It was always you

Chapter 13.

Emotions are something we can’t control, something that happens to us, and our reaction is our emotions. But what if nothing happened to us, how could we fall for someone? Maybe it’s their act of kindness, maybe it’s their personality, maybe it’s none of the above, maybe we are superficial and we only fall for looks. 

The following day came, Sasha chose to continue sleeping in Pedro’s room, pushing thoughts of Mateo out of her head. Pedro came back late, she didn’t want to wake him up so she crept out of his room, slowly closing the door she turned and bumped into Mateo. 

“Were you with Pedro?” Mateo questioned harshly. “Uh, shhh!” she shushed Mateo, “he’s still asleep” she whispered. 

“Did you sleep with him?” Mateo asked the questions were filled with double meaning. 

“I’ve been sleeping in here for the past 2 days. Since our fight Mateo” 

“OH GOD STOP WHISPERING AT MY DOOR YOU FOOLS. LET ME SLEEP. SASHA EITHER YOU GET BACK IN HERE AND CUDDLE WITH THIS CUTE a*s OR GO DOWN. MATEO GET THE f**k AWAY FROM MY DOOR” Pedro yelled through the door, Sasha immediately blushed and walked away. 

“You could sleep with me in my room you know,” Mateo said as he grabbed her arm to stop her. “It’s fine Mateo, i'm comfortable with Pedro” 

“NO, YOU ARE NOT TAKING MY HUMAN PILLOW AWAY FROM ME. MATEO ASHTON PARKER, YOU MAY BE MY TWIN BUT I WILL KICK YOUR a*s IF YOU TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME RIGHT NOW. SASHA ANNABELLE CARTER, GET YOUR a*s BACK IN THIS BED” Pedro yelled as he opened the door to grab Sasha and drag her back to bed, closing the door behind him. 

“Why did you do that Ped?” Sasha questioned.

“Come back to bed, I’ll tell you why”, so she did and she cuddled with him. 

“First of all, I’m b****y tired and you are b****y comfortable. Your curves are the perfect body pillow I need right now, second I think it’s time for me to make my brother jealous” 

“First thing, Mateo will never get jealous, why should he anyways” she paused as he said, “we’ll see won’t we?”. She continued, “secondly, won’t your girl get jealous? You cuddling up to some other girl?” 

“Well she sleeps next to her man every night, I’m sleeping with my best friend because she’s the best pillow ever, and I don’t think she should be worried, I prefer my girls to be more experienced if you know what I mean” he laughed, and she rolled her eyes. Soon he drifted off to sleep, so this time she ensured he was in deep sleep before leaving him sprawled on the bed. She needed to take a shower, not willing to risk waking him up, she knocked on Mateo’s room door but no answer, she decided to knock again and still no answer, so she opened the door and there wasn’t anyone inside, so she decided to shower in his room. 

Hopping out of the shower, she got dressed, she soon realized she left her b*a, and she had a white top on, hoping that Mateo isn’t in the room, she slowly opened the bathroom door, to see her b*a dropped in front of the bed. She sighed in relief that Mateo wasn’t in the room, she quickly walked over and the door opened. 

She screamed and covered her breasts with her hands in defense. Mateo’s eyes widened and immediately realized her b*a was on the floor, he quickly closed the room door giving her privacy as she got ready. She quickly threw on her b*a adjusting her clothes, her face still flushed in embarrassment. 

She opened the door to see Mateo, not knowing what to say she looked down. “I didn’t see anything” he voiced, she sighed in relief. 

Later on during the day, she decided to bring out her laptop and start working on her cafe. She knew what she wanted, she knew exactly what she needed and how much an investment she needed to put in. Deciding not to put her dreams on hold anymore, she contacted the owner of a particular small empty lot in New York and made an offer. While waiting for the owner’s decision, she suddenly felt hungry. 

“Hey, I was thinking of going to Pablo's for lunch, want to join?” she asked Mateo, Pedro was still asleep. “Sure”.

***

“Welcome to Pablo’s by the beach, I’m Pablo, here’s your menu, call me when you’re ready to order,” an elderly man said with a smile, they mumbled a quick thank you. 

Once they were done eating, Sasha was stuffed, she thoroughly enjoyed their food and Mateo felt the same. She ordered their famous lobster mac and cheese and a mango salad, while Mateo ordered their grilled lamb and pumpkin soup, they’ve always frequented there when they were living in Miami, their waiter was always Jo, but she passed away from a heart attack a few years ago. 

