566 True Love

Karaoke was but a long distant memory by now - swept away in the raging tide of shoppers, left behind and forgotten forever in the lofty confines of the fourth floor. 

"Shouldn't you go home?" Irene inquired. A hushed whisper amidst a lift full of passengers. "It's getting late, isn't it?" 

True, it was about that time now when noon and evening would merge, the better part of the day all but gone... and given the not-so-lateness of the hour, there was really no better time to call it a day - head back home. 

Except, unfortunately, I believe I still have some unfinished business to take care of here... as well as a small bag slung around my shoulder that I've still yet to gift. 

The elevator chimed the tune of the ground floor, and as everyone else began to funnel out the parting doors, I held her in place by the hand before she could even take a single step forward. 

I glanced at her, lips in a half-smile. "You - "