SOFT LIGHT GLOWED off the lighting arrangements around them and the in-house musicians played subtle violin and piano, the eatery wasn't that crowded and was unequivocally beautiful. Fireflies danced to their own tunes around shrubs, which made sense because the place was called 'Fireflies'.

It was named so after the owner's wife died, who absolutely loved fireflies because they were a metaphor for passionate love and symbolized a bright future in her culture.

The ambience of the restaurant was certainly very pleasant unlike that blind date she did not get to enjoy a little over a week ago, maybe it was her mood and the place was actually good? Initially she thought that she should've given it a shot but then the man who sat across her would not be in her life again and she wouldn't want to risk that. 

Matthew's phone rang as he peered at it with an annoyed expression.

"Work." He muttered apologetically to which Leyla urged him to go on and pick it up as she looked out at the greenery beside her.

A slight tap on her right shoulder caused the brunette to do a three-sixty and gaze into deep blue irises.

"Will?" bewildered, a shocked Leyla stood to face him. An expression of uncertainty painted upon her beautiful face.

"What's wrong? Are you that shocked to see me?" Will spoke smugly, attempting to tease her. She blinked but gathered herself promptly, placing her signature kind smile on her punch pink lips.

"Not at all, just startled." He nodded in understanding before taking the seat in front of her as she internally yelled at him to get off. "So Ms. Aydın, what are you doing here?"

She parted her lips to speak, "I'm here on a-"

But was cut off with Matthew's tired and apologetic voice, "Sorry Ley, it was work, they needed the reference numbers for..."

The hazel eyed man trailed off as his hands rubbed the back of his neck. He shot Leyla a quizzical look as to who the man situated in his seat was.

After looking at Leyla's slightly fraught face, Will turned to look at who was behind him only to have his smug smile resurface.

He lowered his gaze with widened his eyes, smirking. "Matty boy!" Will spoke in his American accent.

Leyla now perplexed, looked at the two of them.

Matthew smiled begrudgingly at the blonde boy while nodding, they went in for what was deemed as a 'bro-hug'.

Poor Leyla sat there absolutely clueless, mentally urging one of them to tell her what exactly was going on.

"Leyla? He's your date?" Will inquired to which Leyla nodded, a little embarrassed about being in the same space as the two boys she found herself attracted to.

"You two know each other?" Leyla questioned innocently.

A mischievous glint shone in Will's eyes as he turned to present Matthew a lop-sided grin, "Yes, very well actually but I'll let Matty boy here elaborate further."

Matthew visibly tensed but much to his relief, Leyla was busy trying to connect the dots in her head.

He shuffled over to Leyla and brought her hand up to his lips, kissing her knuckles shamelessly in front of her date. Will left fully aware of the fire he set off behind him.

The slight initial attraction in her heart towards Will diminished as she stared at what remained of Matthew and her date.

━━━━ ☆ ━━━━

"So am I going to know how you two know each other?" Leyla peeked at Matthew from the passenger seat.

"Yes," He breathed. "I had a thing with his sister, nothing too serious. More of a fling, really."

The two knew each other for over a decade, "Yeah okay, cut the crap." Leyla challenged, looking over at him from her seat.

"I swear! That's all, he's been like that forever. Now how do you know him?" He quipped.

"Don't antagonize me, pretty boy! I met him at Ayşe's apartment complex." She spoke confidently, letting Matthew's sly subject change go, maybe it was a touchy topic?

With a smile teasing at her lips, she turned to face him in her seat, "Switch with me."

Astonished, he glanced over at her. "Switch?"

Rolling her eyes exaggeratedly, she pursed her soft pink lips, void of lip color as it wore off during dinner.

━━━━ ☆ ━━━━

Matthew pulled out a patterned blanket from his trunk and walked over to where Leyla was standing, "That's a cute blanket," she mused, stifling a giggle. "Now don't say that, it's been with me through thick and thin," the hazel eyed boy joked.

He looked around them at the scenic backdrop, "How do you know this place?"

With a slight shrug, she tilted her head at a small angle. "The by-product of driving aimlessly for hours."

"Also can I say that you have a great car, a 1966 Mercedes-Benz 230SL! I have been trying to get my hands on one of those since I moved here."

Quizzical, she looked at him, "Where'd you see it?" But caught herself, "The ice-cream parlour. Thank you it was my grandfather's."

The two lost themselves quickly in the topic of vintage cars; it was something Leyla was genuinely passionate about.

"You know, I never thought that I would ever run into a pretty girl at an ice-cream parlor," Matthew whispered out to her while the brunette was on full throttle going on about the Corvette she found last week. 

"Are you flirting with me now?" Leyla grinned softly revealing her pearly whites. The two of them chuckled.

She smiled delicately at the view in front of her. Each building lit up magnificently amidst the inky night sky, trees were bordering the far ends around them, it was calm, serene, peaceful, whatever you'd want to call it. It was her place, and now both of theirs.

She turned to face the hazel eyed man.

Matthew fell silent and neared her face, alternating his gaze between her soft lips and deep brown irises, Leyla's heart leaped infinite beats as the distance between them slowly vanished. A dull chime cut through the air which caused the two to look around awkwardly.

"Uh... I'm sort of busy at the moment," he rubbed the back of his neck again as he muttered into the small device, a habit that Leyla noticed he often did. "Yeah alright, I'll be there in a few."

He huffed to which Leyla smiled softly. The few minutes she had to herself made her think hard, wasn't this moving much too fast? They met a week ago, met up three or four times after that and went on a date today, so it was alright, right? They also knew each other for a very long time, so there wasn't much too worry about.

Her time of contemplation was cut off short as she took note of his hand hovering in the air, beside her face.

She placed her palm in his as he pulled her up, "It's okay pretty boy, we'll meet another time."

"Are you implying that we'll meet again, Miss?" Matthew teased lightly.

With a thoughtful expression, she brought her soft arms to cross over her chest "Hmm, I don't know will we?"

Doing something Matthew's inner shy boy would never do in a millennia, he pulled her gently to his chest and took note of the way Leyla's deep brown irises looked under the pale moonlight. They were the color of earth kissed by spring rains, the hue that promises to stir life from dormant seeds

"You have pretty eyes," he broke the comfortable silence as she smiled softly and wrapped her petal arms around his neck. Matthew's eyes trailed over her lips and stayed there for a second before he looked back into her eyes, deciding against whatever he had in mind.

Leyla placed her manicured hand over the velvet smooth skin of his cheek and placed a chaste kiss on his opposite cheek before they parted ways.

soo matthew and leyla went on a date, yess!! 

anyways, i hope you guys liked it and do let me know your thoughts in the comments, it's always a pleasure going through them <33