Nurse Abby shoved a bouquet of flowers into my hands as soon as I reached the nurse station. I glanced into the bouquet of tiny white flowers with furrowed brows. I wasn't much of a flower person, so I couldn't decipher the name or type.

She had on a wide grin and her eye twinkled in the light. "It came in for you"

"Me?" I tipped the flowers to the side and found a card tucked in the side.

I'm sorry about last night.

Nick

I kissed my teeth and handed the bouquet to a young patient being discharged. If he thought some flowers would magically erase the things he said to me, he was not as smart as I thought he was.

Nurse Abby pursed her lips at me. "And here I thought, you'd finally give romance a chance" she shook her head as she sank into the chair behind a computer screen.

My jaw fell open and I leaned against the slab that barricaded the nurse station. "What does that mean? I- I like romance"

She lifted her eyes, above the rims of her glasses. "Really?"

I tried to stop myself from smiling. "Yeah"

She locked her fingers together and leaned back against her chair. "Sweetie, I've known you since your intern days and not once have I seen you go on a date." She gestured to my belly. "Until that, I thought you were allergic to anything associated with love"

I parted my lips to offer a good defence but the emergency doors burst open and the EMT team wheeled in a man. He was clutching onto his chest and wheezing out. I rushed over to his gurney with two nurses in tow.

"33-year-old male, chest pains and abnormal breathing. He was on a treadmill in a local gym when he collapsed to the floor, clutching his chest" the EMT guy recited.

"Move him to bay 3" nurse Abby instructed and they pushed his gurney in the said direction.

Let the day begin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I walked out of the hospital, kneading the muscles of my neck with my fingers. A long yawn escaped me sending my eyes shut for the duration. I reopened them just in time to see Nicholas pull into the driveway, in the driver's seat. Nicholas exited the car and walked around to lean against the passenger door. I released a sigh as I swung my bag unto my shoulders. I folded my arms above my belly and trudged up to him, leaving a few feet of distance between us.

"Hey," he said and I cocked an eyebrow in response. He shoved his hands into his pocket and pushed off the door. "I see you're still upset"

"Wow, how did you come to that conclusion?" I deadpanned

"Did you get the flowers?" he took a step closer, his eyes searching for any floral evidence.

I popped a shoulder upwards and my tone remained flat. "I did"

He took his hand out of his pocket, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and back. "I apologize for yesterday. I wasn't in the right frame of my mind – Camille turned up at my office and it –"he let out a deep sigh as he raked his fingers through his hair. "There's no excuse for my attitude . . . I shouldn't have spoken to you in that manner, I'm sorry"

Wait, hold up now. He couldn't just mention Camille and cut off the story abruptly. My curiosity was already piqued. I dropped my hands down to my side. "What happened with Camille?"

He ran a hand over his face. "It's not important. She wanted to talk about getting back together. The entire conversation put me in a bad mood." He rubbed the creases between his brows and stepped forward. "That doesn't matter, It- I took my anger out on you and I apologize"

I nodded. "For this arrangement to benefit us, there must be some atom of respect between us. From now on, there would be no name calling or insulting insinuations posed on the other person" I tucked loose strands from my black bob behind my ear. "If there's any course for disagreement, we would sit down and discuss it like adults, okay?"

He pressed his lips into a hard line and nodded.

"Okay," I rocked forward on the ball of my feet whilst nodding my head.

He turned around and pulled the passenger door open. "Get in . . . please. I want to make it up to you"

I glanced from him to the open door as I took hesitant steps forward. "What are you planning?"

He waited till I'd gotten into the car and had shut the door, before responding. "You'll see"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nicholas's car rolled to a stop in front of the entrance of an establishment. A valet opened my door and after closing it, rushed over to Nicholas and accepted his car keys. The bold and bright letters of the words – La Cuisine hung at the centre of the building. Is this – Is this THE La Cuisine? It was one of the most expensive and highly reviewed restaurants in the city. You had to have made reservations a month or two prior, to secure a table. It was where the high-class folks dined and where Whitney and I dined in our dreams.

I turned to Nicholas who made his way to my side. He placed his hand on my lower back and gestured towards the entrance with the other. Oh my God, this is for real.

Soft jazz filled the small reception area. Nicholas went ahead to speak with the receptionist while I lingered back and took in my environment. A tall porcelain vase of faux flowers stood by the wall, beside the receptionist station and a large painting of sunset hung on another wall. I peered into the adjoining room and saw round-clothed tables, occupied by people. The main restaurant had dimmer lighting compared to the reception area. Each table had a small lamp with fresh flowers placed at the centre.

A young lady dressed in the white and wine apparel of the staff emerged and escorted us to a separate location. I looked down at my plain nude maternity gown and Nicholas's well-tailored black suit. I wished I had known I'd be here, I would've worn something better. We were ushered to a secluded table on a balcony which overlooked the busy city. The stars in the night sky served as a beautiful backdrop and a background relaxing tune set the ambience for the evening.

