Nadine:


    On the way back home, I thought about what Enzo had said about loving me and a wholesome feeling spread around my body. I had seen it in his eyes that he was being sincere, that he was speaking the truth and it melted my heart. Enzo had said that he could tell that I was also falling for him, and I wondered if it was that obvious, whether I had given myself away so easily by my smiles, or gestures, or the way I spoke. So when I got home, I called him, even before I slipped out of my dress.


    “I’m in love with you, too, Enzo,” I said. “I know that you already know that, but I have to admit it to your hearing.”


    There was a long silence as we each waited for the other person to speak. I could hear him breathing, and I wondered if he felt relief at what I said, or a rush of emotions that disoriented him.


    “I … Nadine, I don’t know what to say,” he said.


    “Well, you don’t have to say anything, Enzo,” I said. “Love is a beautiful thing, and we’re both in love with each other. I don’t want to fight it, Enzo, I really don’t. I haven’t felt like this – loved, I mean – in such a long time, and I’m not going to deny myself that pleasure.”


    “Neither have I, Nadine,” he said. From the way he said it, I could tell that he was smiling.


    “So … where do we go from here?” I asked. “What do we do as new lovers?”


    He sort of giggled and it made meugh.


    I asked him the question while the elephant in the room – yton – still remained with us. But I had told him already, love and affection had been denied me by everyone else until he came. Perhaps I was rushing towards something that I had been deprived of, but Enzo seemed like the most reasonable and suitable person to be in love with. I was happy.


    “Well, I’m not leaving the city, that’s for sure,” he said. “So this means we will get to see each other often.”


    “Yeah,” I said. “I like that.”


    “As a matter of fact, Nadine,” he continued, “I am going to sign some papers tomorrow for the purchase of a house. A mansion. Somewhere I can stay while I oversee the administrative work of the new branch of mypany.”


    “Ohh, that is so lovely,” I said.


    “You cane around there some time, if you want,” he said.


    “I sure will, Enzo,” I said.


    After we finished talking, I got out of my dress, had my bath andy on the bed to sleep. In the room next door, yton and Natasha were having loud sex. It had be a nightly ritual. They would invite over a few girls and make noise till the next morning, often disturbing my sleep. It used to bother me, but that night, as I slept, it didn’t. All I could think of was how warm Enzo’s hands had been when he held me, and the smile on his face.


    Enzo:


    I couldn’t contain my joy that night. It was the best piece of news I had received. So I got out of my bed and had a few more drinks, but this time, not to mope and wallow in the mire of my sorrow, but just to celebrate. The next day, I met a client I had been talking to and he took me to a house, a big one, but not quite as big as yton’s. I signed the papers and paid the money and in a moment the house was mine. I called Nadine immediately.


    “Guess what,” I said, excited like a little boy that had just gotten hold of a really cool toy.


    “Ohh, I hate guesses,” she said.


    I let out a belly deepugh.


    “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you, then,” I said. “I just paid for the house, signed the papers a few minutes ago.”


    “Excellent,” she said. “This feels like a dream, Enzo, you being so close is something I never thought would happen.”


    “Well, I guess some dreams doe true, Nadine,” I said.


    “Of course they do,” she said.


    “What are you doing?” I asked.


    “Ohh, I’m on the way to see my sister at the hospital,” she said.N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    “Ahh, that’s cool, I hope she’s doing alright,” I said. “I was wondering if we could meet upter, you know,plete what we started yesternight.”


    “And what was that?” She asked, a hint of a tease in her voice.


    “Well, we’ll just hang, you know,” I said. “Have a few drinks, talk.”


    “Okay.” She said, “Still at the hotel?”


    “Yeah, at the hotel,” I said. “I can’t move into the house now. I have to have them clean it up, and then I also need to get employees that will help around in the house and all that stuff. It’s gonna be a few days, really, before I can move in.”


    “Okay, then,” she said. “We’ll seeter. I’ll make sure I’m there.”


    I felt like a teenager experiencing love for the first time and was filled with unquantifiable joy. I went to attend a meeting with a couple ofpany executives and finalize themencement of ourpany’s operations in the city. At the end of the meeting, we gged it off.


    Later that night, I got dressed and waited for Nadine toe and meet me at the hotel. I decided that we would stay in my room this time, and not the bar. She called and told me she had already left, but one and a half hourster, there was no sight of her. I got up and started to pace the room, nervous, worried that something had happened to her. I tried calling her, but the line was bad. Just as I copsed on my bed out of worry, I heard a knock at the door. When I opened it, she was standing there, all gorgeous.