Chapter Ten

THE DEAL

Singapore was quickly growing on Sierra, she enjoyed the contemporary modern culture that the city had to offer, in her brief tour with Ken she’d seen much of what it had to offer and made a mental list of things to do while she was in the city. 

In the three days she’d been there, she never felt out of place, people were welcoming beyond measure and spoke quite good English. She had yet to cook in the beautiful kitchen she was provided, but in the meanwhile was enjoying the different cuisines, thus far, she enjoyed the Malaysian food the most. 

Paging through the folder in hand, Sierra’s eyes fell on the directions to the ice-cream parlor that Ken swore was the best ice cream in the world. In a split second she decided she wanted to try it out that night itself, she grabbed a thin blazer-like jacket and threw it over her silk cami, slipping on the sandals she wore earlier before she ventured out of her apartment with just money and pepper spray in her pocket. 

The walk to the ice-cream shop was quick, the streets were buzzing with life as usual, despite the sun having long set in the sky, but everyone went about their business. 

The quaint little shop had a certain youthlike charm to it, with splashes of yellow, blue, and pink paint on the wall, the white benches almost looked out of place, yet right where they belonged. The freezers spanned across the whole front of the shop, with just a little walkway in between, the little silver dishes held an array of flavors, each with a label on it. 

Sierra stepped closer to the glass, her eyes searching for her regular poison. 

“Good evening Madam, what can I get for you?” The young lady behind the counter smiled encouragingly, which Sierra returned with one of her own. 

“I’ll have two scoops of double chocolate, with chocolate chip biscotti.” The woman grinned and nodded before proceeding with the order, but just as her scoop touched the dish, another did too. 

The other woman frowned and said something in Mandarin, to which her server responded with an annoyed comment of her own. 

“Is there a problem?” Sierra frowned, not understanding what they were saying. 

“I’m sorry Madam, but there are only two scoops of double chocolate ice cream and the man over there ordered the same thing. 

Sierra’s eyes flew to the man standing at the counter on the opposite end of the shop with his head buried in his phone and a deep frown on his face. She hadn’t heard him come in, but he had no idea of the dilemma they were in.

“Excuse me, but I believe I was here first.” She focused on the two ladies before her whose eyes widened. 

“Uh yes mam, but he ordered first.” his server blushed, awkwardly glancing at him from the corner of her eye. 

“How did he do that? I didn’t even hear him enter the shop, let alone speak.” Sierra was puzzled by their behavior. 

“He is a regular customer, he comes in here every second night and orders the same thing.” Sierra’s frown deepened and went to answer when the Women’s eyes widened and a deep voice beside her spoke. 

“Is something wrong?” His deep baritone voice made involuntary shivers run up her spine.

“N-No sir.” his server answered, but Sierra wasn’t having it. 

“Yes, actually there is. I ordered two scoops of double chocolate ice cream and apparently so did you, but there are only two scoops left, so we have a dilemma.” The man raised an amused eyebrow at her. 

“I don’t see that we do, when Rebecca here saw me and got started on my order, you hadn’t even made up your mind yet.” Sierra’s jaw dropped. 

“Saw you? You never even placed an order.” The man shrugged uncaringly. 

“It's not my fault they know what I order.” she eyed him with annoyance, he wasn’t taking this seriously at all. 

“It is your fault for ordering the same thing every second day of the week, plus in order for an agreement to be legally binding it needs to be either verbal or in writing and I don’t believe you have either of those two things.” It was her turn to smirk, enjoying the look of surprise on his face.

“Are you a lawyer or something? My intention was to order that and if you want to pull the law card then you’d know that intent is considered in court.” Sierra’s smirk widened. 

“Since your intentions were not made clear it can easily be dismissed as an assumption and no, I’m not a lawyer.” The man couldn’t hold it in his chuckles any longer, and seeing the amusement on his face, Sierra cracked a smile. 

“You are a worthy opponent, but we still have a dilemma on our hands which may be solved in a civil manner.” He suggested wisely. 

“What do you suggest?” Sierra motioned for him to go ahead. 

“We each take one a scoop of double chocolate and a scoop of chocolate and I’ll make up for it by paying for the chocolate sauce.” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“What if I don't like chocolate sauce?” She tested and his jaw dropped in horror. 

“Then I’m taking both scoops of double chocolate, cause who doesn’t like chocolate sauce?” Sierra laughed at his dramatics. 

“Luckily not me.” her eyes widened seriously and turned to the two servers who had smiles on their faces. “Did you guys get that?” She asked, knowing they were listening intently to the argument, which they affirmed by nodding excitedly and proceeding to prepare their orders. 

“You’re new in town aren’t you?” Sierra peaked at him from the corner of her eye and nodded. 

“It’s my third day here, I’m guessing by your frequent presence in this shop, you live here?” The man smirked. 

“Well not in the shop of course, but yeah and I’ve never had to fight for my favorite ice cream before.” Sierra threw her head back laughing. 

“Then you better gear up for some competition mister-” She stopped, realizing she had no idea what his name was. 

“Roman Leek.” He extended a hand for her to shake which she accepted.

“Sierra Brightly.” Roman grinned. 

“Bright indeed. So Sierra Brightly, what brings you to Singapore?” Sierra went to hand the server her money when Roman’s hand stopped her. “I’ve got it.” 

“I never said you could pay for my ice cream.” Sierra protested, earning her a sideways smirk from him. 

“Consider it a ‘welcome to Singapore’.” Sierra shook her head, not bothered to protest anymore. 

