I grabbed my underwear from the toilet seat where I set them once I stepped inside the bathroom and my oversized shirt and put them on.

I washed the scrub off my face and dried all the liquid in my face that was left behind. Feeling fresh and neat, I took the dirty clothing from today and throw it in the laundry pile.

With the bathroom cleaned and my mind at ease, I opened th bathroom door. The air conditioner was on, making the air slightly cooler and the water residue to make me shiver.

At least he listened to me this time.

I took a quick glance at the horizon of my room and walked to my dresser where there was a modern basket made of wood placed on the surface of it. In it, my elements of manicure and pedicure inhabited the space inside in a very organized way.

I looked through the simple colors of nail polish that I own and decided to paint my nails white. My nail polishes colors go from different types of cream to white, black, and grey. The boldest color I have was yellow. I used it once and that was it.

I went looking inside the closet for a small towel that would maintain the catastrophic damage of nail polish smudges to a minimum. That's when I heard the door of my room creaked open. I didn't say anything, thinking that it was my mother.

I waited for the person that has entered the room to speak, but they didn't make a sound which I thought was strange because I was sure the door opened.

Every door in this house has its unique sound. Dylan's, for example, opens normally without a sound but when it is time to close it you have to pull a couple of times for it to shut correctly, causing the loudest noise when the wood of the door his the frame.

Mine makes a creaking sound when open and shuts because it's old and moldy.

The screeching sound of the door came again and the door closes with an almost unheard 'bang'.

The same feeling crept from my feet all over my body. Love-hate kind of feeling that has me cursing to the seven seas but also has me panting from the pleasure.

Feeling that brought the storm back to my mind at full force. The only person that makes me feel like this is the same person that makes me hate him for loving him.

"I told you to leave" I voiced out still inside the closet.

I rushed to the boxes of clean towels and grabbed the smaller towel. The one I always use when I paint my nail.
It's full of spots in different colors. Pink, purple, green, cream, black, and so on, and so on.

My childhood was full of colorful choices.

"How the fuck do you know it's me?" He replied, sounding confused and... disappointed?

"I'm a girl..." In love with you

I walked out of the closet but stayed at the entrance of it looking directly at him.

Can't he be any more gorgeous? Yes, he can be. When he's shirtless and the sun hits his body in just the right angle, every angel imaginable to humankind...

STOP!

"What does that mean?" He said, walking towards the middle of the room and turning to me with his hand up.

Apparently, it means that my guts and my insides live for you, dumbass.

"That I can sense when a filthy ignorant pig is destroying my peaceful environment"

That sounded way nicer in my head for some unusual reason.

"Whoa! Look, let's calm down. Talk about the whole situation without insults flying around, " He sat at the bottom of my bed and patted the spot beside him.

Look at him being all sensitive and logical.

Meh, not my style since he entered my antisocial bubble I call my life. I'm way to reckless to turn back around now and it's all his doing.

I stayed standing there, leaning on the entrance of the closet with my arms crossed over my chest while looking at him in the eyes with an apathetic mask on my face.

"I told you the deal is off. It's a win-lose for you. Why are you up my ass about it?" Knocking on my bathroom door for three minutes then him being here when I clearly need my tranquility time. I'm not a patient person, I need to draw the line here because if I don't this would just go on.

"I know what I am losing. I'm losing one thousand bucks but what am I winging exactly?"

"Don't be irritated I'm losing one thousand bucks too..." and you. I'm losing the famous Royal Bad Boy and crush. Even though I never had him.

"Then tell me why the fuck do you want to end it now. Tell me what exactly are we gaining out of this decision?" He got up fast from the bed, throwing all logic and calmness out the window.

"You gain the girl, you dumbass! I'm doing this for you! I'm the one who doesn't gain anything from this, " I'm losing a lot from this decision. I will lose the love of my life for good and one thousand dollars. This was not the plan.

I guess I gain my sanity back. If that counts for something.

For some reason that though that was soon turned into a realization made me feel disappointed. I didn't want my sanity back. Yes, I might crave some peace and silence for my mind at this moment, but knowing that that silence might last forever made my heart brake.

He was the storm and I didn't want that storm to pass. I don't want the crashing waves to calm down. I don't want to see that rainbow at the end of the storm. I don't want the eternity silence that will come once Cris is gone.

I don't want to play it safe anymore.

"I told you that I was okay with continuing the deal! I told you already that I don't want her! How can I make that clear to you?" His voice grew louder and louder with each passing second. His face grew angrier with every word that left his mouth.

