It's the thought that counts... Chapter twelve

"How do I look?" Mayowa asked herself staring at her reflection in the side mirror of the Uber taxi she had ordered. She adjusted her black dress carefully, trying to avoid getting it rumpled. She hadn't had the chance to go out in a while, at least not on a date like this one. Charlie had called her the previous morning asking her out, although she had eagerly wanted to accept his offer to go out that day, she didn't want to repeat the same course of actions she had taken with Bola and had declined his offer. Yet again he called that morning pleading for dinner, which she had no other choice but to accept. She turned to the glass doors of the restaurant and took a deep breath and then exhaled.

"Please do give me a good rating!" the Uber driver said as he drove off.

"If tonight goes well, you'll be getting all the ratings I can give" she said licking her lower lip with her tongue. The doorman opened the doors greeting her with a warm smile and got a similar gesture from her. She walked into restaurant like a model would, all eyes were on her. Her smile equally boosted her confidence, she felt like the world had nothing on her, her eyes quickly went both ways in search of Charlie but only came back futile as he was nowhere nearby.

'Did I come too early? I'm pretty sure this is the restaurant or is it?' she thought to herself.

"Madam?" the attendant called to her with his tablet in hand, "Do you have a reservation?".

"I think so, I'm supposed to be meeting someone" She said growing uncomfortable.

"Name please?" he requested.

"Charlie Okechukwu" a voice said from behind.

Mayowa turned swiftly at the sound of the voice, her gaze catching his and a smile came upon her face. Charlie had lowered the length of hair to a low cut, making him look twice as handsome as he did when they first met at the hospital.

"Did I keep you waiting too long?" he asked breaking the silence between them.

"No not at all, I just came in some minutes ago" she managed to say.

"Well you look quite beautiful tonight" he said with a smile.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, shall I take you to your table?" the attendant said ushering them in.

"Shall we?" Charlie asked stretching forth his hand.

"What a gentleman" she said taking his hand as they both made their way to their table.

On the were a set of scented candles, two glass cups, some napkins and a flower vase with a rose in it at the center. Charlie pulled the chair backwards allowing Mayowa to get in between it and the table and then pushed it slightly forward.

"Thank you" she said sitting on the seat as she watched Charlie take his, "I didn't take you for a gentleman".

"Well that's me at work, this is me in my comfort zone" he said picking up the menu.

'I would love to see you in the private zone' she thought to herself.

"When I saw you at the rooftop I knew you were beautiful, but I didn't know you could turn it up so much" he said.

"Now you are into flattering too?".

"You deserve to be worshipped and that's what I'm willing to do to you" Charlie said waving over an attendant.

"Are you ready to order now?" she asked.

"Yes, I would like the rice and moi-moi, with some orange juice to go with it" Mayowa said.

Charlie dropped the menu down and said, "I'll have the same with the lady, instead of orange juice I would like a bottle of Guinness and a bottle of champagne too".

"Okay, I'll have that sent to you in a few minutes" She took a bow and left.

"A beer person" Mayowa said.

"Surprised?" he asked.

"Not really".

"Okay then, last time we spoke you told me about the issues you had been facing at home, but we never really got to talk about you" he said.

"That's sudden" She said feeling skeptical about telling him about herself, she would have to reveal the truth since she didn't want to lie to him on their first actual date, but she didn't also want to make a fool of herself.

"Here's your orange juice, Guinness and bottle of Champagne" another attendant said saving the day without knowing it.