The panic attack incident had gotten so much attention—exactly what Seth didn't want, prompting him to take a full day off work to recover.

At home, the resident watched his best friend as she miserably tried zipping up a burgundy strapless dinner dress. "Why are you getting all dressed up?"

Marianne threw her hands in the air finally accepting defeat. "I'm running late! Seth will you help me zip up, please?"

Seth was clearly amused. "That must've been one hell of an expensive dress." He slid the cold zipper up Marianne's fully exposed back.

"What? No, it wasn't."

"You sure?"

She quickly nodded, dashing upstairs. "Got it on last year's Black Friday but never got a chance to wear it!"

A loud knock at the front door however grabbed Seth's attention. "Hello, can I help you?" He opened, eyeing a delivery guy with a black and white polka dot gift box.

"Delivery for a... Seth Mickelson?"

"That'd be me."

"Great."

Seth eyed the box. No labels whatsoever. "Is that a bomb?" He chuckled, signing on a paper that was handed to him.

The guy's lips slightly curled upwards. "It's a crazy world. You never know."

"Who sent this?" Seth was quite preoccupied to notice Marianne stepping right next to him in the doorway.

The delivery guy shrugged taking his signed paper back. "No idea." He added as an afterthought before quickly walking away.

"Hey, just a second!" Seth called after him but the man quickened his pace as if he was being chased by a banshee.

Seth and Marianne stared at the box warily, both silently daring each other to open it. "Well, it's your package so...open it." Marianne was the one to break the daunting silence.

Studying the foreign box, Seth nibbled on his bottom lip. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Don't be a wuss, open it."

"You do realize this could be a bomb right? I mean, Leonardo's wife could've figured I slept with her husband and..."

"Jesus, you're so dramatic! No one would even go to that extent."

"Women can be dangerous," Seth stated making Marianne roll her eyes. "Besides, all this has Scorpio revenge energy written all over it. Bad idea."

"Oh for Christ's sake Seth, don't be ridiculous."

Seth ran a hand inside his dark hair. "I'm not opening this package without a bomb dismantler on standby."

"Just open the package Seth."

"Well, I'm being a cautious responsible adult here unlike some people with zero sense of survival instincts."

Fed up with the back and forth, Marianne snatched the alienated box then tore out a thick black tape keeping the contents inside safe.

"What the hell?!" Seth yelped, gawking at the package from a safe distance.

"This is just...wow."

It was a stuffed lion holding a card and... "Is that a prestige box of assorted macarons?" Seth was completely bamboozled. For some reason this person knew macarons were his weakness.

This was insane.

"I'm dying to know what the card says." Marianne nudged Seth but he didn't budge. "Come on. We already know it's not a bomb."

Sighing, Seth reluctantly took the card. "Why am I friends with a psycho again?" He muttered under his breath earning a slap at the back of the head.

"Read the card asshole."

"Fine! Fine! Jesus Christ."

Dear Seth,

I'm deeply sorry about yesterday. I know I messed up pretty bad but please don't shut me out? I'd love to know if you're doing all right. Call me.

X Leo

"You must be kidding me." Seth whispered and Marianne gasped after thieving the card to read for herself as if the message was any different from what Seth had read out loud.

"Oh my God," she clutched on to her chest. "Our boss is a fiery romantic. You lucky bastard!"

At this rate Seth wanted to plug in a pair of HD noise cancelling headphones just to shut off Marianne's hysterics and unbridled fangirling. He was practically wincing. "Will you tone your voice down?"

"Don't tell me the gesture didn't melt your heart just a little bit."

Seth rolled his eyes. "He's a married man. This is far from romantic. It's disgusting, seriously."

"Damn, you must've completely ruined the guy for him to risk coming back like that. You got a magical dick or something?"

Seth glared. "Are you not supposed to be going somewhere?"

"This can wait. The main point is, maybe you should listen to what he has to say. What if you're wrong about everything?"

Seth shook his head. "No way in hell. The guy thinks I'm one of those desperate guys willing to throw myself at him despite his marital status. Jeez I have a little self respect too."

