Love Elimination (16 page)

‘Shall we?’ Luke took Anna’s hand and slid it through his crooked elbow.

‘Sure.’ Even the cameras couldn’t shake her happiness and if the audiences thought her smile was due to her winning more time with Luke Westwood, that was just a happy coincidence for
Love Elimination
.

‘Just wait until you see what comes next.’

Anna’s stomach leapt. There was no way what came next could be better than the afternoon. Of that, Anna was sure.

* * *

Joe muttered instructions in Luke’s ear as he waited restlessly for Anna’s costume change. Luke hadn’t felt nervous about a date in years. Not even on the first night of filming. This was his first attempt at organising a date for the show.

When the sedan pulled up, Luke rushed to open the door. He didn’t think she’d wait, but she did. Probably just because the crew would’ve made her get back in and try again if she hadn’t.

The restaurant was empty of other patrons but he led her past all the tables and up a set of stairs. When they reached the door at the top, he tugged on her hand until she stopped. He procured a blindfold from his pocket.

‘What are you doing?’ She stared with wide eyes at the material between his fingers.

‘It’s a surprise,’ he replied, entwining his fingers with hers. He gently tugged until she was facing him. ‘Come on. You can trust me.’

She acquiesced, allowing him to tie the blindfold over her eyes and wrap his arm securely around her waist. The scent of honey lingered on her soft skin.

He opened the door and led her out onto the terrace. His hands caressed her face as he untied the blindfold. ‘Here we are.’ As it dropped away, he watched her eyes blink and take in the sight around her. The railing and pergola on the restaurant’s rooftop were decorated with twisted vines and hundreds of glittering fairy lights.

‘This is beautiful,’ Anna gasped. Luke’s gaze was captured by her beautiful, long eyelashes, which widened as she took in the table in the middle of the terrace. A white tablecloth draped over it and a single candle flickered. White plates and silver cutlery were set for the three-course meal to come, with a small loaf of wood-oven bread and butter sprinkled with salt.

With a hand on her lower back but itching to dip further, he guided her to the seat. Luke caught Joe’s eye as he made his way to his own chair. The director was nodding and looking terribly pleased with himself.

The meal began.

‘How are you going?’ Luke asked. They were so close, she couldn’t avoid him or his eye contact. She looked at him with her eyes open wide and a softness in her lips. Each emotion played out over her features. At the question, wrinkles crossed her forehead and nose until she remembered to smooth them out again. She wasn’t a very good actress. Luke hid a smile.

‘Good.’

‘Are you having trouble with anyone in the house?’ he probed, thinking of the first episode. It only now occurred to him that the date tonight wouldn’t do her any favours with the other contestants. Perhaps he shouldn’t have organised cooking with Donat Monque as a group date, giving the impression that anyone could’ve won—it was rigged from the start. Convincing Joe it was the right thing for the show had been the hardest part, but the director knew it would have the audiences tearing up in their living rooms. Grand gestures always went down well.

‘I’m not going to bitch about the others, Luke. You’re going to have to figure out their flaws and failings without my help.’ She raised her head and looked him squarely in the eye.

‘I’m not asking about them. I’m asking about you.’ He leaned forwards and took the hand she was resting on the table.

‘Well, I haven’t caught anyone bitching about me again. So that’s an improvement.’

They were interrupted by the arrival of the entrée. The aroma of the soup had him salivating. At the first spoonful, his insides melted. Luke had eaten great food before, but this soup instantly became the best thing he’d ever tasted. Anna seemed to be in a similar state of ecstasy and neither of them spoke again until they almost finished.

‘Who are you friends with in the house?’ he asked her.

‘Hadie is my best friend on the show,’ she said.

The short answer didn’t have him convinced. ‘Who else do you chat with most?’

‘I don’t know. Liu Kun, Rachel?’ She pushed her bowl away and leaned her elbows on the table. Luke mimicked the movement and a waiter appeared on cue, removing their empty plates and disappearing in the time it took them to say ‘thank you’.

‘What about you? Who are your favourites?’

‘I’m not allowed to tell you that.’ The waiter swept back to the table with a plate in each hand. He placed their main course in front of them.

