Love In Repeat

An un expected meeting

Writing

Chapter Three

An Unexpected Meeting

Maya stood in front of her mirror, adjusting the sleeve of her simple blue dress. She had changed outfits three times already, and she still was not convinced that she looked ready for dinner.

“This is not a date,” she reminded herself.

Her phone rang.

“Teni, I’m not going again,” Maya said immediately.

“You haven’t even left your room,” Teni replied. “How can you cancel something you haven’t attended?”

“Because I already know how it will end.”

“You don’t know anything. Just go, eat something, and come back. Nobody is asking you to fall in love tonight.”

Maya sighed. Teni had a way of making everything sound simple.

“Fine. I’ll go.”

“Good. And please, try to smile. Your face is not a court case.”

Maya laughed despite herself. “You’re impossible.”

“I know. Now hurry.”

By the time Maya arrived at the rooftop restaurant in Victoria Island, the evening sky had turned orange. Lagos moved noisily beneath the building, but the restaurant itself was calm, filled with soft music, warm lights, and the smell of expensive food.

A hostess checked her name.

“Maya Adewale?”

“Yes.”

“Your table is ready. Table 23.”

Maya followed her across the restaurant. She noticed a man sitting alone at the table, dressed in a white shirt with his sleeves folded neatly to his elbows. He looked up when she approached.

For a moment, both of them stared at each other.

“Are you Maya?” he asked.

“Yes. Are you…?”

“Ethan.”

Maya’s eyebrows lifted. “Ethan?”

He nodded slowly. “I was expecting someone named Maya.”

“And I was expecting someone named Ethan.”

They looked at the table number.

“Table 23,” Maya said.

Ethan picked up his phone and checked his message. “David said my date would be here.”

“Teni said the same thing to me.”

They both became quiet.

A few seconds later, Maya’s phone buzzed. It was a message from Teni.

Please don’t leave. Just sit down and talk. Maybe it is a sign.

Almost immediately, Ethan’s phone rang. He listened, frowned, and then ended the call.

“David says we should stay,” he said.

Maya shook her head. “Of course he does.”

“We can leave if you want.”

She looked around the restaurant, then back at him. “We already came this far. We might as well eat.”

Ethan smiled. “That sounds reasonable.”

They sat across from each other.

At first, the conversation was awkward. They talked about the menu, the weather, and how difficult Lagos traffic had been. Slowly, however, the tension began to disappear.

Maya discovered that Ethan planned events for a living. Ethan learned that she designed clothes and owned a small fashion business.

“You don’t look like someone who enjoys surprises,” he said.

“I don’t,” Maya replied. “Especially romantic ones.”

He nodded. “Same here.”

For the first time that evening, they both laughed.

Neither of them knew it yet, but the wrong table was about to become the beginning of something neither had expected.