"I don't know! Maybe you could've told her you were dating me. Or maybe you should have ignored her in the first place! It's clear that you want her so don't come trying to change my mind about it."

I walk to my desk beside the bed and without looking at Cris, I rested the towel on the desk and placed the nail polish inside the rectangular towel with all the things I needed for my nails

"It's fake!"

The word went through my ears and straight to my heart, making the heartbeat stop and contrast from the pain. I felt my heart fell from my chest to my stomach and the pain in my chest to grow in a harsh and unwelcome way.

'"It was fake, now it nonexistent," I said with a bitter taste on my mouth. I hate how he broke my heart with the words thats I've been trying to tell myself over and over again since the day the bet started. I guess I didn't prepare myself well enough for the heartbreak.

"Don't be like that" I feel his hand touch my shoulder but I shrugged it off as soon as I felt the butterflies come to life

"I can be however I want to be and second I won't stand someone cheating on me even if it was fake."

I want to be with him the right way. I want that insanity to come back to me but with the right situation. It's not fair for me to accept anything less

"I didn't cheat on you! It was just a talk."

"A talk where you forget to mention me as your girlfriend. A talk where you for a second consider making her your side piece in case something went wrong with the deal..." I turned around to look at him with as much hate I could muster.

I'm being stupid and bratty, but I just need everything to stop for a moment.  I need a settlement where the storm lives.

We all know that's not going to happen. I have to settle for a just settlement.

He opened his mouth to defy me, but I stopped him before he could. "Do not tell me I'm wrong. Guess what? Something went wrong, now you can crawl out of here and go to her"

The jealousy inside me was indescribable. The sadness was practically oozing out of me. I was ready to run out of here and teach Marisa a lesson. I was ready to sit on my bed with a high tube of my favorite ice cream and cry my heart out

I can't show neither of those emotions. I have to be strong...for now

I have no right to be jealous. I have no right to be angry.

I knew the detachment was coming sooner or later and with that so is the destruction of my heart. I was the one to sign up for this

I started cleaning my nail seeming uninterested with the conversation. I need him to leave. I need to cry, I need to scream.

No tears allowed in front of him. No weakness in front of him.

"Truth, I don't want her. Not now, nor when this deal is over."

Please, don't say anything more. All of the feelings in my chest were battling with my mind. Maybe I was battling against them.

I don't know anymore.

"You're making my head all messed up. Please, just accept that the deal is over and get out of my room" I sighed, throwing the clipped on the desk and giving up on the self-love for today.

The mood for the spa day was over. I got up from the desk chair in a hurry and walked toward the dresser, dodging Cris as I passing by to grab the basket.

"I guess I'll be staying here tonight then. Would you like me to sleep with you on the bed or maybe I could sleep on the floor? Though it doesn't look cozy-"

His comment made me stop on my way back to the desk. Was he going crazy?

"You're not sleeping anywhere near me Cristian. Go home"

I restarted my way to the desk, dodging Cris again while I felt his eyes at the back my head.

"I'm not going anywhere until you become mine again." My heart flung out of my chest from the combination of his angelic voice and the words coming out of his sweet yet rough lips.

But the word 'fake' imprinted with the same voice, his voice, in my head won the battle and broke me away from temptation.

"Now it's my turn to say that it was fake." My own voice broke at the end of the sentence, making evident all the hurt and the stress my body, mind, and soul was going through. I cleared my throat and started placing what I took from the basket in an orderly way.

Here I am trying to make things less stressful by distracting myself with a fucking basket. How far have I gone?

"I think I'm going to sleep on the left side of the bed. I know you sleep more on the right side even though you can sleep anywhere. Quite literally." He said ignoring me and everything I said. I should've known. He never listens.

"You are not sleeping here! Give it up already. You're acting as if what we had was real," Believe me, I wished it was. Then none of this would happen and maybe we would be watching a movie while I try to get you to fuck me.

No! I'm mad. Stay mad!

"Do you have another bed sheet or will we share?" He grabbed the hem of his shirt and lifted up and off him. Damn, there goes the perfect image with the perfect lighting and angle.

Fuck no. I will not be distracted.

"What? What are you doing? Put your shirt back on and get out!" I screamed while pointing at the door.

"Bebe, calm down. This is not the first time you've seen me half-naked. It is certainly not the first time I've spent here after-hours"  There he goes with the babe thing. It's not good for my body. His word went straight to my heart again, creating a different type of feeling.