Sasha picked up the check, refusing to let Mateo pay. He simply sighed in defeat but had a smile on his face. 

“Thank you for coming to Pablo’s” Pablo greeted, but immediately his face changed, he looked disappointed, he continued, “kids, we’re closing down next month, so if you enjoyed our food, we, no I personally would like to thank you, kids, for supporting my business. We have loved serving my customers, especially the young and in love ones”.

“Oh, we’re not..” Sasha spoke up, “Why are you closing down?” Mateo interrupted Sasha. 

“Well after Jo died, the other waiters I hired wasn’t as good, then her replacement spilled hot soup on a baby by accident, the parents of the baby sued us for gross misconduct, we ended up cutting back a lot of staff and selling off my home, in order to pay them off” he sighed, “soon after the other bills started to catch up, and I was afraid to hire more workers that would cause another court case, so I ended up working overtime, and with my kid working in the army, I’m all alone handling this business. We’re cutting our losses now, so by this time next month, Pablo’s will be closed permanently”

“Have you tried getting an investor to invest in your restaurant?” Sasha questioned.

“Yeah, but no one is willing to invest in a restaurant that is barely able to survive and in so much debt, once I’ve closed the restaurant, I will sell off this shop”, he paused, “my late wife bought this place for me when we were young and foolish, she believed in my dreams, she believes that I could make it as a chef, she sold her wedding ring, her late mother’s jewelry and her car to buy me this lot, back then it was even more beautiful” he wiped his tears. 

“How much do you need?” Sasha inquired, “About 100,000” he sighed, Mateo raised his eyebrow at her, she ignored Mateo and continued, “Pablo tio, how about someone invested in your restaurant and helped you in all your debts, all they ask in return is 40% of the shares?” 

Pablo’s eyes sparkled in excitement, “If that person is willing to help, I would give them 50% of the shares, but don’t bring an old man’s hopes up my dear”, he said as he touched Sasha’s shoulder, she put her hands on his and smiled. “Tio sit” she moved to the other chair offering her own. 

“Tio, I’m Sasha Carter. I’ll invest in your restaurant, I was going to use my money for something else, but you need that money more than I do, this is your legacy. My only request is 40% of the shares, and you remain as the majority shareholder. And your recipes to be written and passed to the lawyer of the executor of your will, so that I can continue on your legacy if anything were to happen.” Pablo’s eyes widened in shock.

“Are you sure? Don’t you need that money for your future?” Pablo questioned in worry, Sasha smiled warmly and reached over to hold Pablo’s hand, “I’m sure, my heart knows this is the right thing to do. If you will have me as your investor, I’ll be glad to be working with you tio”.

“Thank you, Miss Carter. Thank you so much for helping an old man like me” he exclaimed engulfing Sasha in a hug. “It’s Sasha tio” she smiled. 

“Okay, later I will get my lawyer to give you a call, and if you have a lawyer then it will be great, if not, you may choose a lawyer of your choosing, and I will pay for it. Let our lawyers draw up the contract as soon as possible”. They soon bid their goodbyes, exchanging numbers, Pablo would be forever grateful. Soon they found themselves walking by the beach, Mateo was quiet, lost in his thoughts. 

“That was amazing Sash, how did you have so much money on hand?” he finally spoke up, looking at her, he stared at her beauty, hair flying in all different directions but beautiful nonetheless. They found a spot that was less crowded and sat on the sand staring into the ocean. 

“That was some of what I had, I was going to open a small cafe in New York, that was always my dream, that money was my down payment for a shop back home, and I actually made an offer this morning, but I will pull out from the deal tonight. I was going to open a small quaint cafe, serving affordable coffee with restaurant-quality food but decent prices. I actually saved up most of my commission, I was excited but he needed this more than I do” 

“You are amazing” he barely said in a whisper staring at her. Her eyes were focused on the water, not noticing him staring. He put his arms around her and pulled her close, she smiled and rested her head on his chest, enjoying his company. 

“One day, you will have your own restaurant, one-day people will know your name, and one day you will be an amazing mother and wife, with your genuine and caring nature”, he smiled at her, and she looked up at him. 

He knew he was falling deeper for her, but he knew he had secrets, and he knew that he made a promise not to, he couldn’t even if he wanted to. His heart ached. 

She gazed at him, and him her, he leaned down and she tilted her head a little higher leaving barely any space between them, but not near enough for them to kiss. Then he leaned in further, he kissed her, and sparks were ignited.