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Getting all defensive when a guy tries to get emotionally close to you. You're afraid to talk to him because you know there's a chance you're wrong and then you're forced to let him in. Stop letting a dead man control your life, Seth."

"You know what?" Seth said through a clenched jaw, aiming to toss the card into a nearest trash can. "I'm done with this conversation."

"You could be wrong and that's okay."

Just to shut her up, Seth moved dangerously close to Marianne. Making it obvious he was running his eyes over her body. "You look gorgeous."

She immediately preened under the compliment and straightened her spine trying to get herself taller. "Really?"

A smile smeared over Seth's features. "Yup, totally doable."

"I thought you were only attracted to...men?"

"I'm gay, not blind. I can tell if a chick is hot."

Marianne scoffed. "And there goes my confidence."

He gripped her shoulders and twirled her around. "The main point is you look amazing tonight. Thought you should know."

"You wanted to shut me up didn't you?"

Seth chuckled. "Guilty, but I meant what I said. You look absolutely stunning."

She smiled, then said. "I honestly think you should talk to Leonardo, Seth. You should've seen how worried he was about you yesterday. Don't just dodge a bullet because it's convenient for you, bite the bullet instead."

"Don't go Rudyard Kipling on me because it will never work. Hell, Gandhi doesn't work on me either. Drop it, Marianne."

"What have I missed?"

It was Ed, looking good in a classic black tie outfit. No wonder scrubs make some people look hideous. Not a certain chief of surgery though. "Looks like a party is ongoing here." He pointed at the macarons on the kitchen counter. Both Seth and Marianne turned their heads as soon as they heard him.

"Oh I see, so you two are going out." Seth threw his head back laughing after realizing what was going on. "Finally, took you this long idiots?"

"Well, someone was playing hard to get and all that." Ed grinned as he admired his date.

"Uh we should get going now." Marianne said.

"Try anything funny with her I'll break your jaw Edward." It was a threat and Ed knew it.

"She's in safe hands captain." Ed gave a mock salute.

Seth smiled. He believed the guy. "Good, you two go have some fun."

"Think about what I said, Seth." Marianne pleaded as she was being ushered outside by Ed.

"No promises." Seth told her.

. . .

Everything had been executed perfectly well. Seth had called out Dr. Bravucci on his immorality and he didn't let the man dissuade his decision by that sexy European charm of his. The man was a cheating bastard. Nothing more and nothing less.

Despite Marianne's persuasiveness Seth was already doubting himself but he wasn't going to admit that to anyone. He had seen the evidence yet there was still a tiny little nagging voice at the back of his head saying what if. Also he couldn't keep on avoiding Leonardo at work even if he tried. At one point a surgery together was going to be inevitable and he'd have nowhere to hide.

"I will regret this, won't I?" He muttered to himself.

Grabbing his wallet and keys, Seth left the apartment. He was losing his mind as he continuously thought of what to do if Leonardo's wife was home with him. Out of all the lows in his life, this one was even a new level of lowness for him. Not to mention this was despicably stupid.

The ride to Leonardo's penthouse was unbearably long and uneventful. "This is a terrible idea." He kept on telling himself.

At his arrival, Seth remained rooted on Leonardo's door post. Finally, he took in a deep breath before pressing a call button which immediately announced his presence. Seth's thoughts were ringing loudly inside his head making him completely zone out.

"Hi."

Holy toledo now you have to deal with the wife!

Seth blinked. Did she know about him and Leonardo? Seth cursed himself for spacing out and being caught unaware.

"Um..." he wished she'd show him a horrendous attitude so he would have a good excuse to leave. "I would like to see Dr. Bravucci, please."

The wife sloped her brows with a smile shadowing on her lips. "You mean Leonardo." She pressed, making Seth smile weakly at her.

This was awkward as hell.

"Yes, please." Seth hoped he was being polite enough. He didn't want any trouble, at least not when he blatantly knew he was in the wrong.

