“Pardonnez-moi, Mademoiselle, I would like to book a direct flight going to Manila tonight if possible.” she shyly inquired of the woman at the ticket counter in her limited French.

“Oui Mademoiselle, let me check our schedules,” the pleasant lady at the counter said, smiling at her.

“Merci.”

“Mademoiselle, I’m sorry, but we don’t have any available direct flights going to Manila tonight. We have a five-hour stopover in Singapore going to Manila, and the earliest scheduled is tomorrow night. Would you like me to book you on it, mademoiselle?”

“Oui, Je vous en prie.” She felt sadly disappointed.

She got out of the ticketing office half an hour later. Outside she looked up at the blue-gray sky of France, thinking maybe it was going to rain.

“Please wait for me, Papa. I’m coming home.” She silently pleaded.

She didn’t notice the chaos and bustle of the comings and goings of people around her as she started to walk. She wandered without any direction until she reached the Parvis Norte Dame.

She sat on one of the iron benches in front of the cathedral near the fountain, staring into space. Tears started to flow as she thought about her father.

Her mother, whom she had never known, had died giving birth to her and her father, who was a carpenter, raised her alone for as long as she could remember.

Her loving father was diagnosed with second-stage colon cancer when she was sixteen. The only other family she had was sick, and she didn’t know what to do or where to get the money to support his medical treatments.

She had decided to stop being a working student and applied for any full-time job. Finally, one of the employment agencies hired her and assigned her to the Australian Embassy in Manila as cleaning staff. Within the year, she was well-liked by all the embassy employees. Whatever the task, no one ever heard her complain.

She was known for being a shy, quiet, and kind-hearted girl by everyone she worked with. However, she worked harder than the others, minding her own business and accepting all the extra income she could get from her job by working extra hours. Everyone at the embassy knew her story and why she worked so hard.

One day an embassy officer approached her, asking if she wanted to be her youngest son’s nanny. She would be earning more, ten times what she was getting from the agency for her current job, but the problem was she would be working in France.

If she agreed, all necessary papers would be arranged immediately, and she would leave the Philippines as soon as her visa was approved.

Her father was why she was working, and the salary she would receive as a nanny would ensure that her father’s treatments would continue, so she accepted without thinking. She asked her best friend and neighbor since childhood, Robert, to take care of her father while she was working overseas. She would regularly send money for the treatments. Robert told her to do whatever she thought was right. He would support any decision she made. He and his mother Perfecta would take care of her father’s treatments as long as necessary.

Working as a nanny, her employer allowed her to take culinary courses in her spare time. When she completed her studies, her employer encouraged her to accept cooking engagements for small dinner parties that their diplomatic friends were having. That way, she could send even more money to her father and still save for her plans when she returned home. She wanted to open a small café back home, the likes of which she saw everywhere in Paris.

She dreamed of her father getting better and that they would work together to build their dreams. She wanted her father to visit places he had never been and take vacations anywhere he wanted with her. Then, if her father got tired of vacationing, she would buy him powered tools so he could build furniture or whatever he wanted to make.

Everything had gone smoothly while she had worked in Paris for the past five years when she received a phone call early yesterday morning from Robert.

“Josie, he is asking for you to come home as soon as possible. I don’t want you to be alarmed, but he stopped every scheduled chemo treatment for the last twelve months. He threatens not to cooperate if we don’t stop the treatment. He said it’s just a waste of your hard-earned money. These past eight months, all your remittances were not used for his chemo, only for vitamins and his food. He misses you, Josie; he needs you here with him. Maybe this is the time to come home.” We will wait for you, was the essence of the conversation.

She immediately told her employer that she was needed at her father’s side. Her employer, who knew her well, never asked why. On the contrary, they had always understood her situation and encouraged her to go home immediately.

She packed her things, and within forty-eight hours, she would go to the airport and be on her way home. She couldn’t live life without her father. He was the only family she had ever had, and he was the reason why she worked hard in a foreign land. Saddened by the thoughts, she cried.