A male waiter approached us with a glass of orange juice and placed it in front of me. Was this a usual thing? Or was this a part of Nick's surprise? I put on a small smile and thanked the waiter before he disappeared from view.

"Is this your doing?" I lifted the glass to my lips and took a small sip.

He cocked both brows at me. "Everything has been pre-ordered. All you need to do is enjoy them"

I folded my arms over the table and leaned in. "You sound confident. What if I don't like what you've ordered?"

The corner of his lips lifted up into a smirk. "Oh, you will"

"If you say so," I leaned off the table and picked up my glass of orange juice.

The same waiter approached the table with a large tray, I moved my glass out of the way as the waiter offloaded the dishes from the tray and unto the table. The dishes were covered with round silverware, adding to the mystery but a familiar aroma sifted through the air. Wait? No, it can't be.

The server uncovered the dish and my jaw unhinged. I gaped at the rounded wraps of Eba and two bowls of steaming hot Egusi soup. Oh my God. I leaned forward and peered into the bowls of mouthwatering soup. Oh, it's Egusi for real.

"How did you--- How was this possible? I cradled the sides of my face in my hands. The aroma of the soup and stock fish rode the air, transporting me into memories of home. I could almost hear my mother's voice in the background. "Wh- wh- How? Do they even serve this here?"

"They do not actually. I made a special request for it and it turned out there was a Nigerian assisting chef on their team" he said

I lowered my eyes to the food. "I can't even find the right words – thank you. I would never have thought this" I gestured at the dishes. "My God, this is so amazing. I could kiss you right now"

He raised his eyebrows as a smile crept unto his lips.

"No," I held up a hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that – not that you're not worthy of being kissed – I just won't. I'm sorry – what am I saying?" I buried my face into my palms.

"If I knew this was going to be your reaction, I would've sent the food instead of the flowers," he said.

I laughed and dropped my hands on the table. "Thank you so much for this"

He nodded with a soft smile. "Let's eat"

He picked up a fork and cut out a small part of the semi-solid Eba, dipped the tip into the soup and put it into his mouth. Uh uh, I'm not using a fork. Cutlery etiquettes were not made for this type of food. I called on the waiter and requested a clean bowl of water. There was something different about eating Nigerian ethnical meals with your bare hands and I needed that feeling to complete this experience.

The waiter returned with the bowl and hand towel. I rinsed my fingers thoroughly and then dabbed them dry with a towel. I pinched out a sizable amount of Eba in my right hand and dipped it into the soup.

"Oh my God," I held my hand in front of my mouth as I chewed and then swallowed. A wave of nostalgia went right through me, as the delicacy hit my taste buds. It was perfect.

I looked up at Nicholas. I was so entranced by the food that every other thing faded into the background. "How does it taste? Do you like it?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "It's okay, I guess. It's definitely different from what I've had" he pointed to the plate of Eba. "This one is very sticky"

"You're not taking enough soup. You need to dip it in the soup properly" I gestured to his bowl of soup. I watched him dip a fork of Eba into the soup and put it into his mouth.

I shook my head. "Hold on," I pinched out some Eba and dipped it into my soup. I held out the Eba coated in soup to him and he didn't hesitate to eat the food out of my hands.

The warmth of his tongue greeted my fingers as it grazed them and my breath hitched in my throat. I didn't think this through. His lips glided over my fingers as I withdrew my hand, his eyes not breaking contact with mine. "Ow!" I gasped as I cradled the left side of my belly.

"What's wrong?" Nicholas near-lurched out of his seat.

"The baby kicked," I lifted my eyes to him then beckoned him over. "Come feel"

This wasn't my first experience with my baby's kicks, so I knew there were going to be a few other more coming my way. Nicholas, on the other hand, hadn't been able to experience the kicks yet, since we didn't live together.

He crossed the distance and lowered himself to a squat. I took his hand and placed it at the left upper corner of my stomach and held it in place. "Hold on," I counted the seconds but nothing happened. "Come on, your daddy's here. One kick for him"

"It's fine," Nicholas made to stand to his feet.

"Shh," I held his palm down against my belly and stared hard at it. "Come on, sweetie. Listen to mummy". A few silent seconds passed and right on the area I had Nicholas's hand pressed against, the baby sent a powerful kick that sent me lurching forward. Okay, not that hard.

"Woah," Nicholas's face lit up like the rise of the sun at the crack of dawn. He chuckled, spotting the widest grin I'd ever seen on his face. Like the passage of current between two conductive, I broke into a wide smile.

"That was one heck of a kick," he remarked, his hand still on my stomach.

I chuckled and nodded. "I know, right?"

He picked my left hand in his and caressed the back of my palm with his fingers. He stared up into my eyes with a mesmerizing glow on his face. "Thank you for doing this,"

This time around the baby didn't do anything, instead, my stomach did backflips. Not again. I cleared my throat and averted my eyes to the table as I pulled my hand away. "Sure. Let's get back to the food"

"Yeah" he stood to his feet and walked back to his chair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EMT - Emergency Medical Technician

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