As I held the menu in front of my face, I decided to let my eyes roam around the rest of the exquisite eating establishment.

I could see everyone dressed quite nicely, almost fancifully. The men wore suit jackets and had iron and pressed shirts, while the women wore dresses and shoes and carried handbags that could cost me about two months of my feeble savings.

All of a sudden, I felt cheap in my own clothes. Though in my own opinion, my outfit was nice, I knew it could never outshine the outfits of those other women.

And then I began to feel so out of place. I was just a simple young woman who can't get any form of luxury instantly, whereas Aiden and the other patrons of the restaurant looked as though they literally showered in gold. I could surely bet that they resided in The Glades, the district in Heatherton that housed the rich.

"Spring? You alright? You look as though you're waiting for something to attack you."

I turned to look at Aiden, who had set his menu down on the table and was looking at me with an eyebrow raised.

I shook my head. "It's nothing. I just feel so awkward being here," I shyly said.

He narrowed his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows. "Why should you?" he asked.

Setting my menu down on the table, I murmured, "Everyone here, including you, seems so fancy. I feel shabby. I should have dressed in something that would fit this date."

Aiden then snorted. "That's ridiculous. Do you even have any idea of how gorgeous you look right now?"

I blushed and giggled bashfully. "No. I don't think so."

He then leaned in closer and said, "Did you even see how many of these men turned to look at you the minute you walked in here with me? The women that were with them had to snap them out of it."

"Psh. Please," I replied. "Did you even see how many women turned to look at you? Even the hostess kept giving you all those looks and those unnecessary smiles."

He chuckled, "I guess that's one thing the both of us have in common; people simply can't take our eyes off us."

I smiled, but it immediately disappeared when a waiter came to our table with a notepad and pen in his hands.

He nodded once to Aiden and then turned to look at me. With a smile, he greeted, "Good evening. I am Robert and I will serve you for tonight. May I make a suggestion to start off with an appetizer of cream of mushroom soup?"

Aiden nodded. "Yes, that would be nice."

Robert nodded and wrote down something on his notepad. Then, he asked, "And what would the both of you like as your main course?"

I instantly picked up my menu again upon realizing that I haven't really read it through. As I quickly scanned through the names of Italian dishes, I heard Aiden say, "I'll have the spaghetti alla carbonara."

Robert nodded again and wrote on his notepad again. And when he turned to me, he asked with a grin, "And for you?"

I gulped and decided to say the name of the first thing I saw on the menu. "Uhmm… I'll have the fettuccine alfredo?"

Robert flashed me a wider smile as he exclaimed, "Excellent choice. The chef's special. And for your drinks?"

"We'll just have sparkling water," Aiden said, his eyes fixed on Robert, whose eyes were still fixed on me as he wrote my order on the notepad.

He then proceeded to take away our menus and took his leave. I could see Aiden looking at him with irritation in his black eyes.

"Flatterer," he muttered in annoyance under his breath.

"What?" I asked him.

Looking at me, he said, "See what I mean when the men here can't take their eyes off you? He was ignoring me the whole time."

I snorted, "Please. That's exactly how I felt with that hostess."

His pursed lips then relaxed into a smile. Suddenly, in just a minute, Robert appeared again, carrying a tray which held two flute glasses filled with fizzy water and two bowls of soup. He flashed me another smile as he placed one glass and one bowl of creamy mushroom soup in front of me, before doing the same to Aiden.

"How did you do all this?" I asked him before I took a sip of my sparkling water, which tasted like plain water, only fizzier.

"How did I do all this what?" he asked me cluelessly, staring at the bubbles in his water.

I waved a hand slightly, gesturing to the whole restaurant. "Get a table here. This place is exclusive. You have to reserve a seat like days before you would actually eat here."

He swirled the water in his glass as a wine connoisseur would when inspecting wine. Without taking his eyes off the water, he replied, "It wasn't really difficult. I got the booking done just this morning."

I nearly choked on my sparkling water when I took a sip from it. "What?" I exclaimed in disbelief. "How?"

He shrugged and took a sip from his water. "It's not that difficult. I just went up to the hostess and told her I wanted a table for two as I gave her a stack of cash."

"You bribed her?" I gasped.

"And it worked quite well too." Then he stroked his chin and looked at me mischievously, "Though I also believe it has something to do with my looks."

I was still getting over the initial shock. Aiden had actually bribed the hostess just to get a table for this date? Who knew how much money he had to fork up just for that task?

And then, I was beginning to feel a new warmth coming from deep within my chest as I thought about how thoughtful the gesture was, even though it did seem quite wrong.

I couldn't get my mouth to say anything else other than, "You must be very rich."