‘Wow. This smells delicious,’ she said. Her voice was low and husky. Luke watched her closely, trying to decide whether she’d meant it to sound so sexy. When she looked up and caught him staring, a pale blush rose on her cheeks.

By the time dessert arrived, he’d figured out how utterly out of place she felt in
Love Elimination
’s women’s prison and was prepared to summon any international chef to make it up to her. But for the time being, the second stage of his plan was about to commence. The door opened again and this time it wasn’t the waiter who appeared. It was Donat Monque.

‘Here’s our chef.’ Luke nodded towards him.

‘I hope you enjoyed the meal.’ The chef placed dessert in front of them.

‘It was delicious. Thank you,’ Anna said enthusiastically. She was going to adore the next part.

‘I hope you also enjoyed the company,’ Donat Monque said. ‘But I’m afraid I’ll be taking it from here …’

‘You’ll what?’ Her eyes darted from Luke to the chef and back again. A flicker of excitement flitted across her face, but she didn’t seem ready to believe it.

‘As much as I loved our time together, I think you’ll like this even more,’ Luke said. He dragged back the chair and held it out for Donat Monque. The chef sat down and Luke suddenly realised that the thirty-year-old food genius was probably more Anna’s type. His good mood dissipated.

‘Have a wonderful night.’ He bent over and kissed Anna on the cheek. She tilted her head into his lips and his lower lip brushed against hers. Not quite a kiss, but enough that his stomach clenched. ‘Hope this makes it all worth it,’ he whispered into her ear.

Then he left without looking back until after he passed the cameras. She leaned into the conversation with her idol, sliding a spoonful of the dessert into her mouth. The gesture had never looked sexier. He clenched his hands into fists. The only thing left to do was to turn around and leave.

* * *

There wasn’t a lot of excitement for Anna upon her return. The scowls she received were enough to scare a small child into tears. They all wanted to know if Anna had kissed Luke and when she said no, the contestants cleared out with Yvette murmuring, ‘Liar,’ under her breath. Jessica nodded as she left.

When Anna returned to her bedroom, Hadie was waiting on her bed with her chin in her hands. ‘So, how did it go?’ she said.

‘It was really great,’ Anna sighed, flopping back onto her mattress. ‘Donat Monque cooked for us and then Luke left us to eat dessert together. I finally got over the fangirl excitement and thought up a billion questions I wanted to ask him.’

‘Your date was amazing because Luke left you alone with another man?’ Hadie giggled into her hands. ‘That is probably the weirdest thing to happen on this show.’

‘Yeah.’

‘But it is also the most romantic thing that will ever happen on this show.’

‘It was, wasn’t it?’ The date replayed over and over in her mind, so Anna couldn’t forget her dismay at Luke leaving early—despite the fact that he was being replaced by
the
Donat Monque. Clichéd butterflies made their appearance in her stomach whenever she saw
Love Elimination
’s suitor.

‘What was your chef like in person?’

‘He was amazing. Dedicated, talented, and his knowledge is
unbelievable
. He grew up in a family of food lovers and travelled a lot as a child. I don’t think he’s ever talked about that in interviews before.’

‘Did you talk about your café?’

‘Yes. He had a ton of advice. And he even gave me his email address if I have any questions. He said he’d look over any menus or recipes I send through. How great is that?’

‘That’s so sweet.’ Hadie smiled. ‘What about Luke? Did you really not kiss him after that?’

‘He gave me a peck on the cheek when he left. He brushed my lips. But it wasn’t a proper kiss.’

‘Would you have ravaged him if Donat Monque and the camera crew hadn’t been there?’

‘Do I still meet Donat Monque and eat his food in this hypothetical situation?’

‘Yes.’

Anna paused and answered honestly. ‘I don’t know … I would never have dated Luke Westwood in the outside world.’

‘Why not? He’s gorgeous, kind, a good listener, smart, generous … He’s literally the most perfect human being I’ve ever met. Except for the fact that he’s like a horse with blinkers.’

‘What do you mean?’ Anna asked, turning over her pillow and pounding it into shape. She slid between the covers and Hadie clapped the lights off. After a few moments, Anna’s eyes adjusted and she could see Hadie by the light of the stars and the full moon.

‘Well, he only seems interested in one person here. You.’

