James left a huge hickey on my neck for me to cover up. I honestly didn't even realise it until Hale pointed it out yesterday after we all got out of the pool. After pushing him in, we all stayed in the pool for another half an hour with Hale trying to drown me multiple times that always earned a slap on his head in return from me.

Hale stayed till dinner, and for once we had pizza in the theatre room for dinner while we watched Die Hard. After he left, James and I went to our rooms for the night. I wonder if there would ever be a day that we wouldn't have to bid goodnight to each other on our bedroom doors. I know all I have to do is ask, but that's a huge step I'm not yet willing to take.

Yes, we've made out couple of times but to share a bedroom? That's a huge thing. I try to cover up the hickey on my neck with concealer as much as possible but James didn't really go soft on me. Just looking at it makes my stomach flutter with the image on his tongue on my skin, leaving me panting.

After getting dressed in a plain black dress, I make my way downstairs to have breakfast. I frown a little when there's only Shanley in the kitchen, with no one else in sight.

"Hey, where's everyone?" I ask her as she's chopping the vegetables.

"Mr. Clark left for office half an hour ago and Mrs. George is watering the flowers in front yard."

I nod at her response, frowning because James usually doesn't leave for office until eight thirty, and it's just quarter past eight right now. There must be some important work for him to cater to. I don't pry much as I eat the fruit plate Shanley keeps in front of  me along with a glass of milk.

After doing the dishes, I make my way out of the house and to college, wearing a green summer dress as she grins at me.

"Morning, beautiful!"

I give her a tight hug before letting go as we start moving towards the class. "How did the breakfast yesterday go?" I ask, keeping up with her fast paced walk.

She looks backs at me, her eyes squinting a little as she sighs. "Natalie told us."

"What?" I stop walking, I really stop walking until she looks back and rolls her eyes, entangling her arm with mine to move us inside the class.

She doesn't say a word until we are both seated and she turns to face me completely. "She was freaking out, feeling really guilty for assuming that something could happen between the two of you."

Her words make me get lost in my own thoughts for a while. I really appreciate that Natalie didn't force herself upon me, or didn't even try to kiss me. She was just testing the waters when I shot her down and she immediately backed off. I appreciated that, I really did and it said a lot about what kind of person she is.

"I don't know what to say, Ash." I tell her honestly. "I'm not mad at her, seriously. I'll talk to her about it."

She nods at my response, giving me a small smile. "We all were really glad you came for sleepover, you know? We usually go out but Austin said that we should stay in because I think we all have established that your introvert ass wouldn't like clubbing."

I feel my heart warm that they planned the night according to my convenience. I really did get lucky to have such a crazy and amazing group of friends.

"I really had fun too." I smile at her, wondering if I'm ready to actually open up to all of them.

The next three lectures go back to back and for some reason I start doodling on the end of my textbook instead of making notes, my thoughts going haywire. We have exams in less than two weeks so today is supposed to be last day of lectures before we get a week off for preparation.

"I think all of them are sitting in the cafeteria, Max just texted me." Ashley says as we are already making our way there.

"How are things between the two of you?" I ask and she gives me a mischievous smile.

"The sex is so good, Lil. So good. I think the fact that we've both denied our feelings for so long makes it better."

"Gross. Don't want those details. I meant emotionally, feeling-wise, how is it?" I ask, scrunching up my nose at her TMI outburst.

"It's good. We went on a date last night, he was such a gentleman." She grins and I roll my eyes because I can't imagine Max being a gentleman at all.

"Are you two speaking about me?" The idiot asks as we reach the table where Caleb and Austin are sucking each other's faces off.

I take the opportunity to take the fries from their plate, chewing on it. Natalie is nowhere in sight which is a little weird because she's usually attached to the hip with the rest of the guys. I really don't want to make things awkward between any of us so I need to talk to her soon.

"Hello to you too." Austin swats my hand away when he finally parts away from his boyfriend, making me give him a look.

"A girl needs her fries, it's not much to ask for." I shrug as I move to put my hair in a ponytail because of the hot weather.

"Wait, what is that?" Max squints his eyes down to my neck and I immediately freeze in my actions, because I'm pretty sure that he's talking about the huge mark on my neck.

I really tried to cover it up by makeup, I did, but I don't do well with products so I'm not sure how much of it was actually visible to the other person's eye. Four of them now seem to be focused on my neck as Ashley literally reaches out put her finger on the skin before wiping off the concealer and waving it in front of my face.

"What the hell, Lil? When did that happen?" She asks, both surprised and excited as she cannot seem to keep the smile off of her face.