“Help him to be strong; I still want him with me. I don’t know how to live without him,” she prayed while sitting exhausted on the bench.

“Bloody hell! What on earth is she doing crying in the dark? She should be home at this time of the night.” A voice carried to her ears in accented English.

A man stood up from the bench on which he sat and walked towards her.

Fresh from a flight from Ireland and frustrated from his earlier trip and the new flight schedule, he was stressed out. He had decided to take a walk in the park to cool down, but it was too early to sleep.

He was smoking and trying to decide whether he should have dinner at a restaurant or go back home to cook and then sleep. When he was in Paris, he didn’t like to stay in hotel rooms, so he kept an apartment here.

When he saw the girl take her seat a few benches away, his eyes remained on her.

A haunted look crossed her lovely face. A strange look for such a young woman, it intrigued him as he stared at her. Now standing in front of her with her head drooping and sobbing, he realized she was unaware he was standing there.

He wanted to touch the girl’s beautiful long thick curly black hair but stopped. What am I doing standing here like a stupid moron? Maybe I should just go home and cook dinner.

He wanted to comfort and protect her and assure her he was there to help, but how? Finally, he stopped and didn’t want to acknowledge the sudden feeling of possessiveness when he heard her utter a prayer for the man she loved.

He realized this was not a girl but a young woman in pain. What a lucky guy, he thought. Some man has a woman who truly loves him. Her shoulders started shaking harder, and the sobbing became louder. Feeling her pain, without a second thought, he knelt in front of her and gathered her in his arms to comfort her. With a heavy heart, he kissed her on top of her head.

“Shhhhhhhhh ... chéri ... ma chéri...” His soothing voice comforted the young woman, who responded to his embrace and cried even harder.

“Shh ... chut! ma chéri, tout va bien aller.” The young woman raised her head tears still lingered in her dark eyes. However, she seemed to sob less.

Dumbfounded by the impact the woman in his arms had on him, he stared back at her. He couldn’t take his eyes off her face with its full red lips devoid of any artificial color, wondering if they were as sweet as they looked. He wanted to reach out and touch her lips with his.

Damn! You’re going to have one of those tortured sleepless nights thinking about this beautiful creature, he told himself. Unconscious of what he was doing, he gathered her again in his arms as she cried more. They just stood together, embracing, holding each other tight for comfort.

“Shhhhh ... ma chéri...”

Trying to control his emotions, he reached out for his hanky and wiped her tears. Those large rounded dark eyes stared back at him. He lowered his head and brushed his lips against hers, again enfolding her in his arms.

“Shhhhhhhh ... ma chéri enough, il est tard et ce n’est pas un lieu sans danger pour les femmes. Tell you what ma chéri, you can tell me all about it over dinner.

I will make us a nice dinner. Then if you still need to cry, my shoulders are available to you. I am a good listener as well as a good cook. I live just a few blocks from here. So you’ll be safe with me if you would trust me, that is.” both his English and French thickly accented voice lightened up the situation.

He stopped as he realized what he was doing. Holding her at arm’s length, he looked at her again. She didn’t seem, French, maybe a Latina. So why hadn’t she said no? He was now starting to doubt his self-confidence.

“Excusez-moi. Je m’appelle Claudius Arnold, Parlez-vous Anglais?” He inquired in French in case she didn’t know English.

“Yes,” she replied shyly, still staring at him with the beginning of a smile in her teary eyes.

Releasing a loud sigh of relief, he thought, man, “You’re getting old. These were the longest minutes of your life. Then, smiling like a silly boy who had just won the pie-eating contest, he offered her his hand.

She nervously smiled back, took it with her shaking cold hand, and started walking with him. He was enjoying this. They walked together, not even realizing that they were still holding hands. The warmth of his hand made her relax and enjoy the walk. The few people they passed by stopped and stared at them, thinking, what a lovely couple.

