HOOKED

CHAPTER FOUR

"Siena Dallarosa?" The same voice with a soft crisp that had that very melody of its own to it, sounded out from behind me while I was looking around in search; the very voice that I would not fail to recognize now after all the ways it has flustered me at our every encounter.

I turned my head around, shortly taken aback, but more when my eyes locked with the clear wood-brown eyes of Jeremy Peterson who was seated on a comfortable vintage couch in the lounge by the counter. He picked himself up as our gaze met and took decent steps towards me as I stood at my spot with no other movement made until he walked his way up to me.

"What a delight to see you here, Mr.Peterson?" I pushed out a smile with hints of sarcasm as I intentionally addressed him formally by his surname.

"It is my pleasure, Ms. Dallarosa. Why do you sound as if I am not the reason you are here?" He spoke with a small chuckle of slight confusion as he sent a laugh towards me that was laced with hints of awkwardness.

I tilted my head at him with a similar awkward smile of confusion, not sure what he was referring to with his words. But it was at that moment I recalled exactly what I figured he was referring to. At the next instant, I took up my phone to check the date and time. And it was twenty minutes past seven o'clock on a Sunday evening, which was the very day Jeremy Peterson had invited me for a date, at his party during the dance when we last met.

I closed my eyes shut, cussing inside my head for forgetting, sucking in a sharp breath of air to hold onto my calmness. Calm down, you can balance this.

"N-no, ahaha, who else? Let's take a seat." I pushed out a smile as I motioned for him to walk ahead politely.

Jeremy led me ahead to a private dining sector of the restaurant that he must've booked earlier, which I figured from the way the waiter smiled and bowed lowly to his slight nod directed towards him.

I simply followed him behind before taking a seat opposite him on the table. A slight tension of anxiousness was seeming to grow in me for a reason I was not sure of, but I managed to hold up a casual face of confidence and smiled through. Jeremy picked up the menu card as his eyes skimmed through it, which I skipped on doing so as I did not have much of an appetite nor preference. But from the way he was looking at the card, I could figure it was only a pretend show to me as only a minute afterwards, he called the waiter with a slight hand raised and whispered to him "as ordered."

I played dumb, allowing him to carry out his whatever plan for tonight. In my eyes, Jeremy appeared to be a decent person. Perhaps, even a decent man in the eyes of other ladies. But I suppose that is where the problem stood. I was not going to be involved in any way with a man who was engaged with me just as much as he was with other ladies.

Despite how much I disliked making assumptions, I believed it was a quality in me to understand from the aura of a person if they were someone I would approve of or not. And something from the way he had a confident smile whenever he looked at me, as if he had various experiences of using that smile to be this self-assured with it, or the way his voice slipped out of his mouth with a melody of its own like it held no hesitation or lack in nerve, told me that I was not the first lady who has sat across him on a dinner table for a date that he perhaps is looking forward to lead into something more.

As much as that was growing anxiety in me and I tried to defeat that and stood strong to my ground, it was his burnt caramel hair and bourbon brown eyes that were holding me down. His same cologne of vanilla whiskey with hints of roasted cinnamon reached out to me despite the distance of a small, circular dinner table for two between us. The distinguishable specificity of his cologne was what flustered me more. It was almost as if it was casting a trance on me, trapping me in an invisible blaze of flame surrounding me and binding me to my seat.

"You look...mesmerizing beautiful, tonight." His voice was soft and gentle, audible in his tone that it was not a formality but a genuine compliment. The choice of his words expressed it more.

This man had such a graceful and elegant bearing to himself, it was hard not to feel at least a slight bit swayed.

"Thank you. You look great tonight as well." I looked down to hide that tint in my cheeks, making further effort at holding on to a straight face, as I complimented him back.

"A smile would look lovelier on you, Siena." He served me a smile of his own as he spoke. Blood rushed up to my cheeks further at feeling slight embarrassment from him catching onto my actions, although I'm sure that is not what he meant for it to be.

It caught me off guard to see him act this sweet towards me tonight. Men like him oftentimes appear to be full of pride and self-esteem, which causes them to turn out cocky, according to all of my past experiences. But he seemed different and I hated the swoon it was having over me.

The drinks he had ordered as a starter had arrived. I politely smiled at the waitress in a way to thank them for the effort, indirectly also to change the topic for myself.

"Cheers." I held up my glass, motioning towards him before taking a sip.

"Loosen up." He sighed reassuringly in response. Trying.

I took another small sip of the martini, breathing out a soft sigh to relax and allowed myself to be distracted by the elegant interior of the restaurant. Indeed, the place was fancy. In the back of my head, I worried if missing the blind date I was supposed to be present on right now instead, would cause my mother to be enraged with me. I knew for a fact that she would lose her steam like a pressure cooker, but would I be spared for the night was the question. Most of the time, the penalty I have to face is less terrible than the actual job, which is why I usually continue to defy her.

A sudden odd thought triggered inside my head at the very moment. "Jeremy, are you married?" I blurted out casually, my eyes still on the interior of the place. My absurd question took him aback and caused him to slightly choke on the cocktail.

"Me? Married?" He questioned in response. "Yes. With 3 children of my own you think?" He blurted in the same manner, casually, like there was no sarcasm but with intent, as he let out a soft scornful chuckle of disbelief to mock my question, which he took as a joke.

But in my head, I had a further thought about this. Perhaps my mother would stop pushing me into an arranged marriage if I brought her a worthy man to marry on my own. I took my time to think again, getting lost in my impulsive thoughts. Jeremy refrained from questioning me as the food had arrived, which took his attention away, allowing me my space to sort through every absurd thought rushing through my mind.

"Will you marry me?" my question took him by surprise again, but this time he ended up laughing, continuing to take it as a joke. But my face and my expression remained serious for him to understand that I was indeed sincere about my questions. His laugh quieted down soon after as he noticed my expression.

"Where is all this coming from?" He questioned in return with confusion, chuckling a little to lighten the mood. I sighed tiredly, resting my back against my seat and decided to eat the food. I chose not to answer and quietly ate the meal.

The bill had arrived soon after we were done eating but before he could offer his card, I took out my wallet to make the payment for the dinner, which again took him aback, his brows furrowing at me.

"There should be a limit to how odd my lady is behaving tonight." He chuckled again as he placed his card on the leather envelope and asked the waiter to bring in the swiping machine for the payment to be made.

"It was necessary for me to keep the receipt," I revealed, sighing as I looked at him apologetically. He raised a brow in confusion, motioning for me to clear it out for him.

"I missed a blind date my mother had set up for me here tonight. Showing her the receipt could help me win the argument that I did show up here tonight but lie that the date stood me up." I laughed quietly, knowing how complicated and dramatic this sounds.

"You can still take the- wait, what a coincidence, I had the same cause." Jeremy laughed too in response, looking at me with impressed eyes.

I looked at him confused though still softly laughing, not understanding what he was referring to quite yet.

"I too had a blind date set here by my father but I chose to avoid it and prioritise my date with you." He revealed as he took entertainment from the situation.

But at that moment, a notification came to my phone which I happened to check was from my mother. She apologized for forgetting to send me the picture of the blind date she had chosen for me.

"What a coincidence indeed..." I mumbled with a small gasp under my breath as my eyes widened at seeing Jeremy Peterson's picture sent to me by my mother. Jeremy looked at me confused because of my frightened expression towards my phone. I locked eyes with him, completely flabbergasted.

"Jeremy, we did not miss the blind dates. We are present at it."