I tossed and turned all night.

Either way, I felt so much better knowing that he was right next door. The sheets reminded me of him. Everything else was warm and comforting, and I didn't feel so alone.

I was wide awake at the sound of his footsteps on the marble. I pretended to be asleep as he opened my door a creak, then changed his mind. The rest of the way to the kitchen, he was humming a tune.

I started to wash up, and when I exited there was the heavenly scent of fried eggs and bacon. There was something to be said about guys who could cook, I must say.

The doorbell rang, and I crept over to the door, nearly forgetting that this wasn't my house and it wasn't my place to meddle. However, I did see someone I knew when I peeked into the peephole.

"Cleo?" I flung open the front door.

"Nick, I—" She started, then went pale instantly. "Emma? What are you doing here?"

I went out and closed the door behind me, putting a finger to my lips. Thank god the sound of the pan sizzling was enough to muffle her shocked words.

Cleo was definitely not herself today. Her usual ponytail was messy and unkempt, her pencil skirt a little tilted and ruffled, and she vaguely smelled of alcohol. Whatever she was here for, it must have been bad.

I felt her give me a once-over. She registered what I was wearing — still Nick's button-up shirt, and probably saw my bedhead and everything. It was enough for her to gape.

"You slept with him." She said, looking as if a truck just ran over her.

"What?" My eyes widened. "No, it's a misunderstanding."

"I got you an apartment for a reason. And I thought you were averse to the idea of him visiting you. I should have known you meant that you'd prefer to do it here, in his much fancier house. But I get it, it's part of the job, right? You want a night, and he thinks you're Zara —"

"Cleo, do you like him?"

She gawked. But I knew exactly what I was talking about. Everything she said felt like a punch to the face, but I knew why she did that.

"You wanted me here because you wanted me to comfort him. And now that I'm here, you tried to expose me, didn't you? You wanted him to realize that I betrayed him, so he would run to you and realize that you were the only one ever there for him, am I right?"

Once she got over her shock, she became furious.

"Ten years." Her voice trembled. "I've been waiting for him for ten years. Why do you think I look so young? Do you really believe I'm in my thirties? I have pledged my everything to him since I was fourteen, and still he hasn't come to me." Cleo started sobbing with rage. "Everyone else told me to be patient. That once he was done with fooling around, he'd see who's by his side. That it would be his turn to stay by my side —"

"He is done fooling around." I said earnestly. "But Cleo, if you want to gain his affection, I don't think this is the way to go."

"So what? I should do what you did — try to get into his bed?"

"Don't talk about her like that." I had no idea when, but Nick had joined us from behind. I immediately relaxed when he was by my side, and then stiffened when I remembered...

He thinks you're Zara. He thinks you're Zara.

Cleo's face twisted. "You have no idea what secrets she's keeping from you! Do you even know who she really is?"

Nick didn't say anything about that. "If you're done, Cleo, feel free to join us for breakfast. And you look like you need the day off —"

"There's no need. I quit."

I spoke up. "Cleo. You can't —"

"This is all your fault." With those words, Cleo turned and ran. She wobbled with both her heels on and the alcohol in her system. In spite of myself, I felt so guilty.

"This is all my fault." I repeated. I couldn't believe I just hurt their ten year friendship like that. I knew very well how much he needed her...

"Don't." He took my hand to stop me as I was about to bolt forward. "I saw this coming. Cleo will come to when she's ready."

His grip on me was sturdy as he led me back to the house and sat me down gently. Meanwhile, I asked in confusion, "What do you mean you saw this coming?"

At the dining table, he spooned out a portion for me. On second thought, he piled extra on my plate.

"I haven't been able to sleep all night. I feel like we have a long overdue talk."

I was a stress-eater, so I stuffed my mouth with bacon. "What? Is this about what happened last night? Are you going to tell me you regret it at all?" I spoke defensively.

Surprisingly, Nick chuckled. "You make it sound as if we did sleep together. Although, from the way we were kissing, I could see why —"

"Ugh." I banged my fork against the table. "I hate snarky Nicholas. Switch back."

He laughed and held his hands up. "Okay, sorry. And if you think I regret the kiss, then my regret would be that I didn't show you enough how much you mean to me." His eyes went darker as he said that.

I breathed in another big spoonful of eggs. Maybe I should just talk with my mouth full of food so I'd be disgusting and he'd be ready to accept me for who I really was. "Shut up. You don't know anything."

Nick ruffled my hair. "I think I know enough. Little fury, I hope we can have our talk when you're ready."

"What kind of talk? Wait — you don't mean... Is that the talk you have before se—"

He laughed; a gentle, melodic sound. "I can't tell which is cuter. Your clumsiness, or your frustration." Nick spooned some more eggs on my plate. "Now you tell me, did you regret the kiss?"

I bit my lip. "Yes, I did. I didn't mean it. You see, after you, I had an escapade back in France. I met someone else far more interesting, and I'm mad it didn't work out, so I'm just rebounding with you."

"Uh-huh." Nick didn't seem the least bit convinced. "I could be much more interesting than him, I believe. Especially when you're biting your lip, which you should probably stop doing."

I didn't even notice my habit was emerging again. With a grunt, I nestled back into the chair. "I'm serious, Nick! I'm just stringing you along, again."

"And I'm serious about you." Suddenly, he ended up sitting on the table. The light streaming in really captured the angles of his face, so much that he seemed to glow. My lips parted. I wanted to taste his lips again —

No, no, no. I stood up quickly.

"I should get going. I feel much better now, so I'll just stop by my house for a change of clothes." I should probably call Jaslyn to ask if I could stay over at her place. She was the closest to me out of my clique, most of which were in some shitty summer programme now. Hell, I should have gone to her place yesterday. What was I thinking when I chose to come here?

"Are you sure you'd be okay with that? I'll go with you, if you want."

"Please, no." I replied quickly. "I'm sorry. I just need my space." With that, I left quickly so he wouldn't see the broken look on my face.

***

"Just download it into the drive." I balanced the phone on the crook of my neck, grumbling to Yuri about collecting his data properly.

As I tried to instruct it to him verbally, I packed up my stuff. I decided that staying alone might not be the best idea, and so I was going to crash at Jaslyn's, until...

I have no idea until when.

How would I know if he's done with me? And now I couldn't just wait for the police to catch him. I felt like a mouse trapped on all four corners...

Stop it. You're a strong person. Don't you dare cry again, you coward. I packed furiously, trying to distract myself by rolling up shirts and stuffing socks into empty spaces.

As I opened the shoe cabinet to pack some shoes for the road, something else tumbled out. I stared at the pair, dumbfounded. I definitely did not have men's shoes...

And then a pair of arms went around me. One went straight for my mouth before I could let out a scream. The grip was iron-tight, but luckily I learnt some self-defense and wasn't going down without a fight.

I brought down my elbow, hard; and then a kick to where the sun doesn't shine.

"You never learn, do you?" The man laughed, clearly intoxicated. His eyes went to my hands, and all the other places I knew had scars.

He was back.