They ended up on the left bank of Paris from Norte Dame Cathedral on rue de Rennes. They got inside a luxurious residential building where the doorman greeted them as they passed by on the way to the elevator. Pressing fifteen, the man beside her smiled and introduced himself to her again.

“Josette Perez,” she shyly told him her name, feeling comfortably at ease now with the man beside her. He nodded his acknowledgment of her name; twinkling eyes smiled back at her, and she smiled back.

“Why the French name for a stunning Latina-looking woman? How old are you, Josette?” Claud asked the woman beside him, still fascinated and looking down at the hand he still held. He took it under his arm as he looked back at her.

She nervously looked up, and her eyes met a beautiful pair of soft emerald green eyes. She now realized that the long curly hair was not blond as she had thought in the dark but a rustic red that reached his shoulders. Even his lashes, eyebrows, and beard were red.

She was not used to men looking at her. It made her even shyer. She turned her eyes to look down at this beautiful, rich man’s hand with its long slim fingers that still held her warm hands as she whispered her response.

“This coming December, I will be twenty-one. I’m from Manila, and my father named me after himself. I didn’t know it’s only a French name,” she answered his questions.

“That’s the reason why you look, Latina?”

At her age, other women are experienced, but looking at her delicate face lined with a streak of stubbornness and innocence, she looked younger than her actual age. They stepped out as the elevator opened to his floor.

“Bienvenue à mon humble abode ma chéri, let me start our dinner.”

He ushered her into an enormous living room furnished with luxurious furniture. The kitchen was also equipped the same way as the rest of the house. This was a dream kitchen.

He seated her on the stool at the marble top counter, opened the two-door fridge, got a bottle of Shiraz from the chiller, and poured them a glass.

“What could I possibly salvage here that we can use to make a decent meal?”

Feeling ecstatically happy for the first time in a very long time, he bent over, looking into the fridge. He took out a bundle of broccoli, lettuce, white onions, a frozen tenderloin, and the appropriate spices. First, he washed the vegetables and put the meat under dripping water. Then, he efficiently cut the vegetables, steamed the chopped broccoli, put spices on the toweled tenderloin, and grilled it to perfection.

He then prepared an onion soup which, by the looks of it, should taste good too. He did all of this like a professional chef doing an impressive demonstration in front of her.

He scooped a spoon full of the thick soup and gently blew on it till he judged the temperature was tolerable, then brought it to her mouth. Her eyelids closed as she opened her mouth to receive it, and she savored the taste.

“Hmm ... superb! You can cook. It tastes heavenly.” She replied after tasting it with her eyes still shut. A smile formed on her kissable red lips.

He just stared at her for a long moment, and a feeling of exhilaration overwhelmed him.

“I can always cook for you, free of charge, if you’re always that generous in giving out praise,” he replied.

He laughed as he served the dinner and seated himself beside her.

He looked at this beautiful woman in front of him as they ate in companionable silence, and a feeling of contentment washed over him.

They ate, and he started talking about trivialities while she smiled and nodded. She had a big appetite, unlike other women he knew who were starving themselves to be model-like. Claude enjoyed her company and the food for the first time in years.

“Done? Still want to cry?” He asked.

“Thank you, but I don’t think crying after that beautiful meal is appropriate. It wouldn’t do you justice. You are a superb cook. I can offer my services in washing the dishes for you, “she said as she gathered the plates.

“No! This is my house, and you’re my guest. So no dishwashing for you, ma chéri. Anyway, it will only take a minute for me to do the dishes.”

She watched him do all the work as he removed the dishes from her hands.

“Come, I’ll take you home.” He offered after wiping his hands on a towel.

“You don’t have to take me home. I’ve already imposed so much on your time and energy. Thank you for the wonderful dinner. I want to walk some more to burn some of the calories and do some window shopping. Maybe I could still find a treasure.” She raised her head, smiling at him while standing and retrieving her coat and handbag.

