Ariana continued to slowly eat her meal as she stared at the man she was supposed to marry with another woman, playing lovey dovey in public. If eyes could kill, Rodrigo and his lover would have already dropped dead.
The waiter walked towards her table and Ariana thought he was bringing her bill but he wasn't, he was holding a bottle of wine in hand. "Ma'am, it seems you have caught the eye of one of our guests here and he offered this wine. May I?" The young waiter asked and she nodded, motioning him to pour the wine in her glass.
"Who's this guest please?" She asked and the waiter pointed at a man who was sitting at a distance behind her. She hadn't seen him earlier when she walked in.
She turned around to see it was the man she had met at the night of the bachelorette party. His caramel skin, dark hair and green eyes registered in her mind once again. He locked eyes with her as he raised his glass slightly in the air as a form of greeting.
She quickly looked away and the waiter said "That's Mister Azaiah Hawthrone. Enjoy the rest of your meal".
"Azaiah Hawthrone..." She whispered a couple of times; the name sounded familiar to her.
She couldn't remember where she had heard the name so she tried not to dwell on it and decided to focus on her meal once again. By the time she was done, she noticed Rodrigo and his lover walk out of the restaurant and into his car outside.
Ariana drew in a breath as she tried to control her anger. She wanted to confront Rodrigo but she knew there was a better way to do it than in public.
She was about to pay for her meal when the waiter told her it had already been paid for by none other than the man who offered her a wine.
She turned around and walked to his table. "Mister Azaiah, thank you for the wine and also, thank you for paying for my meal but you really didn't have to" she said and the man didn't even raise his head to look at her.
Ariana's wanted to question why he acted like she wasn't standing in front of him but before she could, she watched him take a sip of his wine and then moved on to adjust the buttons on his clothes even though Ariana didn't see anything wrong with them.
He cleared his throat and stood up making her take few steps back. With him towering over her, Ariana quickly remembered how tall he was.
"You're welcome" he replied and started walking towards the exit of the restaurant.
Ariana followed him behind wanting to ask him why he decided to pay for her. "Wait! Azaiah!".
Outside the restaurant, he finally stopped in his tracks and Ariana glared at him, puffing her cheeks and biting her lips subconsciously and a smile appeared on his face.
"You know, there's a fish in the sea with spikes on it that whenever it feels threatened or scared, it expands. Like it blows up. It's called a puffer fish and that's exactly how you look right now" he joked, making Ariana stare at him confused.
"Why did you pay for me though? We've only met once!" She explained, quite surprised at his actions.
"I did because I wanted to. Besides, there's something called being a gentleman. Maybe it won't be new to you if you weren't dating Rodrigo Sanchez" Azaiah said in a nonchalant tone.
Ariana's mouth opened in disbelief. How did he know who she was with?. She wanted to question him but the anger and irritation she felt from those words suddenly made her hand move towards his face, landing a slap on his face.
Azaiah touched his cheeks and scoffed "I'm sorry but it's the truth" he added.
Ariana bit her lips as she remembered all the bad events that has been happening to her in past 24hours.
"I don't know how you got to know about my relationship with Rodrigo but you really didn't have to say that" she said and she began to walk towards her car.
Azaiah rolled his eyes and followed her. "Wait, I'm sorry" he said and she finally turned around to look at him.
"I saw you taking a picture of him and that actress in the restaurant and I just guessed you were dating him or something like that and I felt you probably didn't deserve that" he explained.
"So the lady is an actress" she thought to herself.
Ariana saw the sincerity in his words and decided to forgive him for his choice of words. She obviously didn't deserve to be cheated on and though Azaiah's words were true, it still hurt.
"Look, I forgive you but I don't want to feel indebted to you because of the meal you paid for so.." she took out her phone. "Your account details please, I'd wire the money to you right now" she said.
Azaiah folded his hands, staring down at her.
"How about you pay in another way instead?" He said with a mischievous look in his eyes and Ariana immediately translated it into something else.
She subconsciously wrapped her arms around her body whilst giving him a certain look and he chuckled, giving her a short glimpse at his perfect set of teeth.
"You're so adorable, I don't mean paying with your body of course. Only perverts would do that".
"Then what did you mean?" She asked crossing her arms this time.
"Let's exchange numbers first?" He asked.
"I don't see the need-" she was caught off because of Azaiah's movements, he took her phone from her and it requested for a password or face ID.
Knowing she wouldn't tell him the password, he turned the phone towards her face and it unlocked.
He inputed his number and saved it.
"Give it back!" Ariana attempted taking the phone from him but it was pointless, his grip was strong.
He called his own number using her phone and his phone buzzed in his pockets, indicating it was ringing.
"Here" he handed her the phone back and she had a grimace on her face.
"I'd tell you how I want to be paid back after I've taken a deep thought. You can still decide to accept my kind gesture and not pay me anything but it's still your choice". He said with his hands in his pockets.
Ariana stared at him in disbelief, was this man usually this confident or he had too much wine earlier?. She asked herself.
Probably too much wine. She thought to herself.
"I'd send you a text miss Sterling. Have a good evening" Azaiah said as he began to walk away to his own car, leaving Ariana staring at the empty space where his car was parked in disbelief.