Anna didn’t reply straight away—she couldn’t find the words. There was no way to deny that she’d spent more time with Luke than any of the others. He gave her more attention during group dates. Anna couldn’t tell her the truth—that he only teased her because she wasn’t interested. That he’d tried to make a deal to suit them both.

‘So what are you thinking? Do you like him too? Is it true love?’

‘Hadie—’

‘Just tell me, please. I need to know whether it’s worth sticking around. My son needs me and I miss him more than an astronaut misses gravity.’

‘I like him, Hadie,’ she admitted. The words left her like a gush of air. ‘But I don’t think I’ll be the final contestant when the show comes to an end.’ That was as much as she could admit—even to herself. She was allowed to like Luke Westwood. She just couldn’t fall in love with him.

‘Why?’

‘Because I want different things from my life. He won’t be able to give up travelling and I won’t be able to give up my dream. But none of that has anything to do with your relationship with him. Do
you
like him?’

‘Of course I like him. We were all handpicked because he is exactly our type; except you, apparently.’

‘So do something about it. I’ll even help.’

‘Like what?’

‘Get his attention, get some alone time and get him to see what sort of person you are. I bet you were chosen because you’re the type of woman he could fall in love with.’

‘Why would you help the competition?’

‘I’d like to think we’re friends. And that no matter what happens with Luke, you and me are going to stay friends after the cameras stop rolling.’ It wasn’t just that Anna needed an ally in the house; Hadie was special, she was someone worth knowing. Tonight was revealing a number of things that made
Love Elimination
an experience worth enduring for Anna, or maybe even enjoying.

‘Of course we’re friends,’ Hadie said.

Anna hid her chuckles in the pillow. ‘Okay. So we’re going to get you on the next single date. And during the group dates, you’re going to sneak away with Luke and have some one-on-one time as often as you can. Meanwhile, I will make the ultimate sacrifice and distract Yvette for you.’

‘And Jessica! Have you seen her getting clingy as well? I swear the director is manipulating us all to give him more footage of Jessica and Luke together. I bet you my phone privileges they’re going to be the star couple of the next episode.’

‘Phone privileges? I’m not your warden,’ Anna said. ‘And duh. She went on the single date, didn’t she? They went to a mud bath and slathered each other’s skin with goo. All that touching on camera. Jessica being the new frontrunner makes total sense.’

‘Urgh. I hate the cameras. They make me so self-conscious about my stretchmarks and baby fat. How am I supposed to compete with these perfect childless models?’

‘Are you kidding me?’ Anna said. ‘You are beautiful. Do you know how much I regret all the delicious desserts I’ve ever cooked and eaten when I have to wear gym clothes around you all?’

‘It’s the others. Not me.’

‘Uh-uh.’ Anna shook her head.

‘Oh, shut up.’ A pillow flew across the room and landed squarely on Anna’s head. She squealed.

‘What are you, five years old?’

‘Shh,’ Hadie whispered. ‘I’m trying to sleep.’

Anna turned over and faced the wall, chucking the extra pillow on the ground. She couldn’t help smiling and replaying the events of the day one more time.

It wasn’t Donat Monque she was thinking about as she drifted off to sleep.

The dates were starting to blend together. Luke was barely engaged in the conversations with each woman. He kept forgetting which one had a single parent, or six older brothers (she would be getting evicted immediately, as soon as Luke remembered who she was), or a cat she loved more than sleep. A few stood out: Hadie was good fun and Jessica had supermodel looks. But his mind kept slipping back to Anna.

‘Luke! Are you listening?’ Kate exchanged a look with Joe and the two other producers. They were gathered in the conference room in the crew’s mansion. Photos of each of the remaining women were laid out on the table. The crew expected him to spill his feelings. It was like a job interview crossed with a therapy session.

‘Try to pay attention, yeah?’ The director rapped his knuckles on the table. ‘Next.’

‘Yvette.’ One of the other producers pushed a photo forwards.

A growl escaped Luke’s throat. ‘Can we
please
send her home now?’

It was telling that he said ‘we’ when referring to his decisions about the women. How did anyone manage to fall in love on this type of show? Every preference was analysed by the producers, compared with ratings and social media comments, and balanced with the personalities of the other contestants. Even if Luke were experiencing the beginnings of love, it would be crushed as soon as it appeared.