The heat came rising up from chest to my neck and ears. I felt my cheeks slowly reddened while flashback for the night I let him touch me came to mind.

"You are not sleeping here, period. Get out, go home, sleep on your bed with as many girls as you want, but do it at your house" I quickly shake off those memories. Not now. Make a point. Show to him that you don't care anymore. That I will no longer act like a crazy, bratty girlfriend.

"I guess if I leave I'll have to carry you out of here. That is if you want to sleep at my house..." He started muttering out nonsense until he looked at me with a devious glint in his eyes, "Do you Truth? I want you to sleep with me tonight. I don't care which house, I will have you laying on a bed right next to me."

His voice raised, making all the mumbling and whispering understandable.

"What the fuck are you talking about?! Get out! Get out now!"
I crossed my hands over my chest trying to appear unface with all this shit.

I'm not good at hiding emotions. I'm not good at lying. I'm not good at acting, we've already established that. But I swear I was giving it my two hundred and ten percent to not show anything.

"I'm not leaving Santana. You either say yes to the deal... again or let me stay here for the rest of my life until you say yes."

"Fuck you, Cris. I will be sleeping on the couch downstairs. You want to claim my room fine by me, but make sure you know that you fuck this whole shit up. I'm not going to say yes" I grabbed a bedsheet from my bed and my fluffy pillow and made my way to the bedroom door.

"You are not going anywhere. You are going to stay here with me until you say yes." I felt Cris's arms snake around my waist, pulling towards his naked, masculine, and rock hard chest. The pillow and the blanket we're thrown to the floor by the impact and force my back great once it hit his chest.

His breath sent shivers down my neck, arms, and straight to my sensitive area.

"No, I'm not. Let me go"
I struggled to get out of his hold. I squirmed and wiggled but his hold was too strong. Even I knew I wasn't getting out of this. That didn't stop me from trying harder.

"Babe, say yes" he whispered in my ear with such care and gentleness, making me almost give up.

It's fake!

His voice roared inside my head again, reminding me the why I was fighting so hard against this. Against him.

"Don't talk like that. Get you hand off me!" I wiggled harder with a newfound strength in me.

"Please, babe. Say yes. I'll show you who I really want" No, no, no. Please, don't. No more fake hope. His arms wrapped me, almost cacoon me, bring me closer to his chest. Holding me with so much certainty.

"What does that even mean?" My struggle stopped. New-found hope settles inside me.

"It means what it means. I don't want Marisa. You are making me so hot with this attitude of yours, but I think it's time for your punishment. You need to learn how to talk to me properly" his voice dropped an octavate, making me knees to grow weak and my heart and mind to desire him.

His hand lower itself to the end of my shirt and slipped itself inside, caressing my stomach slowly and heavenly.

Fucking shit! He needs to stop this right now.

"Stop! Stop seducing me. It's not going to work" I took out his hand from under my shirt. I breathed in and out, calming my nerves and my hornyness.

"I think it's already working baby girl" he was fucking right about that but I wasn't going to admit that to his face. His ego was big enough as it is.

"Y-you need to stop"

"Would you, Truth Evangeline Santana, be  my fake girlfriend...again?"

Fake

Fake

Fake!

It's all fake! Sanity, come back to me. I didn't realize that the hope grew fast inside me. I didn't realize I was falling in his trap...again.

"No, no"

This was not happening. I might love him, but this is where I draw the line.

"Truth, please be mine"

Those words. Those fucking stupid words that make my inside gush and my mind to malfunction along with my heart.

"I- I... No! No. Stop, the deal is over," I broke out of his grip with a shaky breath and a disappointed body.

"Be mine"

________•________

Author's Note

I want to apologize. The chapters get shorter and shorter as they go by. With this chapter, I tried to make it up to you by adding more words to it and making it longer. I will try to do the same with the other chapters.

Chapter 40! That's a long way to come. The storyline can't go slower, I know. 10 to 15 chapters ahead of us still. Cris and Truth's love story haven't come to an end yet.

Sorry for the late update! Almost two weeks without publishing a chapter, I feel guilty and really bad about it. I'm truly sorry

On another note*
I received the cover of BOOK 3| Something Serie
>Something Different<

Genre: LGBTQ+
[COMING SOON]
COVER MADE BY amateurwriter812

This chapter is not edited

Love
AMTA0206