I don’t want to leave, she thought. This is a man who I could learn to love and respect. He has been a perfect gentleman, and he is so handsome. What does he feel, I wonder? He seems attracted to me, or is that only my imagination?

“May I come along? He said. “I also have to burn off some of this meal.” He just wanted to be with her, to enjoy her company.

Claud started to analyze his attitude towards this woman. A few hours and dinner with this woman didn’t make him know her, but it felt like he had known her for years. He had not felt this comfortable with a woman for ages. They hadn’t talked about their personal lives, but she intrigued him.

Since his divorce, he had known many women. He had bedded, wined, and dined them all before moving on without looking back. But, unfortunately, none of those relationships had lasted long enough to forge any friendship bond, least of all emotional ones. She was unlike them all, not the type he usually dated.

What were the differences between her and all those others? She indeed was not like his ex-wife. She was a very sophisticated and beautiful woman but shallow, uncaring of the feelings of others, materialistic, and always judging their friends before she would allow herself to socialize with any of them. Thankfully, they divorced after he realized the kind of woman he had married.

This woman in front of him was not like that. She was also lovely in a more natural fashion. She looked innocent, almost virginal. Just looking at her, you could tell she was the type who could live happily without the material things in life—smiling and generous-hearted.

She was wearing an old clean yet simple plain yellow shirt, a below-the-knee A-cut washed denim skirt with old red Doc Martin boots halfway to her knees. She smelt so fresh and natural without a trace of perfume.

Enchanting! That’s how he felt, mysteriously enchanted by this beautiful woman.

On the other hand, she remembered her promise to buy her father his power tools and his failing health. Her eyes welled up with tears at the thought.

“Bloody hell! What now? What did I just say? Don’t worry about it. You’ll be home in no time, Josette. Your lover can wait, I hope?” Claud said, in his panic, seeing the tears fall.

His heart stopped when he saw the pain in her eyes. New tears poured down her face. He couldn’t deny the feeling of protectiveness and possessiveness he felt towards her. They overwhelmed him as he gathered her into his embrace.

“Lucky, bastard!” He murmured

“There is no lover, Claud. Tomorrow I return to Manila where my father is dying.”

The only man she knew personally other than her father was Robert, her best friend, but he never made her feel the way she felt with this stranger. What was going on inside her? Her stomach kept rumbling, and her heart was racing. What had happened to her when he kissed her, and they were together? She felt she didn’t want to go, but she had to leave before it was too late.

This man was wealthy and powerful. She was not. She worked as a servant to rich people. He was educated and worldly. She was just a poor workman’s daughter without culture and education. What could he possibly see in her, or was he just looking to have a sexual encounter?

She was agitated. She had just told him she needed to take a walk so he wouldn’t insist on keeping her here. She needed time to analyze her feelings. She’d never felt like this before.

“Pardonnez-moi. I didn’t mean to cry. I just told you I wouldn’t cry anymore. If you meant it about going with me for a walk, maybe we should go now, while we still have time,” she said, her fingers busily wiping away her tears as she raised her head to look at the handsome man standing in front of her. “If that is what you want.” She whispered shyly.

Feeling ecstatic, he smiled and took her hand. “What are you thinking?” He asked as they stood face to face.

“Nothing,” she whispered.

“Want to share what happened just now? Can we have coffee before we head out to the night market?”

“Maybe I should just go home.”

Desperate to make her stay a little longer, he didn’t want her to go away this soon. He needed time to get to know her better. “No!” He said, pulled her to him, and kissed her hard on the lips.

She looked at him with her dark eyes and lips parted to return his kiss. She felt her body fold into him as she blotted herself against him. Feelings she had never known coursed through her as she passionately returned his kiss.

Claud wrapped his arms around her and embraced her feeling her lithe body pressed against his, her breasts against his chest. His hands stroked her back and caressed her. Finally, he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to the sofa.

Sitting down, he sat next to her, and they resumed their passionate kiss. Their tongues dueled in a battle of love as they savored each other.