Title: The Thirteen O’ Clock Love Story

Chapter 2: Peach Blossoms

In a decisive moment, she quickly turned her computer off by just pressing the on/off button. Sara was completely rattled. She couldn’t believe the effect of what Dominick suggested to her.

Her palms were a bit sweaty and her lids continued to blink rapidly. Those were the usual signs that she was flustered.

“You’re 10 blokes and half a prick.” Dominick glared at his executive assistant then turned back to look at his empty e-mail inbox. “My prick isn’t half, but you’re right about me being 10 blokes,” he grumbled in reply.

Simon casually shrugged at the reply. “In my opinion, I think you scared the lil’ poppet. Hell, I’d freak out too! Anyway, I have an appointment to go to, so just let me know if we’re still going to America. We can always go to Puerto Rico or Japan for this little trip.”

After leaving Dominick’s office, Simon shook his head in resignation at his long-time friend’s reaction to the girl across the Atlantic waters.

Sara stood behind the cream-colored pillar of the hotel’s restaurant. At first she thought standing behind the tall plant would give her a much better view of the people dining in but decided against it thinking people would get a better view of her standing there as well.

According to the last e-mail Dominick sent her, he’d be dining in that hotel for three nights only because he assumed that she was not replying to any of his messages for the past week due to the probability that he freaked her out.

“A correct probability that just happened….Hmmm, if it happened, is it still correct to say that it is a probability that happened?” she wondered to herself while thinking back of that e-mail. He also mentioned that if he could not meet her within those three nights, he would still want to be friends with her.

While scanning the crowd eating their lovely and expensive meals, she caught sight of a table with a peach blossom on top of a book beside the utensils. Sara felt her heart jump up to her throat as though it wanted to run out and away from her.

The peach blossom and the book were the signs Dominick gave her so she could identify him.

This was the third night. She was determined and certain she would not meet him at all, but curiosity just got the better of her. After calming a bit, she took her gaze off of the flower and to the person she expected to be sitting on the chair in front of it.

Surpassingly, there was no one sitting on that chair. On the other hand, there was a man sitting on the opposite chair, seemingly amused and bored by the surroundings, looking well-groomed, sleek and gorgeous.

Sara caught her breath. She didn’t expect him to look so sinfully good.

She stepped behind the pillar and leaned on it. “This is crazy! I’m an adult. So why am I acting like a 12 year old who’s spying on her crush?” she chided herself.

Feeling a thin layer of perspiration form on her forehead, she opened her purse to wipe it off with her handkerchief all the while contemplating whether she should approach the guy or not.

Dominick didn’t know what to feel. He was feeling too many emotions swirling up inside him. He was feeling disappointment, sadness, longing, hope, confusion and a lot more. He was in doubt whether his move was right or wrong.

“A guy can only take so much, “he thought to himself, but he just didn’t want to miss the chance of meeting Sara.

After making his hundredth deep sigh in the men’s rest room, he finally decided to go back to the table where Simon was. He was looking at his watch while exiting the door. And when he finally looked up, he saw her and stopped.

Right against the pillar, looking nervous and pale, stood a lady wearing a simple white dress, wiping her forehead with a handkerchief that had the design of peach blossoms.