"Cassandra, but Cassy will do."She extended her manicured hand towards him. Seth did not miss the ring on her left finger.

"Seth, just...Seth." He choked out.

"Just Seth come on in." She motioned, her smile still firmly intact.

"Thank you." Seth breathed when she offered him a seat before disappearing somewhere.

"Should I assume you got my package?" Leonardo was right there in front of him all casual in a pair of sweats. Seth immediately turned in the direction of his boss's voice.

"Yeah, the lion was a good pun, can you spare a few minutes to talk?"

"I can do that." Leonardo stepped closer. "Are you feeling okay now? I noticed you took a day off today."

"Yeah, thanks."

"Look Seth, I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I'd never hit you and I'm very sorry if you thought I would."

Seth saw red. The bastard was sorry for pounding a wall next to him but not sorry for cheating on his wife with him. Damn him!

"I know you weren't going to hit me. I just had some sort of flash back okay? It wasn't you, so stop going around thinking you're all that."

"Okay, that's good to know then."

Seth reduced his voice tone to whispering decibels. "Are you not even sorry whatsoever? Don't you feel guilty?"

Leonardo's brows furrowed. "Are you talking about what I think you're talking about?"

Seth didn't respond.

"Well, I'm not. I'm not sorry because I enjoyed every moment of it. Are you?"

"Yes I am. I don't fuck married men, Leo!" It was still a whisper though. Seth couldn't risk Cassandra hearing them.

"Who told you I was married anyway?"

Seth's expression hardened. "You think this is funny, huh? I saw you, kissing your wife and your daughter was right there cheering for you. This is useless..." he said, turning to leave.

"Who is her? I'm confused here, honestly."

"Cassandra you dumbass!" Suddenly there was realization on Leonardo's face.

"Oh," he muttered, making Seth mimic him with an obnoxious facial expression. "Oh? That's all you can say?"

"The match build up is starting, are you coming or what?"

Seth's stomach dropped. Was that Leonardo 2.0?

"Just a moment, Giovanni." Leonardo stated, eyeing Seth who was now impersonating a church mouse. "Are you sure you saw me, Seth?"

Seth couldn't speak, he only managed to gape between the two cloned brothers. This was highly unnerving. "You have an identical twin?!" He barely heard himself speak. The shock on his face said it all.

Leonardo released a grating smile, as for Seth, the urge to punch something suddenly didn't seem like a bad idea. "Why didn't you tell me? God I feel so stupid right now."

"It's not like you even gave me a chance to tell you." Leonardo shrugged.

Seth wanted to throw himself in front of a truck. This was downright mortifying. "Let's clear things up alright?" Leonardo said. He wanted to laugh so bad but he held himself.

"Are you guys good?" Giovanni probed. He recognized Seth from the club.

"Well, Seth thought I'm tied down to Cassy. Apparently he saw me kissing her whilst our daughter was busy cheering on us."

Giovanni laughed. "This is probably the most hilarious thing I've heard this year."

"You should've seen how pissed off he was yesterday, I thought he was going to slash my balls with a scalpel." Leonardo mocked a terrified expression before joining his brother's laughing episode.

Giovanni paused for a bit. "Now imagine losing your testicles because of mistaken identity. That would've been savage." Then the laughter intensified.

Seth was now flaming bright red. "Tell me when you guys are done."

Leonardo stopped laughing, carefully studying Seth. "Seems like you owe me, Mickelson." He spoke close to Seth's ear sending a shiver inside of him.

"Owe you what exactly?"

"I don't know, be creative. But, you definitely owe me for all that emotional distress you put me through. And the footage you saw? I dare you to watch it all over again until it ends."

"I mean, it was an honest mistake." Seth uttered.

"Next time you decide to go out on a jealous rampage at least give me a heads up first, yeah?" Leonardo smirked at him.

"I wasn't jealous."

"Yeah, yeah. You definitely weren't jealous. I believe you." Seth groaned at the obvious sarcasm laced in Leonardo's tone.

Well, the guy's not married now what?