James responded enthusiastically, and his heart was palpating fast. After what took like thirty seconds of bliss, Sophia pulled out and widened her eyes. "Wow, I didn't know what took over me, i—I am sorry for…" Sophia apologized visibly embarrassed.
James held her hand and stared deep into her eyes. "Don't be sorry Sophia. I really enjoyed that. I wished it continued forever. I guess there was something we were afraid to tell each other, right?" James said with love in his eyes.
Sophia who was red with shyness could only nod. "Can I take you out? It's fine if you don't want to, maybe you were doing something or…" James was still talking when Sophia interrupted him.
"Yes, I would love to. Let me go change" she said and walked to her room with a distinct smile on her face. James opened his eye wide and put his hand on his head. "Wow, wow, wow, that was…. Actually good! It was the best feeling I've felt since I was born. I thought kissing and hugging a girl was the same thing, but this was, wow!" James was dazed with happiness.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
James took Sophia to a fancy French restaurant nearby and booked a seat. When Sophia sat down, James told her he wanted to request their meal, so he left and called one of the waiters.
"Please I want this to be beautiful. You see this ring, I want you to put it in this wine bottle so that when you pour the drink on her wineglass, it automatically drops there." James informed the French waiter, which he nodded in agreement.
James went to his seat and sat down opposite Sophia. The soft harp was playing at a distance, and the lit candle on the table gave anyone a magical feeling. James' heart was full when he set his eyes on Sophia.
James chatted with Sophia for a while, until the waiter James previously chatted with came over and put their meals, winked at James, then poured the wine he was holding on each wine bottle, but carefully poured the wine on Sophia's glass until James could distinctly hear a 'cling' sound.
"So Sophia, you never told me about your career as a fashion designer. I would love to hear that" James said, and intently stared at Sophia as she took a sip from the wine glass.
James intended to use the ring to ask Sophia if she wanted to be his girlfriend, but he was shy. He initially thought it was cool to bring her here to propose to her, but it seems harder than he imagined.
"Yeah, by the time I graduate from college, my dad would open a fashion designer's business for me. He always said that I should be my own boss, why does he keeps saying it, I don't know, but it's better to agree with a weirdo than to argue with them, right?" Sophia said and laughed.
James laughed nervously. He looked at the glass that Sophia sipped again, feeling agitated. Sophia noticed his unusual composure. "Are you okay James?" Sophia asked incredulously. "Yeah, I'm fine, uhhhh…." James gulped his saliva as he wanted to tell her, but he became shy.
"Okay, weirdo. Get it?" Sophia laughed heartily and took another sip from the wine. Right now, the ring was visible on the wine glass, and James knew it was now and never.
"Sophia" James said, prompting Sophia to look at him with her large blue eyes. James shakily took her glass cup, surprising her and picked a ring from the cup.
"Sophia, I don't know how to say this, but since we are sure of our feelings for each other, I want to ask you with all my heart. Would you be my girlfriend?" James said and waited for her reply, holding his breath.
Sophia was surprised, but not in a good way. She stared intently at the decorative ring and stared back at James. "That ring was in my wine glass all this time? James, what if I had accidentally swallowed it?" she asked slightly mad.
James was stunned. This was not what was supposed to happen. Did he do it wrong? He looked at the ring that was stretched out to Sophia and felt awkward. This was a stupid idea. What was on my head when I told the waiter to put a ring on her drink?
"Uhh, I didn't know that this was…. I wanted to make this romantic" James said as his voice lowered down. He knew this was not going well. To make the matters worse, people around him were staring at him, oblivious of the tense situation.
"Come on girl, say yes!" one man said, prompting others to say similar things. James wanted the ground to swallow him. Sophia's wasn't smiling anymore. She scoffed and took her purse and left the restaurant, leaving James alone on the table.
James was stunned. What did he do? He immediately rushed out of the restaurant and ran to meet her, but he could not see Sophia. He called her number, but it was not going. He summoned his virtual tablet and checked Sophia's number status, and revealed that she blocked his number. James was depressed. Was it that fast?
He hurriedly unblocked the number and called her. He intentionally tampered with her cellphone, so that when she pressed end call, it would connect their line, and it worked.
"Sophia, please listen to me before you hang up. Look I'm very sorry for doing something this stupid, but can we talk? This should not sever our relationship please" James begged with sadness in his voice.
"How did you call my number when I blocked you, and how did you connect my line? Are you a hacker or what? Look, James, it's been a long day, and we did something that we both regretted, so why not we go home and sleep this off okay?" Sophia concluded and disconnected the line.
What does she mean by 'both of us did something that we both regretted?' James knew this was over for him. Oh no, I screwed up.
James knew that if he did not do what he planned to do when he came here, it would be over for him, and he will be forced to delete this virtual world. He had originally coded the ring with all her memories so that when she wears it, all her original memories would download to her brain, but obviously, this was a mission that failed.
But he was not going to give up. He held the ring with a solemn but determined face. "I cannot lose you too," he said as he took a Lamborghini and started it with his virtual tablet. "Hey, what are you doing?" a young man, apparently the owner of the vehicle, asked as he ran to meet him. James immediately pressed a keyword, causing the man to stop running and ignore James.