5 5| It Reminded Me of You

It was Friday and I was watching the clock with blue eyes. It felt like time was moving incredibly slow today and I figured it was due to my recent excitement. Why was I excited? I had no clue. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I was meeting Ezekiel tonight. Probably not. I was just in a good mood.

My head was a bit all over the place and I found it hard to focus on the new species of plant they had found on the other side of the island. It was my job to study it thoroughly before letting the Royals read about its studies. I would probably have to catch a flight next week to meet the fellow scientists who were working on it.

I loved being around people were just as passionate about botanical studies as I was. Ezekiel had that same mind-set. He liked to refer to himself as a man of science. When I asked him why he did not pursue it, he said he did not have much of a choice when it came to career choices.

I felt sad for him at times, he and I were both tied to working for the Palace. We appreciated it a lot, but if it was up to us, we would have probably gone different paths. I still did not know much about him personally, but he did not know much about me either. We never talked about our past or future. Just what happened that day and that was it.

I sort of enjoyed it. Everyone liked to pry, but he respected boundaries. If there was something I wanted to share I would do so on my own accord. I loved Adriano and Gino, but they could be terribly annoying. Maybe because they were slightly older than me. Gino was turning thirty, Adriano twenty-nine and I had already turned twenty-eight this year. They often liked to view me as their baby brother when in my mind I was all man.

After forcing myself to focus on my work for another four hours I was ecstatic when it finally became four pm. Gino and Adriano were both going out to see their families for the day therefore leaving me to spend the night alone. Tomorrow was the party at the Palace so Gino and I would meet up, then leave together.

I stopped by the supermarket and brought two fruit salads before leaving to go home. I took a long bath to help my muscles then spent a long time to figure out what I was going to wear. Last time Ezekiel complimented me when he saw me in something light. So I went for that.

I wore beige straight jeans that were a size bigger than what I normally wore but they were so comfortable I never saw myself returning them. I cuffed the bottom of the jeans and wore a white shirt with a light blue oversized knitted jersey. Deciding to look more put together I wore brown ankle boots. My hair still looked like I had just woken up, and that was the one part I was never going to change.

I had roughly two hours before having to leave so I decided to stop by a restaurant to have a small dinner. I was watching the TV in the restaurant that normally played sport games, this time it was on the national news channel as King Adonis addressed the country. Apparently his trip out the country was greatly beneficial to the country.

He wanted our country to use cleaner energy supplies and to be more self-sufficient. We currently had a mix of coal power plants and solar panels. The country spent a lot of money on importing coal. King Adonis met with other countries that were embracing cleaner reusable energy and struck a deal with five of them, for us to have our own wind turbines towards the country side and off shore.

It would allow us to reinvest in the country and help better the lives of people struggling with poverty by creating more jobs. I thought it was extremely admirable and I could see on other people's faces they were proud to have a king like King Adonis.

I paid for my food and cycled to the Palace. As I walked the grounds I saw the tall, muscular stature of a man. Ezekiel. He was dressed in black jeans with a matching hoodie and for the first time he wore shoes. The moon was not out so my visibility was low, but I knew it was him.

"Hi Ezekiel," I greeted and placed my bags down.

He turned around and from the tone of his voice I knew he was happy to see me too. "Cloud, I hope you did not miss me too much," he chuckled as I set up my station.

"Of course not," I lied. He knew since he laughed once again. "How was your trip?"

"Stressful, but informative," he answered and sat down close to me. We always had space between us, but over the weeks he inched closer and closer. I did not really mind because it only proved he really was not a ghost.

"I thought you went off for a little vacation," I teased.

"I wish. Working for the Royal family does not give you much time to yourself," he sighed, but still had a light heartedness about it.

"Well at least King Adonis achieved something great. This is going to change the lives for everyone in the country," I smiled.

"I believe so too." From there we continued working and talking about the tests I was conducting again. After an hour we decided to enjoy the fruit salads I had brought and just talked about Ezekiel's trip. "Whilst I was in Sweden I got you something."

"Really? You didn't have to," I was genuinely shocked he had thought about me whilst off serving the Royals.

"I know, but I just saw something and it reminded me of you," he inched closer to me then asked, "May I?"

"Of course," he sat down next to me, much closer this time that I could actually smell his scent. He smelt like cinnamon, mint and sandalwood with a slight musk to him. It was surprisingly refreshing and he smelt powerful. One could never forget that scent once they had been exposed to it.

He pulled out a small rectangular black box. "May I borrow your torch?" I instantly handed it to him. He switched it on to the lowest setting just enough to show me what was inside the box, but not enough to show me his face. I was a bit bummed out, but that quickly vanished when he opened it up. Inside was a thin rose-gold necklace that had a beautiful cloud pendant encrusted with diamonds. It did not take a genius to know that it was expensive, because it definitely screamed euro signs.

"The rose-gold reminded me of your hair and the cloud well, because of your name. It reminded me of you," he explained lowly. He sounded a bit shy suddenly and it was a complete contrast to his normal confident self.

"It's beautiful. I can't accept it. This must have cost you a lot of money," I had received many gifts in my life but this was probably one the most expensive ones.

"Please I insist Cloud. It would make me extremely happy," he took the necklace out of the velvet mould and presented it to me, "at least try it on first before you make up your mind."

I was weak! Why did he have to say it that way? With a small pout I turned around and allowed him to put in on my neck. His fingers brushed the back of my neck as he clasped it together. I tried not to think about how his fingers lingered on my skin after it was on me, but I could not ignore the way his skin felt on mine.

He was too warm. Warm enough that you wished he held you longer even if it was just with the pads of his fingers. It felt like my whole head was buzzing as he just held me. Suddenly, the air around us was so thick that I found it hard to breathe. What was this strange feeling?

"What do you think?" his deep authoritative voice whispered in my ear. His warm now fruity breathe fanned my neck as I just struggled to breathe. "Words Cloud."

"It's beautiful. I…I don't know what to say," I held the small pendant in my hand and looked down to it. It was so simple, but I swore it was one of the most beautiful things I would ever own.

"How about thank you?" he chuckled.

"Thank you Ezekiel. Thank you so much," I smiled and just as I turned to look at his face he moved away.

"Pleasure Cloud. I have to leave, but maybe I will run into you tomorrow at the party." My heart skipped a beat when I realized he might be there.

"I will finally get a chance to see your face," I joked and stood up to stand in front of him.

"Wouldn't that ruin the fun," he laughed, "I look forward to seeing you in the day light small snowflake."

"Same to you," I blushed. Had he just called me snowflake? Why did it make me happy that he referred to me as snowflake?

"Goodnight Cloud."

"Goodnight Ezekiel," I whispered not wanting him to go. He seemed to sense that and took a step forward. I was not sure what he was planning to do, but when his arms wrapped around me for a tight hug I nearly fainted. My tiny arms could barely hug the beast of a man back but he seemed to appreciate my efforts.

"Don't work for too long, you have a long day ahead of you," he rested his head on top of mine as I continued to get intoxicated by his scent.

"I won't," I responded weakly. He hugged me a few more seconds before letting go. Before I could think of pulling him back to me, he was out of my reach and walking away.

Why the hell did I want him to stay?