Chapter 9: Missed Dinners
390 Words
Maya stared at the clock on the wall of the quiet restaurant.
7:45 p.m.
The waiter refilled her water glass politely.
She checked her phone again.
No message.
Tonight was supposed to be special — the first anniversary of the scholarship program she had built from scratch. Liam had promised to be there to celebrate with her.
But the minutes kept ticking.
8:10 p.m.
8:20 p.m.
Finally, she saw the message.
Liam: I can’t make it. Crisis at work. Sorry.
Her stomach sank.
For a moment, she considered leaving. But then a familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Maya?”
She turned, startled, and saw Ethan standing there perfectly composed in a dark suit, as though fate had dropped him into the room.
“You’re alone,” he said, glancing at the empty table across from her.
“My—uh, my boyfriend couldn’t make it,” she admitted.
“Then let me join you,” he said smoothly. “No one should celebrate alone.”
⸻
Dinner with Ethan was effortless.
He asked about her projects, her dreams for the NGO, even her childhood listening intently as though nothing else in the world mattered.
When she laughed at something he said, she felt guilty almost instantly.
This was wrong.
She had a boyfriend.
But she couldn’t deny how light she felt, how different this night was from the constant tension with Liam.
⸻
When they left the restaurant, Ethan offered to walk her to her car.
As they reached the street, Maya turned to him.
“Thank you,” she said softly. “For tonight. You didn’t have to—”
“I wanted to,” Ethan said, his voice low. “You deserve to be celebrated.”
For a heartbeat, the air between them felt charged.
She looked away, suddenly flustered.
“I should go,” she said quickly.
“Of course.”
But as she drove away, her heart was racing not from fear, but from something she didn’t want to name.
⸻
Later that night, Ethan stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of his penthouse, watching the lights of the city below.
He could still see the flicker of guilt in Maya’s eyes when she had laughed at his joke.
Good.
She was already beginning to feel conflicted.
Soon, she would stop fighting it altogether.
- Writer
