The moment I had reached Skye's place, I had to undergo a few security check-ups. In the end, I had to look up in the CCTV camera, lodged just outside the main door of his huge house. As soon as my face was registered, I heard a cackling exclamation from the speaker next to it. "You're Skye's pretty girlfriend, aren't you?! I saw it on the TV!" I detected the Spanish accent in an unfamiliar female voice.

I blushed when I heard those words and saw the huge double doors opening before my eyes. A second or two later, there was a short and stout, old woman standing in front of me with a blinding smile. "Come in. Come in," she said, urging me to move forward.

Walking in, I was instantly pulled in by how beautiful the house was from the inside, surpassing all my expectations. I was standing in the foyer with my jaw slackened. "Wow!" I breathed. From my angle, I couldn't see much but the walls were painted in a pleasant peach color. Some old and expensive paintings were hung up on the walls where I was standing.

In fact, I was trying not to put a lot of my weight on the floor with the way I was almost standing on my toes. The tiles were immaculately clean. "I am Sophia, the housekeeper of this place," the woman chirped.

Her jubilance for everything instantly brought a smile to my face. "Hey, Sophia. I'm Va-"

"I know, I know! Skye couldn't stop-" She stopped herself short and cupped her mouth with wide eyes. Truth be said, she looked comically cute. "I mean, I know," she uttered, this time more sheepishly.

"Oh. Yeah…" I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Did Skye… come home?" I asked her, tucking my curls behind my ear.

"Come home?" She looked genuinely confused now. "He's been home the whole day." She giggled.

I bit the inside of my lips and stared at her with furrowed brows. "What do you mean? Ivan said that…'' I trailed off when realization hit me. He literally fooled me and his plan was to bring me here all along. That jerk, I thought. I wondered if Skye knew about this too.

"What's wrong, darling?" Sophia asked, jumping on her feet to gauge my expression.

"Oh, no nothing. Um… so…" I cleared my throat again to hide my flushed cheeks. "Is he in his room now?" I know that I should have taken a U-turn and left him alone since he's not drunk but I wanted to see him. I was ready to take anything I could get.

"Ah, he's in his tree house," she answered, shoving her hands in the pockets of her apron.

"Do you think I can see him?" I questioned, pursing my lips to not show my nervousness. I just hoped that she wouldn't decline my request but by the looks of it, she seemed reluctant and blinked her eyes worriedly.

"Aye, he doesn't let anybody in there. He mans it like a knight. I am sorry but…" She gave me an apologetic look.

Hearing her reply, I almost slumped but then something clicked in my head. "Well, I've been there once. So, I don't think he'd mind this time as well," I told her assuringly. Who am I kidding? He didn't mind because he was drunk that night.

Sophia gasped audibly like she couldn't believe her ears. The sight was pretty hilarious because she literally staggered a few steps back. "You were?" She asked for confirmation.

I nodded my head amusedly while pursuing my lips to hide the upcoming smile and it took her a minute or two to finally regain her composure.

"Okay… okay… I'll take you then. Come on!" She exclaimed chirpily before grinning widely.

My eyes widened because not only was I shocked to know that it was easy to convince her as she agreed with me but also because of the quick change in her countenance. "Thank you," I said but I might as well be talking to myself. She didn't hear it with the way she was hurrying on and speaking something in Spanish.

She led me through the back door and I followed her in the expanse of the open field. I understood instantly that it was an inside path toward the tree house.

Every step that I was taking, I could feel my heart thumping wildly against my chest. Since my revelation about loving him, I found myself thinking a lot about him. The way he's always so kind to me. 

That day he was trying to protect me even when I took it the wrong way, his earnest laughs and smiles, our beautiful and pure kiss, the way we had fun during the art therapy. There's so much more about him that I could go on forever yet there's so much more about him that he never shows to anyone.

Once outside the tree house, Sophia quickly scurried off before sending a megawatt smile in my direction. Taking a deep breath in, I opened the wooden door and strode inside the trunk. I cringed automatically when it creaked loudly under my feet.

I could hear the distinct clanging sounds and I followed it confusedly. Moving up the steps slowly, the noises got louder. Before I knew it, I was on the landing and looking at a half naked Skye. His back was facing me while he was hammering onto a wooden cabinet, probably to fix it.

Without any conscious realization, I was gawking at him and how his back muscles flexed every time he pulled back with a soft grunt. A sheen of sweat was coating all over his muscled back. I placed my hand on my chest to calm down my erratic heartbeats, like that mere action would slow it down.

I don't know what happened next because a loud gasp escaped my lips the moment he accidentally banged his head against the same cabinet he was working on.

Skye turned around at the speed of lightning but tripped over his own feet. Feeling ashen and mortified, I quickly turned around to hide my blush and a lame attempt to conceal the fact that I was staring.

"I am sorry. I-I am really s-so sorry," I breathed and I could feel my heart lodging in my throat. Rubbing my neck, I closed my eyes shut but soon his half naked image danced behind my closed eyelids as well. My eyes had somehow taken a small sneak peak of his toned chest before I had looked away.

