Chapter 15: The Fugitive

It was a very awkward moment for both of them as Hazel stood with a smile plastered on her face which kept on getting weirder with every passing second as she contemplated her answer.

"Sure, why not," Hazel finally answered.

The sound of her voice saying that snapped her out of her head. 

She had still been in a meeting with her mind, contemplating when her mouth had, on its own, carried out the task.

A smile broke out on Sam's face and a look of relief washed over him.

He actually was.

He had been hoping she would not reject his offer.

He had been hooked on her ever since their meeting on the road.

He had wanted to tell Jeff, his chauffeur, to stop the car and give her a lift, but he was accompanied by his father.

Their meeting had not been a coincidence. He had kept his eyes open and had hung at the bar closest to the town's entrance to spot her on arrival.

The moment he had seen that beautiful mane of red hair walk past, he had immediately sprung to action and went after her.

He did not know how he would have felt if she had said no to him.

"It will be my pleasure then," he said.

Actually, it was hers. 

She could really make do with someone around right now. It did not feel good to be alone and she would not mind some company.

Also, something about him attracted her to him. She could not place her hands on what it was, but it was there.

"First, let me introduce you to the best thing about this town," Sam said as he bent his arm and offered the loop for Hazel to hook her hands through.

As she looped her arm through his, she wondered what it was he was referring to.

With so much enthusiasm, he announced, "The food!"

As if on cue, her stomach grumbled.

She closed her eyes as if she wished to disappear in shame.

As the gentleman that he was, Sam did not comment on what he heard but led her to a building nearby which had to escape from it, a mixture of enticing aromatic smells of food cooking.

"This is the best restaurant in town," Sam said as they neared the entrance to the building called Venice.

Hazel did not care if it was the worst, she was grateful to be able to have a hot meal sitting before her.

Her stomach had already cleared up enough space in it to be able to accommodate as much as she was served.

"It's good to have you back sir," The receptionist greeted as Hazel and Sam walked in.

The interior of the place looked nothing like its exterior.

From outside she had thought it was some regular restaurant for regular folks but getting inside, it looked like a dimly lit wonderland. 

The low yellow light granted a kind of bewitching ambiance to the place. The dark colors of the furniture and the table cloths, with the bright shiny sheen of the silver-colored metal cutlery contrasted pleasantly with the light. 

Soft classical music played in the background making one feel so lightheaded and calm as if one was under a spell.

When Hazel saw the caliber of people seated inside the restaurant, she immediately wanted to turn away. 

It looked like it was a party for the one percent. Almost everybody was dressed in a popular high-fashion couture and the dress she was wearing, though fancy in its own right, looked like it was fit for a maid.

"Thank you, Rake," Sam said in reply to the receptionist. 

"Your table is available and ready to use," Rake informed Sam.

"Thank you, have a nice day," Sam said to Rake.

With his hands still intertwined with Hazel's, he walked her to a corner at the far end of the restaurant which was out of reach.

All eyes seemed to be hooked on them as they made their walk to their destination. 

Hazel kept her face down. Not only because she was ashamed of how she looked but because she was a fugitive and she was not ready to change that title to convict anytime soon.

Sam drew out the chair for her to sit on and then tucked it back gently.

When he was seated on the opposite end of the table, he noticed there was something up with her. She looked as if she was skeptical about something.

"Is anything wrong?" Sam asked worried that he may have done something wrong to her.

"You are not comfortable with anything? Do you need something?" he added.

"No, I am good," Hazel said with a little smile but her look betrayed her answer.

"But you don't look good," Sam said, still trying to understand the expression on her face.

Hazel took in a deep breath. 

"Did you perchance plan on meeting here with someone?" Hazel asked. 

A look of confusion washed over Sam's face. 

Noticing it, Hazel added quickly to clarify her statement.

"This table has a reserved sign on it," Hazel said as she looked down at the white piece of cardboard that had the word 'Reserved' on it sitting on the table, "and the receptionist seemed to have known you were coming and already had a table prepared for you," She added.

Sam's worried face immediately broke out in a chuckle.

Hazel was confused as to why he had such a reaction.

"Wow... you really are very observant, I have to give you that. But no, that is not the reason why I have this table reserved," Sam said.

He looked left and right and then leaned forward over the table as if to say very secret information to Hazel.

She also followed his lead and leaned forward.

"You see," he said to her in a voice that was barely above a whisper, "my family owns this place and all these tables that are labeled reserved..." he said as she moved his hand in a sweeping motion to indicate to the cluster of empty tables which all had the white cardboard bearing the same inscriptions on them, "...are reserved for my family members."

Hazel felt stupid after Sam's explanation. 

She had had a totally different reason in her head.

At first, she had thought he had planned on meeting up with someone there and she had felt a slight wave of Jealousy as she thought it was some other lady.

Then it dawned on her that he could be some undercover detective, who was tracking her down and had planned on luring her into coming to the restaurant with him where he would arrest her.

"Oh... I did not realize that," Hazel said to Sam with a coy look on her face.

"Yeah, I know. But it still strikes me as cute that you would notice such a detail. Is your father perhaps in the military?" Sam asked.

Her dad was not in the military, and neither had she received any military training before. She was just trying to save her ass.

"No, I'm just very keen on details, that's all," Hazel answered. 

"Is this your first time here?" Sam asked.

"Yeah... I heard about how beautiful the moon festival was over here and I decided to check it out," Hazel said, surprised at how easy it was for her to lie.

"That's good and trust me, you will enjoy every bit of it," Sam said.

The waiter came over with the menu. 

Hazel perused the menu indecisive about what she wanted. 

Honestly, she did not care what it was she ordered as long as it quenched the pangs of hunger in her stomach.

Sam watched Hazel from the top of his menu.

He could not fathom how beautiful the woman sitting before him was.

He had always had a thing for redheads but this particular redhead seemed to captivate every part of his being.

Hazel took her eyes off her menu and she caught him staring. 

He shifted his eyes and cleared his throat before saying, "Have you decided on what is it you want?"

"Everything here sounds good and I don't know what to decide on," Hazel responded. This was perhaps the only truth she had said to him since they met.

"Well then, let me decide for you. I know just what will do the trick," Sam said to Hazel. 

He then turned to the waiter, he said, "We will both have the chef's special with a bottle of white wine."

Hazel watched the waiter go and perused the restaurant.

From their position, they could see almost every part of the restaurant but they were somewhat shielded from the view of the others.

This was what calmed Hazel down. She felt happy and relaxed.

Being with Sam, although she was still on her toes, granted her the company she had been craving.

It felt really good to have someone to talk to even if he was a total stranger and may or may not be out to arrest her.

She just allowed herself to relax and enjoy the moment. 

But time was running out, and she needed to get money and she needed to get it fast.