Love for Sale

Afterwards, they found a dress, all alluring black lace, with a simple black slip, and a small hair brush with some sort of 'ionic' technology that helped defrizz and tame hair. It was made of bamboo and eco-friendly, which were all 'ticks' in Nerina's book. She was suspicious about the ionic tagline, but it was already half past one in the afternoon. They ate a meal in the cafe that was near the entrance of the department store. It was Nerina's first time having coffee. Since the weather was nice, they sat outside.

Their orders were still coming; they came at peak hour for lunch, with the barista constantly churning out metal jugs of steamed milk and drawing what looked like fern into each cup of freshly brewed coffee. The sandwich press was hot, and inside was packed with people waiting for takeaway coffee and snacks, or eating and chatting with friends. Outside was less busy, and the air was cooler.

"This is my first time having coffee." Nerina admitted. With Eric, there were many firsts. First kisses, first department store shopping experience, first coffee, first quinoa. Eric ordered something healthy, as usual. A wholemeal bruschetta with tomato in balsamic dressing, fresh cheese, rocket and some lean chicken for protein. Because protein. Nerina got a clam chowder.

"I wonder if it's bitter..."

She looked at the raw sugar in the small glass, her arms folded across the table with her chin resting on them. As Eric would deliver her answer, Nerina's eyes were already serenely closed, the sunlight gently warming her back as she made herself comfortable for a bit of an afternoon siesta.

As Nerina was snoozing, their meals had come. Luckily, Eric gave her a demonstration of how to drink coffee if it was too bitter. She sniffed it as though she would smell how bitter the java really was, but she did not take a sip. Nerina had ordered a cappucino for herself. She scooped up some of the milk foam, the parts with chocolate on it. There was a thin layer of milk foam on her upper lip and before she could lick it clean, she decided that sharing was better, and pressed her lips against Eric for a milky kiss.

"I'm still a little tired." The kiss was a perk-me-up.

"Hm!" She seemed pleased with the milk foam experience. After it was gone, she copied Eric and dumped a heaped teaspoon of sugar into her drink and stirred it. The coffee didn't feel like it was making her more awake, but she at least felt a little more alert having something in her system. Her soup arrived first, and it came with a slice of white bread and a garnish on top, with a swirl of cream. Eric's bruschetta arrived shortly afterwards.

Nerina's face fell a little when she saw that it was much bigger than a ring. At first she thought it was a comically gigantic ring, but she was almost right in that regard. Still, with the shiny diamonds that were present in the watch face, she seemed as thrilled as a six-year-old girl receiving a glitter pony toy.

"Ooh." She held the box in her hand delicately and moved it around, as though she was trying to catch the light on the reflection just right. Instead, she was moving around the tiny littly diamonds that swirled around in the clock face.

"This doesn't look like it's swim-compatible." It definitely wasn't a sporty Baby-G. "But sure, let's practice!"

She didn't put the watch on, but kept it in its box. She was afraid she would forget to take it off before she would go into the water.

"... U-boat? Undersea boat?" How could boats swim underwater? Unfortunately for Nerina, Germans took some nouns in their language quite literally. Perhaps a little too literally. She dismissed the Underwater boats, without realizing they were simply submarines. Right now, she had to focus on telling the time. She knew where the little hand was pointing. That was easy.

"One..."

The big hand was pointing at a time that was between nine and ten, at least, that was what the marked indicators suggested. Only twelve, three, six and nine were numbered. The rest were marked.

"One forty seven? One forty eight?"

"We've been dating for an hour... And forty-eight minutes," Nerina replied. After getting the first question right, she felt like she was on a roll. Now she got this one right too!

"I got it right," Nerina said happily. "Thank you so much Eric. I'll treasure this watch forever." She closed the velvet-lined box and held it to her chest giddily, like it was a token of his love. Even though they had only been dating for an hour and forty eight minutes.

"I don't want to go anywhere just yet. Actually..." She put the boxed watch in the shopping bag. It looked as luxurious as the department store they stepped in, with cord bag handles and a ribbon detail. It looked nicer than her netted sack that she caught fish in and used as a handbag.

"I barely know anything about you, Eric. And you... Probably don't know much about me either." She put a hand to the side of her cheek delicately, her eyes averting away from him in shame. "We're already kissing and I haven't even met your parents or your family. It's, It's wrong."