Seth was still basking in a wave of sexual afterglow despite the whole conflicting thoughts churning inside his brain. Oh goodness! How was he supposed to face his boss after sharing such an intimate experience?

Now that he was thinking about his boss, where on earth was Leonardo anyway? His spot in bed where he'd slept beside him throughout the night was long cold and the man wasn't using the bathroom either.

Blame it all on Marianne, she had implanted that wild idea of Seth using his boss as a distraction. Apparently he now needed a distraction from his new source of distraction. How ironic.

No matter how many times Seth tried to ram the unwanted thoughts aside, he couldn't deny the fact that he had absolutely loved every second of his boss moving inside of him. Every moment of the experience felt forbidden making the sex ten times hotter.

Sighing exasperatedly to himself, Seth slipped out off the king size bed realizing Leonardo had already changed the previous white sheets to silky soft black ones. Had he really passed out to a state of oblivion, not feeling Leonardo cleaning him up and lifting him off the bed to change the sheets? That must've been something. A sly grin of satisfaction crawled on to Seth's lips as he played the previous night's details inside his head over and over again. He just couldn't help himself.

"Get over yourself." The resident murmured into thin air.

Seth then decided to take a shower in Leonardo's fancy bathroom since it was clearly vacant. This solitude was an ultimate blessing in disguise. He needed to think, firstly the line of approach. Clearly, the morning after awkwardness that follows after a hook-up was still in the way. It was going to be far much more easier only if Leonardo had stayed in bed with him but no, he just had to make the situation dramatic.

Seth's body ached, not in a painful way but just enough to remind him of how good last night was. His eyes were deeply shut, lips slightly parted and his head bowed as he enjoyed the relaxing heat of an Amazon rainy spray soaking through his skin. For a while he stayed right there thinking about absolutely nothing, it was a good feeling for once.

It was around 6:25am and handovers at Sullivan hospital started at 7:45am, yet there was still no sign of Leonardo.

"Leo!" Seth called out as he paved his way out of the bedroom after changing into his freshly laundered clothes. It looked like his boss had gone out of his way to launder his clothes from last night. How sweet of him, Seth smiled as he smelled lavender fabric conditioner on them.

Realizing he didn't receive any response from his first attempt of calling Leonardo, Seth repeated the process all over again until he heard muffled voices sifting from the kitchen.

"Mommy and daddy K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" It definitely sounded like a child's high pitched voice.

Seth's curiosity got the best of him, leading him closer to the kitchen and what he saw there made him want to crawl straight into his own death bed.

Anger swirled like a whirlwind within him, choking him nice and slow. His breath turned shallow, his hands clenching into tight fists at his sides, itching to put a dent in the glass wall beside him. Leonardo wasn't his boyfriend or anything like that but it still sucked. Seth was teetering on a gray area between insanity and ire.

He couldn't help feeling extremely pissed off. Maybe it was his fault, after all he'd come on to the guy. But Leonardo had kissed him first that night! So technically he started it.

Seth didn't possess energy to move. His whole body suddenly grew weak. He remained frozen on the same spot as he watched Leonardo fondly kissing a woman right in front of his eyes. It wasn't supposed to hurt this much but damn it did. There was this dull pain growing behind his throat that made his Adam's apple gobble up and down repeatedly.

"Kiss again!" The loud happy squeal brought Seth back to reality. There's no way he was going to stand right there and watch Leonardo kissing his wife again, and the kid? Such a cute adorable little thing.

"That's enough Mia, time for breakfast." Leonardo reprimanded making the child pout at him.

"Here, happy now bambolina?" Leonardo's supposedly wife pressed a chaste kiss on her husband's lips earning themselves another squeal.

What was Leonardo's plan anyway? Was he going to hide him in the closet until he was clear of his wife then he'd let Seth escape through the back door like some cheap junkie whore he'd picked off the highway gas station?

Screw him.

In the end Seth regained his strength and commanded his body to move as quickly as he could without drawing any attention.

. . .

At the hospital, Dr. Bravucci listened to Seth as he answered each and every pre-surgery question at such an apparent ease. He couldn't fault anything that the resident said but something was just off. Leonardo made a mental note to ask Seth about his attitude after surgery.

"What's the matter with you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're all tensed up, all business like."

"This," Seth pointed to the floor for more emphasis. "This is my job. And this is business."

"Well, it's like I insulted you by..." Leonardo trailed on his statement. His eyes quickly darted around to check for unwanted audience. "I thought that's what you wanted. You called me for a hookup, didn't you?" His jaw was now ticking with suppressed rage. He didn't understand why Seth was acting up the whole day. It wasn't that hard to notice the resident was in a salty mood.

"I did, and what happened between us will never happen ever again!" The resident shot back through gritted teeth. Seth never bothered hiding the fact that his fuse was cut short for some reason.

"I get it okay? It was a one time thing but you don't have to be a dick about it." Leonardo sighed tiredly, he'd spent all morning since 4am in a heart transplant surgery and he was starting to catch a massive headache. "At least acknowledge me as a human being, stop avoiding me. It's stupid and childish, seriously."

"Stupid and childish?" Seth chuckled frenziedly. "Stupid and childish is when you cheat on your wife with your workmate!"

"What the hell are you on about?" Leonardo deadpanned with a sharp glare. "You and I need to talk and this is not the right place for that."

"There's nothing to talk about Dr. Bravucci. And, the footage of you getting a porno show from your patient's wife is disgusting and completely unethical. What would the board say if they found out about your little extracurricular activities that you engage in behind your office door?"

"Seth wait—" Leonardo tried to say something, anything at all but Seth was long gone. He wouldn't hear any of it, all hell had broken loose in a matter of minutes.

"Merda!" Seth was the most difficult person ever.

. . .

