Page 88 of The Blind Date

I had never been a fan of my parents’ choice of dates, but it had never felt wrong before. Sure, it was annoying and frustrating, especially when all the men–and one woman–they set me up with couldn't be worse matches for me if they tried, but the difference between then and now was that this time, I actually had a boyfriend.

A secret boyfriend whom my parents didn't know about, but a boyfriend, nonetheless.

Things were still relatively new between us, but I was sure Cedric wouldn't be too happy about me going on a date with another man. In my parents’ defence, it wasn’t like they knew that the two of us were dating, and this certainly wouldn’t have happened if they did know.

I was hopeful that Cedric would it this hilarious when I eventually told him about tonight, but right now, I needed to deal with Richard.

“Everything okay?” Richard asked as I sat across from him instead of beside him like before.

“Everything’s peachy.” I forced a smile. “I just needed to speak to my parents about something.”

“You don’t look too happy,” he noted, observant. Though he would have to be blind not to notice how alarmed I had become upon his arrival.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You don’t look too happy about being on this date with me,” Richard chuckled, not looking as nervous as before. I put it down to the empty glass of red wine in front of him.

I gnawed on my bottom lip as my nerves consumed me. “If you want me to be truthful, I need you to promise it won’t get back to my parents.”

“They won’t hear it from me,” he promised, somewhat eager.

“I have a boyfriend,” I admitted in a small voice, very aware of how this looked and sounded.

"You have a boyfriend?" He echoed.

"Yes."

“Then why did your parents set you up on a blind date with me?” His eyebrows furrowed together. “Don't they like your boyfriend or something?"

“It’s not like that.” I shook my head. “They don’t know I have a boyfriend.”

His face grew even more confused. “I don't follow."

"I haven't told them,” I admitted.

“Why? Are you ashamed of him or something?” I could tell that he was trying to remain indifferent, but I couldn’t blame him if he judged me. The situation was rather strange and sounded even stranger when I spoke it out loud.

“No.” I was quick to shake my head. “My parents can be really intense sometimes, so we’re just keeping things on the down low for the time being.”

“That makes sense,” he laughed. "Not to make things weird, but I was working at the golf club one moment, and your mum was asking me out the next. With her husband, your dad, standing right next to her, I was kind of freaked out, but then she explained the date would be for her daughter. You. And then she showed me a picture of you.”

“That’s so embarrassing.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying not to cringe too hard. “I’m so sorry for that. I know it’s not an excuse for their crazy behaviour, but my parents are really worried that I’m going to die alone. I haven’t exactly got the best track record when it comes to guys.”

"Well, you can’t be that bad since you have a boyfriend now.”

“I’m not ready to tell them about us yet. Things are still pretty new. If I tell my parents now, they’ll put too much pressure on us. It’ll be double the pressure because his parents are just as bad as mine. Whether they do it intentionally or not, it’ll be difficult to see where things go with four people constantly breathing down our necks, asking us how it’s going while simultaneously planning our wedding.”

"That makes sense to me," Richard laughed. "It's a little strange, but it does make sense.”

"Sorry you got roped into this whole mess," I apologised.

"Buy me a meal, and I'll forget the whole thing.”

"You've got yourself a deal," I chuckled, and when the waiter arrived, we put in our orders.

Time flew quickly as Richard and I enjoyed our food and had a casual conversation. We would probably never see each other again, but that was perfectly fine for me.

After I paid the bill, we went our separate ways.

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