Izuna was the sweetest guest.

Actually, it didn't feel like Izuna was a guest at all. Izuna seemed to have a capacity to make a place feel more at home.

I looked around me, at what I had created during these past five years. I hadn't been able to deal with living in the same place where she had lived with me, so I had moved almost immediately. Despite my wealth, people had thought I was crazy to buy this place, which was the most attractive apartment in the city, perhaps even in the country and the world. People had thought I was even more crazy when I'd hired a landscape architect and several gardeners to redo the place, as well as taken a class in gardening.

It had been worth it. It had all been so worth it.

And to see Izuna love it so much...

I suddenly felt incredibly touched, and had to stand still for a moment. Izuna, however, did not notice. He took the paper bags, put them on the kitchen island and started unpacking. He unpacked onion and garlic, chickpeas and cucumber.

"I just assumed you have flour and olive oil?" he said happily, looking at me. "Shit, I forgot the tomatoes!"

I went into my greenhouse and picked several yellow and red mini tomatoes as well as some bell peppers. Izuna immediately started bossing me around in the kitchen. He was awfully cute doing that, I thought with a smile as I chopped and fried onion and garlic, and mashed the chickpeas in my Vitamix as Izuna baked pita bread. All the while, we were drinking our hot mulled wine.

I couldn't remember last time I had felt so good.

"Oh!" he suddenly burst out. "I almost forgot!"

He brought his backpack, and started rustling in it. I frowned, looking at his little frame as he was searching for whatever it was he was searching for. I carefully went to him and stood behind him. Then, I leaned my chin on his shoulder.

He kept rustling, as if this display of affection was the most normal thing in the world.

Maybe, it is.

"What have you got there?" I asked softly.

"A-ha!" he said triumphantly and held something up.

At first, I didn't understand what it was. But then, I saw.

"You..."

"It's something my parents taught me!" he said happily, handling me a beautiful candle. The glass container was pearly metallic orange, the wax a soft vanilla colour with small wax pumpkins and a cinnamon stick in it. It smelled heavenly. "Whenever you visit someone for the first time, you bring a gift!"

"Izuna..." I said. I was incredibly touched. "It's awfully sweet of you. But look at all of this!" I gestured around me. "I'm the one who should buy you things! Yet you come here with groceries and a gift!"

Izuna smiled a little and looked down, suddenly shy.

"Gifts aren't about distribution of money", he said. "It's about appreciation."

I looked at him. I realised then I was in awe of this little man.

"Well", I said, and went into the cabinet to grab something. "I happen to have something for you, too."

And I handed him a bottle of fine coffee liqueur I had bought when I was in Singapore, and a box of pralines I bought yesterday for specifically Izuna. Both of them cost a fortune, but they were worth every penny, I knew.

"Dessert!" Izuna burst out, his eyes glittering. "Perfect!"

"It's strawberry sweets", I said proudly at the box of pralines. "Freeze-dried strawberries with different coatings."

"Tobirama, thank you!" he said and threw himself in my arms. I was taken completely by surprise, and froze into place. "I love sweets!"

I melted, and I hugged him back. His hair smelled of vanilla and lemon.

"Then let's cook so we get to the sweets faster", I said with a smile.

Soon, we had home-made falafel in the oven while chopping vegetables as the pita bread cooled. We took the finished food as well as some sparkling orange soda to a picnic table next to the fountain, and sat down to eat.

"This is heavenly..." Izuna sighed and chewed.

It is... Oh, God, it is.

"I haven't done this in a long time", I confessed.

"What, you mean, dated someone?" Izuna asked.

I jerked. I had talked about cooking. Izuna jerked, too, then blushed.

"God, sorry! That was insensitive of me! I mean, I shouldn't just assume... I mean-"

"Izuna", I interrupted him with a smile and took his hand. He stared at our entwined fingers. "I would love for this to be a date."

Izuna's smile made every drop of anxiety worth it.

We ended up sitting in my lounge chairs beneath a parasol. During sunny days, the parasol protected you from the sun shining in through the glass window, but during evenings, the fairy lights that hung off them as well as in the close-by trees provided a fantastic environment.

Izuna sat in a lounge chair next to mine, all stretched out. The box of strawberry sweets were on a table between us.

"Wow! This is art!" He'd said, taking one covered in marzipan and dipped in white chocolate, a dust of pistachio and green edible metal foil on it. "And delicious!" he added, mouth full.

We ate together slowly, just relaxing. We enjoyed the greenery around us. I really, really enjoyed seeing how relaxed Izuna was in my home.

"I'll go put the dishes in the dish washer", I said.

"I'll help!" Izuna instantly said and moved to stand up.

"No," I said, looking at him with my sternest gaze, the one I only used when I was in my boss mode. "You've done enough. Please, rest."

He did. I actually found it quite relaxing putting everything in the dish washer, putting leftovers in containers and stapling them in the fridge. I usually had people do it for me so I could work more. Maybe, I wouldn't have to use them quite as much.

When I came back to Izuna, I saw he had fallen asleep, a strawberry sweet still in his hand. I melted. I put one arm beneath his shoulder and one beneath his knees and, carefully so as not to wake him up, I plucked him up. It felt like plucking a rose from its stem. I carried him to my bed, screened off from the rest of the apartment with a free-standing wall, the bed turned towards the splendid view, and placed him down gently. He sighed happily, and immediately hugged my pillow to his face. He truly was the sweetest guest.

You're going to fall for him.

The realisation was immediate, like a lightning bolt. Yet, it didn't cause me to jerk, or to freeze, or to feel anxious. Instead, it surrounded me with a soft warmth, like the warm vanilla smell from the candle Izuna had bought me.

I stood and looked at him for a while, making sure he was safe.

Then, I went to my bathroom and got ready for bed, then to the lounge chairs, where I laid down and fell asleep immediately.