No Such Thing As True Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

lunch made that explicitly clear to Markus. She corrected him on his pronunciation when he ordered, she chastised him when he left his napkin on the table, and ceaselessly brought attention to his posture and grammar mistakes. By the end of the meal, Markus’ nerves were fried, and he felt unsure of where to even put his foot as he began his next step. Thankfully, Melissa didn’t seem to notice his discomfort as she pleasantly chatted his ear off about her job in fashion distribution. Markus marveled at the passion she had for her profession, but still couldn’t shake the controlling air she carried with her. He counted down the minutes until their date was over. She hugged him goodbye, and, like a jerk, he promised to call. As he made his way back to his office, he stressed over how he would explain this one to Maritess.
     
    …
     
     
     

CHAPTER 8
     
                When Markus saw Maritess at their next session, she was as happy as a clam, and satisfied with herself for making a match. Markus smiled when she declared that his and Melissa’s date had been a success. For a moment, Markus wrangled with the idea of just accepting Melissa, and going along with the excitement Maritess was exuding, but just couldn’t. Especially since Maritess was so proud of herself for ‘winning’ their bet. “See, true love is not something you look for. You two are just perfect for each other. No magic involved,” she crooned as she led him to a treadmill after stretches. Soon, she was simply rubbing the achievement in his face, and Markus decided he couldn’t let her maniacal giddiness go on any longer.
     
                “Yea,” he said, “Melissa sure was great. Except that she expected everything around her to be great, too… Including my grammar, my posture and, oh yea, my attire! She made me buy a new shirt.” Maritess looked up at him when she caught the hint of sarcasm in his voice.
     
                “You don’t like Melissa, either?” she asked slowly. Markus looked down into her green eyes as he answered her.
     
                “I like her, I just think that she would drive me completely insane if I had to, you know, live with her… or see her on any type of regular basis,” he pleaded. Maritess could have shoved him off the treadmill right in the middle of the club.
     
                “So, Christina was too tall and Melissa was too refined for you, is that it?” she snapped as her hands were balled into fists on her hips. Markus was starting to get angry with her. The heart monitor on the treadmill was starting to blink at him. He was letting his legs take the brunt of his aggression, and he upped the speed on the machine.
     
                “No! No…,” he yelled in a whisper, “I didn’t…not like Christina because she was too tall. She got too drunk and I could tell she wanted to punch me in the face. Not to mention, she spent the entire time talking about her travels, but never once mentioned another person other than random people she met along the way. And Melissa! Melissa even asked the server at the café to turn the heat up because she was ‘chilly’,” he said and he mocked a shudder to express his distaste. “Yea, so they’re both drop dead gorgeous, successful, educated, athletic, and all the other things I told you about, but those characteristics were deal breakers for me. And, like you said, this is about me, right? Well, Me wants a woman who won’t drink instead of eat, won’t get drunk and angry, be accepting of other people’s speech patterns and posture, and maybe… maybe if she’s cold, she’ll put on a sweatshirt because she doesn’t mind being a bit chilly.” Markus almost growled when he was done, and upped the speed even farther on the treadmill.
     
                Maritess stared at him for a moment. His endurance level had increased tenfold, and he powered on the treadmill like a horse across