Chapter 6

"Good evening," his deep voice greeted casually. "Are you Ava Collins?"

I wanted to melt into the floor.

Slowly, painfully, I lifted my head.

And there he was.

The Worst Driver Alive.

Mr. Cocky and Shirtless.

Standing right in front of me.

I didn't answer his question. I was putting one and one together. How on earth did he know my real name?

"Uhm, I could assume, but I don't want to. So I need to be sure—are you Ava Collins?" he added.

"Yes, yes, I am," I answered, still in shock.

"Oh, great! Nice to meet you." He shook my hand. "You look absolutely beautiful… gorgeous, in fact," he added as he sat down.

Wait! Why was he acting nice to me? Complimenting me… calling me beautiful?! Is it that he doesn't know I’m the one? Or is this a prank? I started wondering.

"It seems you aren't happy with me because I'm late." He tried to get feedback from me. I just sat there, speechless.

"Okay… I'm Nathaniel Hargrave. Sorry I'm late. I got caught up in an unexpected meeting," he said.

"Huh? Nathaniel Hargrave?! YOU ARE NATHANIEL HARGRAVE?!" I gasped, standing up in shock.

"Ava, what's wrong?" He looked around, concerned and uncomfortable as people started turning to look at us. "You don't need to announce to everyone here that I am… you know… Nathaniel Hargrave," he added in a calm voice.

I sat down, still staring at him, with no reply. For a moment, neither of us spoke. His brows went up slightly as he stared at me too, as if trying to figure out what was going on with me. Then, recognition crossed his face.

"You," he said with a delayed shock.

"No, you," I echoed, just as unimpressed. I quickly pulled out my phone to call the number he gave me to contact him two days ago.

His phone started ringing. My hands dropped, my face losing all life in it. A tense silence stretched between us.

Then, at the exact same time, we both said—

"This has to be a joke."

I groaned, dragging a hand down my face. "You’re my blind date?"

"You’re my blind date?" he repeated, his tone filled with disbelief.

"This has to be some kind of sick prank," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"But the name attached to the number that you gave me didn't have 'Nathaniel' on it." I said aggressively.

He chuckled a little. "Do you really think I would hand a total stranger my real and main personal number?"

"God! This can't be happening," I said, scattering my hair in frustration. I suddenly pulled my phone up to browse. There it was.

His photo… his photos.

Nathaniel stood up and glanced down at me. His expression was unreadable. Then, to my horror, he gave a faint smile.

"Interesting," he mused. "you look...uhm...different". 

"Oh please! you already called me ugly in five thousand ways, so don't even think of changing your mind or attitude. It wont work with me. "I said aggressively. 

"Good point, but we are in a formal and public space, I can't be..."

"a douche here!" I completed the sentence looking straight into his soul. 

"Call it whatever you want, point is..."

"you regret meeting me as your beloved fiancee Ava collins" I interrupted again. 

"I will have to agree with you on that one"

I scoffed. "Yeah, and the universe just hates me."

He chuckled and, without asking, pulled out the chair across from me, and then moved to sit on it.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He raised a brow. "Sitting opposite you, so I can face you properly. Also, to not be too close to you. This is my table too, remember?"

I glared at him. "You’re late."

"And yet, you’re still here," he countered. "Almost like you were waiting for me."

I clenched my jaw. "I was actually just about to leave."

"But now that I’m here…" He leaned back, eyeing me with amusement. "You might as well stay."

I wanted to argue, but the waiter appeared, breaking the tension.

"Good evening, sir. Is there a problem?"

"Oh, no problem at all," Nathaniel replied.

"Okay then, would you like to start with something to drink?"

"Whiskey. Neat."

Of course.

"And for you, miss?"

"Water," I said through gritted teeth.

The waiter nodded and walked away, leaving me alone with him again.

I took a deep breath. "Okay, listen. We both know this is a disaster, so let’s just agree that this date never happened, and we’ll go our separate ways. We tell our parents to cut this off."

Nathaniel tilted his head, studying me. "You’re really that desperate to get away from me, huh?"

I leveled him with a look. "Yes."

"That's fine. I don't like you either. You aren’t my cup of tea," he said.

"Great! That makes it easier," I said, standing up.

"Where are you going? The food isn't even here," Nathaniel said.

"Home… I'm going home—to be as far away from you as possible."

"Hmmm… look, I hate you too, but we need to be more mature and logical in this kind of setting. You already announced my name to everyone here, and they’re watching closely," he said.

I turned to see that it was true. People were stealing glances at us.

"Look, let’s make a deal."

I narrowed my eyes. "What kind of deal?"

"We stay for dinner. Just one meal. No expectations, no forced small talk. Just food. At least, whoever my mother asked to spy on us will give her good feedback that we actually went through the date and spoke to each other casually. Then,when I get home, I’ll tell her I’m not interested in you. Then the marriage deal is off. Deal?"

I hesitated.

"I somehow don't trust you"

"Please do believe me on this...i wouldn't want you as my wife either. We would kill each other on our wedding night" He said.

"Okay." I agreed.

On one hand, spending more time with him sounded like my personal version of hell.

On the other hand… I was starving.

And this place was expensive.

I sighed. "Fine. One meal. But after that, we never see each other again. You get your parents to call it off, and I’ll talk to mine."

Nathaniel smirked. "Deal."

As the waiter returned with our drinks, our order was taken and they brought the food few minutes later.

I silently wondered what kind of fresh hell I had just signed up for.

All I wanted was to avoid getting married to this playboy, Nathaniel Hargrave.

Little did I know, this dinner was going to complicate things in about ten to fifteen minutes time.