Unnamed

The question was laced with hope that would gear her final decision in whichever direction his answer left her.

Author's POV

He had pictured a whole conversation on this particular situation but he hadn't thought of an answer. He knew he wasn't in love with her because he did not feel the same emotions he felt back then when he had confessed his feelings to Rachel. He compared how both of them made him feel and the difference was difficult to miss and deny.

Back then with Rachel, he always experienced a rush of desire whenever she was near him, even the thought of her had his heart racing and his breath getting caught in his throat. But with Diane, every conversation was something he looked forward to, he had that unsettling feeling whenever he thought of her with another man but surely, it was probably because he had a growing urge to protect her seeing as she was a tad bit innocent and naive. He constantly reimagined scenes of the both of them together and it left him hot and bothered but then again, their energies were in sync and he liked to listen to her talk and make gestures with her hands that he found cute but surely, friends that had had almost one night stands could relate with that feeling no?.

She had been here before, this was familiar to her but it provided no form of comfort that she had in the past put herself out there and knew for certain how to navigate a relationship(if there was going to be one).

As a matter of fact, she was scared beyond her mind, the sinking feeling in her stomach persisted but she concluded it was because she was still getting used to wanting and needing somebody beyond physical touch. Her feelings for him had transcended just harmless curiosity from the first night they had met and at this point in time, she wanted to let go of her past experiences that were all unpleasant and want him without holding back. She was where she wanted to be, with who she had wanted for the past few weeks and nothing could go wrong but she knew better, she always did.

Her ability to pretend like everything was fine was going to be her downfall one of these days and she knew it, she felt it even.

Diane's POV

I lay awake in my bed as the early morning light seeped through the gaps of my blinds and created shadows in my dark room.

The events of last night played in my head over and over again as I felt myself get choked up by the tears I had held back last night.

I had work though, I couldn't sit around and feel bad for myself because I had to be at the airport in 2hrs and time waits for no man, or woman. I got into the bathroom and let the hot water land on my skin with each drop hotter than the last. I focused all my attention to the discomfort the burning water caused my skin as it took my mind off the damage that my heart was going through.

It must've been 10mins I stood in my bathroom letting the steam cloud the glass walls of my showering space and blur my vision(or so I'd like to think). Taking away from the fact that I was fighting back tears and the feeling of defeat.

My morning was a blur, after driving to the airport, I didn't quite register what happened afterwards, conversations and locations alike. Nothing made sense to me and I wasn't trying to let it either.

I kept zoning out during my meeting with a potential client but he didn't notice and I was grateful for that.

After the meeting, I was driven to my hotel room and all I remember was emptying a bottle of Pinot Noir and falling asleep.

Dario's POV

I had hurried back to my apartment after hearing how frantic she sounded over the phone.

I made a mental note to call Diane and explain everything over the phone the second I had a chance to but for now, this couldn't wait.

I did not have a favorite, it was because of me that Rachel was here in the first place so she was my responsibility so Diane is supposed to understand the situation, plus I'm sure if the situation was different, she would do the same for the person regardless of what it was she wanted us to talk about. We could always meet up and talk another time, but I would not be able to forgive myself if anything were to happen to Rachel.

Bracing myself for what Rachel was going to say when I opened my door since I could not hear her over the phone as she was barely audible and I had freaked out by the idea that something terrible had happened to her, that thought alone had pushed me to drive a little over the speed limit as all I could think about was getting to her in time.

I opened the door and felt the weight of a person on me, took a lot for the both of us to not fall over as I was not properly balanced.

Even as I stood there in shock, Rachel's sobs snapped me out of my state of shock, focusing all my attention on her,

"Are you hurt, did something happen, did anyone break in?" All the questions came out at the same time as I scanned her face for some form of affirmation.

"I'm fine now, I thought I was being followed and I freaked out so I called you and I was trying to enter the house but the door wouldn't open and... and... and...." She broke into more sobs as I took her in my arms and tried to calm her down.

After a couple of minutes, her sobs quieted down and all I could hear was her momentary sniffling as she regained her composure.

I was angry, and I knew I had to do something about this, so I picked up my phone and called the owner of the apartment complex and requested for a CCTV footage that I would take and file a police report. It was granted immediately. Rachel and I made our way to the security room where we requested them to show us the recordings according to the timeline Rachel told us everything had happened.

When we got back to my apartment, Rachel kept apologizing explaining how she has PTSD from being followed before and how the play out of events had felt very familiar to that one time she was followed.

Turns out it wasn't what she had thought was happening, the guy she thought had been following her also had an apartment in my floor and was only returning back to his room when it happened.

He also looked as confused as the rest of us when he had been called over to review the CCTV recordings and explain why he was there.

I had to apologize to everyone that had been present there for wasting their time and I was exhausted from the run-around that later turned out to be a misunderstanding.

I got on my bed after running a nice cold bath and got ready to sleep.

Rachel undressed and got on the bed with me. I couldn't bring myself to say no to her as she was already too traumatized so I gave in, we had sex again for the second time and with every kiss, every touch, and every stroke, thoughts of Diane slowly faded from my mind.