“Ouch! Damn it!” Maya sighed while holding her right ankle. She misstep and hurt her ankle. She looked back and saw her psycho ex-boyfriend came running.

“Why can’t he just leave me alone...” she stood up and hurried to the fancy restaurant just in front of her. She stepped in, hoping that the crowd would make her ex think twice about running after her there. Just as she started to feel more at ease, the head waiter of the restaurant stopped her from rushing in.

“Afternoon miss, may I help you?” the staff at the front desk stopped her. Maya was anxious, so she took a look in the restaurant. She narrowed her eyes to look properly. There! She spots some help.

“Yeah, my boyfriend is over there” while pointing at the table far at the right. Biting her lips, she kept on praying that the staff would let her in.

The staff then smiled and asked the waiter to assist her to the table. “Mr. Brooks, your girlfriend is here”.

Maya blushed. ‘This man is so handsome!’ she thought.

When she pointed at him just now, she couldn’t see properly and randomly pointed at someone who was sitting alone. The man then turned to her.

“Ah… Really?” Greyson tried to figure out the situation. He took a close look at Maya. He was tapping his finger on his cheek as he thought.

Eyeing Maya up and down, he was mesmerised.

As she waited for a response from Greyson, she couldn’t handle the pain on her ankle anymore. She could barely stand and looked at her ankle, it was swollen and hurt badly. She couldn’t hide the pain anymore and it was all over her face.

Greyson noticed, he stood up and quickly pulled the chair beside him and said “Hey girlfriend, come, sit here” he said and smiled gently.

The pain was too unbearable. As soon as she heard those words from Greyson, she sat right away.

As the waiter walked away, Greyson took out his phone and made a call.

“Nina. It’s okay, you don’t need to come here…Hmm...Yeah… My girlfriend is here right now.” He smiled a little just to tease the poor girl.

Maya was listening to the conversation and felt a little embarrassed. She was already embarrassed from the start when she referred to a stranger as her boyfriend. She needed to explain. As soon as Greyson hung up the phone, she turned to him.

“Hmm, Mr. Brooks, right?” she caught the name when the waiter addressed him earlier.

“Please, just call me Grey,” he replied.

“First, thank you so much. The thing is, I rushed in here because I was running from someone.” Maya started to explain herself.

“Oh. It's okay. So, how’s your leg? Let me see it.” Greyson pulled her chair and turned it towards him. He lifted Maya’s leg and put it on his lap.

His action put Maya speechless. She pulled her leg hastily and accidentally hit the chair.

“Ouch... Sorry… No, I mean, it’s okay, I can handle it” Looking at her reaction, Greyson couldn’t help but smile because he found her reaction cute.

Greyson shook his head and turned to call a waiter. “Do you have an ice pack?” he asked the waiter.

“Yes we do. Please wait a moment, sir.” The waiter said as he went to find the ice pack.

Greyson turned back to Maya.

“So, miss….?” Greyson asked.

“Maya. Maya Duke” she replied while smiling.

“Beautiful name, it suits you. Though at first I thought you’re an Isabel or maybe a Catherina.” he joked.

From the moment she stood in front of him, he couldn’t resist glancing at her face because she is pretty. So pretty! He tried to hide it but his smile almost gave it away.

Maya blushed, it showed so much as her cheeks turned red. She looked away to hide her face.

After the awkward moment, the waiter came back with an ice pack. Greyson held out his hand as a sign for Maya to put her leg on it. She hesitated at first but ended up doing what he asked as Greyson kept on insisting.

“It’s a little swollen now. What happened?” Greyson asked Maya while applying the ice pack on her ankle.

“I was running from someone and sprained my ankle. I thought it was nothing at first, it didn’t hurt as much so I continued running to avoid him and ended up like this.” She pointed to her swollen ankle.

“So, who is this ‘him’?” he asked again.

She looked at him and answered “My ex-boyfriend.” Awkwardly.

“Oh… so, EX-boyfriend” Greyson emphasised on the word “EX” and smiled slightly and continued.

“So, any plans for a new boyfriend?” An honest question from his heart even though it sounded like a joke.

Maya just deniably shaking her head and looking at her swollen ankle didn't feel like answering the question. Maya was just playing with her nails and frowning, thinking why is this stranger asking so many personal questions when they have only just met.

“No..?” As Greyson kept on talking, a female figure approached them.

The woman suddenly sat on the chair in front of them, Maya looked so confused.

‘Who is this woman’, she asked herself.

She looked so gorgeous and beautiful. She was wearing a cream colored blouse matched with a white blazer. The black skirt matched the top perfectly, making her look stunningly gorgeous.

With her long blond hair the woman smiled and asked “So baby, care to introduce her to me?”

As soon as the women spoke, Maya quickly pulled her leg from Greyson’s lap. She looked puzzled.

‘Baby?’

**Hi readers, this is my first novel and please note that English is not my first language. Feel free to give me any feedback regarding the story. Love to hear from all of you.