"I guess you could say that," he muttered, staring exactly into my eyes. I couldn't get my lips to say another word, too distracted of trying to hold on to his gaze.

When I finally had the will to look away, I picked up my soup spoon and began to eat the mushroom soup. The creamy soup and the mushrooms in it was creamy and delicious. I didn't talk to Aiden, because I was so concentrated on eating my soup.

When both of us finished at the same time, we felt someone appear right beside our table. We both looked up to see Robert holding a tray and smiling down on me.

"A fettuccine alfredo," he said as he lay down on the table a plate of creamy fettuccine with bits of chicken on top. Then he took away my empty soup bowl and spoon.

He then turned to Aiden and laid down a plate of saucy spaghetti with bits of bacon, eggs and grated cheese on top.

"And a spaghetti alla carbonara," Robert said as he took away Aiden's soup bowl and spoon.

And then, at the same time, both Aiden and I said, "Thank you."

We looked at each other and smiled. We didn't give any attention to Robert, who I noticed was looking awkward and silently excused himself from our table.

"Wow. They got our food done fast," I speculated, eyeing my fettuccine alfredo in hunger and awe.

"I guess they didn't want to keep a pretty girl waiting," he smirked.

I chuckled, "And maybe they didn't want to keep a handsome guy waiting as well."

We both then shared a hearty laugh before we proceeded to start eating. I picked up my silverware and tucked into the food. I had to be mindful that I was in a fancy restaurant, so I tried to be as mannerly as possible and remember the table rules that my mother had grounded into my brain from when I was young.

After taking my first bite of the fettuccine alfredo, I sighed in content.

"Good, isn't it?" he asked me, twirling his spaghetti.

I nodded. "It's so good. You know, I've always wanted to dine here one day, and today is that day."

It was as though what I said was like really good music to his ears, because he smiled immediately, looking pleased.

"Well, I'm glad that I managed to make that dream come true," he said dreamily. And then, he picked up his flute of sparkling water and said, "A toast."

I smirked at his actions, but I too picked up my own glass and brought it to touch his. A soft clank could be heard.

"A toast," I said. A toast to what, I do not know.

But it felt nice to be doing it with him.

"That was great," I said in contentment.

We strolled around the park now, enjoying the silent breeze. My stomach was satisfied thanks to the absolutely delicious dinner, especially the tiramisu cake I had for dessert.

A walk in the quiet park seemed like a great way to top it all off.

"It is great," he answered. "Especially since it was with you."

Once again, I blushed. He kept on doing that to me; making me blush just by commenting about how great I was. But I would always want to know why. I mean, this was only our (real) first date. My first real date, if I may add. Other than that, we had only started to become friends, despite being complete strangers just about a week ago. But he was commenting good things about me as though he knew me for a very long time, and as though I was someone even closer to him.

But I didn't protest or even question why he would do such a thing, because I secretly do enjoy it very much and never want it to end.

Just then, there was sudden chill in the air, and I shivered in an instant. All of a sudden, I felt something being placed on me, and I turned to him and saw that he had taken off his jacket and placed it on my shoulders. He noticed me staring at him, and he smiled.

I swooned on the inside. I felt like I was in one of those old romance films, where the guy and the girl would just be walking and then the guy would just suddenly take off his jacket and put it on the girl.

Yup. That was exactly how I felt.

"Thanks," I said shyly, breathing in the scent of his jacket. It smelled amazing. Like a woodsy scent, with a tinge of what smelled like smoke and warm earth after a rain shower. I could even detect a hint of peppermint.

"Wow," I breathed quietly. My head was swimming in the perfection of this moment.

I needed to sit down.

Luckily, I caught sight of a lone and empty bench that was right next to a lamp post. I walked over to it and sat down. He sat down beside me, leaving only a few inches of space between us.

"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" he murmured.

I looked up at the night sky. It was a midnight blue, without any clouds floating. But I could see a few twinkling stars were out, and the moon was full.

I then heard him murmur, "Artemis is doing a great job, isn't she?"

I looked at him instantly and saw him smiling. Smiling back, I answered, "I would like to believe that."

He lifts an eyebrow. "What would you like to believe?"

"The Greek gods and goddesses. I would like to believe that somehow, they still do exist, even in our time."

I looked up at him and saw him looking ahead, his obsidian eyes ridden with thoughts.

"What are you thinking?" I asked him.

His eyes slid over to me, and he replied, "Maybe they are still here, Spring. Just forgotten." Then with a sigh, he asked, "What if, one day, they return?"

I thought about the question. That sort of question wasn't really new to me. I had asked myself that quite a number of times, but never once pondered on it for so long.

Because I have an answer for that.

"Then I'll be glad."