•5•

That night, she stared at her reflection in her bathroom mirror. Big blue eyes, a straight nose, big pink lips, freckles on the apples of her cheeks, a chiseled chin and shoulders length brown hair gazed back at her.

But what she really saw was a miserable, empty young girl. She was an absolute mess that she didn't know how to fix.

She picked up the card that was lying idly on the bathroom counter and stared at it for the umpteenth time that night. She was contemplating killing herself just then, but thought against it.

If there were anything she hated more than her pathetic life, it was disappointing people who counted on her. She just couldn't disappoint her readers, at least.

But she still thought talking about one's problems, especially to a filthy shrink, was a no-no. It just made those problems worse. Ignorance, truly is bliss.

The following day, she showered, got dressed, had breakfast and rushed to the elevator to get to her car in the garage. She wasn't late, she just liked to be early for everything. She was dressed in a coat the same length as her polka dotted body con gown which went a few inches above her knee. She cursed her choice of clothes as it was limiting how fast she could go, but it was too late now. She got in her Toyota corolla and drove to the address on the card she was given.

She had been sitting in the waiting area, when an attendant alerted her, "Hi, miss. The doctor had an emergency and had to leave for a while. He said to give him an hour and after that if he still isn't here, you could be on your way and the session would start tomorrow instead. He asked me to take you to some other doctor meanwhile. He sincerely apologises."

The attendant then led her to what she assumed was the office of the psychologist. However, it was weird that she was supposedly being led to another doctor, but the same initials were on the door.

The minute she entered the room, she felt a sudden sense of something; she couldn't describe it though, but she could easily allude it to the cosy look of the room.

There was cotton everywhere and everything was in shades of blue and red. She sat on the cerulean couch dominating the fairly large space, looked over at the curtains shielding the rays of the sun, at the very arranged desk across the room, and at the one chair that was placed directly in front of the couch she was sitting on; she guessed that was where the doctor would sit if he were seeing a patient.

It was five minutes til ten when she heard the door close and looked up from her phone and at the doctor who had entered the room. Immediately her eyes fell on his face, he broke out a pleased smile, while she widened her eyes in utter shock. She shot up from the couch in that instant before she started to speak.

He wasn't in a doctor's coat or anything else that suggested he was a doctor and so she safely assumed that he wasn't.

"What the hell are you doing here?! I'm supposed to be meeting a doctor in here. I know for sure there's no way in hell you're my doctor, so how are you even here?!" She narrowed her eyes, "Are you actually stalking me?"

He kept the smile on his face as he proceeded to sit at the desk.

"What are you doing sitting down?", she asked in shock and denial of what her brain was already piecing together. He just couldn't be a doctor here.

He simply pulled out a card from his breast pocket on his black shirt and handed it to her. She then realised it was an ID card and that, "You're Doctor B.R Romano?!"

"Yep.", he said popping the consonant. He tilted his head to the left then said, "Well I'm not the one you're supposed to see, but I am Doctor B.R Romano.", he waved his hand in the direction of the couch, gesturing for her to sit, smiling while a shocked Mei heeded to his instruction.

"I am so confused right now.", she admitted.

"This happens a lot. Well, allow me to explain; I'm Doctor B.R. Romano Jr. My uncle is the one you're supposed to see. He's Doctor B.R. Romano Sr. The card left that part out. Does that help?", he was beyond pleased by this and Mei knew it. She knew he got off on annoying her even if he never really did anything annoying per se.

Just then, his name clicked in her head; the name she had been trying to remember for the last two days finally clicked, "Bruno Romano.", she called out.

"In the flesh!", he playfully announced.

She groaned and grabbed her head in her hands. "Ugh! Why didn't I realise this sooner?! I feel so stupid!"

"Don't.", he simply said. "There's no way you could've figured out that I'm the son of your psychologist. You couldn't even had known you'd be seeing a psychologist, ever.", he chuckled.

"Still.", she insisted.

"While my dad is taking care of stuff, how about we talk like human beings that don't despise each other.", he suggested.

"I don't wanna talk. I wanna leave." she answered rudely. "And I cannot begin to quantify how unprofessional it is that your uncle just decided to disappear out of the blue, knowing full well he had an appointment this morning. Who the hell does that?! He could've at least called before I got here."

"Well to be fair, you're kinda early so...", he defended weakly which earned an unimpressed look from her.

He narrowed his eyes, but never dropped his playful tone, "From this hospital or from this earth?"

"What?" Confusion on her part.

"You said you wanted to leave.", he explained.

Her eyes, which had been roaming the room, snapped back to him and narrowed, a scowl making residence on her face, "What did you just say?"

"Calm down, Godzilla. I just asked a question. Okay, I get that you don't want to talk about your problems with me, but at least, we can be friends right?", he asked hopefully.

She noticed he hadn't really talked without a playful edge to his words. He spoke every word of his as if he was so happy with everything.

"No, we cannot be friends.", she curtly responded.

"Hmm...strange. Cause when you think about it, everyone needs friends.", he commented.

"That is a stupid thing to say."

Mei could see it now; in the way he spoke, he sounded so sure of himself, so care free; he even spoke insightfully, just like every psychologist spoke. In her opinion, they were all know-it-alls.

"Well, hate to break it to you, but, I'm the exception. I'm perfectly fine with being alone.", she finally answered him.

"That's not true.", he spoke sincerely, his eyes, she noticed, held concern.

Was it for her? Weird. They barely knew each other to care for the other.

"So, since you don't wanna talk about what's wrong—"

She cut him off, "There's nothing wrong with me."

"We can get to know each other.", he finished his sentence ignoring her comment.

"I honestly don't want to know anything about you. There's no need. I just want to go home.", she was obviously peeved by now.

Suddenly, she shot up from the couch, picking up her purse angrily, before she turned to him and said, "Tell your uncle that we'd be seeing tomorrow."

He smiled, it was like nothing affected him much, she thought, right before he said, "Yes, ma'am." For some reason, the way he said that was attractive.

She only rolled her eyes. "I really hate how my life's going right now."

"That's pretty clear." he commented chuckling to himself.

She narrowed her eyes before she left, adding a, "Good day, Mr. Romano."

"I told you, it's Bruno.", he said, smiling sweetly as he stood from his chair. "I'll walk you out to your car.", he added.

"That's not necessary, and how do you know I came with my own vehicle?", she asked again. She was asking him a lot of questions in her head, but this one she couldn't keep down.

"So formal.",he commented, chuckling, again, to himself before answering her question. "You're holding car keys, lady. Plus it is necessary. You're my friend."

"We're not friends.", she sternly stated.

"Says you." That was the last thing that was said before they both walked out of the room into the hallway en route to the elevators. A lot of things were going through Mei's mind. The first being, 'why is he so damn happy all the time?'

A/N: Another chapter for you! Don't forget to comment.