The door slammed shut behind me and Zora jumped slightly. Easy, calm down, I cautioned myself. This was no time to go scaring her.
I deepened my breathing as I tried to calm down. She fully turned to me and I advanced slowly towards her, "A man couldn't ask for a better partner than you either on the dance floor or in life's journey."
She smiled, "Thank you Elon! Thank you for all of this!" She said as she pulled at her dress and briefly touched the pearls at her neck.
"It is a beautiful dress, but you make it look stunning."
She glanced down at it and then raised her eyes back up to mine, "It is a very nice dress, but I don't mind if you rip it off me right now."
How on Earth was I supposed to stay calm when she kept saying explosive comments like that, but I hadn't denied myself for so long without some strength of will. I reached out and fingered a strap that slipped over one bare shoulder, "That's a very tempting offer, but I very much want to see you in this dress again someday. So I'll take it off gently, but then I'll rip whatever else you have on off."
She gave a spurt of nervous laughter and I kissed her laughing lips. My fingers hooked under her straps and I started to pull them down as she obediently stood still before me, when a familiar noise made its way into my passion infused consciousness.
I opened my eyes not breaking the kiss and looked off to the side. My phone was jumping up and down buzzing and flashing red. I crammed my eyes back shut.
No! Not now!
I went on with the kiss, but I couldn't do it. I broke off the kiss, "I'm sorry." I said before stepping away to pick up my hated phone.
Phone was a small word for it. My phone was a veritable supercomputer. It certainly had the capabilities of one.
It had a virtual built in intelligence that continually monitored countless factors and occurrences from all around the world in real time. I used it to keep myself apprised as to the what, why and where of stuff happening around the world that needed my attention.
Alerts were based on priorities and the endangerment of children was one of my highest priorities, which is what this alert was. I set the phone down and walked over and flipped on the TV.
A concerned looking newscaster was blathering away in Italian, "Authorities were notified at 5 PM today by concerned parents wanting to know the whereabouts of their missing children. The children, a class of 35 sixth-graders were on a field trip to the cultural center of the city. They were due back in by 2 PM at the latest, but when they hadn't showed parents grew restless and tried to contact the group's leaders, but they got no one to respond. At 7 PM today the school bus was found in a deserted alleyway. The driver had been shot along with one of the activity coordinators for the field trip. The only other adult not accounted for was the children's teacher. An alert was put out, but no trace of the children has been discovered. At 11:30 PM this evening local authorities received a ransom video from an anarchical group called September Dawn, which has been linked to several government bombings over the past few years. Authorities have not released the ransom video and it is unclear whether or not the demands can be met or to exactly what they are."