“I would say it’s a warm welcome, but I’d be lying, so I’ll just say thanks.” Roman chuckled at her joke. 

“You’re very welcome, Sierra.” His eyes locked with hers and silence spread between them for a few seconds before he glanced to his right. “I don’t suppose you’re in a hurry?” He motioned to the white benches along the glass windows of the shop and she shook her head. 

“To answer your question, I’m here for work. What about you?” Sierra said, slipping into the bench across from him. 

“Same. So where are you originally from?” Roman asked, taking a huge bite of his ice cream, but his eyes remained trained on her. 

“San Francisco, I grew up in Berkeley, but moved to the city when I finished high school.” Roman nodded in interest. 

“I’m a California kid myself, I’m from Los Angeles.” Now it was Sierra’s turn to nod impressed.

“Nice, if you don’t mind me asking, why leave the city everyone goes to make dreams come true?” Roman smiled and shook his head. 

“Some dreams are different and LA was quickly turning into more of a nightmare than anything else, so I moved out here the first chance I got.” There was something in his eye that told Sierra there was more to the story than he was letting on, but strangely, she didn’t feel the need to know. 

“I can somewhat relate to that.” Roman studied her for a moment as she focused on eating her ice cream. 

“What do you expect to gain by being here?” He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest, Sierra stared into his eyes for a moment, trying to gauge what he was thinking, but she couldn’t place it.

“I don’t know exactly, but I’m hoping that when I leave here I would have had an adventure.” Roman’s eyes narrowed in contemplation. 

“How long are you here for?” 

“Six months.” He stroked the slight stubble on his chin with a strange look in his eye. 

“What do you consider an adventure Sierra?” The question made her think, she had no idea why she was humoring him, perhaps it was because he looked at her like nothing in the world was impossible. 

“I have no idea.” That wasn’t true, a whole lot of things ran through her mind, but none of them seemed good enough to answer that question. 

“Let me rephrase. Something you’ve always wanted to do, but never got around to?” Sierra bit her lip, hesitating before she answered. 

“It’s going to sound stupid, but I’ve always wanted to get in shape.” Roman raised an eyebrow at her, Sierra wasn’t by any means fat, though he supposed her decision was more health-focused. 

“Done.” Roman leaned forward, confusing her. 

“What do you mean?”

“I work out every morning before work, either a run around the city or in the gym just down the road from here. We could be gym buddies.” Sierra eyed him skeptically. 

“Why are you doing this?” Roman shrugged, he hadn’t quite answered that question to himself as yet. 

“When I first got here I told myself the same thing, but in my line of work, it’s easy to get caught up in a routine, I guess it’s a chance for me to have my adventure too.” Sierra studied him and found truth in his eyes. 

“Okay, I’ll bite. I start work at 8:30.” Roman smiled triumphantly.

“6 am it is!” Sierra’s face scrunched up in displeasure but decided to bite the bullet. 

“As disgusting as that sounds, I’m willing to give it a chance,” Roman smirked and stood up from the bench, both of them having finished their ice cream. 

“Okay, I’ll pick you up, where are you staying?” They dumped their bowls in the dustbin beside the door and exited the shop, waving goodbye to the ladies behind the counter. 

“The Gong.” Roman’s eyes widened. 

“Wow, small world, I live in the building just next door, we actually share the same gym.” Sierra didn’t know that but found it quite convenient. 

“I’m not sure whether that’s convenient or suspicious.” Roman laughed. 

“We’ll go with the former.” She chuckled at his answer and they both fell to silence as they walked the short distance to their apartments. 

“Roman, there’s something I should say before we start whatever this is.” She bit her lip once again before continuing, “I don’t mean to be forward or presumptuous but I recently got out of a long-term relationship, it didn’t exactly end well and I just wanted to put it out there.” Roman eyed her with interest. 

“You’re straightforward, I appreciate that and I can understand why you’d feel the need to say that, but I’m not ready to go down that road either, so rest assured, we’ll be okay.” Sierra sighed in relief, both coming to a stop in front of her building. 

“Well, this is me.” Roman nodded, pointing at the building they passed by.

“That one’s me, apartment 1702.” Sierra nodded, making a mental note in case she ever needed it. 

“Thank you for walking me, it was lovely meeting you, Roman.” She extended a hand to him, which he accepted with a smile. 

“The pleasure is all mine, Miss Sierra, Brightly.” With a wink, he turned to walk back to his building, just as the concierge pushed open the door for her.

“Good evening Mr. Roman.” The doorman greeted Roman who nodded back. 

Just as Sierra was about to cross the threshold, Roman called out her name, when she turned back, he was approaching her with calculating eyes. 

“We’re both looking for an adventure, right?” Sierra nodded, wondering where this was going. “So let’s agree that when it’s all over, we’ll go our separate ways and that will be it. No personal information, no attachment, just memories.” The idea seemed bogus to Sierra, but excitement bubbled in her veins. 

“How do I know you’re not saying that because you’re a serial killer?” She narrowed her eyes at him, it was somewhat a valid argument, but it amused him instead. 

“Fair enough and to ease your mind I’ll tell you that I’m actually a doctor at University Hospital.” Sierra’s eyes widened, he had just laid down the rules and he was already breaking them. 

“Breaking your own rules so soon is not a great precedent to set, but in the essence of equality, I am a scientist. Now we’re even and we have a deal.” She extended her hand once again, sealing the deal. 

“I’ll see you at 6 am sharp, Sierra.” With one last wink, he left her staring at his back. 

“What have I gotten myself into?” She asked herself aloud, but the anticipation building inside of her stopped her from caring about the answer.