teary eyes down and a drop of tear dripped down her cheek. Quickly she wiped her eyes grabbing a tissue while Eric was staring holding a poignant gaze towards her.

"You didn't even touch the coffee that I had ordered for you, Miss Ricci. Yet, you still call yourself alright?" 

"I...I am sorry for...making the ambiance...uncomfortable---" 

"No, you are honest this time, Miss Ricci." Before she could utter her words, he interrupted in a deep penetrating voice staring at her glum eyes. 

"Honest?"

"Though you tried too hard to toss a fake smile, to act calm and persevered, you weren't happy at all in this date and it is evident in your grimace, Miss Ricci. You didn't make me uncomfortable, but after all this time, you are finally honest with your emotions now." He mumbled.

She was awe-struck at his ideal representation of the inner turmoil she was fighting inside. Her throat choked with the surge of crying out loud, but she held it in lowering her eyes down from him in guilt.

...............

"Stop the car."

All of a sudden, shrieking out in a loud pitch, Zeus hoarsely commanded the driver to halt the car in the middle of the road while his eyes were fixed outside. He immediately obeyed his command and clutched the break suddenly. His unexpected hoarse reaction startled Ivory too as she shifted her eyes towards him.

"Hey, what's wrong? Why did you stop the car?" She sounded a bit bewildered.

Zeus sat still as a rock, gawking outside the window with a sullen gaze in his dark eyes. His reactions were odd and kind of skeptical for her. She chose to lean her head a bit towards the window curiously to watch what he was looking at.

All of a sudden, she rolled her eyeballs in awe startled at the sight she ogled at. Zeus was sadly gazing at Eva through the glass walls of the cafe where she was seated on the corner table, along with a man opposite to her.

She couldn't accurately notice the man she was sitting with as the portion of the glass wall in his side was blurred as the design. But Eva was vividly noticeable through the glass which tossed a canny smirk on her lips.

"Woah! What a sight! Isn't this your Eva, Zeus?" Her tone sounded a bit tantalizing as she was gawking at her through the car.

He sat numb without uttering a single word to her response, locking his eyes outside the window at the glass wall.

"Just look at this traitor! It's been barely a few days since she ditched you and yet she found herself a new man already! Woah! Such a rat! And here...you are ruining yourself all over for her?" She scoffed at him.