"The most beautiful man in the world says everything with his eyes, and the rest with his hands and mouth."

--Perry Brass.
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As the pregnant silence engulfed us all, I gazed at the beautiful man in front of me, who stared right back, with the same voluminous intensity he'd shown the first day. And just like that, I was suddenly, extremely vigilant of the unsynchronized thumping of my heart caused due to his overbearing presence.

Damn the traitorous organ to hell and back!

Sensing our reluctance to initiate a conversation, Elijah broke the ice lightheartedly.

"Brother, while I understand your desire to be in my indisputably charmistic company, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you. Wouldn't want the ladies to bury me alive now, would we?"

My face contoured appreciation, at his tactful handling of the situation, while Theo stared at him indifferently, before saying,

"Take Evie downstairs, Brother. I'll follow shortly with your friend."

My head shot in his direction so fast, that I wouldn't be surprised if it toppled over, leaving me lifeless.

"I beg your pardon?", my startled voice pierced the silence caused by his request.

Theo ignored me, and involved Elijah in some sort of staring spree, which had the latter following his demand of abandoning me, unchaperoned, with the former's boisterous self.

Did I say I adore Elijah? Ask me again and I would beg to differ. Fucking fink.

As the two of them left the room, Evie more reluctantly than her escort, Theo redirected his attention towards me and stared at me intently, as if contemplating how to reassure me of the current predicament.

There's nothing you can say to make me feel better buddy. Just get this over with.

I tapped my foot impatiently, awaiting an explanation for his presence, and hopefully, my escort's absence.

"Ethan had some errands to run, so he asked me to accompany you to the event.", keeping the explanation short, he offered me his arm. I stared skeptically at the gesture, wondering how Ethan could possibly push me under the care of a person who hated my guts.

"He's offering you his arm Hera. His fucking arm. That beautifully sculpted, strong, muscular arm. You would be a fool to pass such an opportunity.", my conscience thundered outrageously.

I bit back a snark remark which was at the tip of my tongue, when his suit clad arm perked slightly, weakning my "nowhere-near-firm" resolve of resisting the bloody temptation, that was his body.

Sighing, I did what any other girl in my position would do, by snaking my arm like a vine around the forbidden grace. Tightly. Afraid that I may die if deprived any longer of his touch, and afraid that I may not be able to restrain myself to what is generally considered, decent.

My senses hightened at the contact.

Fucking nerves!

I swallowed uneasily and followed my partner's lead, trying my best, to not make a fool of myself, by getting caught admist one of the discreet glances that I stole every now and then. I can't believe that I didn't ask him any questions. Maybe because somewhere deep within me, I knew that Elijah wouldn't have left me alone with Theo if he wasn't trustworthy. That, or my mind had been taking laps through the gutter ever since this man had shown up.

Huh, since when did I become a person with scandelous tendencies?

"Ever since you laid your eyes on Theodore here.", a small voice in my head claimed, and I resisted the urge to slam my own head against something hard.

We'd been walking for a while now, and as soon as I heard a loud exultion from downstairs, I knew we'd reached our destination. My hand tightened unknowingly on his arm, and he looked down at me with something in his eyes, that I couldn't decipher.

"Hey, it's ok. There's nothing to worry about. You don't look bad..", he drawled, to which I glared, but he continued anyway,

"What more, you are being escorted by the most charming guy in this school. People are going to stare."

Now where's my stupid conscience again? I would love to hear somthing in favour of this obnoxious prick.

The venue of the party was breathtaking. Even more so than I'd imagined. Theo took me around and introduced some new faces, who greeted me warmly and asked to hang out sometime. I nodded politely in response and we sat down for a few drinks. Theo proved to be a surprisingly good company, not the typical jerk I'd expected him to be. He even managed to squeeze in small smiles where ever necessary, and each time, the captivating sight managed to knock my breath away. He was so, so beautiful.

Shortly after, we were met with Katherine and James, who looked remarkable together, and then Lucas, who was with few of his friends. He gathered me in his arms and kissed the crown of my head in greeting, which caused Theo to tighten his grip on my waist.

Seriously?

Lucas' jaw clenched at the action, but he smiled none the less and complemented how good I looked. I blushed at the sincerity reflected by his face, and muttered a flushed thank you. Theo tore me away from Lucas, who looked as if he could have the former's head for dinner, raw; and lead me to the dance floor.

Could someone please remind my lungs to fucking breathe!

People made way for us as we headed to the desired place. Literally. Once in the center, yup center, he guided my hand to his shoulder, while one of his, enveloped my waist to tug me closer, and the other entwined our fingers together.

And there goes my heart.

I stared in awe at our connected hands, and people stared at us.

Tearing my eyes from our adjoined hands, I made the mistake of looking into his eyes. And that is when I lost myself. I forgot how many songs changed, or if they even played for the matter. I became deaf to the audience's hoots as Theo lead me to euphoria. The only thing I could feel was, his heart beating against mine, his hand trying to pull me closer, and his warm breath on side of my neck.

I moaned. He groaned.

And something broke in the background.

The impact of which was strong enough to breake us apart from our state of daze.