I groan, letting my hair loose again because I really can't keep it tied up now. "It's nothing." I try to brush it off but that only makes Austin scoff.

"Oh, it's something. Is it James, the guy who called you when we first met?" Austin asks, his eyes curious as they come up to meet mine.

"The neighbour?" Ashley gasps, connecting the dots in her head.

Her words make Caleb snicker as he tries to keep in his laughter, earning a glare from me. Austin frowns at his boyfriend before turning to face me again. "What?" He looks between the two of us.

"Nothing babe." Caleb shrugs it off, sobering up as he reaches Austin's hand on the table but he jerks it back off.

"No, what is going on? What does he know that we don't?" His face is so damn serious that it makes me give Caleb a questioning look, because I really don't know how to put a lid on this.

I sigh, trying to make my mind work as I look at all of them. "It is James, and Caleb found out because he caught us kissing when James came to drop me off Saturday night. I made him promise me not to tell anyone."

It's a very smooth white lie, but it immediately relaxes Austin who seems to give a varied look to Caleb, who's just staring at him with an expression I really don't recognise. Ashley squeals before wrapping her arms around me in excitement.

"I can't believe you're seeing someone, oh god! I have been pestering you to go out since freshmen year now." She lets go of me, making me laugh a little.

"Show us a photo of this ass who's tainting your innocent mind." Max says as he sips on his soda.

"I don't have any." I shrug, because it will only take him a minute to connect the dots after seeing James's face.

"You have to bring him to meet us some time, Lil. We can go on a triple date." Austin suggests, a small smile on his face and I can't help but laugh at the idea of James going on a triple date with my friends. He would be so uncomfortable, I can never imagine putting him through that.

"Yes, sure." I smile back, looking at Caleb who nods at me.

After a while I decide to leave for Clark Enterprise. I could've gone home but I liked visiting office as it just gave me more time to spend with James, so that was something. I make sure to wear my rings from the middle console of the car before I get out in front of the tall building.

When I make my way inside, the woman at the frontdesk smiles at me as I move towards the elevator. I'm so accustomed to the routine now that it doesn't even feel unnatural. Just when I reach to the fifteenth floor, my phone starts ringing and I pull it out of my handbag.

Jeremy's name flashes on the screen and I pick it up. "You don't miss me anymore." He complains, and I can't help but laugh as I wait outside the door before entering inside.

"We talked just two days ago. Don't be a drama queen." I remind him.

"Well, this is what you get for making me learn how to be like you." He shoots back, "When are you visiting us, man? It's been too long. I haven't even met Ashley, even Joan wants to meet your friends."

"We'll go to lunch, super soon. After the finals, I promise." Some people exit the elevator, eyeing me before moving inside. "Listen, I'm at James's office right now. I'll talk to you later, alright?"

"Yes, okay. Miss you, Lil."

"Miss you too, Jer." I sigh before hanging up.

I make my way inside and smile at the woman at the front desk. I finally know her name to be Olivia because I asked James. I wonder how does he remember everyone's names, but then he's a genius so he might have figured out a way around that.

"There are some clients in Mr. Clark's office right now. I'll let him know you're here." She tells me and I nod.

"Any idea how long I might have to wait?" I ask her.

"They just started ten minutes back, and it usually goes on for an hour whenever he has such meetings." She informs me and I nod, thanking her.

I take a seat on the couches which are really just there for people to wait. I pull out my laptop as I start working on my resume that I need to mail Hale for the internship. Since it will be basically summer vacation after finals, I'm planning on interning since that moment on. I could very easily work at my father's firm too but I've already interned there in the past so this will be a new experience.

After what seems like half an hour, Olivia looks up from her desk. "You can go in now."

I nod at her before saving the document and putting the laptop in bag to make my way to James's office. I don't bother knocking as I enter and notice that James is one the phone. He doesn't even looks at me as he continues to speak and I take the chair in front of his desk.

His brows are furrowed and from what I can tell, he looks tensed. The sight makes me frown as I turn a little on the chair to see three empty cups of coffee lying on his desk. There are a lot of files scattered in front of him and his desk is honestly a mess.

When he's done with the call, I look at him and he meets my eyes briefly. "Hey." I say, trying to catch his attention as he starts typing on his laptop.

"I'm really busy, Lillian." He breathes, making me scowl at him. "Can you please call Amy to get me another cup of coffee?"

I shake my head at his request. "No."

He stops typing as he gives me his very famous glare as he starts to reach for intercom but I pull it away from him. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He speaks through his greeted teeth and it immediately makes me nervous but I try to keep my calm as I stare at him.

