APOLLO - 10

There are only a few places where a person can go in Valencia when the streets are bustling with the Las Fallas festival, so finding her was not a big task. I'm not a big fan of it though. I'd rather stay away from the bright colors and the noise on the streets 24/7 plus the crowd during the festival provides a perfect camouflage for the anti-social elements. Though it has been recorded in the Las Fallas history that nothing bad had ever happened during the festival, one cannot be too careful. As expected, I found Meera on the main street where the fire was placed. I need to keep an eye on her in case she's planning something for today.

If you just wanna keep an eye on her then just tell your men to do that. Ronen's words boomed in my head but I shook them off as soon as they surfaced. I just want to keep an eye on her, nothing else. But as soon as she turned, my eyes met her and a small surprised smile lit her face. Suddenly my heart did a little flip inside my chest. What the hell was that!? Why does this happen every time she smiles at me?

Somehow I finally convinced them to have coffee with me. Although Meera is the one I'm cautious about but to be honest Lilly seems more pain-in-the-ass kinda person.

I looked over the table where Meera was sitting, smiling in Lilly's direction who was too obviously flirting with Ronen. Ronen is handsome no doubt and nonetheless he looked like he was enjoying himself too. I took this moment to look at Meera properly. She was wearing something that looks like Indian wear. It was something like a top, only too long, it reached somewhere near her knees, cut out from the side from waist till end. The back of the dress was devilishly deep displaying a small tattoo. I saw it when we were entering the cafe and it instantly took my interest, three birds flying in the same direction, simple but they looked more alluring then they were supposed to and suddenly I wanted to know the story behind them.

I looked down, focusing more on what she was wearing. This was out of character though, I never notice what someone is wearing, it's good as long as they look presentable. The dress was slightly tight around her frame giving me a hint of her curvy figure. Full breasts, complimenting the curves of her waist, a perfect hourglass figure. The sheerness of her dress was attracting the best of my attention, I can practically see the colour of her bra... beetroot red. Get a hold of yourself Apollo! I tore my eyes away from her breast and back to her face.

The big metal earrings that hung from her ear, the little black dot right between her eyebrows, the nose ring and the innocent smile on her face, I noticed everything in such detail that it was sending shivers down my spine. I could literally sit here and watch her smile and laugh all day. Her hair was done in a low loose bun at the back of her neck and a few strands of hair had already come loose. Damn I wanna tug them behind her ear. But I tore my eyes from her before she could find me staring or worse, before I could lift my arm to her face and literally do what I was thinking of doing. Fuck me.

The waiter came shortly after with the orders, as he neared our table Meera took a deep breath and her face shot towards him. Ronen and I ordered the usual and the other two were cappuccinos. But when he kept the four cups on the table, two of them were not cappuccino. Meera's eyes widened and her head jerked in my direction, eyes shining and an amusing smile lit her face. Her reaction was so over the top that a laugh almost broke out of me. Ronen looked at me in surprise and confusion but I ignored him. My focus was completely drawn towards the lady in front of me who looked like someone just made her day.

"Chai?!!" she chirped. "But how..?"

"This is my cafe darling and I taught the chef how to make this heavenly drink." Even I instantly loved chai the moment I drank it last night, not a fan of spicy flavoured drinks but not gonna lie, this is quite something.

"But it doesn't taste like the one last night, sure tea leaves is a main factor but still..." I gave a heads up as she took her first sip. I've tried a few times but I still couldn't bring out the flavour I tasted in her tea, even though the tea leaves are somewhat similar. I unconsciously held my breath as Meera savoured the flavour for a second and when she opened her eyes they were literally shining.

"This is so good!" She said signing as if she was just missing this one thing from her day.

"Yeah but yours was far better." I smiled and sipped from my cup.

"Oh you can't possibly make a better chai then Meera. But that aside what the fuck is happening? I'm definitely missing something."

"Oh we had a small meeting last night when you were being completely wasted at the party." Meera said, rolling her eyes while Lilly's popped out.

"Speaking of which, what were you doing at the beach last night?" She asked and I froze. This may sound like an innocent question but she might have seen through me. Maybe she knows I was there just to somehow get to know her and was keeping an eye on her the whole night. She's not the one to be taken lightly.

"Am I not allowed to? It was my beach afterall." I said and this time her eyes widened.

"It was your beach!?" She asked, looking utterly and genuinely shocked. But I know better sweetheart, you knew everything. By each passing moment I was catching more to the vibe radiating from her, it was sweet, innocent and almost convinced that she is the Angle dropped straight from India, but nothing can explain the amount of information she was hiding about herself. The information that should be public, it was hidden from every eye in the world and locked away safely and I want to know why.

"This is amazing though! Can I come here to have it again? Since I can't make it anywhere else as long as I'm in this country." he said taking another sip from the small cup.

"I'm sure there are other cafes selling hot milk tea."

"Of course there are and I tried them but believe me nothing got as close to my taste as this one did." She said and I raised my eyebrow. What is she getting at?

"Well it's not on the menu but I'm sure we can manage." I said and she smiled, and my heart fluttered again. God is this really my heart?

"Girl did you forget? We're leaving the town tomorrow." Lilly said and suddenly her own face fell, maybe realising she won't be able to see Ronen again.

"Oh right." Meera said and her smile faded, my instincts were desperately telling me to stay away from her. Yet, here I am, going to lure her closer...

"And I fully intend to keep the end of our deal. The money will be transferred to the same bank account by evening." I said and a small mischievous smile lit her lips. She looked at Lill's questioning and confused eyes.

"I'll tell you later."

After spending a few more hours trying to somehow extract some information, any kind of information, I realised that getting her to talk is not such an easy task. All I got to know was how she and Lilly befriended, nothing except that. Impressive.