Stay with me

91 Taming the stubborn

How could she refuse? Even a woman with a stone heart could not. And her heart was alive and hot again. And it wanted this evening more than anything else.

"Okay," Jansu said.

Niko exhaled. He didn't even notice that he didn't breathe as he waited for her answer.

"I'll pick you up at eight," he said.

Jansu shook her head and retorted, "Do not. This is not a date. Just dinner. I'll come myself. Just tell me which restaurant."

"Gardеn," he replied, naming her favorite restaurant.

Again, her heart quickened its rhythm. He remembered. He even remembered that.

"I'll be there at eight," she said.

Niko waited until Jansu climbed onto the terrace of the house. At the very front door, she looked around and smiled at him.

Happy, he rushed to the hotel. The administrator at the reception, flatteringly wishing good evening, followed him with an attentive look and wrote something down in a notebook. Niko did not notice this. He would not even notice an elephant standing in the way right now. All thoughts were occupied by Jansu and the upcoming evening. Today he will appear before her exactly the man into whose arms she, without a moment's hesitation, can jump from the roof. And he will catch her.

Before reaching the elevator, he remembered something and, turning abruptly, returned to the reception.

"Be so kind," he turned to the administrator, "Book the best table for two in the Garden restaurant in my name."

"What time is it?" asked the administrator.

"At eight in the evening."

"Will it be a business dinner?" he clarified.

"It will be a romantic dinner!" answered Niko. "Tell the restaurant manager that candles, flowers, and privacy are a must."

Jansu, in a bathrobe and with a turban made of a towel on her head, in her dressing room, was going through the hangers with outfits. The excitement inside required her to be dazzlingly beautiful today, but at the same time natural, without deliberate pomp.

Dresses, one by one, were sent back to the closet. Some were too pretentious, others too smart, and still others too simple. It was all wrong! It wasn't right for the moment and the importance of the evening.

A blouse caught her attention. The one made of translucent organza of smoky green color. Niko's gift.

"Nooo!!!" screamed the mind. "What are you doing?! It will be a provocation! "

"Let it be!" Jansu answered it.

Decisively throwing the blouse on the bed, she pulled out a gray pencil skirt and black, suede sandals with stunning stiletto heels from the closet.

Niko arrived at the restaurant at ten to eight. The distance from the hotel to the Garden was laughable. Some three hundred meters across a beautiful square, with lanterns like fireflies and fountains with shining water. Stopping by the two-man-high sliding glass doors, he nervously tugged at the hem of his beige jacket and looked at his wrist. The clock showed 19-54. Lord, how slowly time passes. The secondhand crawls like a snail.

At eight o'clock sharp, a taxi stopped outside the restaurant. Jansu came out of it. Niko looked at her and was speechless. She was dazzlingly beautiful, but that was not the reason for his silence. Jansu put on his gift - the smoky green blouse made of translucent organza. He was not mistaken when he decided to buy it.