40 A DINNER DATE
Giovanni pulled up at the local restaurant Anna had arranged for them to meet for dinner. “Of all the places she could pick, she chose here,” he muttered as he scrutinized the restaurant which looked as though the slightest gush of wind would topple it.
He dialled her number, leaning against his car while nodding and smiling at the ladies that passed him by, staring at him like he was a god from their fantasies– it was an occurrence he was now used
- to.
“I just arrived at the deathtrap you call a restaurant,” he eyed the restaurant warily. If I’m going to die, it’s not going to be beneath the debris of such a classless place.
“You can either come in, keep complaining or just leave; the choice is yours,” He could almost hear her eye roll.
“Or-” he crossed his arms across his slightly open chest, “-you could come to pick me up before these ladies whisk me away to have dinner in bed,” he told her, winking at another passing lady who immediately scurried off, her cheeks red.
“I didn’t have to hear that but suit yourself. I’m not leaving from where I’m seated,” she remarked.
A wide grin spread across his face. “That’s not a nice way to treat someone you invited out to dinner, you know?”
His jaw dropped, eyes fixed on the phone screen. The call ended abruptly. Puzzled, he tilted his head, grappling with an uncertain response. After a moment of stunned silence, he muttered, “She’s quite
rude.”
Effortlessly slipping his hands into the pockets of his well–tailored pants, he confidently strolled
toward the restaurant.
“Well, that’s unexpected,” he muttered as he entered the restaurant. The interior was far more glamorous than the exterior, although not as glamorous as the restaurants he dined at, but it was something he could work with. “I guess I won’t be dying tonight,” he muttered.
“Mr Giovanni?” a waiter dressed in a blue shirt and black trousers, with an apron a
asked.
nd his waist
Giovanni turned to him with a smile. “Yes, I’m him. I believe a woman is expecting me at one of your tables?” he inquired, looking around the full restaurant, only now realizing several others were dining in it.
What a letdown, it’s just as classless as I had thought. His disapproval was etched across his face.
“Come with me, sire,” the waiter said.
Giovanni nodded, following the waiter as he disdainfully surveyed the room, a gathering of individuals dressed in the remnants of fashion’s forgotten past.
40 A DINNER DATE
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They had second–hand clothes that said they were purchased based on necessity rather than choice. The atmosphere exuded simplicity as the customers looked over the menu with cautious consideration. Their gestures were a mix of practicality and frugality as if the word “extravagance was foreign to them.
“Thank you. We’ll have two glasses of water,” Anna said to the waiter when he arrived at her table with Giovanni. She turned to Giovanni when the waiter left, “What’s with the scowl on your face? Is it because I didn’t come to get you myself?”
He wiggled his finger negatively before leaning towards her, “Why are we eating here? I could have taken you to a very nice restaurant with quality meals so why here-” he looked around the restaurant, “-with these people?”
It was Anna’s turn to scowl when he realized what he meant. “I can’t believe I considered you an Angel,” she clicked her tongue in disappointment. “Of course, you’re nothing but a mere human who just happened to help me because of my husband.”
“You considered me an angel?” he questioned, pointing at himself with an amused expression on his face. “Of everything you could consider me, you thought of me as an Angel. I must have made quite the impression on you.”
“And you just ruined it. I see why you and Davis are… or were friends. You both are such ill–mannered men,” she went quiet when the waiter came back with a tray that had two glasses of water.
“If I’m ill–mannered, then Davis is much worse,” Giovanni stated as soon as the waiter left.
She shuddered inwardly. Apart from being rude, and cocky, he also looks down on people, what more could he do? Although she knew it wasn’t her business the type of person he was, it wouldn’t matter to her anyway since she was supposed to be her loving husband and she most likely wouldn’t see a lot of his bad side, but she still wanted to know the type of person she was married to.
“You don’t say,” she muttered, picking up her glass of water and taking a sip. “Tell me more.”
He shook his head, a sly grin on his face. “You asked me out for dinner and that’s what we’re going to have, even if it’s-” he looked around, a scowl replacing his smile, “-at this place. Is there food even healthy?” he questioned, looking back at Anna.
your dinner
“If you’re gonna keep complaining about everything here then you might want to h elsewhere. I brought you out so I get to decide where we have it. Besides, their food is amazing and this place has a lot of my childhood memories but that’s not important right now; what is important is that no one will recognize me here,” she looked around before adding.
((
Although you seem to be getting a lot of attention from the ladies,” she commented with a frown. “Anyway, let’s focus on what we’re here for.”
“Not water though,” he flashed her his best smile but she simply rolled her eyes. She had no time for discussions over dinner. All she wanted was to find out about Davis from the one person who knew him and seemed like he could tell her all she needed to know.
“So, how did you meet Davis?” she asked.
40 A DINNER DATE
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A frown settled on his face. “Did you invite me over here to talk about your supposed husband?”
She chuckled nervously. She shouldn’t have been too forward. Even she wouldn’t be glad if someone she had invited out to dinner rejected her only to finally agree and it turned out it was because they wanted something else. “Now that you know, not like I could have hidden my intentions for too long, are you going to tell me what I want to know?”
“And what do you want to know, Tesoro?” he asked, resting his chin on his palm.
“A whole lot of things about Davis, including the true relationship between you two, but first-” she sat up straight, “I’d like to know how you found out that Davis and I are faking, our marriage.”
“I took a wild guess and you confirmed it,” he said with a grin.
“Be serious,” she frowned.
“I’m being serious. In all the years I’ve known Davis, marriage or romance isn’t something he’s interested in and I’ve been keeping an eye on him for a while now. You two didn’t know each other till a few days before you legalized your marriage at the registry.”
“People change and he’s very secretive about his activities so how could you have been so certain about the fake marriage?” she questioned.
The smile on his face widened. “Like I said, it was a guess and you confirmed it for me. I’ve known Davis to be eccentric so if you had denied that you two were in a fake marriage, I would have believed it was true, but you admitted it.”
Her face fell. Yeah… I’m not letting Davis know I’m the reason Giovanni knows the truth; he’ll kill me if he finds out and there I was talking about how good I was at acting when I already exposed our
secret.
“Now that you’ve answered that question-” she started to say.
“I won’t be answering any more,” he stared and signalled for the waiter to come over to their table. ” If you want to find out more about him, then ask him yourself.”
Her smile fell, but it wasn’t because of what he said, it was something else. I’m screwed.
