11 Lunch!

When Izora and Raf opened the door of his office, they almost ran into Cadence heading inside herself.

"Oh! Sir," She bowed "There's a very important business meeting with-"

"Cancel it." said Raf with the wave of his hand. "I have more important matters to attend to." He stepped into the elevator looking only at Izora, but Izora saw the surprised and angry expression on Cadence's face turn into a sinister smirk and felt worried.

"Raf, is it ok for you to just...cancel a meeting for lunch?"

"It's a lunch with you" he said stressing the last word. "I became the CEO of this company because in this realm I needed power and resources in order to find you. But now that you're here, I'll probably pass the company to the VP and reap stockholder benefits for the rest of my life."

"But that's not a lot of money, how-" Raf grabbed her hand and kissed it.

"Remember Izora, I'm a King in the other realm. I won't force you to do anything but if you should choose me, we'll be living with power and riches beyond any that exists here in the human realm." Izora opened her mouth to object again but realized what he meant. If she chose her, they wouldn't be coming back here. They wouldn't need any money because she'd never be seeing Giselle or anyone else ever again.

_____

They'd decided to go to restaurant down the block. It turned out to be extremely fancy and Izora, even in business clothes felt underdressed. The host welcome Raf with a smile and thankfully took them to a private room. It had a large round table with enough seats to fit 8 people. Raf pulled a chair out for Izora to sit in and sat himself to her left. He picked up the menu and started looking at it. Izora looked down at hers. There weren't any prices on any of the dishes. She didn't understand what half of them were either except for the proteins they included like lamb, veal, duck, and lobster. Just as she was about to ask Raf if they could go elsewhere the waiter came in. Izora paid close attention to how Raf talked to the waiter. Her grandmother had always said that you could judge a person's character by how they treated servers or hospitality workers.

"Good afternoon sir and miss. My name is Emanuel and I will be taking care of anything you need today."

"Hello Emanuel" Raf greeted the man with a smile as if they were old friends. "Let's start with your finest champagne and the assortment of caviar." Raf closed his menu and handed it to the waiter. Izora had no clue what she'd wanted but gave hers to Emanuel as well. As soon as he left Raf smiled at Izora.

"Have you ever had caviar before?"

"No, honestly I'm not sure I know what any of the food here is." Raf noticed Izora looked a bit uncomfortable.

"If you want I could order something for you. I think it's always good to try something new. But if you don't want to eat here we can go somewhere else." Izora could tell he looked genuinely concerned. She also knew that there was a large chance she'd be turning him down later on but she didn't want to give him a chance. *Besides, I enjoy trying new food...*

"You can just order for me. But please don't get anything too expensive."

"Don't worry about the cost. I'll give you the world." Raf said that to her so calmly. Like he'd just told her he was going to go for a jog. *The world?* Izora frowned to herself. *Any girl would probably be giddy in this situation but this is all too much for me. I think he's serious* Raf noticed her frown and frowned himself. He'd dreamt of these moments his entire life and always wondered what she'd be like. And yet, she just seemed so unhappy. The pair sat there quietly and awkwardly, both thinking to themselves about the situation they were in. The door opened and the waiter arrived followed by a busboy wheeling in a table with the drinks and appetizer. The busboy left and Emanuel poured the champagne for them. Raf lifted his glass and Izora clinked hers to his quickly almost a spilling some. They both took a few large swigs, Raf almost draining his glass. Emanual then began to dish the caviar from a fancy bowl onto small pieces of toasted bread. He handed the first piece to Izora. She took it but didn't eat it. Emanuel waited and Izora realized he was probably waiting to see if she enjoyed it.

"You try it first." She said, extending the piece to Raf. The last thing she wanted to do was spit it out and seem rude. Raf opened his mouth playfully hoping she'd go along with it, and she did. But before the food could enter his mouth her hand was smacked so her she screamed out in pain and almost fell to the side. All of the sudden in a flurry of motion Emanuel was held up by his neck against the wall. His feet dangling and squirming, and his hands scratching at Raf's who was tightening his grip.

"Who sent you" he spoke in a low voice through clenched teeth. "WHO!" Izora held her hurt hand and looked at them in horror, and then *SNAP* Emanuel was nothing but a pile of dust on the floor.

"We need to get you out of here, it's already started and worse than I'd thought."

"Wha-"

"Mazidae!" Raf called out "Kiss her eyes. We need to go." Izora blinked and felt a small shock on her eyelids which opened to see Mazidae's face millimeters from her own. Izora almost jumped, startled by the sudden ability to see the spryte. Raf grabbed her hand and pulled her close to his side. He walked briskly out of the restaurant and into a car that was waiting outside. He got in but before he could pull Izora in as well she tugged her hand away.

"Izora we need to go."

"I don't know where you're taking me but I barley know you. I trust what you say, but if the only reason people are coming after me is because of a choice I'd make then I won't make it. I won't choose whether or not I want to be with you but I also won't be kidnapped by you and taken off to who knows where." As Izora was ranting she hadn't noticed that time had stopped. Raf looked at her like she'd just broken his heart.

"Oh Izora, it doesn't work that way." A tear fell down Raf's face and in the blink of an eye he was a pile of dust.