"How many cups have you had since morning?" I ask, pointing towards the three already on his table.

"How does it matter? I need it to concentrate." He snaps, pissing me off a little because I really thought we were done with that.

"Caffeine's just going to make you restless, Mr. Clark. I think you need to take a short break." I tell him honestly, worrying for him because I'm afraid one day his workaholic behaviour will drive him crazy.

"I don't have time for this crap, just..." he reaches out for the intercom, snatching it from my hands before he dials Amy. "Hey, yes. Another cup of coffee, please."

I ignore him as I stand up to get him a glass of water from the coffee table. When I come back to stand in front of his desk, I push the glass towards him. "Drink." He eyes me, a challenging look on his face which only drives me insane. "I swear to god James, I'll drop the water on your files if you don't."

He looks taken aback by my tone. "You wouldn't."

"We both don't do well with patience now, do we? Don't test mine."

He sighs, reaching out for the glass as he gulps down its content in one go before putting it along with the cups. How the hell is he working in such a mess? I look at the tray in which the cups are and pick it up, moving out of the office before he can protest.

I keep the dirty cups and glass in the sink before making my way back, almost running into Amy. Her cubicle is right outside James's office so she knows every time I'm here but we try to ignore each other as much as possible. When I enter his office again, I pick out the random closed files and arrange them into a pile.

He's being an ass so I'd rather not talk to him. I can feels his eyes on me after I'm done. "You know that it doesn't look well when you're carrying my dirty cups?" He arches an eyebrow, making me frown.

"I don't care."

I mean it, it was my choice to do that. It's not like he forced me to clean his dirty dishes. Amy knocks on the door a second later as she enters with another cup of coffee which only pisses me off more. She sets it front on him before giving him a small smile.

"You don't have to stress so much, they'll eventually agree." She tells him and he nods at her just before she leaves.

I'm sure it's some business deal he's fretting over, and I understand but driving yourself insane isn't going to make the client agree to you magically. Rather a person should be calm to come up with better work strategies.

"If all you're going to do is sit there and judge me, then you'd better leave." He says, sipping on his face, his words shocking me.

"What?" I hope I heard him wrong because his words seem to really pierce through my heart right now.

"You know I don't like to repeat myself, Mrs. Clark."

I haven't heard those words since the day of our honeymoon and they really do seem to dig deep right now. I can't help but give him the incredulous look before picking up my things and leaving his office. What the fuck is wrong with me to even think for a second that James could change and be nice to me? It sure as hell didn't last long.

When I reach the mansion, I go straight to my bedroom before letting out a loud groan. As pissed off as I feel, I don't think I can even study so I decide to lie down on the bed. I stare at the ceiling, thinking about James before my eyes become heavy and I doze off.

The jingling of doorknob makes me stir in the bed as I slowly open my eyes to see James opening the door before stepping in. The only light in the room is the table lamp on the desk as he comes inside. In my sleepy state I forgot for a moment about how he treated me this afternoon. But as soon as I recall it, a huff leaves through me.

He's studying my face as he enters, still in his light grey suit as he comes to sit down on the edge of the bed, making me sit up against the headboard as I run a hand through my hair, pulling them into a ponytail. His eyes stop on my neck but I don't bother covering up because he's the one who left it, I don't care how it looks.

"Will you come down for dinner?" He asks, his words making me scoff. Why did I think he would apologise to me to begin with? He has never apologised to me, apart from leaving me after our first kiss.

"No."

My voice is clipped and sharp, making him sigh as he unbuttons the top button of his shirt before looking at me. "How mad are you?"

Good, at least he knows I'm mad. "Not more than I'm hurt." I tell him honestly.

"I shouldn't have said what I said." He offers, turning on the bed to face me completely. "I've been trying to land this deal with a pharmaceutical company and the meeting didn't go well today."

I feel bad for him, I really do, because I know how much he works towards the company, to get the best productivity possible. I meet his eyes and he looks so stressed, his face covered in worry. "It doesn't excuse your behaviour, Mr. Clark."

He registers my words, obviously not expecting it but I've always walked on eggshells around him. I really would like to stop and take a breather. I can't be on my toes, worried that the next minute we talk, he'll snap at me for something I'm not responsible for.

"I know, I'm not saying it does. I'm just explaining the events that led up to the frustration. I—" he stops, reaching out for my hand and I gulp because it takes a lot of strength to not pull away when I'm hurting. "I'm sorry, Lil."

His apology surprises me but it doesn't mend things. Words mean nothing until he can actually live upto the them. I don't say anything, just nod at him, acknowledging his apology instead of accepting it.