The rain was dropping heavily tapping the windows with a rhythm that only the gods can grasp, it increases it velocity like a car that lost its control, patting beneath every conversation in the place. The hall was enveloped with warmth, with the aroma of roasted chicken and spike of cinnamon that seems to come from the air, students gathered in clusters busy with their laptops, and phones, by the other side of the table, a couple was sharing their pie in lower tones, but Lukas and Lynda seems excluded from that space, enclosed in an artificial world

Lukas is not a man with empty promises, and too much words, he selects his words, filled with honesty and politeness, in a slowed calculated motion, he stirred his coffee cup, the spoon clinking faintly against the ceramic mug, his utterances echoed the quite conviction of someone who had lived long enough to know his needs

“I don’t care for riches,” he said at last, His eyes steady on her face.

“I craved for a home filled with peace. A wife who will be with me at all times and not behind me, someone I can share simple life with”.

Lynda tipped her head, smiles curving out of her lips, a smile that looks tender and almost pure. The reflection of the lamplight above showcases her features in a gentle glow, making her look like the angle of gentility, peace and kindness. “Peace, yes.” She breathed, her voice like honey, “that’s all a woman could wish”

But her thought was somewhere else, peace never bought a silk dress. Peace sure wouldn’t take her shopping on Fifth Avenue. Peace couldn’t whisk her of to Paris, peace won’t buy a glass of champagne.

She nodded her head slightly at Lukas, her facial expression full of sincerity and truth, but her heart full of deceit, even as she quietly measures her gains and payoff of each smile she has offered

Lukas adjusted his seat a little, his eyes bright with some shy but stubborn hope, and reached across the table. His fingers brushed hers tentatively, a deliberate touch that seem to promise trust in the making,

“I feel safe with you. Lynda” he said “safe” catching a little in his throat

She let her lashes drop, a move she’d practiced for years, and squeezed his hand lightly. “And I with you,” she whispered, though her heart stayed untouched.

Outside the rain was becoming heavier, almost covering the whole street with flood. The blurred sunshine forced car drivers to switch on the headlight under a heavy traffic, pedestrians were in accelerated motion hiding their heads under the umbrella, but inside, Lukas felt hidden away, as if both of them were in a private world. His heart was full of hope, which kept him warmth all through the time the rain endured. He’d keep his heart guarded for years, always doubting if love would find him. Now before him is a woman of beauty and elegance, who smiles as if she only thinks of him, who gave him her ears with every attention and care, he actually felt that he is a man.

Lynda blended his latte slowly, and lazily, eyes fixed on his red colored and oval lips, as if memorizing his utterances, after a while, she leaned on him, just close enough to make him feel the pull of her, she was a master strategists, a dance she had learnt long before now. She has practiced just when to soften her tone, toss out a gentle laugh, and glance up from under lowered lashes as if each word out of his mouth meant the world

Kind as he was, Lukas did not catch a glimpse of her charm, which was coolly calculated and being successfully administered with the skill of a craft master. She was already laying out the future, the dinners he will buy, gifts he might offer, doors he could open to the life she always desires. If his sincerity comes alive, he might be the ladder to my destiny.

Lukas dreamed of true companionship, a woman who’d walk shoulder to shoulder with him, Lynda dreamed of a man whose love she could bend to her advantage, he once again reached out for her hands, gripping it more tightly this time with a firm and warm grasp.

“I don’t know why,” he said, searching her eyes, “but I feel like I can trust you. Maybe God brought you into my life for a reason.

” Lynda’s lips parted in a quiet smile, and she squeezed his hand again. “Perhaps he did,” she murmured, her voice smooth as velvet. Inside, though, her thoughts were sharper, cold

“Maybe He did just for my reason, not yours.

The rain continued to pour down washing the city clean, Lukas’s heart pounded, bursting with hope and the belief that he has finally found something rare. Lynda’s heart stayed cool and calculating, every word weighed, every glance a lure. The game was on and, right now, only one of them realized it.