I heard him groaning followed by a shuffling of feet a few seconds later. My giggles were sitting on the tip of my tongue but I cupped my mouth before they could escape. "Valerie," he whispered in disbelief as if he couldn't believe I was here. "What are you doing here?"

"Um, well…" I swallowed thickly to get rid of the tension forming in my throat. I couldn't tell him the entire truth that I wanted to see him badly. However I could put Ivan's prank in front of the truck, considering he actually lied. It made me wonder why he did that. Did he talk to Skye and took the matters into his own hands by being a "cupid" or whatever?

"Yeah?" Amusement was clearly laced in his voice.

I could feel my face and neck burning in embarrassment. "Ivan said that you were drunk and asked me to come to the Bliss Rose Club. So I agreed and went there but then he told me that you'd already taken off in a cab to come back home. And then… I came to um, check up on you," I replied, still blushing from that scene earlier.

"Oh." He cleared his throat. "You can turn around," he said and I could feel him smiling.

"Did you… um-"

"Yeah, I am fully clothed now." Skye laughed and it was the same carefree laugh that I missed a lot about him.

Slowly, I turned around to see him running his hands through his hair with a really beautiful and disarming smile. His eyes trailed toward my hand on my chest and that smile turned into an even more revelling smirk. Can you please give my heart a break? It's always whining because I don't pay it enough bills to beat this fast. And the blame is on you.

"I know I look like a mess but in my defense, I didn't expect a company either," he asserted, wiping his face with a clean cloth, seeming mortified.

"Well…" You look HOT! I wanted to scream.

"You can sit till I finish this if you want," he told me, waving toward the half complete cabinet door.

"Okay," I mumbled, embarrassed and he seemed to notice it because he winked teasingly.

I sat down on his creaky bed and looked around the walls, expecting to see his newspapers and personal notes clipping but they were now covered with the cabinets.

My eyebrows knitted together but I completely understood his reasons. Maybe he was concealing them from intruding people like me to not let anyone read them again.

Skye must have seen my confused gaze because he spoke up with his eyes still glued to his task at hand. "I am doing this because I realized that I don't have to make myself believe that I am not a pathetic person. That I am not answerable to anyone, least of all to myself. And I am saying all of this because this beautiful certain someone delivered some sense into my drunk self."

My breath hitched and I stared at him with growing affection. I knew that he'd heard those words that night but what I didn't know was that he would actually remember them. It was like someone had sealed my lips because I couldn't utter a single word.

"Don't go all silent on me." He laughed, tousling his hair. God only knows how he could put my heart into an overdrive without even knowing about it. "You really did inspire me that night." A small blush was starting to form on his cheeks.

"I wasn't lying. You really are so much more than what people make you out to be. They forget how very generous and down to earth you really are. You face the media's jabs head on but no one really knows how much you go through each and every day. How much it might hurt you," I said genuinely and saw a twinkle in his eyes. He seemed really happy and my chest fluttered and soared with pride.

"You always know how to inspirit me, Ms. Jones." He grinned and I swear I almost heard his voice cracking.

"Why, thank you, Mr. Williams. It's my pleasure," I replied with a soft chuckle.

We both gazed at each other for a few seconds before he broke eye contact by looking anywhere but me. "Just give me a minute. I'll wrap this up." Skye said, giving me a sidelong glance.

I nodded my head, smiling like an imbecile to myself and decided to just look around at his handiwork. I ran my hands on the wooden walls like I was walking through a museum. 

I never knew that he could furnish things out of wood. I was beyond impressed and wondered if he made this entire tree house on his own too. It might be the case, considering he never permits anyone to enter here.

That mere thought stilled me. No one except for me has come in here and I couldn't help but feel flattered about it. That's when I stumbled across his study desk. My eyes widened when they fell on the picture frame on it. Although that didn't stump me as much as seeing the familiar face in it did.

Unlike last time, it was standing upright and an overweight teenage boy was grinning at the camera. I could literally imagine myself as a fish out of a pond. The boy who must be around seventeen was Skye yet he looked so different. His chubby cheeks enhanced his round face while his rotund figure took me back to almost a decade ago.

It took me back to the days when he used to be my neighbor for some time.

It took me back to the days when I used to have a crush on this very same guy. I had a crush on him because I remember him always surrounding himself with a magical kindness that I couldn't help but be attracted to.

Every evening, we would come out of our houses to watch the sun set and see the orange sky turn into dark blue. Maybe it was just a reason for me because I needed an excuse to catch a glimpse of his face. Before going into our respective houses, he would grace me with his breathtaking smiles. Never once in those two years had we verbally exchanged anything. He was always alone and had been homeschooled.

All of it had changed one day and I was washed over with disappointment when he moved out of his grandparents' house and never came back after that. 

The only way I'd come to know his name was because his grandparents would usually call out his name from outside their house and I had overheard it a few times. I would lurk outside to either flower my pots or read a book on my porch or while going grocery shopping. 

Though he used to go by a different last name because as I was watering my flowers once, I'd heard him say 'Nolan' to some delivery guy.

Now I know why his face was familiar the first time I'd seen Skye Williams before giving my presentation.

"Skylar Nolan," I whispered wide eyed.