The following day goes faster than any other day as I spend the entire day in bed, only going downstairs to eat when Nova called.

It was not what I expected the second day of my supposed vacation to look like but I needed to stay in my room because I didn't want to run into Hardin alone. It's boring with nothing to do. The only form of entertainment is on the flat screen TV opposite my bed, staring back at me but I couldn't do anything. I stayed in bed and didn't even shower until late night.

Not wanting the rest of my vacation to be defined by fear, on Wednesday I change course.

I walk down the stairs in my running outfit, a rainbow designed camisole with the straps of the sport bra I have underneath showing with sweatpants and black running shoes.

My hand goes up to tie my hair in a bun using some chunk of hair to tie them as I walk down to the living room. My stepping slows when I see Hardin stretching his arms above his head. He's dressed in all black loose short sleeve shirt.

"Good morning," I murmur and start walking with my head down.

"Morning!" He sounds excited but I won't let it get to my head, he's probably excited about something else.

I move past him and push the door open but I hear him ask, "are you going to run?" I nod not adding anything else. "You told me you didn't like working out." He reminds me.

Why does all our conversation have to tie to that night? He told me we should forget about it but he's doing a really bad job.

Walking out of the house, I climb down the stone steps and wait for him at the bottom. I know he's coming after me because I can hear his footsteps. When he gets down and comes to stand in front of him, I answer his indirect question.

"I don't like working out because it's something I shouldn't do. I started running after Nova left. It was my way of dealing with the problems I had then, and now it's a part of me. I run at least four times a week."

He places his hands on his hips and gives me a small nod with a bright smile. "That's cool." He sounds impressed. "Why shouldn't you work out, if you don't mind me asking?"

I clear my throat and look down before answering him. "I do mind." It's not something I like talking about and sometimes it doesn't feels real until I say it out loud, and I'm not ready to make it real. Pretending it doesn't exist works for me.

"Okay." He squeezes his eyes shut for a second before releasing it. "Sorry. I'm about to go on a run myself." He points his thumb behind him in the direction of the running trails. "Should we race?"

I raise my eyebrow up. "I run at my own pace." And it's true. I don't tend to do what I'm told, I like to do things my own way except some certain situations like this trip.

Hardin doesn't get what I mean, instead of backing off like he should have, he suggests a race. "Then I'll be slow." With a smirk.

I'm not proud but I don't like people assuming things about me like he's doing now. I'm not fast enough but he shouldn't have said that.

"You better take that back." I point my finger in his face.

He chuckles. The sound causes jolt to run down my spine. He adds, "I'll even give you a headstart."

He wants a race, then I'll give him one. He'll know at the end that he shouldn't underestimat me.

"Please don't do me any favors." I wave in his face, "but if you insist, then I'll take it." I don't give him a chance to react as I begin to run with all I have. It's hard to win a race when you use all your strength at the beginning but I don't care. That man will swallow his words.

I don't know how long I've been running but I slow down and look back to see an empty trail. Frowning because he should already be on his way by now but I don't see anything but trees, and everywhere is silent except from the distance sound of the water.

I stop running and catch my breath as I wait for him to show.

He wouldn't back down, right? I mean, he should be here by now and if he isn't, then he probably went back into the house.

After waiting more minutes, I make the decision to continue running without waiting for him anymore. It was silly of me to accept the race in first place, now I'm worried about him, he–

The sound of the twig snapping pulls me out of my thought and look at the direction the sound came from. I didn't really do any research before coming here and I like knowing things, preparing for unexpected things to happen because I don't like surprises.

What are the chances of me surviving if what I heard is the sound of a wild animal watching and waiting for the perfect moment to strike? I wouldn't–

Wait... I hear something else... I close my eyes and turn my head slightly to the side to listen to what might be coming. It sounds like a heavy running steps.

I open my eyes to see Hardin running towards me. A smile spread across my face as I see him. He didn't go back. He came.

He stops in front of me, looking refreshed, which is not normal because he just ran almost hundred meters without breaking a sweat or breathing heavily.

"You waited?" He asks, his tone full of surprise.

I nod. "Yeah."

"Why?" His eyes are smiling but his face isn't giving anything away. I took psychology class, I know one or two things about facial expressions.

