THE HONOURABLE MAN

Episode 7

After learning her beautiful name that suits her, Bryce’s face lightens up and he can’t stop himself from grinning, “Can I please see her?” he requests with enthusiasm. “Unfortunately no! I’m sorry to say she has resigned, today was her last day. She now wants to focus on her studies hundred percent. I will surely miss her, she was the light of this place and all my customers adored her,” The old lady sounds disheartened as she speaks.

“I’m sorry to hear that, may you please give me her contact details,” “Absolutely not, it’s against our company’s policy we don’t give out our employees contact details to strangers, what if you are stalking her? “I assure you I’m not stalking her but I do understand what you are saying thank you very much for your time.” He stands up to leave with disappointment written all over his face. “Wait!” The old lady shouts.

Bryce is relieved, he reckons the old lady has had a change of heart and has decided to give him Kiana’s phone number. “You can leave her tip with me and I will make sure to pass by her house and give it to her.” “Oh that,” He smirks feeling disappointed. “You did say that’s the reason you were looking for her, to give her the tip she deserves unless you were lying to me or you don’t trust that I will give it to her?”

Bryce doesn’t feel like opening his mouth anymore, he feels defeated and discouraged he has also lost all hope of ever meeting Kiana. At least now he knows her name and a beautiful name it is. He takes out his wallet, pulls out a $100 dollar note and leaves it on the desk before walking away. The old lady gasps at the sight of the $100 dollar note, either this man is very rich or Kiana is very lucky or something else is going on, she ponders.

*

Today Bryce is having dinner at Pete’s house, he hasn’t spent much time with him ever since his mother visited. Selena is an excellent cook, her food always has a great aroma and it looks appetizing and tastes delicious as always. He hopes Kiana is also a great cook, he doesn’t know anything about this girl except for what Dina and Mrs Hopkins said about her, 'she is cheerful, friendly, adorable and a light of the earth.'

Soon as they are alone Bryce tells his friend about Kiana and Pete is thrilled to know his friend is ready to date and he already has a girl in mind the only problem being he can’t find her.

**

A few days later just when Bryce had made the decision to forget about Kiana as he felt it’s a hopeless situation, at almost knock off time Kiana makes a surprise visit to Dina to thank her for the tip. Dina has no idea what she is talking about and Kiana notices the puzzled look on her face thence she explains that about a week ago a man passed by the flower shop asking to see her so as to give her the tip but she had already left, the man then left the money with her boss Mrs Hopkins who came to her house to give it to her.

Kiana assumed the man was Dina’s husband since he is the one who had ordered the flowers to be delivered to his wife. Dina is positive it wasn't her husband and after a few seconds of thinking about it, she realizes it must had been Bryce since he is the one who was very anxious to find her.

“All my life I have never received such a huge amount of money as a tip, that’s why I had to come here to say thank you in person. I’m sorry I couldn’t come earlier I have been so busy with my studies, assignments and exams, that kind of thing.” “If you really want to thank me there is one thing I want you to do for me.” Dina smiles brilliantly.

“Of course, anything.” Kiana Simpers.

Dina nibbles her lip thinking of how to play this in a way that won’t scare her off. She looks around her desk then she spots her take away coffee that was delivered to her a few minutes before Kiana arrived and a brilliant idea comes to mind. “Can you do me a favour and take this coffee to the man in the office right behind you, I’m just feeling lazy to get up and my feet are killing me.” “Okay sure that’s no problem at all, I'm used to being a deliverer," she chuckles.

Bryce hears a soft knock on his door, he has no idea the girl of his dreams whom he had searched high and low for was right behind his door. He was facing the window just staring at the birds outside and when he heard the knock he spun his chair around to face the front before hollering, “Please come in.”

He faces down as he gathers the files on his desk and he doesn’t seem interested in seeing who it is because he assumes it’s just one of the employees bringing him a document to sign. By the time he looks up Kiana is standing right in front of his desk. She is about to greet him when she looks at him and observes the shocked, surprised and confused expression on his face.

“Are you okay sir?” she asks concerned because Bryce looks like someone who has just seen a ghost. “Oh my God! It’s you, it’s really you I can’t believe it,” he dazedly utters as he gets up on his feet. Kiana glances over her shoulders thinking there must be someone else in the room that he is referring to. It cannot be her because she is very sure they have never met before.

He cannot believe his eyes, this is a miracle and this must be a sign from the heavens that she is truly made for him. How did she know it was him, how did she find him? Questions float in his head. When he first saw her he didn’t get a close look at her face but now he can see all of her mesmerizing beauty clearly. She has captivating brown almond eyes with long thick eyelashes and full natural thick dark eyebrows. Her face is oval shaped with high cheeks and a straight edged nose.

Her skin is perfectly clear with no freckles or blemishes. She is the most beautiful girl he has ever seen and he cannot help staring at her sexy heart shaped soft pink lips and dreaming of kissing her.

“How did you get here, how did you know it was me?” he asks with puzzlement. “I think you are mistaking me for someone else I’m afraid I don’t know what you are talking about. I came here to see Ms Dina and she asked me to bring you coffee,” she explains as she places down the coffee on his desk.

He is left bewildered by her response and he is still trying to make sense of what’s going on when his telephone rings, he excuses himself and answers it right away.

The caller is Dina, she notifies him she is knocking off and she also explains Kiana’s presence in his office before hanging up, he smirks ruefully as he hangs up wishing she had called him earlier before he made a fool out of himself.