It had only been an hour since they had left the museum and Leo found him self seated next to fucking hounds tied to the table.
Bloody beasts were looking at him and at one point had almost snatched his gyoza from his chopsticks.
The angry nerve was popping on his forehead. He was feeling uncomfortable; firstly because he had to protect his food and secondly the animals kept staring at him while he ate from his bowl. That is not how he liked finishing his meals.
' Why the hell did you have to adopt Aly's dogs?' he asked glaring at Zara. If a stare could kill, it would be now.
'Aly had an errand to run and i sometimes help him with his dogs since they listen to me. He will be back by the time we are finished with our food,' she replied shooing one of them away from Leo's hand which held a gyoza.
' Right,' said Leo caustically.
'Why the hell keep dogs when you cannot even bother with them, bloody blinkered fool,' he said.
' He isn't a fool, these pretty babies were a gift from none other than your dearest friend sitting right next to you' replied Zara as she petted the beast and then looked back at him, gesturing towards Ash.
Leo looked towards Ash surprisingly, ' My Lord, why would you gift someone such big dogs and at that two?'
'What the fuck is wrong with you? ' asked Leo clearly surprised. Leo knew Ash was a little eccentric and would somehow make hasty decisions but still, such decisions are still minutely logical.
Ash, did not bother to look back at him. She was still a little hungover and was waiting for her ramen.
'I wonder how long it will take them to get my order?' she said looking like a little doe eyed puppy if that was a thing. She did look adorable when her defences were low.
' I have known Aly since he was a wee babe and since he is Adam's little brother, he kinda became mine.'
'He was really hurt when things didn't go further and so to cheer him up i got the puppies.'
' You could have gifted him another small breed,' mentioned Leo.
' Well, when I saw them they were really small and adorable and then well i planned to buy one but then the other one started to whine when the breeder picked his brother. So i didn't feel like separating them. Initially i thought they were a pair, like a boy and a girl. Later I found well, Aly did when he checked them,' said Ash making gestures with her hands.
' You know when we flipped them, well we realised they were both males.'
' Woah, that's the dumbest thing i have heard.' said Leo shaking his head and to think he choose her to work with him. He was really second guessing his decisions.
' I might as well fire you for being so dumb, ' he said smilingly.
That was when he realised Zara looking at them, her expression seemed normal but she looked different and he could guess something was up.
He suddenly caught hold of her hand which was resting on the table asking her, ' What's wrong?'
He kept his hand over her, looking at her with a worried expression and waited till she would say something.
' It's just they are siblings,'
'Always together.' replied Zara.
Leo looked intently at her, it seemed her mind had gone on some far away thought. Something she had difficulty in comprehending. Some pain that she was carrying inside, it wasn't something one could see when one first saw her but Leo realized that the longer time he was spending with her, the more he was getting to really know her. Even though she always had her guards up.
The only time he had seen her vulnerable was after that unfaithful incident when she used to come to the art gallery alone to look at the painting. That time also, she always came alone, she talked to no one and kept to herself. She seemed so lonely, but to him it looked like she wanted to remain undisturbed, so he always watched her from a distance. Another reason being the obvious one.
It seemed she realised her statements had made the casual atmosphere a little serious. She became uneasy under his scrutiny and started speaking hastily copying his accent in order to divert the attention.
' It's nothing really, But what about you both? '
'Do you have any siblings?'
'Now there, stop that,' he said sternly. Apparently he hated it when she mimicked him.
'No, it's just me, though i do have a step brother.'We aren't that close,' spoke Ash as a matter of fact.
'Oh.' was all Zara said. She wondered if he was as good looking as Ash.
'What about you?' she asked Leo who suddenly let go of her had.
'Just me,' was all he said and retreated back to his food.
And that was then they were interrupted by a hand with very long triangle shaped red nails which directly landed on Leo's shoulders and were going further inside his shirt if Leo hadn't caught hold of them in time and twisted them with one hand while he drank some water.
'Fancy seeing you here, Leo ....'
'AHHHH, wait , ow!
'Stop, it's me ! Don't you remember me?'
'Its me Maria!'
'Oh, Zara. You look so sick and so pale,' she said giving a side glance at Zara and dragged another chair from the side table where a kid was about to sit but the poor thing feel with rice all over him.
'Pink is definitely not your colour,' said Maria and scanned Zara again and then looked back again at Leo.
' I am glad i ran into you here, i am not happy with they way we left things last time, ' she said leaning towards him. She was trying to seduce him by drawing his attention towards her ample breasts which were pushed up and popping out. Mostly such maneuvers did have an effect on men and Leo was no saint, his attention did go there but he was quite used to it. It wasn't the first time women acted like this around him. He had gotten used to such advances and they didn't intrigue him so much. Maybe when he was teenager, and then he noticed Zara who's attention went toward her own and they weren't exactly small but they were not as big as Maria's. Her reaction made him more curious, and a small smirk appeared on his face and disappeared quickly.
She looked up and her eyes widened at seeing Leo looking over at her. She felt caught and embarrassed and quickly looked away from him. And then her attention went to the little kid and so she got up to help him.
'Pardon,' she said to the kid who had finally gotten up and was dusting himself. Leo was observing the way she was apologising to the kid and smiling at him and was trying to cheer him up. It seemed the kid was not immune to her charms and was smiling and blushing. A tiny, yet angry growl came deep inside from Leo but he kept check on his facial muscles and acted as if he wasn't eavesdropping.
He was completely ignoring Maria who was quite persistent at jiggling her breasts towards him . As Zara was about to sit back on her chair, Maria tried to pull her chair back and that was when he caught hold of the chair till she seated herself. He finally lifted his face and looked directly at Maria and gave her a side smile and then picked a gyoza placing it in front of the hound's muzzle. He seemed like he was playing with the beast and spoke lazily,' Oh Maria, Maria , Maria,'
'Yes, Yes, Yes, Leo,' came her seductive reply and stared smiling flirtingly.
He gave Zara a slide glance who sat quietly observing them . Then he looked back at her and smiled showing his teeth. Which was a very rare ocassion and people who knew him well, understood what was to follow after that.
'Don't you know, the less you show the more curious we get.'
And then to everyone's surprise, especially Maria's; who in the next moment found the gyoza between her beautiful mounds. Then; things happened too fast!
There was a loud scream followed by a huge commotion as Zara was trying to catch hold of one of the terrier who was digging his mouth between Maria's cleavage trying to eat the gyoza for which he had waited patiently for so long.
'Atta boys,' said Leo as he chuckled and went back to eating his food.