Ten...

***

The elevator clicked open and she drifted out of her thoughts staring at the brown headed figure that stood before her. She stared too long that he began to wonder if she would recognize him yet. His smile finally slipped through as she recognized him.

Austin!

"Oh my goodness! What are you doing here?" She gaped at him in surprise.

"I came to see Daniel on a project discussion. You shouldn't be so surprised to see me because I will be coming here umpteen times." He smiled genuinely at her and she nodded in understanding.

He said, "What happened? You look disturbed."

She sighed and said, "You could say that but frustrated could also be the word."

He frowned. "Did you two have a misunderstanding?"

"Huh, what?" She was driven out of trance again.

"Did you two fight?" He asked again despite her inattentiveness and she nodded in reply.

"He doesn't even want to talk about it." She continued.

"Talk to me, tell me what happened, I can talk some sense into him if the situation is that bad y'know."

She nodded earning a smile from him. "Nicholas came to the house this morning. He was yelling so much for me to speak to him and I just-"

"And what, you went to speak to him?"

"No, not like that, I just went to him to tell him not to bother me anymore. When I told him that we couldn't speak to each other again, he got so furious and upset. I don't know, I think I broke him Austin. I mean Nick is in love with me, I just feel like I have given him something to have sleepless nights about."

"I've heard of many stories, where the woman loves someone but married another, but they still see each other Clarissa," he said.

"Are you telling me to cheat on Daniel?!" She shrieked.

"You misunderstood me, if you love Nicholas then why don't you get a divorce and be with him or better still, have an affair?"

"Why would I do that? People are going to start talking Ill about the family and of course considering his mother doesn't like me. I don't know what she would do, maybe throw me out of the house?"

"Is it just that? Or is there another reason?" He said taking his eyes away from her leaving her to stare at him curiously.

"What do you mean by that?" This time he turned to stare at her with a knowing look.

Oh God!

Don't-

Don't tell me he knows!

She immediately looked away from him. "I saw the two of you at the party Clarissa. If it's one person to be observant, it's me." He told her.

"I don't know what you mean by that." Just about then the elevator clicked open and they walked out.

"You know, for someone who is in love, you don't do a good job at hiding it." Her breath hitched in her throat but she kept walking nevertheless thinking he would forget about it but he turned her to face him in a swift motion.

"Why don't you just tell him?" He suggested.

"Tell him what?"

"Don't pull that trick on me Clarissa, I saw the way you looked at him at the anniversary. I saw the way you panicked when he got so close to you, you don't need to deny it because I already know."

Her face went pale on his observation and she sighed silently in defeat.

"Since when did this happen?"

She looked away, "Since college okay, I don't know how it happened but it just happened and I can't do anything about it now." She said and he nodded in understanding.

"What would you do if you found out he liked you too?"

"Stop talking nonsense-"

"Austin?" She froze at the sound of his voice and Austin's attention went to him immediately. "Hurry up the meeting is about to start." It was then she turned to him but he chose not to spare her a glance. Austin smiled apologetically at her but she was busy staring at Daniel to even notice. They walked away leaving her behind.

---

It was Thursday already but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that he barely got any work done. All Daniel could think about was her. How she was eager to speak to her ex the other day. Did she forget that she was married? How dare she even try to speak to him?! What did she even say to him? He recalled her saying that she told him off but saying wasn't enough proof. She could have said it but did the opposite behind his back. Those thoughts were too difficult to be handled yet, he couldn't seem to stop thinking about it, imagining her with another man.

He scoffed at himself instantly. Here he was, swooning over someone who was his but not his at the same time.

Typical!

Plus, he couldn't stop thinking too about that deal he made with Henry. The week was almost over and he was still angry with her over the previous incident. To even get pass the tension, he would need a lot of work and time. A lot of time to woo her properly and get her to be his. A week was probably too small from the beginning to woo any lady, he wondered what came over him. Yah, he remembered, he wanted to prove to Henry that he was good with the ladies and look where that got him, to square zero!

His face was with a frown and his eyes had bags showing how tired he was. When he clicked his fingers the light obeyed and turned on but something made him pause. His attention went to the figure that lay on the couch asleep. So they were back to this, her sleeping on the couch and him on the bed. He combed his hair with his hands leaning on the wall after shutting the door. He remembered yesterday, she stayed up till he came back home. He vividly remembered ignoring her soft plea to talk to her. Today, she didn't even bother, was that how unimportant he was to her? Why had she stop trying? And for fuck sake, why was he loving the attention?!

She seemed okay today from what he saw. She was talking with Austin before he interrupted and he wondered what they were talking about. He could see her flushed cheeks, was it from embarrassment or something else? He sighed when he brought his thoughts to order. The guy he was about to condemn was his best friend since they were probably still in diapers. He knew Austin and Austin would never do such a thing to him.

How could he keep on avoiding her when he wants her attention unceasingly? That was probably contrasting to what he had in mind though.

He slowly and carefully took her in. Her blanket covered from her waist down to her legs but it still didn't stop him from noticing that the V-neck of her night dress was lower than her other ones and her gown, light pink and almost see through. He involuntarily swallowed at her exposed cleavage, cursing silently at how he was affected by it. He eventually willed himself to look away immediately he noticed his arising desire and went over to his dressing room to wear something comfortable.