"I thought you weren't coming." It's better than telling him that I was worried about him ditching me.

He draws his eyebrows together. "I gave you ten minutes headstart."

So that's why he was so late. That ten minutes felt like an hour.

I chuckle. "You should have said ten minutes, come on."

I lead the run and of course he keep up as we run.

****

Five miles later and me breathing like I just finished running a marathon, we decide to walk back together and when I say walk back together, I mean wander the wilds. We stumble upon an empty beach, it's private and we decide to chill there before returning to the villa.

The beach is located centered on the beach of Sandy Banks. I look around and don't see any property in an eye range but the view is mad and serene. Looking over white sands, turquoise ocean and beautiful coral on both sides of the bay.

I sit criss cross on the sand and watch the ocean ahead. Hardin joins me on the ground, sitting with both his knees erect. We enjoy the silence. Even though I'm feeling awkward to be around him, the silence is still comforting.

"How's your business going?" He asks, breaking the silence.

"It's not exactly a business but it's going well. Yours?"

An heavy sigh comes before the words. "I'm sorry for lying to you." His tone holds so many emotions, I can't even start listing them. I'm just curious as to why he's apologizing. "My name is Nate Smith..."

My forehead lines up as I face him. He lied again. "You told me your name is Nate Hardin. Why would you lie to me like that even after we saw each other again? I understand why you lied the first time but you didn't have any reason to lie when met again. Didn't it occur to you that I'll find out? Nova's my best friend."

He runs his hand through his hair and explains. "I don't know why I lied about my name the first day we met, I was open to you more than I've ever been with anyone. I felt safe and free with you. I couldn't tell you that I'd lied about my name after everything we shared. Honestly when I saw you that night, I thought you knew who I was and you were just messing with me because everyone else at the party knew who I was. I'm sorry for lying to you but that night, I... I thought I could be someone else, I thought I could be Hardin for you but I was myself instead. I told you I was in New York for a meeting for the company I work for, but the truth is it's my company, I own it and–

"I didn't want another woman to take advantage of me because of my net worth. I know you aren't like that but I didn't know how to tell you. Monday night when you called me Nate, I didn't... I didn't like it. I'm not Nate to you. You know, when people call me Nate, they remind me of who I'm supposed to be like who I'm meant to be, but Hardin, Hardin is who I am. And in case you're wondering, Hardin is indeed my third name. I can show you my driver's license when we get back to the Villa."

"So you're rich? Like really rich?"

Honestly I get some of what he said like why he lied about his real name. I've read lots of celebrity romance novel to know celeb lie about their real name all the time to people who don't know who they really are because they want to be normal around the person. Nate wanted to feel normal, so he created Hardin and I'm not mad about it. I would probably do the same thing but I don't get what he means by who he's meant to be.

"Not really." He shrugs like it's no big deal. But I'm just curious.

"What's your worth?"

"One hundred and five billion dollars." His answers comes as a whisper, barely getting to me.

"You mean million dollars?" He shoots me a smile and I know I didn't hear wrongly, it is 'billion dollars'. "I didn't know you're that rich. What do you do? How did you get so rich?"

"I inherited half of the money after my dad passed and made more. I'm the CEO of his software company."

Right. But wow, as WOW in all capitals. Billion dollars. God! I really need to stop thinking about it before he thinks I'm all about his money.

"Nova told me you got a boutique as a present. It's just like you wanted, your very own boutique. When will start working on it? I can recommendation few interior designers and–"

"I wanted to BUY my own boutique," I emphasis on 'buy'. "You know, Nova wanted me to come with her to Seattle, she even went as far as bribing me with a boutique but I declined and somehow her mom got me one. It's just–" I cut myself off, not knowing what to say.

"You think she's trying to fulfill the promise she made since she said she was going to buy you one." I nod, he got it right. "Are you going to take it?"

"I already took the keys from her but I won't keep it. I didn't want to be disrespectful because Pheobe is great. I will find a way to return the keys."

"I'm not trying to tell you what to do but I think you should keep it." I open my mouth to argue but he continues. "You didn't ask for it. It was gifted to you, so why don't you just keep it? No one in that family knows anything about keeping a boutique. You should at least think about it before returning it."