Chapter 102: Dinner Date II
She let out a small, embarrassed cough, averting her gaze as the deep pink hue spreading rapidly across her cheeks was captivating. I made a mental note to pull out my drawer the second I got home; I needed to capture that expression before it faded from my memory.
"What about your hockey?" she chimed in quickly, desperately trying to turn the question away from herself, and I chuckled.
Cute!
I smiled at her deflective tactic but happily obliged as I launched into talking about the sport, explaining the rush of adrenaline that came with playing on ice and my deep love for the game. "Someone very important once told me to be grateful for the things I have," I added, looking at her intently. "And I’m grateful now."
By the time dinner concluded and we stepped out into the night air, the unpredictable weather had turned; the sky had been perfectly clear when we entered but was now cascading a heavy downpour.
"Let’s head back inside until the valet brings the car," I said, turning back toward the restaurant doors, but when I reached out, my hand met empty air. Rosie wasn’t beside me.
I turned around, my eyes widening in disbelief because she had marched out into the open sidewalk as she spun around in circles, her arms stretched wide, laughing out loud as the rain drenched her green dress. I stood beneath the awning, my hands resting casually on my hips, completely gobsmacked by the sight. She looked utterly ethereal as her head was tilted back, her face lifted toward the sky as the water washed over her skin, her laughter echoing over.
It was like music in my ears. "You’re going to catch a cold if you stay out there!" I called out over the rain.
Rosie just shrugged her shoulders carelessly, a smile on her face. "No, I won’t! I haven’t been sick in years!" She wiped a splash of water from her eyes and waved her hand toward me. "Come on! Join me!"
I looked at the downpour, then back to her face, and shook my head with a chuckle. "No thanks. The rain and I aren’t exactly on good terms." It was the truth; my immune system was a joke during the rainy season, and I caught a fever if I looked at a puddle wrong.
Still, I couldn’t bring myself to ruin her moment just yet. I pulled out my phone and discreetly snapped a few pictures of her silhouette dancing against the backdrop of the city lights. I immediately set the one as my lock screen wallpaper, a fond smile gracing my face.
After a few more minutes, I signaled one of the restaurant attendants to bring over an umbrella. As I stepped out into the rain, I held it over her head, cutting off her dance. "Alright, fun’s over, wifey. Let’s get to the car."
Rosie grumbled under her breath the entire walk to the vehicle, complaining loudly that I was a total buzzkill for cutting her fun short and that it had been a long time since she enjoyed being in the rain. Even though I love looking at her in the rain, I couldn’t bear seeing her sick.
"You can complain all you want," I said, shifting the car into drive and pulling out onto the roads. "But you’re going to deeply regret this when morning comes."
"I told you, I have a strong immune system—"
Her voice trailed off sharply, and I glanced over at her, only to find her staring intently at my lips; her breath hitched, and a sudden shift in her gaze sent a sharp spike of heat straight through me. The playful atmosphere instantly turned charged.
Unable to fight the magnetic pull any longer, I pulled the car over to the side of the road, shifted into park, and leaned across the center console as my hand cupped the back of her neck, and I pressed my lips firmly against hers.
Rosie let out a soft gasp against my mouth before she surrendered, her hands coming up to grip my jacket as she returned the kiss with the same ferocity. Her lips were cold from the rain, but the contrast against my own heat was tantalizing—every bit as savory and addictive as the kiss at the gala.
We finally broke apart out of a desperate need for oxygen, both of us panting lightly, our heavy, hooded gazes locked onto one another. The tension was palpable as we both began to lean back in for a second, deeper kiss—
“Achoo!”
A sneeze erupted from Rosie, blowing into the space between our faces, and I stilled, my eyes wide as I slowly closed them, processing what had just happened.
Rosie’s face instantly flushed in a mortified shade of crimson. "Oh my god!" she gasped, her eyes wide with horror as her hands flew up, frantically using her sleeves to wipe down my face. "Jude! I’m so, so sorry! I didn’t mean to—"
A helpless laugh rumbled from my chest as I caught her wrists to stop her frantic scrubbing. "You know, Wifey, if you didn’t want to kiss me, you could have just said so."
"I did want to! I mean—that’s not—I just didn’t know it was coming!" she stammered defensively, her mortification doubling before she was cut off by another sneeze. “Achoo!”
"Yeah, yeah." "I know," I chuckled fondly, reaching over to crank the car’s heater up to its maximum setting. I shifted back into drive and pulled onto the road, heading toward the house. "Like I said... repercussions. Let’s get you home before that strong immune system of yours collapses."
***
I initially wrote this in Rosie’s pov but it wasn’t given so changed it to Jude.
thank you for reading have a blessed day ahead
There won’t be update tomorrow, my exam is starting tomorrow... so update will be on Tuesday in shaa Allah and I’ll resume the daily update with a day break.
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