Never in his life had he felt so close to losing it. The next time Leonardo saw Seth was in the hospital cafeteria, a week after their previous encounter. Seth was effectively avoiding him with such a minimal effort.

"Hey, you okay?" Brad asked imploringly, eyeing his friend with concern.

Leonardo nodded. "Sure. Why do you ask?" That was a plain lie and Brad knew it.

"You're not yourself man, since last week."

"He hates me," Leonardo glared straight ahead making Brad tilt his head in the same direction. "Mickelson hates me."

"Oh." Brad was tongue tied. He didn't know what to say exactly. "Do you really blame him though? I mean, you two got off on the wrong foot."

Leonardo groaned. "That part was settled. We were doing just fine." So he thought.

Brad tossed a slice of salami inside his mouth. "So what's the problem then?"

"We slept together and the next thing I know he's blowing me off."

"You slept with who?!"

"Why don't you shout my sex life a bit louder so that even those nurses sitting at the back can also hear?" Leonardo's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Brad blinked, frowning at Leonardo before meeting his gaze again. "Tell me you just made that shit up." He said in a lower tone.

"The purpose of this discussion is for you to do your job as my best friend, giving me useful advice and not interrogate me."

"Okay, listen man..." Brad laughed breathlessly. "It's a little too much to take in all at once alright?"

"Brad," Leonardo sounded completely defeated.

"The sex must've been great." Brad's voice was laced with mirth.

"It wasn't just the sex," The Italian muttered, sighing under his breath when Brad smirked at him. What an idiot. "It was more than just that. At least for me."

Brad mentally grimaced at the thought of his friend being rendered hopeless by anyone at all. "Cutting the long story short, you were just a one night stand man but clearly you want more than that, correct?" Brad was actually failing miserably at hiding his mirth.

"Well, I wouldn't mind more but didn't you get the part I said he hates me?"

"Which more are you talking about here. More sex or more as in something serious?"

"Both." Leonardo shrugged. This was surprisingly exhausting.

"It depends with how much you've messed up, I guess." Brad said before pursing his lips.

Leonardo grunted in response. "I have no idea what I've done. Apparently I have a wife and he somehow saw that bullshit video of Mrs. Beckett touching herself in my office."

Brad burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter drawing attention of people in the cafeteria. Seth's attention included. "Damn. I told you to get rid of that footage the moment you submitted it as evidence. But a wife? That's just insane. Where did he even get that information?"

"How the hell would I know if he isn't talking to me?" Leonardo snapped.

Brad rolled his eyes, shushing him. "You gotta get him to talk to you if you want him as you're claiming right now. Go get your man, Leo." Dr. Brad ended up cracking, again.

Leonardo wanted to slam Brad's head right there on the table. Why had he assumed talking to the man was going to help? Clearly, Brad wasn't taking him seriously. "Such a waste of time and energy."

"I mean what I said, Bravucci. Make him listen to you." A part of him wanted to be angry at Brad but he pushed the feeling aside. He was somewhat right.

. . .

Seth couldn't believe even after all those reasons he had reasonably stipulated inside his stupid head, he still wanted to feel his boss's hands on him. Just a single touch then he'd be fine.

What is wrong with you!

"Seth," his name sounded so raw and that shattered look on Leonardo's face through the bathroom mirror almost made Seth's heart sink with guilt.

Quickly washing his hands in the wash basin, Seth aimed for the door. Leonardo didn't let him go, he grabbed his elbow and pulled Seth right back to him.

Seth froze at the sudden contact, his breath was hitching. "Let go of me!" He wriggled to free himself. It wasn't his lucky day because Leonardo tightened his grip instead.

"How did we end up here?" Leonardo asked, calmly.

"I'm sure everyone is free to use a bathroom in peace so get the hell out of my way."

Leonardo cornered Seth into a bathroom wall. His stare burned through those loose fitting maroon resident scrubs as if he was going to scorch Seth's bare skin.

Seth's heart was now pounding inside his chest with anticipation. What the hell was he even expecting Leonardo to do?

"Why won't you talk to me?" Leonardo asked quietly.

Seth however chose to be a total brat. He ignored him completely. "Goddammit! Why are you being so difficult?" It was a plea despite the angered tone.

"Are you done venting now? I have a c-section delivery in like twenty minutes and you're holding me back."

Seth's heartbeat ricocheted as Leonardo closed the distance between them in a predatory pace which disrupted Seth's whole system. The Italian doctor didn't have to think about it too much, he slammed his lips on the resident's, claiming him. Seth let his cold demeanor fly overboard as they both moaned into the kiss, he was letting Leonardo's soft tongue drag him into a hazy world of greed and tyranny.

Something finally snapped inside Seth's skull then he pushed Leonardo hard enough to make the man stumble backwards. "I told you to stay away from me!"

"You want me Seth. Make it easy for both of us and stop denying it."

Seth's jaw clenched, he could feel his blood starting to boil. "You're such an asshole for doing this to your wife."

Leonardo looked lost.

"You know, not everyone has that opportunity. A beautiful wife and an adorable daughter but you ungrateful son of a—"

Leonardo pounded the wall right next to Seth sending a deafening echo throughout the bathroom, "That's enough Mickelson!" He bellowed. Leonardo was done with false accusations. Even if they were true, Seth had no right whatsoever.

Seth's next reaction shocked him. Instead of being crack-head crazy he looked like he was starting to hyperventilate. He was having a panic attack!

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Leonardo held a slumping Seth. "I wasn't going to hit you. I'm right here, breathe for me Seth. Can you hear me?"

The resident looked completely out of it. His whole body broke into heavy sweats as he was terribly shaking. He couldn't breathe and it was only getting worse.

Fuck!

"I need some help in here!" Leonardo yelled.